//------------------------------// // Chapter 30 // Story: Ponystuck // by confoundtheseponies //------------------------------// Silver Heart awoke to the sound of battle. Cannons and archers and swords and submachine guns clashed with one another in a rather confused fashion all around her, and as she took in her surroundings she realised that she was flying above the Battlefield. A chessboard pattern stretched as far as her eyes could see in all directions, and far, far above her the intricate network of rings and moons shared the same texture. The scenery was somewhat spoiled, however, by the fields of dead soldiers and living soldiers and tanks and crashed battleships and castles. Wait a minute. She was flying? Glancing at herself over her shoulder, which was rather tricky to pull off in mid-air, Silver noticed two things. Firstly, she noticed two purple wings which almost certainly hadn't been there before she had been brutally murdered. And secondly, she noticed the pale yellow clothes she was now wearing. So, that was what had happened, and that was why she was on Skaia now. That was pretty cool. What was less cool was the alarming amount of dying that the Prospitans were busy doing. In fact, both armies seemed to be taking heavy losses from the alarming amount of meteors which were regularly bombarding the surface of the Battlefield, but the Dersites were clearly winning. The Black King loomed alarmingly over the rest of the soldiers, wiping out entire regiments with a swing of his arm. The sight was quite alarming. Frankly, Silver was getting tired of being alarmed. She was a God now, so she may as well start handing out some divine judgement. Immediately after checking who was contacting her at a time like this, of course. [eclecticSage began pestering suspiciousSeraphim(Ss)] ES: SILVER ES: are you OK? Ss: Golden! Ss: I'm fine, if a little surprised. Ss: I was under the impression that I was dead. ES: yeah, you were ES: luckily for you, i'm AWESOME Ss: :D ES: but anyway, you should probably come back to LOWAF soon ES: everyone's regrouping there ES: and it seems like whenever that happens one of us ends up dead or dying Ss: Ah. I'd better get over there then. ES: yeah, that's probably a good idea ES: i'll see you later Ss: OK, bye. [eclecticSage ceased pestering suspiciousSeraphim(Ss)] *** "They're all on LOWAF, or are on their way there," Silver Edge reported, with a somewhat tired expression as she stumbled back into Derse's throne room. Immediately, something struck her as odd when the only face glancing back at her was Mild's. "Hey, where's the Queen?" The Thief shrugged. "She stormed off all of a sudden. I tried to get her to explain, but all I know is that apparently the White Queen is the illegitimate lovechild of hamster and someone or something possessing the scent of elderberries, and that there's going to be a whole other Reckoning or something. And also that I shouldn't get in her way." He paused for a moment. "On reflection, I probably should have taken one of your cameras and followed her. I know a guy who'd pay good money to see that." While he was talking, Silver just stared blankly at him until he realised that she wasn't in the mood. Eventually, he fell silent. "If you're quite finished," Silver said at last, "Are we going to kill everyone or not?" Mild thought for a moment. "No," he said. "If everyone's on LOWAF then it'll be more trouble than it's worth. They have Luna, who can stop my mind control, and they have Applejack, so any non-fatal injuries aren't going to affect them. We should just wait for backup." "Does it bother you that the entire strength of our team is almost completely provided by just one member?" Silver asked. Mild's powers, rendered obsolete by Luna, were becoming increasingly stupid as time wore on. What was the point of being a God if no one followed you? "If he was here, then he'd just waltz over to LOWAF by himself, and probably bring back a couple of heads for each of us." "I prefer not to think about it too much," Mild replied. "The whole reason I agreed to go along with the plan was because future me had twisted my leg into it. It's occurred to me more than once that we might have been had by the greatest interdimensional con artist the world has ever seen." Silver thought about that for a moment. "I wouldn't go that far. He's on our side, so we don't have anything to worry about." Mild laughed. "True. We don't have anything to worry about, as long as that remains true. But we both know what's going to keep us alive once he gets here." If there was fear in his voice, it was hidden behind the frustration. "The fact that there are more important things for him to think about. That's it." With that, he turned and walked out of the throne room, leaving Silver to ponder their situation. "Perhaps," she admitted aloud to no one in particular. "But he's not so far gone that he's forgotten himself. Maybe his old self will