It was funny how things turned out. Mild Darkness looked around him, surveying the cast of his little group in its entirety, spread out around the deck of the Prospitan warship they had taken control of. Silver Edge, a unicorn dreamself, a fairly high level Sylph of Hope. She had been on Mild's side since near the very beginning. He had never trusted her, of course, but over the course of their conquest of reality he had found some form of respect for the axe-wielding maniac. They had their differences, but he was at least starting to consider her as... a friend? Maybe not. Not yet, anyway.
Next to her was the colossal eighteenfold Black King in all his glory, making a mockery out of their ship's capacity to float. Although impressively dimensioned, among friends the King's expression had lightened dramatically. He seemed thoroughly excited about their adventure, and had enjoyed a brief few minutes of humming merrily before Silver had threatened to cut his head off and use the blood to write a teenage romance novel about two zombies who learn to love. After that his behaviour had been impeccable. Mild had grown to like the King, in a strange kind of way. It felt wrong to befriend him when they would soon be leaving him for dead, but it was hard not to feel some form of affection for a hideously powerful monarch taking orders from a slightly pissed off unicorn without any special powers. Maybe that was why he had been elected.
And finally, of course, was Discord. Discord, the God Tier unicorn, a fully realised and absolutely batshit crazy Heir of Rage. The newest and the oldest member of the group simultaneously, with mood swings as inconsistent as his biological composition. Silver insisted on calling him Golden, and Mild decided to go along with this for the time being. It wasn't like Discord had ever actually asked to be called that. As for how Mild felt about their mysterious benefactor... if he was being honest with himself, Mild was absolutely terrified of Discord. Soon, Discord would somehow end up in Mild's incipisphere, and initiate both him and Silver into the group and explain the plan. Then they would journey to this incipisphere, and do everything that Mild and Silver had just done, resulting in Discord's ascension. And now... what? What purpose did he and Silver serve? Where they really just obsolete now, and it was simply a matter of time before Discord remembered that and killed them? Mild knew that Silver was convinced that Discord was still, on some level, Golden. She believed that, and she thought that she could reach out to that part of him. Maybe it would work. All Mild knew was that he didn't like their chances of survival if it didn't.
"Right. The Scratch is less than an hour away," Mild stated. "If we want to remain in existence then we ought to get moving now."
"Wait," Discord said, his voice rather quiet and calm. It unnerved Mild to see him so relaxed. "I need to do something first." Without another word, he flew off of the ship and into the dark void. Mild stood in silence for a few minutes.
"Well, I suppose that would be alright," he said uselessly, shaking his head and turning to Silver. "What do you think about him?" Silver shrugged.
"He's lost, and he's confused, and I don't blame him. He's woken up in a different body, in a different situation, and everyone is suddenly treating him like he doesn't belong..." she shook her head. "He's like me. Somewhere in there is the Golden that I... uh, I mean..."
"The Golden that someone completely different is best friends with," Mild finished. "So what? That Golden isn't on our side."
"That Golden is the only reason we're still alive," Silver corrected, with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "Because he's holding back the darkness and the chaos, and the all-consuming Rage. Come to think of it, he's the only reason that he's still alive. An entity like Discord can't exist without someone like Golden to ground it, to make it stable."
"He doesn't look particularly stable," Mild said. "But as long as you know what you're doing, feel free to continue manipulating his emotions."
"Firstly, that's not what I'm doing," Silver said. "And secondly, of course I know what I'm doing. Or at least, I Hope so."
***
The events of the last few hours had left a certain amount of unspoken animosity amongst the group that had taken shelter on LOPAD. Of course, no one had done, or would do, anything as a result of this. But there was no casual conversation, or brave smiles in the face of an impossible challenge. There was only silence, and fear.
Diamond Heart, in particular, was beginning to question herself. Why was she here? What purpose did she serve? She had done nothing useful, nothing of importance, the whole time she had been in this incipisphere. Why had she come? To find out about Silver Heart, more than anything. And in that, she had certainly succeeded - Silver Heart was the same as her, except actually useful. She had ascended to God Tier; she had finished quests, defended her friends; she had also inadvertently turned her dead 'friend' into an insane murderer, but Diamond supposed there was no such thing as a perfect day. But Diamond wasn't angry at Silver for stealing the spotlight, so to speak. She was angry with herself for not doing anything about it. Why was she here?
