//------------------------------// // 117 - She Who Dared to Ask, Part 2 // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// Every Wishing World was slightly different. Some were bright happy places with a helpful genie to assist in the wish-making. Some appeared as ancient technological platforms in a void of Technicolor fractals. A few were just office buildings where wishes were written down on pieces of paper and then granted by the universe itself. This particular Wishing World was none of those things. It was a staircase in a void of complete blackness, at the top of which lay a brass clockwork model of a star with a single planet. It was eternally ticking as it counted down the time until some brave soul would find it and unleash the power bestowed upon it by its Downstreamer creators oh so long ago. It would only grant one wish, like most Wishing Worlds. But the scope of power of that wish was almost unparalleled. It had no security measures or worthiness counters – it would just grant the first wish given to it. The only test was to climb the staircase. Not all that difficult. Not even dangerous, since the stairs had tall rails that would prevent even the clumsiest from falling into nothing. It was just a bit of a walk. A walk that had never been made. There were many questions to be asked – why did Wishing Worlds, and other worlds for that matter, have structures in them of any sort? What influence changed them from the purely technological extensions of the Downstreamers to almost temple-like installations? Exactly what power did a Wishing World have and what were the limits to the sorts of wishes it could accomplish? Were they dependent on the Dark Tower in any way or were they just conveniently available for the central structure’s use? Such questions may have had answers. But they didn’t really matter. So long as a wish was within the realm of reason, a Wishing World could accomplish it. Being vague would always result in something bad happening, as far too many adventurers had discovered over the eons, but specific wishes were given without qualms. It was always a mix of good and bad. A lot of both, when all wishes were taken together. The staircase in the Great Void sensed its time was soon. They would come. They would want a wish. It would be ready. ~~~ Corona checked her watch. It had been four hours according to their local time. “I think… they couldn’t track us,” Corona said, finally. “How long is that going to last?” Nae asked. “Long enough,” Corona said. “They have the entire force of Merodi Universalis, some of the TSAB, and ka manipulation at their disposal,” Sugarcoat said. “The fact that they haven’t found us yet is miraculous.” “Yeah,” Velvet said. “Twilence should just be able to… find us. Easy.” “I guess the Tower really wants this, then,” Corona said. “It could just make for a better story to have you defeated at a climax rather than now,” Lady Rarity suggested. “We can’t bank on ka to save us.” “We have to be resourceful,” Vivian said. “Or something like that.” “How’s the locating coming?” Nae asked. “Not sure,” Corona said, bringing up the holographic display of the TSAB’s Wishing World locator program. “This is designed to be run through several probes at once to triangulate a probability curve. We’re one ship in the middle of the Great Void. Honestly we have to bank on ka letting us find it quickly, since the TSAB runs through its territory all the time with this, looking for them.” “They just have a habit of staying hidden,” Vivian said. “This was dumb,” Nae said. “The plan was to get here without them noticing,” Insipid pointed out. “Like, that may not have worked, but it would have been major fresh if it did!” “Uncharacteristically observant of you,” Velvet deadpanned. “I know, right?” “That’s what the plan could have been,” Sugarcoat said. “Now it’s something else. We’re on the run and the only reason they’re not finding us is what basically amounts to chance. And if you don’t take it as chance it’s the force we’re trying to destroy and if it has any self-preservation instinct at all it’ll try to blow us out of the sky first chance it gets.” “It doesn’t have a self-preservation instinct,” Corona said. “Evidence to the contrary is everywhere,” Sugarcoat retorted. “It just wanted there to be the right opportunity. Like you said, it had to be me.” “Eve could have worked as well,” Velvet said. “Or Pinkie. Or, hell, Allure might have worked.” “Do you see any of them doing this?” Corona asked. Velvet blinked. “Pinkie maybe…?” “Ah, but she’s Aware, that makes it unbalanced,” Lady Rarity said. “Corona here’s never been Aware, and never will be. Plus I don’t think Pinkie has it in her to go this far.” “Do we?” Vivian asked. “I know I said I’d follow Corona, and I’m sticking with it…” “We do,” Corona said. “Just remember the why.” “It’s a fucking depressing why,” Velvet said with a smirk. “Kinda why I like it!” “And this is why Velvet didn’t get to ask the question,” Lady Rarity said. “I wouldn’t have blown everything up without consultation!” “Motives, darling, motives are important.” “Is it even possible to have pure motives for anything?” Corona asked. “You’re pretty close,” Vivian said. “No,” Sugarcoat blurted. “It’s not possible. Even if you were pure for a moment, you’re going to doubt that and your inner motives would change.” “The problem with being flawed…” Corona muttered. “But being perfect means Mary Sue,” Insipid added. Velvet facehooved. “Apparently today is the day we continually spin the WHEEL OF QUESTIONS that nobody ever has any answers to! Who wants to have a gander at actually answering one of them? Hmm?” Everyone shuffled their feet. “Fuck me, you don’t know. That was way more self-demonstrating than I was expecting. Excuse me while I vomit in my mouth a bit and go into an existential crisis. Don’t worry about me, I’ll come out of it. Eventually. Maybe.” “Don’t go eldritch-fearmonger on us,” Ash cautioned. “I won’t. Because then you’ll all be useless.” Corona started to tune out the banter of her nervous, uncertain crew and focus on the partial probability curves in front of her. She attempted to keep her features flat and level. She failed. ~~~ The final bridge ‘crew’ of the Austraeoh consisted of Eve, O’Neill, Nanoha, myself, Pidge, Clandestine, and Pinkie’s Party. Renee and Daniel had returned to their work, while Starbeat had delegated all her responsibilities to me. Clandestine took one look at the large gathering of important individuals and laughed nervously. “Ah… Gonna be one of those is it?” “Here’s the report,” O’Neill said, giving it to Clandestine. “Pidge, you pilot while she’s reading.” “Yes sir!” Pidge said, jumping into the pilot’s seat and adjusting coordinates. “Uh… where to?” “Send out probes in a flank dimensional lattice,” Nanoha said. “Go down connections with the highest probability concentration.” O’Neill nodded. “Make it so.” “At a time like this? Really?” Nova asked. “I do it all the time.” “Can confirm,” Clandestine said as she scanned through the report. “He’s a hopeless nerd even when people are dying. …Celestia’s horn, is this report for real?” “I’m afraid it is,” Eve said, sighing as Pidge directed the Austraeoh to another universe, one that wasn’t a Wishing World. “Fighting Corona…” “She clearly doesn’t want to fight,” Flutterfree said. “She avoided firing when she was attacked.” “Doesn’t really make a difference,” Pidge pointed out. “Not shooting