shine through." *** "Golden. I'm alive. This is a fact which has already been established." Whatever Silver said, nothing could get through to Golden. Or out of her windpipe, for that matter. "Agh! Golden! I need air!" Rather begrudgingly, Golden stepped backwards, allowing her to breathe properly once more. "Sorry," he said. "I-" "Are you two done yet?" Comet called, beckoning the two ponies over to where he and the others were gathered. "Frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about. People die and then come back all the time in this game. Luna did it, and no one gave her a hug." Luna started a little at this, as if she had suddenly remembered something. "But whatever. Here's the situation; we're fucked. The Reckoning is going to be over in a few hours, at which point Skaia will be rendered forever incapable of hosting a Genesis Frog. So don't worry about scuttling around this place finishing your frog, because by the time you're finished there won't be a pond to chuck it in. That also means there's no point beating the remaining denizens until we've taken care of the Reckoning situation. Question?" Comet paused, gesturing to Star Swirl. "No, I'm just rubbing my head," Star Swirl replied, before returning to nursing the bruise which he had recently obtained due to an act of God. Specifically, Luna. "OK, whatever," Comet shrugged. "But I do have a question. Although I originally thought that Discord must have come from this session, since I didn't bring him in and neither did Twilight, he doesn't seem to be around. That means that our biggest problem is the Black King. We need to kill him, retrieve the sceptre undamaged, and use it to stop the Reckoning, all in the space of about 3-4 hours. Any ideas?" "Can't we just go to Skaia and start beating the crap out of him?" Summer suggested. "That's what we did to ours, and it worked fine." "That is a good plan, and I like it," Comet approved. "Of course, we'll be up against the King, as well as Mild and Silver Edge, not to mention the combined forces of Prospit and Derse - such as they are." Obviously Mild would use his powers to affect the soldiers on the Battlefield, since he couldn't effectively use them on the players. "I think I might be able to help with that," came a voice from above the assembled ponies. They watched in surprise as a twisted, disfigured, but somehow infinitely elegant monarch descended to the surface of LOWAF. The White Queen, bearing prototypings eighteenfold, was an impressive sight. "I..." Comet froze, utterly astounded that the White Queen was actually doing something. "I think we might finally have the upper hand," he said, an uneasy smile gripping hold of his face. This vanished instantly as he heard an exasperated sigh. "Ya just had to say that, didn't ya," Applejack said, pointing a hoof into the distance, where another monarch of similar proportions but notably different hue was fast approaching. Comet sighed. "Right, this is getting silly, let's just kill the bitch and be done with it." *** "She's WHAT?" Mild yelled, terrifying the hapless agent who had brought him the news. "I said, the Queen is attacking-" Several large patches of blood were scattered across the throne room, along with a head and several limbs. "I heard what you said," Mild stated, although Silver was the only one alive enough to hear him. "We'd better go after her." "It's too late, if she's already there," Silver reasoned. "If they've got the White Queen with them then there's no way she could ever win." "I know that," Mild said. "And I'm pretty damn annoyed about it. But we need that ring, if nothing else." "Really? That's what you're worried about?" Silver shook her head. "We have bigger problems right now. Protecting the King is the priority here, don't you think?" "That's true," Mild admitted. "But why do we need that King alive?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "For the crossover once we get into the last incipisphere. And why do we want to do a crossover? Because the other King will be even stronger. And why is that, Silver?" Silver sighed. "Yeah, OK, I get it, let's go get the stupid ring," Silver was not accustomed to being outsmarted by Mild, and it wasn't a feeling she particularly enjoyed. "But they still have their Queen, and she's more powerful than our King." In truth, Silver would be lying if she claimed to understand how the prototyping system really worked. It just did, and that was enough for her. "Not really. Only in terms of prototypings, and then only by one. And even then, the King is more powerful than the Queen by default. It's just a simple case of sexual dimorphism." Silver raised an eyebrow. "You know, the males of a species are usually stronger than the females. It's the same principle." "I think it'd be best if you stopped talking now," Silver said. "Let's just go pick up the ring and get out of there." "Oh, I think we can do a little better than that," Mild