"Aurgh, fuck it," Comet announced, rousing everypony from their respective stupors. "Let's just get out of here. The Scratch isn't far off, and nothing else is going to happen besides us failing in the most embarrassingly avoidable way ever. Let's leave."
And then the large crystal structure in the sky, which Comet had taken to affectionately calling the 'Disco Ball of Destiny', exploded. Or, more accurately, a large explosion rocked one side of the DBoD, causing it to pause and spin dramatically, as several chunks of crystal were sent flying away in all directions. Almost immediately, the increasingly fancy light show which was illuminating Skaia suddenly died out. The DBoD froze, and all was silent.
"... I think," Star Swirl said. "That we might have a problem." A murmur of agreement slowly travelled around the group. "Does anyone have any idea what the hell just happened?" Silver stood up.
"It's Discord," she said. "It has to be. As for why..." she paused. "I'm going to go take care of it. You guys wait here." Something more than a murmur of disagreement leapt around the group. "He's trying to get our attention. I'm going to go and deal with it."
"Well, that's very heroic of you, Silver," Comet said. "Counterpoint: that means if you die then it will be permanent. So I'm afraid we can't let you do that."
"We have to do something," Twilight said. "This Scratch has to happen, right? Or... or we don't have a universe to come from?" Comet nodded. "So someone has to go."
"I'm this session's hero of Time," Star Swirl said. "So I'll go."
"You don't have any idea how it works," Comet interjected. "Twilight's the one who got it working, and she can't go by herself because she can't fly."
"Then why don't you come with me?" Twilight asked. "Or why don't you go by yourself? I'm sure you could figure it out."
"Flattering as that may be, no."
"Guys, shut up, it doesn't matter," Luna said. "Silver's already gone."
"Alone!?" Comet and Twilight both turned to look, just seeing Silver and Diamond disappearing into the Medium. "... oh. Didn't see that one coming."
***
There hadn't been much debate about it in Diamond's mind. There Silver went again, about to go and do something daring and exciting, and leave Diamond behind to occasionally offer words of wisdom that no one listened to. Well, not this time. This time, Diamond wasn't going to sit back and do nothing. She was going to damn well do something.
She just wished that it had been something other than agreeing to go and deal with the most dangerous enemy imaginable. On reflection, there was probably a reason why she hadn't done anything useful, and it wasn't just because she had been too lazy. Diamond was scared. Luckily, professional rivalry worked wonders for dealing with fear.
"I didn't ask you to come with me," Silver said. Diamond shrugged, to indicate how much she didn't really care. "It's just, this is between me and... Discord." Silver had outright refused to call the enemy in question 'Golden'. On that note, Diamond supposed it was for the best that she had come along. At least now they could actually talk to Discord, which would have been difficult to do without referring to him by name.
"That's why I figured you shouldn't go alone," Diamond said. "Or at least, why the one person who does go shouldn't be emotionally attached to him." Silver's face immediately lit up.
"I'm not emotionally attached to that thing!" Silver protested. Diamond laughed.
"Bullshit." Diamond shook her head. "Point number 1: basically everyone knows by now what the deal was with you and Golden." She ignored Silver's continued protests. "Point number 2: Discord is Golden, whichever way you look at it. Point number 3: Always have 3 points. Always."
"I argue with that on several levels," Silver said. "First, and foremost, that thing is not my Golden." She paused. "Uh, I mean, that thing is not Golden. Yeah."
"OK, whatever," Diamond said. "So with that in mind, what's our plan for when we get there?" It occurred to Diamond that they had no idea what was going to happen upon arriving at the Disco Ball of Destiny, and that they were probably going to get ambushed and immediately killed. It also occurred to her that it was far too late to turn back now.
"Our goal is to restart the Scratch," Silver said. "If Discord is there and tries to stop us, first we reason with him, and then we fight him when that doesn't work."
"Do you seriously think that we stand a chance against him?" Diamond asked, to which Silver shrugged.
"Frankly, Diamond, I never expected to come back from this alive. Which is why, as I believe I've said before, I didn't ask you to come with me." The two travelled in silence for a few more minutes. "We're... we're quite different, aren't we? Silver Edge is someone with very different motives to me. She's manipulative and cruel, but... I understand her. She makes sense to me. She's someone that I could be, given a different environment. But you and I, we're completely different!"
