//------------------------------//
// Forty-six 
// Story: Freedom Through Harmony: Book II 
// by Electricut 
//------------------------------//

Chapter in color

Forty-six

AA: None of the three are responding. Fancy Pants seems to know where he’s going, but I don’t.
AA: I was able to talk to Quick Fix once before she stopped responding. She and Leeroy are tending to their guardians.
AA: I’m afraid their parents, and Fancy Pants’ sister, have all fallen in battle.
CA: ;~;
AT: That’s what we were afraid of…
AT: Well, we can do nothing but give them their time to grieve. In the meantime, we should try and progress on our own missions.
AT: Cheerilee, I haven’t heard… What does your quest entail? How has it been going?
AA: It’s nothing like what I’ve heard of all your quests.
AA: There are imps abound, to be sure, but there have not been many missions yet. There are enemies, there are settlements, but overwhelmingly, there are frogs.
AA: It has been alluded to me that my ultimate goal involves these creatures somehow.
AA: Frogs and alchemy have been popular topics that no one wants to talk about.
AA: It’s quite frustrating. But I think if I can make my way to the center of lopaf and speak to the Denizen, Echidna, then I might get some concrete answers.
AT: That’s good. It’s something to work towards.
AT: How about you, my dear Derpy? How has your progress been?
CA: pretty good, i guess.
CA: apparently i have some kind of power that i haven’t learned to use yet.
CA: i’ve heard whispers of ‘the windy thing’.
CA: but i don’t know how to do that yet.
CA: besides that, i don’t know. i think i should see my denizen too, and then head to the battlefield when everyone else is ready.
CA: what about you, doc?
AT: I’ve mostly been learning how to responsibly use my time travel capabilities.
AT: I’m not sure if my devices are the source of this power, or if they are simply a crutch to help me learn to use my own innate abilities. I suppose I will find out later down the road.
AT: But time travel is a dangerous business. It can be used very destructively, and sometimes you don’t even need to be conscious of it.
AT: Part of my quest has been learning how best to use it.
AT: Visiting Hephaestus in the center of Losab probably wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.
AT: What about everyone’s current positions?
AA: I’m still on my own planet. I’ve explored some others, but it seems my mission requires me to be here.
CA: i’m actually on quick fix’s planet right now. i’m keeping my distance from them though, they need it right now.
AT: Right you are, Derpy. They’ll recover, but for now, they just need some room to breathe.
AT: I am on Leeroy’s planet at the moment. I’ll probably make my way back to my own before long.
CA: hang on, what’s this thing?
AA: What thing?
CA: it’s like a round metal panel on the ground.
AA: Does it have what looks like triangles on the surface?
CA: yeah! do you know what it is?
AA: Yes. I’ve come across several on my own world and Prospit. They’re transportalizers.
AA: They’re like gates, but linked to another transportalizer. I can’t guarantee where you’ll end up when you step on it.
CA: well… i think that’s a risk i have to take.
CA: there is a bunch of grist all over near it.
CA: i think i’m supposed to go through.
AT: Are you sure? It could be dangerous.
CA: it could. and i’m not totally sure.
CA: but i should try. and i can always come back if i need to, right?
AT: I suppose you’re right.
CA: and don’t worry, i’ll be careful. i understand why you’d be on edge.
AT: Yes… We’ve just lost several good ponies, and I don’t want to lose a single one more. Especially not you, dear.
CA: *hugs*
CA: i know. First sign of trouble, i’ll turn back, okay?
AT: Alright. Good luck, Derpy.
AA: Good luck. Keep us updated, alright?
CA: yup yup.

Fancy Pants

The stallion, one goal in mind, approaches the monument once again, pillars rising into the sky. Dimly glowing creatures float around in the sky above, congregating near the site. The time is right.

Fancy Pants’ salamander companion steps out from his hiding place. “Is it safe?”

“It will be. But I need you to do something for me, first.”

The salamander nodded, and Fancy Pants presses something into his hand. He takes his hoof away to reveal a pistol. The salamander looks up, confused.

“That weapon failed to protect someone I cared about. But now, it’s going to serve a different purpose, and help me protect the others.” He looks up at the monument, the Quest Bed. “I’m going to lie down on the monument. I need you to shoot me.”

“Are you sure? You can’t turn back once you do this…”

“I’m sure. We need this extra power. Besides, I made it this far without losing either of my two lives. Trading one in to make the other a lot more powerful seems like a good deal to me, and a deal that I have no choice but to make.”

The salamander nods after a pause. The two make their way to the top of the monument, and Fancy Pants settles himself on the slab. A pair of wings is engraved on its surface. Fancy Pants quickly captchalogues all his belongings, lies back, and closes his eyes.

He barely feels a thing when the bullet hits.

The pillars ignite in a bright light, the glowing creatures above swooping down to examine the body. The salamander nervously makes his way down to the foot of the monument, not wanting to be caught in any sort of energy release. The entire Quest Bed, as well as Fancy Pants’ body, is now glowing.