said, wiping the fresh blood off of his knives. *** "Why is it always either me or you?" Silver asked, as she stared down at Golden. He shrugged, or at least gave a half-hearted attempt at shrugging, only to find that it was probably a bad idea to make any kind of movement. The puddle of blood grew a little. "Honestly, couldn't it be Star Swirl for a change?" Star Swirl gave her an odd look, but said nothing. "Now now, calm down," Applejack said, as she equipped her My Little Trauma Centre. "This shouldn't take too long." "That's good," Golden said. "I don't have too long." Silver punched him, and he glanced up at her with a curious expression. "I really, honestly don't understand that reaction." "Both of ya, stop it," Applejack admonished. "Honestly, why are ya both so high strung all the time?" "I'm not!" Golden replied. "It's her, she's the crazy one! Ow!" He shook his head. "But yeah, Silver, you're the Sylph of Hope, right? Why not just wish me better?" Silver shrugged. "I can't do that. I'm... I'm not sure what I can do." She glanced down at herself, at the pale yellow wings on the front of her dress. "I spoke to Luna, and she said that when she ascended, suddenly she knew exactly how to do all the things she can do. But I... I don't feel anything like that." "Well, you have Hope powers," Golden pointed out. "That's not really anything concrete that you can easily understand, like Time or Space. Hell, I don't even know what my title is yet." "Yeah, that struck me as a little odd," Silver mused. "Normally the consorts seem all too eager to spill details about the hero of their planet. Maybe you're just a pretty terrible hero." "Thanks for the vote of confidence." Another punch. "Sorry." An uneasy silence fell while Applejack worked, unbroken until Twilight wandered over to the small group. "Is everything OK?" Twilight asked, with the air of someone who had spent the last few minutes debating whether or not to talk to them, and was now attempting to hide that fact by acting as though she had immediately walked over after learning that somepony was injured. "I'm fine," Golden replied, before Silver could answer the question. "I just need a little rest." He glanced at Applejack. "And also magic." "Ah can't do magic," Applejack corrected him. "This is just science." "Yeah, OK, but a lot of the 'science' in this game is really far too unspecific for it to be taken seriously as an area of scientific study. It's all a kind of magicky science, isn't it?" Golden said, while Twilight mentally added 'magicky' to her list of words and phrases that she forbade herself from ever using. Also on the list was 'chimi cherry changa', as well as the old favourite 'Of course! Statistics is what we need to use in this situation!'. "Magic and science are essentially the same thing," Twilight said. "The only difference is that, while magic uses a-" "Uh, so anyway, Golden..." Applejack began, hurriedly silencing Twilight before the conversation got too metaphysical. Glancing around, she searched desperately for something to talk about. Her eyes found a golden apple. "If it ain't too personal, what's the story behind your cutie mark? Ah was just interested cause, y'know. Apples." She smiled unconvincingly, but Golden was either too distracted or too dying to notice. He just shrugged. "I have no idea. I just woke up one morning and it was there, but none of my parents had any clue what I'd been doing the day before. Nothing apple-related came to mind, at any rate. All I can really remember is going down to the river with my aunt to throw stones in the water." He was quiet for a few moments. "You mean, skim them along the surface," Twilight offered, but he shook his head. "No, we both just found the biggest stones we could lift and chucked them in to see the splashes," he stated. "I asked her what my cutie mark meant afterwards, but she just smiled knowingly and giggled. But I'm not convinced she actually knew what it meant, since smiling knowingly and giggling was her reaction to pretty much anything." Another few moments of reflection. "My aunt was pretty great, really." Twilight wasn't sure what to say to that. "Well, it's good that you're OK. I'm, uh, I'm going to go and take a walk..." Trailing off, she stood around awkwardly for a few more seconds before turning and walking away, leaving the three ponies alone once more. "Are you three done yet?" Comet called, while looking at his leg in search of an imaginary watch. "We still need a bit longer," Silver replied. "Oh, please, take all the time you need," Comet said unsympathetically, as he inspected the dead Black Queen. "It's not like we need to be anywhere." He retrieved the Queen's ring, then glanced over to the White Queen. She was wearing the same ring, near enough. "So, here's a question. There's five ponies in this session, so... why is the ring eighteenfold?" "That is how many there are, because that is how much information it needs to