"No we're not," Diamond said. "We're similar in the same way that Silver Edge and I are similar. All three of us know what we want, and try to do everything we can to get it. We know that the only one we can rely on is ourselves, and we know that everyone else either helps us or gets in our way."
"Then how are we different?" Silver asked. Diamond hesitated before answering.
"... you two have found what you want," Diamond eventually replied. "For however brief a time, however slight a glimpse of it you may have had, you found it. And that's why I know you're not going to let a little thing like a predetermined outcome stop you from trying to get it back." Silver gave an odd look at the pony she knew so little about, yet who seemed to know her better than she did. "And I can respect that, so I'm not going to stop you from trying." Diamond looked Silver in the eyes. "But when it doesn't work, I'm not going to let you throw your life away for some hopeless dream."
"... OK."
***
It was funny how things turned out. The Chalk Imp went completely unnoticed as it crept around the weeping pegasus. Her suit of armour was an imposing challenge, but the Imp was either too confident or too stupid to care. It drew another few steps closer.
Unaware of her stalker, Fluttershy was far too preoccupied with the recent passing of one of her absolute best friends ever. Rainbow Dash, more than any other of her friends, had been her anchor during this game. While the four of them had been holding out on LOTAF, Rainbow had been there for her, making sure she was OK, always checking her first after a wave of enemies had been dispatched. And now, she was gone - as a result of saving Fluttershy, no less. This was all her fault, Fluttershy told herself. If she wasn't so weak, and so useless, Rainbow would still be alive. She looked at the object in front of her. It was Rainbow's lance, which she had procured from Celestia knew where. It had dropped beside her when... Fluttershy closed her eyes, attempting to drown out her increasingly frequent waves of guilt. How could she carry on now? It was just her, Acapella, and Ember. Ember was loyal, and more than capable in combat, but he wasn't much use for emotional support. And Acapella just seemed rather clueless, particularly now that Rainbow was gone. She wasn't much at planning. That had been Rainbow's responsibility. Whichever way Fluttershy looked at it, Rainbow had been the one keeping the group together. And now, because of her, Rainbow was gone. It made her afraid. It made her absolutely terrified. But most of all, quite unexpectedly, it made her angry.
The Chalk Imp took another step forward, and a twig snapped beneath its feet. Leaping upwards in surprise before getting control of herself, Fluttershy turned around, grabbing the lance from the ground and thrusting it forwards into the startled underling. A scream leapt through the air, and in a moment of embarrassment Fluttershy realised it had come from her. The Imp had raised a hand, with which it deflected the lance. Fluttershy's low level on her echeladder was readily apparent, but the rather pitiful nature of her attack did nothing but incense her further. Charging forwards, she made several further jabs with the lance, each of which were deflected, before the imp decided to attack. Leaping behind the pegasus, it smacked one of its many fists into Fluttershy's armour. It bounced off with a deafening rattling noise, sending Fluttershy careering into the ground. She picked herself up in confusion, unsure why that had happened. Usually attacks didn't have any effect on the armour. She remembered that she was still under attack just in time, and leapt up and over the imp before it could attack again. Flying upwards as far as she dared, Fluttershy paused and took a few deep breaths, lance in hoof.
"OK Rainbow..." she whispered, before suddenly diving downwards, directly at the rather perplexed underling. "This one's for you!" To her surprise, the attack connected much better than she had thought. The imp was not surprised, but this was mainly because it was dead. The sudden explosion of grist was, luckily for Fluttershy, substantial enough to cushion the impact with the ground, and so the pegasus found herself sitting amongst a pile of grist and boondollars with a silly grin on her face. "I... I did it!" Fluttershy shouted. "I did it!" Who was the useless one now, she asked herself. Who was the useless one now?
You have advanced twenty (20) rungs up your echeladder! You achieve the title of 'Dainty Quiverfidget' and receive 2172000 boondollars!
Gel Viscosity: +40000!
Cache Limit: +2005040!
Cutestitution: +11000!
... OK, maybe it was still her, she admitted.
***
"What the hell does he think he's playing at?" Mild demanded, angrily pacing around the deck of the warship in an altogether useless fashion. "This session has to reset. That's what happens!" Silver sighed, standing up and blocking his progress.
"Yes. It is," she said, with the air of someone who has said the same thing too many times. Which she had. "Therefore, it will. Now can you stop worrying about it? You're really starting to get on my nerves."
"OK, fine, it'll sort itself out," Mild said. "I just don't like the way he changes the plan without so much as asking. He goes off and does his own thing for no reason other than because he feels like it. I don't like that."
