//------------------------------// // This Will Be The Day We've Waited For // Story: The Multiverse in a Nutshell // by Pennington Inkwell //------------------------------// "Uh, Penn? Are we absolutely, positively certain this is going to work?" "Yes, Sunset! You couldn't be in safer hands! Penn's voice replied through her earpiece. Isis already calculated your trajectory and Missy's in position to catch you. Right, Missy?" "You betcha, Penn! Witch, Lantern, and me are gonna be right here to catch you just below the treeline, Sunset!" Sunset narrowed her eyes, trying to see if she could spot the spirits she was currently entrusting her life to. Her anxiety only grew worse when, true to her word, Missy's hiding place under the canopy of the forest was invisible from above. On the bright side, at least the guy beside her seemed equally nervous. "Uh, sir? I-I've got a- uhm- question. So, this 'landing strategy' thing... Wh-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off, or something?" "No. You will be falling." The headmaster replied, his indifference seeming to be as cold as Sunset was certain that mug of coffee he was holding had to be by now. "Oh, I see! So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" the boy beside her replied, sounding hopeful. As much as Sunset wished he was right, Penn had already told her that there was NOT going to be a parachute. The line of students was quickly diminishing was they were each catapulted off the top of the cliff by the platforms they were standing on. "No, you will be using your own landing strategy." "Ah... That. So, what exactly is a landing strateGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" His question devolved into a shriek of terror as he was flung into the air. Sunset's heart skipped a beat and her entire body clenched in preparation as she knew she was next. A moment later, she was flying through the air, hundreds of feet above the forest with only her wits to protect her on the way down. Sunset had flown before. Equestrian magic had given her all kinds of experiences no normal person would ever get to have, prepared her for just about anything life could throw at her. This was nothing like that. As she reached the apex of her arc, Sunset tried to remember WHY she was putting herself through this. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is that what I think it is?" They all stared, dumbfounded, at the shimmering air in front of them. Sunset had seen it before, and she knew exactly what it was. "Yup. That's another dimensional boundary. Just like when we went after the daleks." "It's covering the entire highway! Someone could drive right through!" "Someone probably has!" Missy chimed in. They watched together as Isis emerged from the other side of the portal. "I am happy to report that there is no immediate danger on the other side. The atmosphere is breathable, and the area appears remote and devoid of observers." "Is your geode still saying we should go that way?" Sunset reached down and lifted up her necklace, allowing the geode to hang freely. Sure enough, it pulled forward towards the portal, as if drawn by a magnet. "WOOHOO! New world, here we come!" Missy cheered, not even bothering to wait for the car as she flew straight into the shimmering veil and disappeared. "Missy! Wait for... us." Penn rolled his eyes. "Isis, can you make sure she stays out of trouble?" "Affirmative." Sunset smiled as she sat herself in the passenger seat again. "Isis said it was safe on the other side, she should be fine! Try to tone down that big brother instinct a little." Ch-ch-ch-ch-vrroooom! The Oldsmobile gave its normal resistance to starting up, but began to run just the same. "What Isis said was that it was remote and no one was watching, that doesn't mean there aren't dangerous things out there! We should still be ready in case something goes wrong!" Sunset paused as a thought came to her mind. "You get nervous every time somebody's out of your sight, don't you?" "Last time I let you out of my sight your soul got sent to hell, what do you think?" Sunset raised her hands defensively as they began to drive forward. "Look, I'm just saying that if you don't learn to relax, there's going to be six more of us you'll be trying to keep an eye on at once when we find my friends! What'll you do then?" "I dunno, maybe I'll tie a bell around your neck, or something! Now hold on, we're going through!" Sunset braced herself, but passing through the portal seemed to have no effect on them as the world outside the car began to blur and warp. Suddenly, she felt a shock run through her side of the car that lifted her completely out of her seat. A moment later, the entire front end of the car lurched downwards with the ground of grinding metal and they came to a sudden stop. "SHOOT!" Penn grunted through gritted teeth. "What was that?" Both of them jumped out of their doors and ran to the front of the car. The sight that awaited them hurt Sunset just to look at. "Are- are your tires pointing in different directions?" A quick glance made it obvious that Penn wasn't taking the news well at all, both hands covering his face and mouth to mute his scream. After several seconds, he finally released himself enough to pull his hands away, and he was calm again. "Isis, could you possibly send us a new tie rod? It looks like our old one snapped." He leaned over, taking a better look at Sunset's side of the car. "Probably when we hit that log. That would have been nice to see coming..." "Affirmative. It has been added to the next supply drop." The tie rod: a piece that held the front wheels at an even distance so they would stay aligned with the steering wheel. Sunset remembered that much from building their tour bus, mostly because the original had been broken there, as well. It had fallen on Rainbow Dash's head the first time they had