hold," the Queen replied, completely failing to provide any new information. "Right. But there were only five prototypings, correct?" The Queen shrugged, and Comet felt his patience rapidly evaporating. "OK, look, I get that it's all sacred and mystical and basically you don't want to tell me the specifics because then I'll know just how cheap and badly put together this game really is. Whatever. Why are there eighteen orbs on this ring?" The Queen shifted from side to side uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to explain. "There... there were five heroes... but among them they carried the weight of eighteen." "OK, listen, this isn't working," Comet stated. "You're just restating the problem. I need specifics. Why did five ponies end up creating an eighteenfold ring? Actually, I can probably figure out the reason why. The reason why is that they're complete idiots. More importantly, how did they create an eighteenfold ring?" "They had help..." the Queen offered. "Help from the Thief." "Mild. Mild helped them? What you mean to say is that Mild is the reason why this session is fucked up. We already know that." Shaking his head, Comet turned back to the others. "Are you guys finished ye-" He stopped. Golden was dead. This was obvious from the large amount of knives that now decorated his body. Also obvious was the reason for this, as Mild grinned merrily back at him. Silver and Applejack were not unaware of this development, but were rather fixated on the knives being held to their throats. "OK, seriously, how many knives do you actually have?" Comet asked incredulously. "It's getting ridiculous. No matter what happens you just pull more knives from somewhere." "Comet." "Yeah?" "Shut up." Mild glanced between the two Queens. "Fuck. I knew I shouldn't have let her run off by herself." "Yeah, life's a bitch like that. No offense AJ," Summer said, smacking her rifle into Mild's face as he turned behind him to face her. Instantly, all of the tension dissolved into chaotic violence, as two Gods, a monarch, and six ponies charged towards Mild as one. A short distance away, Silver Edge watched the scene with disdain, shaking her head as she quietly captchalogued the Black Queen's ring and disappeared from view. *** In the aftermath of Mild's attack, much talk was had. This was mainly about what was to be done about Golden, and of the various means through which vengeance could be achieved. Very little attention was given to Twilight, and her exit from the group went unnoticed, except for the pony she was going to meet. "Hey," Comet said, with a sad smile on his face. He looked different somehow; the usual expression of vague annoyance was gone from his face. He looked rather like he had done when Twilight had first met him on her planet, but maybe that was just her imagination. What was definitely true was that he looked different from the other Comet who was at the heart of the discussion that she had left behind. "What," Twilight said slowly. As she reached him, he turned and began walking away, which left her with no choice but to follow. "What gave you the impression that we needed another Comet?" "There's no time for explaining why there's two of me," Comet stated. "All I can say is that I know what you and I need to do, and there'll be no time to do it if we wait for us to figure it out by ourselves." "And what do we need to do?" Twilight asked. In response, Comet pointed a hoof to the top of a nearby hill, where a bright white spirograph danced cryptically to itself. "We need to head to the Land of Pillars and Doors as quickly as possible. The fate of fate itself depends on it." Retrieving his laptop, Comet absently opened up a memo that Twilight didn't recognise. "One moment." [CURRENT fractalAbomination began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] CFA: heading to the hourglass now [CURRENT fractalAbomination2 began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] CFA2: oh, so it all went ok then? CFA: it went fine CFA: i just hope it'll go smoothly from here on out [FUTURE fractalAbomination began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] FFA: it does FFA: that is, everything going wrong goes very smoothly CFA: that's what i like to hear [FUTURE fractalAbomination2 began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] FFA2: wait, what? FFA2: is that the plan now? let everything go wrong? FFA: if you've got a better plan, which you don't, i'd love to hear it FFA2: how do you know i don't have a better plan FFA: because i've already been you, idiot FFA2: and how was i supposed to know that? i can't keep up anymore [PAST fractalAbomination began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] PFA: i know what you mean, it was a pretty wild ride [CURRENT fractalAbomination3 began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] CFA3: you don't know what you're talking about, which i know because i was just you PFA: oh come on, why would you do that? PFA: that's just not cool CFA3: neither is trying to make this mess even more complicated [??? fractalAbomination began responding to memo FIX EVERYTHING] ?FA: guys CFA3: oh shit it's you again FFA2: everyone shut up and listen to us, this is important in case you haven't figured it out yet ?FA: guys, the dice is important ?FA: the dice is so fucking important CFA2: what dice ?FA: the dice in the middle. it is huge and hugely important CFA: how important is it ?FA: ok, let's say that you made a scale of 0 to really fucking important ?FA: no matter where you put the dice on that scale, it's going to break into your house and burn your stupid scale to the ground ?FA: and then it's going to murder your children ?FA: all because you didn't get how important the dice is PFA: is the dice actually important or are you just fucking with us ?FA: right, seriously ?FA: the dice is important. remember the dice ?FA: and then when you find out how important it is you will be just like ?FA: "i am stupid and lonely and i have no friends" ?FA: that is actually how you will react FFA: what? that's stupid, why would we say that? ?FA: because that's what i literally just said when i found out about the dice ?FA: i did this on purpose, just so that you all have to say it to stop a time paradox when it's your turn ?FA: joke's on you, morons CFA: oh gog this is so screwed up CFA: EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP CFA: NO ONE GIVES A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK CFA: FROM THIS POINT ON ALL YOUR OPINIONS ARE REJECTED CFA: now can ANYONE tell me what i do with the damn hourglass OR DO I NEED TO STRAIGHT UP CHOKE A BITCH "This may take a few more moments," Comet explained. "Me and myself do not get on." Twilight sighed. *** After the excitement had died down and everyone had figured out what to do next, most of the group had left for Skaia. Most of them. A salamander bowed its head respectfully as Silver passed it, levitating Golden in front of her. There was still blood, somehow, but now wasn't the time to make him look presentable. That usually happened by itself anyway. Another salamander, which looked shocked enough at the revelation that the planet actually had a hero, never mind one that had been suddenly killed. None of them offered any words, which was frustrating. Even one whisper of the title by which Golden was known would have satisfied her mounting curiosity, but there were no clues to be had whatsoever from the massing consorts. A couple of badly damaged flowers and a few incredibly ruffled hats, but no clues. And so she continued the walk towards the distant quest bed in moderate silence, her eyes fixed on the path ahead. She didn't want to look at Golden. Not now. She could do all the looking she wanted after he was fixed. It did strike her as odd that injuries always seemed to alternate between herself and Golden, quickly increasing in severity, never affecting anyone else in the group. Somewhere in the grand scheme of things, apparently, something had it in for her. Or for Golden. Or for both of them. Briefly, she wondered if Gods could die. "It's always a shame when a hero dies before their time," a salamander commented, causing Silver to jump back in surprise. "Still, I suppose it's all just a means to an end for you fools." Determined to give Golden's ascension at least some dignity, Silver neglected to behead the salamander, choosing to ignore it. Now she was at the foot of the pillar supporting the quest bed, and certainly close enough to see the dark purple shade of the pillar - and therefore the quest bed. Purple. That wasn't an aspect she knew about, at any rate. Quickly flying up to the top of the pillar, she was surprised to find an elderly salamander standing beside the bed. If she was more certain about the genders which salamanders could be, she might have said it was female, but it was hard to know for certain about that kind of thing. The salamander said nothing as Silver approached, and laid Golden down onto the quest bed. Then she spoke. "Bless you for bringing him here, Sylph," she - Silver was pretty sure it was a she - said. "Our worlds had something of a crisis of faith lately, but some of us still trust in him." Silver thought about that. She also thought that nothing seemed to be happening to Golden, and that this was quite worrying. "Uh, should anything be happening by now?" She asked, to which the salamander glanced between her and Golden with a puzzled expression. "Maybe. I don't know the workings of gods, I just make hats. Maybe he needs a shove in the right direction? That's your department, not mine. I just wanted to come up and see him off." With that, she turned and began hobbling back down the stairs away from the quest bed. "I'd have hated to see an Heir die without realising his true powers." Heir. The word resonated in Silver's mind, and she quickly rushed up to the