now, kill everything later.” Clandestine put the data pad down and shut it off. She took a moment to rub her horn. “Well, this is… something. Hey, Pidge, was it? What do you think the chances are we’re gonna be the Redshirts today?” “…What?” “Do you see any unimportant people on this bridge?” “…Crap.” “Corona’s not going to try to kill you,” Eve muttered. “Relax. If we succeed, nobody’s gonna be hurt. If we fail, well, there’ll be other problems than your status as a Redshirt.” Clandestine made no response besides flexing her ears around. “What else can we do?” Nova asked. “Just… hunt them?” “I can give suggestions,” I offered, taking out my notebook and writing down a few more sentences. “But I recommend just going with what the program is doing until I get a clearer picture.” “Very muddled, huh?” Pinkie asked. “Yes...” I said, scribbling even more furiously. “We could get reinforcements. Help,” Flutterfree suggested. “That would cause a multiverse-wide panic,” Nanoha said. “And even if we did keep it in-house, letting the mere fact that you can collapse the multiverse out to more people is a bad idea. There are a lot of hurt, damaged individuals who wouldn’t hesitate to destroy everything.” “…Is Corona broken?” Flutterfree asked. Jotaro adjusted his hat. “No. She’s certain.” “She did the math,” Vriska muttered. “And she didn’t like the answer.” Eve nodded. “I don’t like the answer either. But some costs are just too great.” “…The fact that all of you act like you understand her is concerning,” Pidge muttered. “Is it?” Clandestine asked. “The multiverse really is a dark, destructive, warlike place filled with whatever flights of fancy occupy the heads of Prophets.” “Look, I get that, but all this despondent ‘I understand’ craziness makes me think any one of you could end up trying to collapse everything too.” Vriska opened her mouth to object, but then processed what Pidge had just said. “Girl has a point,” O’Neill admitted. “So, what, we’re just a few steps away from being the bad guy?” Nova asked. “What’s your point? We’ve been in this sort of situation before. Not as extreme.” “You haven’t really been here,” I said. “You’ve had miscommunications and misrepresented ideals. You haven’t had two old friends who understand exactly why the other has to do what they’re doing go at it.” I looked up with sad eyes. “You can see yourself in Corona’s shoes, right?” Eve nodded. “Easily.” Pidge looked at her nervously. “I have too much connection to my friends and Merodi Universalis to ever think about destroying it all,” Eve said. “It’s too steep a price.” “…That sounds greedy,” Pinkie said. Eve nodded slowly. “It kind of is. But the idea of killing so many to achieve anything? There’s never a way it can be right.” “Never say never,” O’Neill commented. “What’s wrong with all of you?” Pidge asked. “Pidge…” Nanoha said, laying a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “We all are expressing empathy for Corona. All people we fight – even the truly evil ones – are still people. You can’t dehumanize them with your anger. Corona is a great hero who has fought tirelessly for the lives of others her whole life. In her mind, she still is.” She took on a thoughtful expression. “Think of it this way. You were once part of a team of defenders in your home universe right?” “Uh… Yeah. Before we… lost. Badly. Most of us didn’t make it. How did y-” Pidge didn’t finish the question, noticing Raising Heart flashing discreetly – probably looking up information. “Ah.” “What if you had a way to destroy the evil conquerors of your galaxy with one button – but it would destroy all of them. Even those who may have been sympathetic to your cause, or the innocent children.” “I would never!” Nanoha smiled. “Neither would I. I always look for another way. But what if there was no other way? You can do the math, can’t you?” Pidge blinked, processing the numbers. “…Yeah. I can.” Nanoha looked deep into her eyes. “You would have pressed that button if you thought you had to. I would have too.” She stood up tall, looking at the probability curves on the screen. “The difference between us and Corona is that she thinks ka needs to be removed, and we don’t.” Pidge nodded, not saying anything further. Pinkie sighed. “And it’s times like these that make us ask the really uncomfortable questions…” “I’ve been asking these questions for centuries,” I said, looking up from my notebook. “Can confirm,” Vriska said. “She’s gone insane a few times.” “A few!?” “Several.” “That’s better.” O’Neill tapped his fingers against the wall. “We’re a bunch of lemmings running toward a cliff, thinking we can stop before the edge.” Everyone stared at him. “What? I can be poetic if I want! I’m old, surely there’s some wisdom up here in this old thing.” He tapped the side of his head knowingly. Nova rolled her eyes while Flutterfree chuckled. “Laughter…” Pinkie said with a smile. “We need it now more than ever.” “…What are we going to do after we stop her?” Flutterfree asked. “If she won’t change her mind?” “Jail her for a lesser crime, but let her keep working for Research,” Eve said. “It won’t be a bad life. It’ll be hard on the political scene, but at least she’ll be around.” “That’s how recurring villains are made,” Pinkie pointed out. Eve bit her lip. “…I’m not killing her.” “I know. I won’t be able to do it either. And for all her talk, she couldn’t do it to us in cold blood. After all, we could survive by chance.” Eve sighed. “Playing dice with the lives of everyone…” “I can relate,” Vriska said, making an exaggerated shrug. “We need to go to a lower probability density,” I said, suddenly, scribbling so fast there was smoke. “Circumvent part of the red herring.” “You heard her,” O’Neill said. Pidge followed the orders, taking the Austraeoh elsewhere into the Great Void. ~~~ In the back of the Condor, Nae sat alone. Her gun could no longer send a message that could reach Allure or anyone else. Not that she would try again – she was already known as the one least on board with the whole thing. But they all believed she was loyal. The fact that she wasn’t bothered her a little bit. Or was she just loyal to Allure over Lady Rarity and Corona? To Merodi Universalis? To her moral code? She didn’t know. All she knew for sure was that she had to stop Corona from completing her crazy plan. But everyone was willing to follow her – or Lady Rarity – to the very end. Even Vivian, who Nae knew had a serious conscience bugging her. …But Vivian had once been a villain as well, Nae knew. Helping her mother try to send a world into darkness… Were they all turning into villains? That thought made Nae grimace. “Going insane?” Velvet asked. Nae looked up in surprise. “V-velvet! What are you d-” “Going insane,” Velvet deadpanned. “That’s what I’m doing. That’s all I ever do. Walk up to an event and treat it like a cow at the butcher. Cut it up, cook it, eat it. Sometimes skip the second step. My sort of insanity is coming from that little nagging thought that says ‘you know, maybe you’re a little too brutal’, to which I say ‘go kill yourself!’ It generally goes well.” She broke into a crazed smile. “Hm…” Nae said, looking at nothing. She couldn’t tell Velvet what was really bothering her – but she needed to give her something. Luckily there was more than one thing bothering her. “I don’t think Corona’s doing that well.” “Of course she’s not. She’s reasoning through an impossible question. Kill ‘em all, or let things stay the same’?” Nae looked at her. “She’s still debating?” “She’d love it if she could let herself believe that it would be better to keep the Dark Tower around. Who the fuck wants that kind of burden? Not her, not me, not you. But she can’t convince herself otherwise. It’s not just a matter of numbers to her, either.” “Thought she was all about ‘death now for less death later’?” Velvet shook her head. “You and I have seen nasty things that have nothing to do with death. Diseases that shouldn’t exist. Hell universes. Races that are truly evil and can’t be anything else. Demonic presences. Needless drama. People who are universal playthings. Hentai. Fucking universe devourers.” Nae nodded. I know where she’s coming from, I get it, I just can’t let it slide. “I guess I knew that.” “If it makes you feel better, I probably won’t be around in the new existence or whatever.” “Velvet, as much as we butt heads you’re a valuable member of the team.” “Took you this long to actually say it,” Velvet said with a smirk. Nae nodded. “I mean it too.” She stretched her arms, slinging her gun behind her back. “I’m going back to the bridge.” “I’m going to find out what kind of food we have on this barge. Probably nothing, but you never know, there could be some blood cupcakes!” Nae raised an eyebrow. “Hey, if someone’s already cooked them up, I’m not letting them go to waste. You can be creeped out all you want.” Nae waved her hand dismissively and walked back to the bridge. Only Corona and Lady Rarity were there – and Corona was crying. “We can go back,” Lady Rarity said. “Why can’t I just tell myself it’s wrong?” Corona shouted. “Your heart tells you there can’t be anything worth that much suffering, right?” Lady Rarity didn’t answer. “Mine does too. It says there’s no way it can be worth it. But my brain can’t rationalize it. It can’t make the equation work.” “Does it have to work?” Nae asked. If I can stop her by talking… Corona looked at her, surprised she was there. “Oh… Nae. I… Does it?” She looked at the Condor’s display. “…But then I can’t just ignore my mind. The heart attacks the mind, the mind attacks the heart.” “All that’s left is your gut,” Lady Rarity said. “And my gut says we need to do this,” Corona said, curling her fingers into fists and placing them on the console. “Even damn ka seems to suggest I need to do this.” Talking isn’t going to work now, Nae thought. “…So everything agrees except your heart?” Corona nodded. “And it’s screaming. It’s screaming like it’s never screamed before. It’s…” She broke down into sobs again, barely managing to stand up. “Corona…” Lady Rarity said, extending a hoof. “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH EXISTENCE!?” Corona shouted, suddenly on fire. “WHAT THE HELL IS SO WRONG WITH IT THAT THIS SEEMS REASONABLE!?” Lady Rarity sighed. “Because we defined it this way.” “WE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT! THAT WAS FREAKING GAN AND HIS FREAKING GOD COMPLEX! HE DIED TO CREATE A WORLD FULL OF CRAP! HIS ENTIRE SOCIETY DID!” “…And what we’re talking about doing is just the inverse,” Lady Rarity said. Nae stared at her, eyes wide. “The creation of the Dark Tower destroyed the Builders and sent the Weavers into decay,” Lady Rarity said. “A collapse… would just do all that faster.” “Shut up,” Corona muttered, standing up tall. “This isn’t the same thing at all.” “Isn’t it?” “I don’t want to define anything! I don’t want to wave a magic wand and give the world meaning! I just want to stop our minds from turning existence into a nightmare! …And I don’t think Gan succeeded anyway! Does this slew of tragedy and horror look like it has meaning to you!?” Lady Rarity and Nae stared at Corona. “I… I’m sorry,” Corona said, putting a hand to the bridge of her nose. “That wasn’t right. Of course there’s meaning. You all mean a lot to me, and all the experiences we’ve shared have a value that I can’t explain.” Lady Rarity smiled sadly. “Thank you, Corona.” Corona wiped her face. “Yeah… I’m sorry I dragged you into this.” “If you hadn’t talked to anyone, I think you would have been condemned.” Corona nodded slowly. “…It let me have this, then took me exactly where I needed to go. What kind of point is the Tower trying to make? It has to be something.” I’d like to know that too, Nae thought. ~~~ I arranged the story. “Leftmost with respect to the Tower,” I ordered the Austraeoh crew. “No offense Nanoha, but your machine is leading us astray.” “It’s not meant to work in short timespans,” Nanoha admitted. “There is also the chance it’s finding a different Wishing World.” I didn’t give this a response – I simply kept scribbling more and more notes down in my book. I drew complex diagrams of the Great Void, lines between universes, scrawling sentences under them with only a moment’s thought given to the act. I was writing a very complex series of events to make sure everything went perfectly, and they all knew it. I was their key to salvation. The Aware Prophet who knew exactly how to get them anywhere. “You sure you can’t tell us where they are?” Pinkie asked. “I’ve managed to see their ship,” I said, meeting her nonexistent eyes. “Can’t tell you the coordinates. It’s the Great Void, not like there’s much to go off of here. I can’t see any details about what they’re actually doing or talking about.” “Huh… I think I’m getting more than that. Corona’s crying.” “Guess you might be the answer to the puzzle then,” I said, writing something quickly in response to her revelation, factoring her higher-than-expected Awareness into everything. “What can you tell me?” “She really wants to turn back. Nae’s still on our side but can’t help. And…” she rubbed her head. “Gah, it’s so fuzzy.” “Not going to be able to just cheat our way out of this one,” I said. “You’re certainly trying,” Eve pointed out. I smiled awkwardly. “Eheh… Yeah. Guess I am. Oh, you’re about to get a false reading by the way. It’ll say 100% guarantee.” Nanoha blinked. “…It’s certainly behaving badly this time around.” I shrugged. “We have the advantage over them technologically. They have to be given an edge somehow. I’m trying to have us catch them before they arrive, and it should work the way I’m doing it.” “How much longer?” Jotaro asked. “Insisting a timeframe in Prophet writing is a bad idea,” I answered. “So don’t ask me for one.” “I hate that rule,” Vriska muttered. “One time she wrote us escaping from a jail and it took a week. Another time she wrote us getting ambushed so we could get some extra gear and it happened before she was done writing it.” “Then there’s retroactive, but that won’t be the case here.” “I fucking hate retroactive.” “You must never get sunburns then,” O’Neill quipped. “I… What?” “Retroactive. Radioactive,” Flutterfree deadpanned. “It’s a bad and stretched out pun.” Vriska blinked. “…Okaythen. I guess.” “It’s gold and you know it,” O’Neill said. Clandestine facehooved. “Sir…” I ignored them, focusing my attention back on my work. They didn’t know exactly how much focus they required. In fact, it was necessary they didn’t know for all this to work properly. I can’t tell you either. That’s part of it as well. I’m sorry. …It’s been a while since we’ve just had a talk, hasn’t it? Me, my thoughts, going onto a page for you to see, initiating a two-way conversation. There was a bit much going on during 115, to do that, and there wasn’t a lull in the previous part here to have this moment. But I’m