"Translation: you're terrified of him, and every time he doesn't respect you, you get reminded of the fact that he could kill you with a snap of his fingers," Silver said. "You don't have anything to worry about, Mild. Your death has to be either heroic, or just. If he killed you for no reason other than because he felt like it, that's not heroic or just."
"I... I didn't think of it like that," Mild said. "But what about you?"
"I am relying on my feminine charm," Silver said. "By which I mean, if I die, you're getting me to my quest bed or I'm going to haunt you forever." Mild thought about that. "Hopefully it won't come to that, though. We're a team, however unsure of that you may be. I trust that Golden will respect that."
"I don't know how you can trust Golden to do anything that makes reasonable sense," Mild said. "We both know that the only reason he went flying off was to talk to Silver Heart. He's clearly just as confused about who's side he's on as everyone else seems to be." Silver was silent. "You... you don't think he's going to leave us, do you?" Mild asked.
"Of course he's not," Silver said. "How can he? We already know-" Mild cut her off.
"Silver. He doesn't need us. He exists, and he knows the plan. From those two conditions, everything that we've experienced so far can happen. He could drop us here, go back and convince us to join him, so that he can screw us over at this point, and rejoin those guys." Mild was actually shaking. And frankly, Silver couldn't really blame him.
"I... that's..." Silver paused. "How did we not see this earlier?"
"I saw it as a possibility the moment we arrived in this session," Mild admitted. "But I thought that maybe things would end up happening quickly enough that there'd be no time for it. Maybe we'd just go ahead with the plan and it wouldn't occur to Golden that he could betray us, but... but then this kind of bullshit happens, and he goes off doing his own thing, and..." He sighed, while Silver's mind raced ahead.
"Wait a minute," she said. "... I think I just realised something important. Holy shit, Mild, I just realised what's going on. Fuck. FUCK." Mild appeared quite alarmed.
"What? What is it?" he asked, only for Silver to smack him in the face.
"Mild, I just realised, that everything we do... everything we've done, or know to be true..." Silver took a deep breath. "Makes absolutely no fucking sense." Mild blinked.
"Didn't we know that already?" Silver sighed exasperatedly.
"Just get this ship moving now. I'll explain on the way."
***
Diamond and Silver had barely come to rest on the surface of the Disco Ball of Destiny, when Discord appeared from the darkness of the void, a somewhat troubled smile on his face. This became less of a smile and even more troubled when he realised that he had twice the expected number of guests.
"Two of you?" He suddenly broke into a disconcerting grin. "Must be my lucky day." He resumed his serious expression. "No fighting, OK? I'm not here to fight you. I want to talk."
"Good," Silver said. "That's what I wanted to do." The Heir nodded.
"Silver, what I'm doing here is giving you a choice. A way out, if you will. You and your friends can stay here. You can stay here and be safe, and no harm will come to any of you. Or, you can pursue me into the next incipisphere like you were planning to, and in that case... I can't promise what I'll do to you." Discord looked away. "I can't promise anything if you follow me."
"That's not a choice," Silver said. "If this session isn't reset then the universe where Twilight and Comet, and Mild, come from... won't exist. Therefore you won't exist. And clearly, unfortunate thought it may be, that's not the case. So we both know what I do."
"Silver, my plan... what I'm trying to achieve... if I succeed, then little things like causality really won't matter anymore." Discord looked up at Skaia, drifting peacefully above them. "If it doesn't suit my needs for it to be a paradox, then it won't be a paradox. It's as simple as that."
"Your plan? You mean Mild's plan?" Diamond asked, determined not to be left out.
"No, it's... well, Mild explained it to me, but he only knows about it because in the future I'll visit him and explain the plan," he said. "That makes sense, right?" Diamond thought about it, then shook her head.
"... no, it doesn't. When are you going to tell Mild about this plan?"
"I'm going to leave for his incipisphere after we've escaped this session," Discord said. "It has to be in that order or the chronology won't match up, because of the time skip which happens when you transfer between sessions."
"That's what I thought," Diamond said. "Think about it. This plan of yours, it comes from nowhere. It's like if I were to travel back in time one hour and give myself the five bits I received from myself an hour ago. Where did those bits come from? Nowhere. Of course, with objects it doesn't quite work because the bits would be infinitely old, but with information..." She fell silent, while Discord thought about it.