lifted it up to get to the underside. With the mystery of their sudden stop solved, Sunset took in their surroundings. It was an entirely different climate from where they had been moments before, a dense forest of red-leaved trees. Even the grass in this place was a deep crimson, and every breeze filled the air with more fallen leaves to thicken the blanket. In the distance, she could make out a massive, castle-like building nestled at the base of several mountains. It kind of looks like Canterlot... "Hey, Penn?" "Ugh, this is going to be a headache to fix, I've never replaced a tie rod before! Isis, can you pull up some instructions? Missy, would you do me a favor and help me get the jack out of the trunk?" Penn seemed totally oblivious to their beautiful autumnesqe surroundings, laying on the ground to try and get a peek under the car. "Penn, do you know where we are?" "The front is actually on the ground, we'll have to bring the jack in from the side... Missy! I'll get the jack if you can get the jack stands and my socket wrenches!" "PENN!" He finally seemed to notice her, freezing mid-step on his way to the back of the car. "Huh?" "Where are we?" He paused and turned his head from side to side. He let out a low whistle. "Beautiful... It almost looks like-" His eyes widened as he caught sight of the distant castle. "Nope. Nope!" He shook his head and walked back around to the front of the car, pushing himself against the front shoulder-first. "Nope nope nope nope!" "What is it, what's wrong? Are we in danger?" Sunset ran over to him, watching his actions with a measure of concern. "What are you doing?" "I'm pushing Sylvia right back out that portal, I am NOT dealing with this crummy universe! We'll go around, there was an off-ramp a half-mile back!" Sunset narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "I am not pushing the car a half-mile, even if you COULD move it in this condition, which you can't. What, are we in danger?" "Of bad writing, maybe..." he muttered. With a final groan of effort, he gave up and slumped down against the front of the car. "This..." he motioned to the beauty around them, "is the forest of Forever Fall. THAT-" he pointed to the far-off group of buildings, "is Beacon Academy. Which means that we're in the RWBY universe." "Ruby universe? That would explain why everything's red..." "No, RWBY. R-W-B-Y. It's the initials of the main characters. Everything in this forest being red is just a coincidence." He pressed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Okay, how do I explain this..." "This world is a techno-fantasy world where humanity exists alongside a bunch of creepy monsters called 'Grimm.' The Grimm hunt humans, and humans fight back by training to hunt the Grimm right back with advanced, transforming weapons that are the absolute coolest thing about the show. The men and women who train to hunt them are, appropriately, called Hunters and Huntresses." He pointed up into the distance. "That is Beacon Academy, the most prestigious school for Hunters and Huntresses on the continent, and some consider it the best in the world." "Okay, so there's dangerous monsters here, and that's why you want to get out of here?" "No. Well, that too, but that's not the MAIN reason." "Is there something worse than Grimm monsters?" "Yeah, the writing." He rose back up onto his feet and walked to the back of the car. With a light pop, the trunk was open and he was soon buried up to his shoulders in it head-first. "After season 3- ouch! Stupid portal gun pointy bits! -the entire status quo was thrown out the window, along with most of the fan-favorite characters! Three of the four main characters went AWOL, one was maimed and traumatized, Beacon Academy was destroyed, and the bad guys pretty much won!" He grunted loudly as he lifted a heavy-looking hydraulic jack out of the trunk. "Penny? Dead. Pyrrha? Dead. Torchwick? Dead." He paused for a second before giving her a nervous glance. "Kinda feels like they just culled the redheads, in retrospect." Sunset swallowed and unconsciously reached up to her shortened locks. "Neopolitan? MIA. The great villain they'd been building up since episode one? Crippled and made into a mook for a bigger, badder one we'd never so much as seen before. And worst of all..." he set down the jack and placed a hand over his heart. "One of the greatest animators of our time, the man who conceptualized it all, who took it from a single trailer to a stunning adventure shared with people all around the world... was lost in a tragic accident, leaving it in the hands of other writers." Sunset had to admit, she was gobsmacked. The world around her seemed so beautiful, so peaceful. The idea that so much hardship could come to a place like this seemed absurd. "So, we're going to get out of here before things go off the rails!" he declared as he fitted the handle of the jack into its appointed slot and began to pump up and down. Inch by inch, the front of the car began to rise up off the ground. "If Isis expedites that delivery and it's here tomorrow, I should be able to get the new tie rod in and get us out of here in a day or two!" "Wait, what?" "Well, it's not the hardest fix in the world, a buddy of mine had his break and it only took the mechanic a day! I'm no mechanic, but-" "No, I mean we're just going to LEAVE?" Sunset motioned to the academy. "That doesn't look destroyed to me! Maybe all that bad stuff hasn't happened yet! Maybe we can help stop it from happening!" There was a beat of silence as he stared at her, jaw agape. "Sunset Shimmer, my good friend, are you suggesting that we alter established events in another world's history?" "She has a point, Penn! If we know what's going to happen, we could stop it!" Missy chimed in, holding a pair of triangular metal stands in her hands and hanging a black case off of her foot. "Maybe we