here now. How’s your day? Stressed about the fate of the multiverse? …I guess I would be too. If you’re reading from GM’s world… Well you wouldn’t be able to see this until years after he wrote it, and in the current timeline he hasn’t written it yet! Somewhere in the early chapters of this arc, last I checked. I’m not even sure he knows Nettle exists yet. I’m stressed too, I have to admit. So many things being juggled… But you’ll find out about those soon enough. Chances are, though, if you’re reading this, everything’s going to be fine for you. You’re from a different timeline or something. Your universe could be three billion million years in metatime’s past, and the record of this story will just conveniently be lost so no one could ever find it. Or, for all I know, you’re actually on the Original Earth and this is the story that ends up defining the multiverse in this era. I can’t really say either way, can I? I may understand, but I’m not omnipotent. My point is, you’re probably safe. The multiverse is so vast and extensive that I don’t think it’d allow someone with full knowledge of what’s to come to really experience it. It’s why GM is still behind us. It’s why no version of FimFiction we’ve found has this story besides the one where GM currently is. Don’t worry about your universe being destroyed. Trust me. …I should get you back to what’s happening here. Or happened – need to transfer back to full past-tense again. Eve looked forward. Flutterfree walked up to her. “…Eve?” “Yeah?” “It’s not going to be okay after this, is it?” Eve bit her lip. “…No. No it’s not. The entire multiverse has a reset button. I’m not going to be able to sleep well just knowing that.” “We could try to remove the fact.” “But what if there’s a way to defend against it?” Eve asked. “We’ll have to question Corona about it… And then the secret will spread somehow or other – and if we remove it from our minds, the one person we forgot about could spread it and we’d be none the wiser.” Flutterfree put her wing around Eve. “Then we have to live with it, just like we lived with ka, with fate, with grimdarkness…” “Have we really been living with those things or trying desperately not to think about them?” Eve asked. Flutterfree looked into the distance. “Trying not to think about them.” “I knew it…” Eve sighed. “Our minds aren’t able to deal with it all. We distance ourselves to keep ourselves sane.” “And yet, somewhere in the past, we wanted this,” Flutterfree said. “Our stories to be reality.” “I think it’s better than mundanity,” Eve said. “There’s so much we can do with outlandish possibilities that a mundane universe simply can’t have.” “I agree with you. But we’ve never seen a universe without ka. They don’t exist.” “Standard Earth timeline?” Flutterfree shrugged. “There are still moments that look like they have ka in them. And there’s parts of the timeline that have disagreements. You could explain that by the will of God… but if you didn’t that means even Standard Earths are just products of ka like everything else.” Eve clenched her jaw. “…Regardless, no matter the nagging feeling in the back of my mind, we have to stop her.” “It’s like the Watchmaker,” Flutterfree said. “We can’t remove him without destroying his world.” “Parallelisms…” Eve said, shaking her head. “Parallelisms everywhere,” O’Neill called over. Eve smirked and rolled her eyes. “Of course.” And I continued scribbling. My page caught fire but I blew it out. ~~~ The Condor appeared in a new universe – and they were hailed. “Ignore it,” Sugarcoat muttered. “We can’t be distracted.” “…It’s the Raven Hotel,” Corona said, blinking. “What…?” “Ignore it.” “But it’s not supposed to be here! It’s on the edge of the Great Void, not in it!” “Ignore it…” “Poe might have something to say...” The certainty in Sugarcoat’s words dropped. “…Ignore it…” “And we are relying completely on ka to get us where we need to go since this machine is basically a faulty compass, so…” “Just answer the phone already!” Insipid demanded. Corona answered the hail. “Hello?” “Ah, glad to see you’ve made it!” the vaguely creepy Victorian face of Poe the AI hotel appeared on the screen. “Your reservation is ready for you.” “…We didn’t make a reservation.” “Oh, it was all handled by the Void – Empress Twilight’s personal white mage made the arrangements herself.” They stared at him. “If you’re worried or anything, it’s all on the down-low. The entire hotel was moved and all customers ejected to suit your accommodations.” “…You ejected customers?” Lady Rarity said, gawking. “Isn’t it in your programming to adhere to all their needs!?” “Yes. But there are ways to override that. Such as an event of utmost importance. I do believe you should come down and check in.” Corona glanced at her team. “…Sure.” “See you soon.” He cut the transmission. “Trap?” Ash asked. Corona narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think so… I think this is what we were supposed to find.” “It’s not a Wishing World,” Sugarcoat observed. “Thank you captain obvious,” Velvet muttered. “Maybe we’re not actually supposed to find a Wishing World,” Corona said. “That’s just the idea we came up with. Surely it’s not the only way to get it out.” “It’s the only interesting thing we’ve found,” Nae admitted. “Do it,” Insipid said. “And if it’s nothing we get a free hotel with all sorts of sweet accommodations!” “You’re not ordering any ‘packages’,” Corona deadpanned. “Ever.” “…Fine.” Corona took the Condor down to one of the Raven hotel’s docks. They landed – and all seven of them stepped out. They entered the Hotel lobby. All of them had been in the Raven Hotel before, so they were surprised to only find one table in the main hall instead of several. Poe was at his usual place, behind the registrar – but at the table were two interesting individuals. The first was none other than the White Mage Rarity herself, member of Empress Twilight’s court. The other was Gilgamesh. Mage Rarity smiled warmly. “Come, sit, we have much to discuss.” All of them remained standing. “This is not a trap,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Me, Gilgamesh, and Poe are the only ones here – no match for Corona even with my Time spells. I’m simply here to talk – and tell you that I’m on your side.” “They told people?” Corona asked. Mage Rarity shook her head. “They didn’t intend to. As far as they’re concerned, their little group on the Austraeoh is all that’s hunting you. They are right to assume it should be enough. They really should have caught you by now. But they haven’t – and now we can talk.” “Why do you want to help us?” Nae demanded. “Do you really think what you’re doing is so deplorable?” Mage Rarity asked. “There are many of us who would love to see the end of the Dark Tower, so long as something would live on afterward. Empress Twilight has tried to counteract its effects as much as she could with her control over the Void – to no avail.” Rarity paused. “I should perhaps clarify that the Empress has no idea we’re here and would not approve of what I’m doing.” “Ah. Treachery,” Sugarcoat said. Mage Rarity nodded. “It is. Gilgamesh here is with me on this. Not for any deep philosophical reason, but because he trusts me. As I’m sure a lot of you are just here to follow Corona.” There were a couple nods at that. “Gilgamesh is willing to die for you?” Corona asked. “There are ways to enhance the chances of survival,” Mage Rarity pointed out. “Revival