"So... so what you're saying is..." he said slowly, putting the pieces together in his mind. "Our plan, our brilliantly thought out plan to bypass an ancient security measure and obtain a mythical treasure..."
"... is complete hearsay," Diamond finished. "With no evidence to substantiate it whatsoever." Discord looked at her as if she had proven that it is impossible to find a right-angled triangle with sides of a whole number length whose perimeter is equal to its area, when - as everypony knew - it was actually possible to find two such triangles.
"So, what now?" Discord asked. "There's no reason for me to assume the plan is true. What am I trying to do?"
"You could always come back to us," Silver offered. "We could all go back to Twilight's incipisphere, we could win the game, and then we could leave. What's wrong with that?"
"... really?" For a moment, Silver almost thought she saw Golden standing in front of her rather than Discord, with a stupid smile on one side of his face. "I... really?" He slapped himself. "... no." Silver's smile froze.
"What?"
"I said no," Discord repeated. "I can't trust myself to be around you guys."
"But... your plan doesn't mean anything now," Silver said. "Why do you have any reason to be against us?"
"I don't," Discord said. "That's the point. It's pointless, it's without meaning, it's just chaotic stupid violence. It's... it's what I do." He paused. "No, it's not what I do. It's not what Golden Shine does. But let's be honest here, no one really thinks of me as Golden Shine anymore."
"That's..." True, Silver's thoughts added, only for her to quickly silence them. "I want to, Golden. I want us to be friends, just like we always were. There's no reason why we can't be."
"Yes there is," Discord said. "I'm not just Golden any more, I'm... something else. Something darker, that I can't really control. That I don't really want to control. And I don't think it cares about you. Or Luna, or Star Swirl, or Celestia. It doesn't care about anyone, it just wants to hurt and destroy as much as it can." He shook his head. "And I really, really want to let it."
"No you don't," Silver pleaded. "Not really. Not you, not Golden."
"... tell me why I should stay with you, Mild," Discord said. Looking around in surprise, Silver suddenly noticed the approaching warship, containing an equally surprised Mild Darkness. "Tell me why I shouldn't just kill everyone. Is there anything, ANYTHING that you can say that will get me to go along with your stupid plan?" Mild took out his laptop, and threw it over to the Heir.
"No, there's nothing I can say," Mild said. "So try talking to him instead." Discord glanced at the screen, and smiled.
[FUTURE eclecticSage began responding to memo THISMAKESNOSENSE]
FES: Approaching now.
FES: We were right. We were right.
FES: I don't know how, and I don't know why.
FES: But hey, past me, who I know is reading this.... we were right, bro.
FES: We were completely, absolutely, 100% motherfucking right.
[FUTURE eclecticSage stopped responding to memo THISMAKESNOSENSE]
"... OK." Discord said, throwing the laptop back to Mild. "OK. Sure. Let's follow the plan." He turned back to Silver. "My offer stands, Silver. Stay here and live, or follow me... and then I can't promise what will happen."
"Really?" Silver asked. "Are you going to just walk away from me now? You're going to go ahead with this stupid plan anyway? Do I really mean NOTHING to you?!"
"Weren't you listening?" Discord asked. "It's not about what Golden wants, it's about what this other part of me wants. And what it wants is chaos, and destruction, and... and..." He threw his arms around as he searched for the word. "... discord. This isn't easy for me, Silver, but I have to." He hopped up onto the ship. "I'm doing this for your own good." He said, without turning to face her, before walking down into the ship, as it began to slowly drift away.
With that, Silver collapsed. A single tear rolled down her face, along with hundreds of other tears that behaved in much the same way. Diamond, who had been standing around awkwardly through much of the exchange, walked over to the broken Sylph and hugged her.
"..." Diamond said.
***
You have advanced one (1) rung up your echeladder! You achieve the title of 'Chucklebuster' and receive 130000 boondollars!
Gel Viscosity: +10800!
Cache Limit: +123059!
Cutestitution: +9500!
Pausing for breath, Fluttershy looked back to make sure that Acapella and Ember were both coping with their underlings. They certainly seemed to be, and Fluttershy was slowly becoming more confident about her own abilities. She hoped that somewhere, Rainbow was watching, and that she was proud of her.
Elsewhere, in the heart of the Veil on the outer edge of the incipisphere and inside a dream bubble, Rainbow Dash groaned dramatically, as Destiny slammed her hoof onto the table they were sitting around. Five white rectangles covered with black and red symbols looked up at Rainbow menacingly.