could save some of the people who died, like Pyrrha!" "Et tu, Missy?" Penn reached out and took the two stands from her. Lowering himself to one knee, he began to position the first one in the gap created by the jack. "Look, if we're going to go where no one's gone before, we need to maintain Star Trek's prime directive: Not interfering in the development of other worlds! We couldn't be certain we would just make things worse, too! A LOT of important characters made it out of there by the skin of their teeth, what if trying to save one person kills three more? And what if one of those three was a part of the group that eventually saves the world or something, huh? Even if we DID help in the short term, we could cause monumental harm in the long term!" Missy folded her arms over her chest and glared down at him. "And what about the Spider-Man prime directive, huh? With great power comes great responsibility!" "And knowledge IS power!" Sunset added, earning herself a fist bump from Missy. Penn's eyes narrowed in a frustrated glare. "Okay, first of all, don't quote Spider-Man at me, I was reading his comics when you were still a glimmer in Kazuki Takahashi's eye, Missy! Second of all, having a command of thoroughly useless information isn't going to help me when I'm staring down a killer mecha or a Grimm three times taller than me!" He pointed down at Sunset's belt, then Missy's chest. "It's easy for you two to say that you want to help, you have magic, a bunch of monsters and traps that actually work when you summon them, and a freakin' lightsaber! You know what I've got?" He reached out, snatching the case that was hanging from Missy's foot and popping it open. Inside was a small tool and a set of differently-sized attachments. "I have a SOCKET WRENCH!" His shout echoed through the forest, and when it finally faded, Sunset couldn't help feeling slightly hurt and betrayed at the outburst. It must have been obvious on her face, because Penn seemed to instantly backpedal. "Sorry, I- I'm upset about the car, and I'm taking it out on you. That's wrong of me, I shouldn't have yelled. I apologize." He looked down at the ground in shame. "It's very clear that we're standing on opposite sides of the Time Traveler's Dilemma: to change history and send it on an entirely unpredictable new path, or do nothing and let the world suffer for the sake of the future we know." He walked away, placing himself on the other side of the car to position the second stand under the space. "We're at an impasse and... oh no." He slapped himself in the forehead. "Isis? Get ready to add more parts to the list of what we need, scraping on the ground after the tie rod broke looks as if it did a real number on some other stuff. I can see oil and bits of metal down there." "Affirmative." He let out another long sigh and leaned his head against the car door. "As I was saying, we're at an impasse, and it's obvious we're not going to agree. But, because you're my friend..." He mimed the act of rolling up his short-sleeved shirt's sleeves and laid himself on his back to scoot under the car. "I'm going to be VERY focused on these car repairs. Very. Focused. In fact, I think the only thing I'll take notice of is if someone were to call me on my phone with questions any time they get confused! You could probably just walk away and do anything you want and I wouldn't even know it, let alone be able to do anything about it!" Sunset and Missy looked at one another, and Missy made a jabbing motion with her thumb in the direction of Beacon Academy. Sunset cast one more longing glance at Penn, who had half-disappeared under the car. With a final huff, she turned her back on him and began walking in the direction of the school. Fine! If he's not going to help people, then I will! Because that's what heroes do! Because it's RIGHT, no matter what Penn says! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The starter hit some kind of rock, it's been bashed to pieces. We'll need a new one. The oil pan has also been torn to shreds, I can see holes straight through it, so we'll need a new pan AND fresh oil. I've been meaning to do an oil change, anyway. I'm going to take a closer look at the transmission filter, see if it's leaking from that compartment." "Affirmative. The new parts have been added to the list." After approximately another minute, Elijah emerged from underneath the Oldsmobile and grabbed a handful of the shop towels he had retrieved from the trunk to wipe his hands clean. "Well, good news is it looks like it's just the tie rod, the starter, and the oil pan. I've replaced the starter before and the oil pan should be relatively straightforward, just bolting the new one into place. The tie rod ought to be the trickiest of the bunch." "You were unusually callous today. Prior data would have suggested that you would follow Sunset Shimmer no matter what the path may be. You also seemed unusually lacking in empathy for those who suffer due to actions you know how to prevent. It is a considerable deviation from my behavioral models." Elijah turned and gave her an irritated look. "Aaand there we go. You too, huh?" "I am merely noting the deviation and bringing it to your attention for self-diagnostic purposes." "There's NOTHING wrong with me!" He threw his hands up, ignoring the flecks of oil it sprayed through the air. "I just know that what happened- what's going to happen- is a very delicate situation! If just one villain feels pressured more than they were- are going to be- they might aim for a killing blow where they didn't before! They might move their plans faster or change their targets to be more efficient, more ruthless! And even if I stopped watching, I DO keep tabs on the show!" he pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Everything that happened winds up making the core team stronger, it's character