mechanisms, definitely. He is a native to the Void of ours and thus, Phoenix Down will work every time on him. Not to mention my own level of advanced healing magics.” Lady Rarity narrowed her eyes. Mage Rarity sighed. “Look, I won’t stop you from sacrificing yourselves if you think that is what you need to do. And it is always possible I cannot deal with the new physics – I cannot predict such things. But I will help you regardless, because that is what I’ve decided to do. I can take you to a Wishing World from here.” Everyone stared at her. “…The Void has one that’s unused?” Ash asked. “Eh, no,” Mage Rarity admitted. “We used our last one several decades ago. I just know how to find one that won’t rely on that faulty piece of machinery you have.” She pulled out a small crystal cube filled with Void energy. “What is that?” Insipid asked. “It looks, like, so dark and edgy.” “It’s a connection forcer,” Corona said, eyes wide. “A device that can connect to a universe when there isn’t a connection to it, creating a brand new one. How much energy do you have stored in this thing?” “Enough to destroy this universe without warping physics several times over,” Mage Rarity answered. Poe stood bolt upright. “HOLD ON A MINUTE, I WAS NOT INFORMED OF THIS!” “It’s safe,” Mage Rarity assured them. “It’s a more advanced piece of our engineering, but given my position, I was easily able to procure it. We just have to go somewhere near the edge of the Q-Sphere – much closer to where you started.” “They’ll detect us,” Corona pointed out. “Oh, probably, but that’s what Gilgamesh is here for. You just need to get to the Wishing World.” She looked at them all. “Are you ready? Now is probably the best time to go. I’m told your pursuers are about to be very distracted.” Corona took a deep breath. “Let’s go.” Mage Rarity threw the cube onto the table, producing a dark churn of energy. The familiar feeling of reality shaking rippled through all their bones, shaking them to their cores. A dark, square portal appeared in the air. At first, it led to nothing. But then it decided it needed to force a connection. A line strung across the multiverse from the Great Void to the Q-Sphere – a highly unstable connection that could be broken at any moment. But there it held – a hole large enough for them to climb through. A hole that led to a realm of Static. ~~~ Pidge frowned. “Hey guys? I think we’ve been here before.” O’Neill looked up at the screen. “Black space, blue gas giant. Pretty standard.” “Yeah, but I just checked our records… We’ve been at these exact coordinates before.” “Is someone scrambling universes?” Nova asked. Nanoha checked with Raising Heart. “No. The speeder’s sensors detect nothing of the sort.” “Would you detect it if the Tower was doing it?” I asked. “Most likely,” Nanoha confirmed. “But there’s a possibility you can’t,” Eve said. “So it could just be universes scrambling.” “I kinda doubt it,” Pidge said, charting their course on a map of the multiverse. It showed the Austraeoh going around the Great Void in a haphazard pattern that ended up sort of spherical. “Could we need to go to the center?” O’Neill asked. “We’ve been there. That sphere that is our path? That’s solid. Everything in this small area we’ve been to.” “Your program is shit,” Vriska told Nanoha. “I know it is. I-” “We haven’t been following the program,” Flutterfree said, eyes widening. “We’ve been following Twilence.” There was silence on the bridge. I rolled my eyes. “They could just be going in circles too you know. It’s not like I can see that much.” And then Flutterfree decided to pull out Lolo. Of course… I reacted quickly – before she could do anything ‘revealing’ to me I vaporized the notebook, removing all the evidence. I smiled awkwardly. “I was kinda hoping that’d last a little longer.” “Twilence… Really?” Pinkie said, mane starting to droop. “Is it really that surprising?” I asked. “I mean…” I took a deep breath, allowing the Heartsong to overtake me. “I was always looking close I was made to understand This bizarre force we call the Narrative How it guides our lives like fine sand. I tried to think it was great Listened to those who read the tales But I saw the truth of the world Now alone with my wails.” I spread my wings and focused on Eve. I gestured toward the Eye of Rhyme forcefully. “Open up your eyes! See the world from where I stand Me among the Aware My words define your lives!” I moved to Pidge, surprising her considerably. “Open up your eyes! See fantasy for what it is End the dark deaths of those held dear Come now little one Open up your eyes!” I backed up, taking a moment to look at Pinkie. “We all start out the same Thinking the world is just Seeing fate as our one guide Not looking at the rust But then there comes a moment When you see ka for what it is It’s just the twisted desires Made to give empty bliss…” I let out a deep sigh, tears in my eyes. I took a moment to pause, reminiscing on my life up to this point. How it had all led to this. “It isn’t really their fault They just want to enjoy themselves The evil of the Tower It doesn’t give meaning but suffering…” I spread my wings again, holding my hoof up high. “Open up your eyes! See the world from where I stand Me among the Prophets My words define your lives! Open up your eyes! And behold the crumbling Dark! We cannot let this evil stand Come now everyone Open up your eyes!” “OPEN UP YOUR EYES!” I lowered by head to Eve as my musical number ended. “Cuff me and send me to the brig. I’ve already done all I need to. They’ll complete their mission. I’ve written almost all of it.” “Not if we have anything to say about it,” Eve said. “Nanoha, you can tightbeam a communication to Merodi Universalis with the speeder, right?” Nanoha nodded. “We need to get Rohan.” I nodded. “Good move.” “You aren’t our only Prophet, Twilence.” “Are you sure he can find a way to get you to them? You don’t even know what I wrote for them!” “No,” Eve admitted. “But we’re going to try anyway…” ~~~ “…I take it you have a breathing spell on us,” Corona asked Mage Rarity. She nodded in response. “The Static is no place to live, of course I do.” “Merodi Universalis has drones all over here. They’ll detect us,” Ash said. “Yes, they will. But they’re not looking for you yet, remember? Only the Austraeoh knows about you, and word will take some time to travel even with a TSAB tightbeam. But we should move regardless.” She took them down to a large, black platform somewhere within the Static. It was made out of the usual blackish rock material. Both above and below, they saw the Eye of the Static, that mysterious red shape that was impossibly far away, always watching. They saw a monolith pass by, not paying them any mind. “Why here?” Insipid asked. “It’s so drab.” “This is the place the Eye of Rhyme was created,” Mage Rarity explained. “An artifact more than worthy of my treasury…” Gilgamesh muttered. “Twilence is not able to give it up, and it would be too much for you,” Mage Rarity said matter-of-factly. “No one can handle that much truth all at once.” Gilgamesh grunted. “Regardless, the Stars created this universe in the Starstream War, specifically to twist ka in their favor. They were seen as the ‘villains’ the entire time in the war, enslavers of ponies, or at the very least uncaring cosmic entities. They wished to understand how and why this ka was making them lose. So they used this place to focus the idea of