salamander before she continued her journey. "Wait! He's an Heir? What is he an Heir of?" The salamander's eyes widened, shocked by the question. "You - you don't know?" Silver shook her head. "Oh, oh dear, well, it's not my place to tell you, not my place at all..." The salamander turned and hobbled rather quickly away, only pausing briefly to call back to a deflated Silver. "If you want my advice, you should enjoy what you have while he's still there on that stone slab." Silver walked back to Golden's side alone, looking down at her friend. This wasn't right. He didn't look peaceful at all. What had it been? Maybe he needs a shove in the right direction... Silver closed her eyes. I Hope this isn't too late. *** "Why are we here?" Twilight asked, seconds after she and Comet appearified onto the Land of Pillars and Doors. "Shouldn't we be heading to Skaia, to help with the giant battle that's going on?" Comet shook his head, walking ahead with purpose without waiting for Twilight to follow. "It's a lost battle already. There's nothing we could do except add to the body count. And I don't mean that in a 'kill the bad guys' kind of way." He gestured towards the distant hills, where the entrance to a palace of Time could be seen nestled into the mountains. "There's only one thing left to do." "Are you serious?" Twilight had had quite enough of this nonsense. Comet was going to damn well explain everything to her, or there were going to be some problems. "If we've really lost already, then finishing all the denizens isn't going to help. And how do you even know all of this?" Comet paused. "Yeah, I suppose I can tell you that much." As he spoke, he retrieved a small amulet from his sylladex. It was a solid white disc, bearing a familiar green spirograph on its face. It was the same amulet that Owlsprite had given Twilight not too long after she had begun her quest, which was meant to summon her sprite to her. Not that it worked in this universe. "Firstly, we're not going to fight the denizen. We're going to initiate the game's self-destruct mechanism, which in this case happens to be stored in that palace." "Self-destruct mechanism!?" Twilight exclaimed, staring at Comet as if he had gone insane. Which he probably had. "Why would we ever want to use that?" "Maybe 'self-destruct mechanism' isn't quite accurate. It's... more like a reset button. It fundamentally changes this session in a way that gives the parent universe different starting parameters. To put it another way, it destroys this session, and creates a parallel universe which has a better chance of not completely failing." "Wait, the parent universe of this session is the one where I'm a founder of Equestria and Celestia's just a normal pony..." Twilight began slowly. "So if this is going to create a parallel universe which is similar but slightly different, you don't mean..." Comet nodded. "Yeah. If we reset this session, we'll create the universe that you and I came from. This, obviously, is a thing that happened. So there's no way around this." "How could you possibly have found out all of this?" Twilight asked, struggling to understand exactly when the situation had changed so drastically. "Let's just say I had a lot of time to myself, to think about everything," Comet said. "That, and I had a little bit of help along the way." "Right. So, how do you know we've lost the fight?" "We haven't. Not yet. Hell, we're probably winning. But something's about to happen that is going to swing the fight, forever and irreversibly, in Mild's favour." He paused, before correcting himself. "Actually, it's not in Mild's favour. It's not in anyone's favour. Everyone's probably going to end up dead because of it." "And what is it!?" Comet sighed, and activated the amulet. "This is what it is," he explained, as a ball of beige light appeared. "Star Swirl's sprite. Although, thanks to a certain stab happy thief and his morally ambiguous accomplice, it's recently received a substantial addition." The light faded, displaying Star Swirl's sprite in all its glory. Twilight stared. The face of Golden Shine stared back at her, although it had been twisted and warped almost beyond recognition as Sburb had attempted to combine the hapless unicorn with the bizarre mixture of items that had already found their way into Star Swirl's sprite. Various limbs of varying shapes and sizes hung off of the snake-like body at odd angles, including a pegasus' wing and a lion's paw. The sight made Twilight feel sick, but not because of how it looked. Something clicked in the back of her mind. Golden apple. Not a real apple, but a literal golden apple. The Apple of Discord. "Oh..." Twilight floundered, the full extent of how terrible their situation was finally sinking in. "Oh fuck." A/N: Hey everypony! Ponystuck is now officially back to its technically unofficial schedule! Rejoice... um, if you want to... if not then that's fine too... ... Oh hey, a surprise!