development! Without it, Team RWBY won't make it to their happy ending, because the show is going to have a happy ending!" "I did not claim you were ignorant. However, is the idea that RWBY is moving towards a 'happy ending' conjecture?" "I mean, it's basic narrative story structure. Giving it a downer ending would be suicide for Rooster Teeth's animation division." "Did they not also end Red vs Blue's Season 10 on a melancholy note?" "RWBY and Red vs Blue are very different shows, Isis..." "However, it has set a precedent." She could see him computing fresh variables, adjusting parameters in his mind. After a few seconds, however, he seemed to reset and gave her a look she recognized as suspicion. "You want to step in too, don't you? I would have thought you'd recognize the paradox of altering a timeline using knowledge from observing that SAME timeline. If we change what we saw, then we change what we knew when we chose to change it. It becomes a logical loop sending constantly changing information back in time to ourselves!" "Theoretically, this may not be the same timeline you came to know as the web series. Perhaps your data comes from a secondary timeline in which you did not interfere? Consider the Many Worlds Theory. When you make a decision, the timeline could split, creating two worlds: one in which you interfere, and one in which you do not. Consider further that what you consider the 'source material' is merely the timeline in which you did NOT interfere." Isis knew that Elijah was a visual learner and used the tip of her tail to burn a small illustration into the grass, a Y shape representing a diverging timeline. "If that were the case, then what you have seen can not only not be altered, but could serve you as a cautionary tale of the consequences of NOT taking initiative. And instead, this is the timeline in which you CAN intervene." She moved her tail from one side of the Y to the other, indicating a change between timelines due to their presence. "Assuming that other universes are allowed only one timeline is very much against the evidence we have seen regarding the existence of many worlds. It is illogical to worry so. One of my directives is to protect the free agency and happiness of those whom I serve, and I would be acting against that directive to allow you to continue to think that you have no free will in these matters. If so, you may regret your inaction." "So you think-" "It is not a matter of what I think. This is not a matter of voting. It is a matter of splitting the party, and I can be present with both. It is a matter of what YOU think, and the fact that it may be erroneous." He took more time to process, there were more variables and scenarios to consider. Infinite variables, taking into account the Many Worlds Theory. This seemed to result in an error, as he shook his head and laid back down to return under the car. "I'll think about it. For now, let's get this busted starter out of there, it's wedged in pretty tight and I think one of the bolts is bent." A cutting tool would be required. Thankfully, the angle grinder in this unit's tail would more than suffice. A remarkable thing about organic brains was that they had involuntary parallel processing. Even if she discussed the matter no further, the "data" of the idea had been entered, and would continue to consume processing power until he had settled upon a solution. And despite the earlier deviation, she knew what course his moral alignment would inevitably settle upon. "Affirmative. New bolts have been added to tomorrow's care package. Please, allow me to help." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ugh, I can't BELIEVE him! Of all the stubborn, pigheaded- GAH!" Sunset was working herself up, and she knew it. But she couldn't stop herself. "He's scared!" Missy declared. "He's more scared of messing up the precious timeline than he is of innocent people DYING!" "It's all just a show to him, just another stupid TV show!" Sunset volleyed back. "He's so detached, so above it all! Sure, he'll risk life and limb if it's a show he LIKES or if it's HIS world at stake, but put him in something he doesn't care about and suddenly none of it matters!" "Though... I will admit, I don't know WHAT we're going to do..." Missy muttered. "What's the plan, again?" Sunset hesitated for a moment. She had been so upset, she'd stormed off with hardly a thought of what she actually planned to DO, just that she was going to do it. "Well... My geode led us here, right? We'll keep following it until a course of action presents itself!" Overhead, she could see metal airships flying to and from the school. The closer they got, the more she could see that it was a hub of activity. "Hey, maybe one of your friends is AT Beacon, and that's why the geode is leading us there!" Missy exclaimed. The thought HAD occurred to Sunset, and she had been silently hoping that was the case. She felt her phone begin to buzz in her pocket. "I took the liberty of looking into Beacon Academy, as an exploratory drone landed here some time ago. The new semester is about to begin. If you wish, I could prepare a falsified transcript for you and have you enrolled." "You mean... have me GO to the school?" "There would be no better way to check the student body for signs of the Rainbooms. This world has established hard light technology, your lightsaber would be an acceptable, if somewhat unusual, weapon. Your martial arts training would be serviceable to get by in combat. You are also the only member of the party who could convincingly pass as the appropriate age." Missy hummed happily to herself. "Looks like a course of action's presenting itself, isn't it?" Sunset pondered the situation. It's not like I have any better ideas, right? If I want to help, it's best to be in the center of everything. "Isis, sign me up!" "Affirmative. I am happy to help."