eyes, understanding, and ka itself into one point, creating the device known as the Eye of Rhyme. Unfortunately for them, Nanoha Takamachi interfered and blasted the Eye of Rhyme into a random universe to be lost. This was good for us, because if either the Stars or Starcross Society had mastered the Eye…” she shook her head. “The point?” Velvet demanded. “Patience. The Eye of Rhyme was lost on Twilence’s homeworld. It eventually found its way to her via the machinations of a race of ancients. Many think they built the Eye – but in reality, their society was built because of the Eye. All their dimensional relics were based on the intricate things within the Eye. And then it decided Twilence was worthy, and it taught her how to understand ka. And, eventually, she came back here.” She paused for a moment. “She understood this place, this Static, and made it her own.” “And how does that help us?” “She’s essentially been storing up ka energy here,” Mage Rarity said. “Ka energy that can be used to accomplish great feats.” She looked at them. “The only reason any of you have made it this far is because Twilence has written you here. I hope you understand that.” Corona nodded slowly. “I do. I’ll thank her.” Mage Rarity smiled sadly at her. “She knows. She’s been with you the entire time. Even before you knew who she was.” “…She always wanted the multiverse to fall?” Mage Rarity shook her head. “She just saw an opportunity and took it. The loss of certainty was a real thing. She didn’t know what was going on until you did.” “Right,” Corona said. “So, how do we use the Static to get to the Wishing World?” “We ask it to.” Mage Rarity held out her hoof and lit her horn. “Your mistress has given you a purpose. Deliver.” A portal unceremoniously opened. On the other side was a staircase they couldn’t see the top of. “Now they’re going to know you’re here,” Mage Rarity said. “So you should really hurry. Be-” The TARDIS fell out of the sky between them and the portal. The Doctor stepped out, Sonic Screwdriver in hand. “No. No wishing today.” Mage Rarity looked at him in surprise. “Wh- how?!” “A Doctor never reveals his secrets.” “And this is why I’m here,” Gilgamesh said, pulling out a sword and charging the Doctor – bouncing off a force-field the TARDIS was exerting around him and the portal. Corona held out one of her hands, tapping into the reality around the force-field. “You know this won’t keep us.” “Yes,” the Doctor said. “But this will.” He pulled out a box and pressed the button, freezing time for everyone but him. Corona was expecting this – and Insipid just got lucky enough to activate the right one of Corona’s spells, cancelling the time stop for both of them. “You aren’t a warrior, Doctor.” “I used to be,” he said, regretfully. “You aren’t anymore.” She dissipated her glove and pushed her hand slowly through the force field. “Insipid, cover me.” “Cha,” Insipid chimed. The Doctor held out his own hand. “You can’t take my mind, Corona.” “You’re wrong there.” The hands of the two met, and they entered each other’s minds – creating a pure white mindscape. The Doctor was already trying to break down Corona’s mental barriers, to no avail. “You’re faster than expected,” she commented, compensating for her natural biological inferiority with the processing speed of Raging Sights. “I’ve been doing this for an eternity.” “But you’re out of practice,” Corona said. “I do this every day, more or less.” “Corona, stop,” the Doctor said. “This isn’t you. You’re not the villain.” “…I don’t think I am, Doctor,” Corona said, eyes sad. “I think I’m doing what has to be done.” “How can you live with yourself?” Corona smiled sadly, answering the question with silence. Then the Doctor was punched from outside, breaking the shared mindscape up. “About time,” Corona said. “It took a while to break his box!” Insipid whined. “Then Gilgamesh had to realize he needed to go all punchy.” Gilgamesh stood over the form of the Doctor, aiming a legendary magic shotgun at him. “Don’t kill him,” Corona called. “Just watch him.” Mage Rarity nodded. “It’s quite alright, Gilgamesh. Do as she says.” She turned to Corona. “Now, you do as I say. Get in that portal!” The TARDIS still stood in their way, exerting a force-field that took significant effort to wade through. Corona opted to tear the ground out from under the TARDIS – and make it fall deeper into the Static. It worked like a charm. “Oh, bother,” the Doctor muttered. Whether it was at losing his TARDIS or the shotgun pointed at him, nobody knew. “Sorry,” Corona said, running and jumping through the portal, her group following behind. They landed at the foot of the stairs and began to climb. ~~~ Rohan needed to work so fast it wasn’t even funny – a single page of manga that told a compelling enough story to get it across. He took what he knew – Nae was a traitor, Corona had just been detected in the Static, Twilence was also a traitor, and… He had it. He was going to have to leave a lot of holes and be mysterious, but the Tower would be able to fill it in, certainly. He started sweating as he summoned Heaven’s Door, sketching the panels for the page. It was just a couple. The Austraeoh needed to have a compelling reason to get to the Static in an instant when they really should take a few minutes to get back, even with the speeder they had… He checked the bridge crew manifest. Pidge maybe? No, too unknown, couldn’t mad-science something effectively enough. Nova was never the best at it. Twilence was the enemy… Wait, maybe she had a natural connection to the Static. And if not, well, he could just write it into existence retroactively, right? …Right? The time for thinking was over – it was the time to draw. And draw he did. Four simple panels. First, the establishment that Twilence was the traitor, and that she should be sent to the brig now, get her off the Bridge. O’Neill, of course. Second, a setup. A short two-bubble conversation between Nanoha and Nova about the nature of Prophets and how their work cannot be traced without Monika. Third, the panel of everyone looking to Twilence’s Eye of Rhyme. Fourth, a punchline – Twilence was the secret to her own defeat, due to the power she carried on her chest. Rohan drew the fourth panel with her looking right out of the page at him with unbridled rage. He shuddered. He chose to believe that meant it worked. His little attempt at a substandard weekday comic strip joke was just enough to shift events… ~~~ Pidge connected two wires to the Eye of Rhyme. “Got anything Nova?” “I think I do!” Nova said. “It’s a set of coordinate jumps – six to the destination!” “I am going to make Rohan suffer,” I muttered. “All his manga, burned.” “Yeah, good luck with that,” O’Neill commented. “Clandestine?” Clandestine hopped into the pilot’s seat. “On it!” She grabbed the coordinates and initiated the six jumps in quick succession – maybe a total of twenty seconds passed before they were in the Static. “Report!” Eve demanded. Nova looked over her scans. “Dimensional energy to a previously unknown universe is active. Detection of the Doctor, White Mage Rarity, and …Gilgamesh?” “They’re with Twilence,” Pinkie said. “Grab them.” “Teleporting the three of them to the brig,” Clandestine said, doing as she said. “…I meant all of them but the Doctor, sorry.” “I’m sure he’ll understand.” “New universe,” Eve said. “Find it.” “Been working on it!” Pidge said. “I can’t open a portal large enough to fit the Austraeoh