"Full house, bitch," the Maid said, grinning widely at the Rogue. Begrudgingly, Rainbow relinquished her last few bits.
"The afterlife sucks," she said bitterly.
***
She wasn't Silver Heart. This was something that Silver Edge knew, and accepted. She wasn't the one that Golden had been friends with all his life, and she wasn't the one who could talk him into changing sides, and she wasn't the one who was at God Tier. She knew this, but it still hurt. Briefly, she wondered if that was how Diamond felt. The three of them were pretty much the same, after all. Three different lives for the same pony. Three attempts to get it right. And it seemed like Silver Heart was the only one who had succeeded.
"Uh, Golden," Silver Edge said, as Discord entered the warship. He looked at her, with no real expression on his face. "Are you OK?" Discord sighed.
"No. Not really, Silver. I just hope that this plan really does work," he said, unconvinced even by his own testimony. "And I hope that we get there in time."
"Uh... yeah," Silver said. "Me too. Uh... in time for what, exactly?" Discord shrugged.
"In time for me to save myself."
***
"Can we get it working?" Diamond asked nervously, as Silver looked over the surface of the DBoD.
"I Hope so," Silver said, before pausing. Something about her joke clicked in her mind. "Oh... yeah, I think I can." She closed her eyes. "I Hope that everything I've done so far hasn't been in vain. I Hope that you and the others can find a way to stop Golden. I Hope that someday, somehow, everything will work out. And finally, I Hope that none of you will forget me." And with that, she did her Hopey thing. The Disco Ball of Destiny was illuminated in a bright white light that smelled suspiciously like hope, and the light show on Skaia was resumed in a very explosive and dramatic fashion. "Yeah, that did it." She looked over at Diamond. "Are you OK?"
"What was all that about?" Diamond asked. "You hope that none of us will forget you?"
"Yeah." She looked up at Skaia, which was growing in size now as the DBoD began drifting up towards it once again. "I have to stay in the incipisphere or it'll cancel the Hopey thing and it'll stop working again."
"What? What kind of stupid rule is that?" Diamond demanded. "And why is this the best way for some reason!?"
"It's probably not," Silver said. "But I don't care. It's the way I want it to happen." She glanced in the direction the warship had gone, although it had long since disappeared for the next incipisphere. "... I don't want to see Golden disappear completely."
"So you're running away?" Diamond asked. "You're going to die in a blaze of glory, and be the hero, but you're just running away from the truth?" This was inconceivable. Silver was many things. She was an inspiration, and she was a friend. Diamond couldn't accept this. "Why?"
"It's like you said, Diamond," Silver said. "I found what I wanted, and it just flew away forever. There's... there's no point in dragging out the inevitable. When I die I want it to be on my terms. But you," she said, smiling in a way that gave Diamond a sudden desire to punch something, "you haven't found it yet. I just Hope that when you do, you can hold onto it."
"Stop doing that!" Diamond shouted. "Stop 'Hoping' that good things will happen! Are you even doing anything with your Hope powers to make it happen, or are you just saying it so that when it does happen you can take credit for it?" Silver shrugged noncommittally. "You can't just sacrifice yourself like this, you're a hero! You're the best hero in this whole gog damn session! You're..." Diamond paused. "You're all the things that I'm not."
"And whose fault is that?" Silver asked. "Diamond, I think I've realised something. You are my post-Scratch self. You're who I become in your universe. You're who I grow up to be, with a different environment. You can do everything I can if you just put your mind to it."
"But... then, who's Silver Edge?" Diamond asked. "She's got the same powers as you, hasn't she?" Silver nodded.
"Yeah. She's..." she shrugged. "Maybe you'll be able to find out." She looked up at Skaia. "There's not much time left. Leave now, and tell everyone what happened. Oh, and... uh."
"What is it?" Diamond asked. Silver looked at her hooves sheepishly.
"Please don't blame Golden for this." Diamond nodded.
"... are you sure about this?" She asked for one, final time. "Are you going to be OK?"
"Yeah," Silver said, smiling happily despite herself. "I Hope so." Diamond nodded again, then turned and began the flight back to LOPAD. Silver sighed heavily, sitting herself down on the Disco Ball of Destiny, as the light of Skaia drew ever closer.
It was funny how things turned out.