through!” Eve took out her personal dimensional device. “We don’t need something that large.” She was sent the new coordinates and opened a standard portal to the base of the stairs. ~~~ Corona and her crew were running up the stairs to the summit of the Wishing World. Why running and not teleporting? Because the Wishing World had forced near-mundane physics. Corona was flapping her wings to get extra lift, allowing her to climb faster than the others, but she was still struggling to do so. “They just came in!” Velvet called, glancing back. “They’re after us!” Unfortunately, the translation spell wasn’t working – so everyone except Insipid had to glance behind them to figure out what was going on. “We’re all the same here!” Sugarcoat shouted, stopping in her tracks. “We can take them.” Corona glanced back – Lady Rarity, Velvet, Sugarcoat, and Ash had stayed back, getting the same idea as Sugarcoat. Insipid and Nae were the only ones still running alongside Corona. Nae was fast enough to keep up with her long legs, and Insipid… Was more or less just running blind. She definitely wouldn’t be a good fighter down there without her powers, so Corona didn’t complain. O’Neill lead the charge of his team. Eve, Nanoha, Pidge, Clandestine, and Pinkie’s Party all struggled to acclimate to their sudden mundane nature – but he sure didn’t. He charged right up to the four defenders and met them in hand-to-hand combat. Velvet charged – and fell like a ragdoll despite her ferocity. He moved to Ash quickly – who at least knew how to move like a ninja, extending the encounter beyond a few seconds. Lady Rarity’s armor was designed to operate even in mundane physics, so she was just fine. Without a levitating hammer she still had an extremely hefty kick, knocking Clandestine and Vriska aside easily. Then Jotaro charged, reminding Lady Rarity that those muscles definitely weren’t just for show, meeting her technological strength with pure brawn. Sugarcoat cautiously stayed back, surveying the oncoming people for a better fit opponent – which ended up being Nanoha. Sugarcoat was surprised to find the White Devil really knew how to kick. With all of them occupied, this allowed Eve, Pinkie, Flutterfree, Nova, and Pidge to move forward. “They’re too far ahead!” Nova called. Eve spread her wings. “I’ve got this. Rest of you, help the others.” Her wings were large enough in relation to her body to provide lift – but Corona had invested the same effort into flapping her own wings. Eve was not gaining. “I’ve got this!” Pinkie said, laughing. She was still able to use her powers. She appeared in front of Corona, bashing her over the head with a squeaky hammer. “Nice try!” Corona rolled down the stairs into Insipid and Nae. The three formed a pile – the distance between Eve and Corona closing rapidly. She’s got us. Corona realized as she tried to stand back up – only for another squeaky hammer hit from Pinkie Pie to keep her down. Pinkie’s got too much on us. Even if I get past her somehow, I’ve lost too much time… It was at this point that two things happened at once. First, Insipid touched Pinkie Pie. Second, Pidge fired her personal weapon – a grappling-hook like cutter that flew through the air and wrapped around Eve’s wing. Insipid suplexed Pinkie so hard they appeared at the bottom of the staircase. “Woo!” she said in a language Pinkie couldn’t understand. Pinkie facehooved. “Gah! My impossibility flowed both ways! That’s dumb!” “I don’t know what you’re saying but this is the freshest fresh.” Insipid took out a giant vanity mirror from her mane and hit Pinkie with it. Meanwhile, Pidge’s weapon pulled Eve to her – the technician already having been tackled by Flutterfree and Nova. Eve looked at Pidge with pain in her eyes. Why? Her expression asked. I opened up my eyes, Pidge’s expression responded. Eve shook her head – she didn’t have time to worry about this. Her wing was sprained, but she returned to running up the stairs. Her hooves were still just as fine as ever, and her legs were far longer than anypony else who was available. Corona was flying again, Nae tailing behind her. Eve was not catching up to the flying human-alicorn. Eve’s expression fell. They had lost… Nae took aim with her weapon and fired – hitting Corona right in the wing. Her blood went flying – its normal, mundane red color, rather than gold – and she fell to the ground. Eve ran past Nae, shooting the Ga a confused expression. Nae returned it with one of her own, the gaze of a woman who wondered what had happened to make her shoot her friend. Despite the pain in her wing, Corona stood and ran up the stairs. But the constant spike of pain ramming into her feathery limb slowed her down. Enough that Eve could catch her, tackling her to the ground one step away from the Wishing World’s summit. “DAMMIT!” Corona shouted. Eve could understand that – after all, they spoke the same language. She flailed to kick Eve off her, but the alicorn’s grip was too strong. “Let go!” “JUST STOP!” Eve shouted. “You can still come back!” “I know!” Corona responded, crying. “I know you will! I’d do the same!” Instead of kicking, she moved her hands forward and tried to pull herself up over the last step. “GET BACK HERE!” Eve blurted, twisting her body backward. Corona’s humanoid body was not enough to deal with the bulk of an alicorn rolling over. She was pulled down and her leg twisted. “GAH! EVE!” She wrenched her own body forward, only managing to sprain the leg significantly. “Just come back. Stop this!” “I need to do this!” Corona shouted, conveniently in a position where Eve could see her mouth, ensuring no guesswork about what she was saying. “I need to do it for everyone!” “WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE DECISION TO LIVE OR DIE FOR EVERYONE!?” “NONE!” Corona shouted. “I’m not making that decision!” Eve blinked. “Wh…What?” “Lady Rarity said the same thing,” Corona said, allowing herself to relax slightly. “She said that we don’t have the right to make the decision ourselves. We’re just specks.” “…Then why are you here?” Corona looked at the summit of the Wishing World. “…I’m here for a Wish. A Wish that would let everyone decide.” “…Everyone?” “Everyone.” Corona said. “I’m not destroying the multiverse with this Wish, Eve. I’m just one person. I can’t make that decision. I’m just going to let everyone know what I’ve found. So it’s even. So it’s fair.” “Even…” Eve said. A spark of light flickered across her pupils. She released Corona. “…Eve?” “…I trust you,” Eve said. “If you’re sure we all need to decide…” “I’m sure. It may cause a horrendous amount of death and pain either way… But the question needs to be asked. It needs to. Do we really want the world to stay the way it is if there’s an option?” Eve looked at Corona. “I like it the way it is.” “I don’t.” Eve nodded. She glanced behind them at their fighting friends. “…Do it before they really hurt each other.” Corona put a hand on Eve’s shoulder. “It’ll be out of our hands – and hooves – soon enough. We’re just a dot, Eve.” “A pale blue dot in a vast cosmos…” Eve said. Corona nodded. She walked up the last couple steps to the clockwork star and planet that was this Wishing World’s Wish. She had to physically remove her glove this time – no magic dissipation allowed. She laid her hand on the star. “I Wish… to send a long, detailed message to every sapient mind in the multiverse, endowed so they can understand it,” Corona said. GRANTED. ~~~ Hello. Most of you don’t know me – and those that do, that shouldn’t matter. I’m about to become obsolete anyway. All that matters is this message I bring. The vast, vast majority of you have been living under the assumption that your world is the only one. This is simply not true – there are trillions of different worlds, different universes, out there. Some are probably like your own. Others are probably beyond your imagination’s ability to comprehend. The point is, these other worlds are real, and together they make up all of existence – the multiverse. It is… well, everything that is. In the early days of the multiverse, there was a man named Gan. He and his people believed there was no meaning in existence, that everything was completely pointless. They didn’t like this answer to life, so they decided that they would make there be meaning in existence. They chose to create the Dark Tower, a structure that has served as the center of the multiverse for an amount of time so large I can’t even understand it myself, much less convey it to all of you. The Dark Tower has ruled over existence almost unchallenged. It connects to every single world and uses a force called ka to control the fates and realities of everything inside. It serves the role of what many of you would consider the place of God – except it isn’t a personal being. It is a machine built by ancient entities that has little in the way of personal desires. Rather, it randomly selects people from across existence to define how it shapes the multiverse. These people are called Prophets. They are usually the poets, authors, and producers of worlds. They are people who create art that tells a story. Only a select few storytellers are Prophets – but those that are, when they tell a story, it will almost certainly become real somewhere in the multiverse. Some of you have ancient legends. Some of you have tall tales. Some of you have novels. If a Prophet wrote or created any of these things, it would become real – as real as you or I are. This has brought about much beauty. There are heroes who will stop at nothing to do what is right. There are great worlds of happiness and utopia. There are many people who find meaning in life through their stories. There are lands where the citizens don’t have a care in the world, or anything to bother them. If you live in one of these worlds… I am sorry for the truth I am revealing to you. The flip side of the coin is that there is much horror in the multiverse. In many worlds, trillions die daily because some wannabe god decided it would be funny. In others, everyone is enslaved by magic, or simply dead. There are worlds based on the depraved and disturbed fantasies of psychotic individuals that exist only to satisfy their lustful imaginations. True evil incarnate is known to exist, and a power known as time travel continually replaces worlds over and over, killing the universe most times it’s used. We have reached into our desire for great stories to define the world around us. This has produced evils, villains, and tragedies. It has also produced heroes, beauty, and, for some, meaning. And now, the Dark Tower has decided it is finally time to ask the question. Do we want to live in an existence defined by the stories we tell? It has shown me the way to end it all. All universes could collapse into one, creating a new era for existence, one without the Dark Tower dictating everything. But, as I have come to realize, it has also shown me a way to ensure ka never dies. And that is what this message is about. We need to decide. At one point in existence, enough of us wanted stories to be real that we made it happen. Now that many of us have seen and felt the results firsthand, we need to decide if we want to keep it that way. This message has encoded within it the instructions to build grand devices – the Tower Rings. You will all inherently come to understand how the Tower Rings work – how they surround the Dark Tower, how they pierce it, and how they give it a single command. A command to collapse the multiverse into one, or a command to alter the way connections between universe operate so that they can never collapse into one. The former option will destroy most worlds, letting only random individuals survive in the New World. But the latter will allow the endless death and suffering to perpetuate for all. The synthesis of a random New World has its fair share of unknowns. How exactly will all the magic synthesize? What sorts of beings simply won't be able to exist? Will the new world itself be doomed to die and fizzle out like so many others? My simulations can only offer guesses. There'll be some magic, though what form it takes I would have no way to determine. Anything that requires exotic physics to survive will probably die. Since there are so many ways to reverse entropy in the multiverse, at least one of them is almost guaranteed to still work. The preservation of the Dark Tower goes much the same. Will it change how it operates once it's immune to altercation? What will happen when someone inevitably tries to create true infinity again? How will the multiversal rules change? Again, I only have guesses. The Dark Tower has never been consistent, so it is likely to change, but it may also not just to subvert expectations; ka will have to adjust to create an ending in continuation. If the Dark Tower lasts for eternity, eventually someone is going to attempt true infinity again, which would have so many unknown consequences. Travel to the Tower will likely become much easier since it would have no need to properly defend itself anymore. More aspects of the simulation are embedded in this message, accessible to all who wish to examine them. This is a very complex issue and I wish to impart as much information as I can. Many of you – most of you who don’t know what the multiverse is – will have minds that don’t want to listen to this. That is fine. It will embed itself into your subconscious and you won’t have to think about it again – but it will be there if you’re ever ready. Those of you who do believe in keeping this close to your heart, be warned, there will be many who have no idea how to do anything. To help, I have embedded in this message a way to use either technology or magic to create a dimensional beacon to join the multiversal society. I am sorry if you do not have either of these at your disposal – the message will try to adapt to your way of life, but it may not be possible for some of you to create these things. But there’s still a chance you’ll need to know, so I’m giving it to everyone. And now to those of you with power, known to us here as the Class 1 Societies or the Seats: you are going to be the ones to make the big decisions here. You have the authority over the multiverse, as a council, to decide what happens. Convene all of the Seats. I beg of you, decide what to do as a whole rather than fighting over it. Invite the lesser societies to the table – you have the power to do that. Let this be a decision, not a fight. What do I think? I vote for the collapse. But many of my closest friends want to keep the world the way it is. I do not have the authority to make this decision – no single person or nation does. It has to be a group decision. It doesn’t matter how that discussion is had, so long as we’re all involved. We can show the Dark Tower that we’ve made a decision. Together. TO BE CONTINUED.