Derpy

A massive lab stands to greet Derpy as she steps through the transportalizer. There are several more portals around hers, as well as a random assortment of objects. A Smarty Pants doll is among them, as well as an old book, a weathered rifle, and other such items. Derpy can’t imagine how they all got there.

Ahead is a collection of giant test tubes, computers, and some other lab equipment. There is a bright green lab uniform that looks to be about Derpy’s size, and she immediately slips it on.

She looks around for a bit, before her phone sounds again.

aboriginalAlmanac began chatting with cross-eyedAngel and agelessTraveler at 6:57 P.M.

AA: There’s something happening that you two should be aware of.
AT: What is it?
AA: Fancy Pants had his companion shoot him. I’m not sure why, but he seemed to need it done at a specific spot.
CA: oh no!!
AT: I never thought he was taking it that hard…
AA: That’s the thing. I don’t think he’s dead.
AA: The body and the monument he got shot on are glowing like crazy.
AA: I’m not sure what’s happening.
AA: Wait… My viewport has shifted.
AA: I see Derse now. Something’s happening to his dream self!

Fancy Pants

On the dark moon of Skaia, one of the three towers glows furiously. Inside, a young stallion finally awakens. His violet gown is torn away, to be replaced by a yellow one, a set of clothing befitting a god. The young boy rises into the air, his horn glowing. The symbol of wings that had received him upon death glow behind him briefly, after which a real pair of snow white wings erupts from his back.

Across the golden planet, Dersites look up to the tower in wonder, some happy, some uneasy. The Bard of Hope has awoken.

Derpy

AA: Whew. He’s alive.
AA: I’m not sure what just happened, but he’s had a costume change. And… He has wings now.
CA: you mean he became alicorn?
AA: It would seem so. He looks more powerful even from here.
AA: Although his costume seems to involve a codpiece. Can’t say I would want that.
CA: huh. :/
AT: Still, this is an incredible development. I’m not sure what happened, but if he’s become that powerful, it can only be a boon to our overall quest.
AT: But he’s not the only one involved in something curious right now.
AT: Derpy, what have you found?
CA: i’m not sure. still exploring.
CA: i did find a cool lab uniform though!
CA: there’s a bunch of computers and sciency stuff here. i’ll take a closer look.

cross-eyedAngel is now idle

Derpy makes her way over to one of the computer terminals, looking up curiously at its six screens. Only one of the screens is currently active, while the other five are blank. A few large buttons are on the panel below the screens- six that seem to correspond to the screens, as well as a larger green one, and an even larger blue one. Nearby is a countdown clock, above which is written the word ‘Reckoning’, and it doesn’t seem to have much time left.

She looks up at the active monitor, and sees a familiar looking neighborhood. With a start, she realizes that it is her own, though there are a few differences in buildings. The monitor zooms in to focus on a specific pony, and with a start, Derpy realizes that it looks like her mother. She seems somewhat younger though.

The light becomes distorted overhead. From above, Derpy sees the familiar sight of a sizeable meteor hurtling towards the ground. Her young mother seems to see it too, and dashes for a nearby alley for shelter. The mass of rock tumbles through the air to the ground, obliterating some of the foreign buildings.

Many of the ponies in the area run for safety, but a few remain to view the damage, Derpy’s mother included. At first, the crater is full of smoke, but it clears to reveal a small pony inside, completely unscathed. There’s no mistaking her- the gray fur, yellow mane and out-of-sync eyes are all too familiar. Like her mother, this seems to be a younger version of Derpy herself.

None of the ponies above move immediately, but soon her mother makes her way down the crater, scooping the baby Derpy up curiously.

She walks away from the crater shortly afterwards, the young pony cradled in one arm. 

“Is this… My past?” Derpy wonders aloud. “That makes me adopted, then… But I don’t get it, my mom and I look so much alike!”

In thought, Derpy’s hoof slips, and presses the large blue button in the center of the panel. A targeting reticule centers around Derpy’s mother, and the machine whirs for a moment. On a nearby device, on what looks like a transportalizer, the shape of her mother is deposited, but is made of a thick green slime. The slime plops on the ground in a pile a moment later, and is sucked up into one of the six glass tubes on the machine.

Derpy frowns, not at all understanding what just happened. On screen, her mother seems to have been completely unaffected. She takes a look at the control panel, and pushes one of the buttons to switch screens. This is a bit too weird for her.

The screen shuts off, and another flickers to life. It now shows a location Derpy has never seen before, a small suburb. A similar scene plays out; a meteor crashes to the ground from the sky, and an older but sturdy stallion moves to the crater. He doesn’t wait for the smoke to clear; he dives right into the crater with a slide, and emerges a few minutes later with another young pony riding on his back. Derpy is able to piece together who this pony must be: with her brown coat, creamy hair and horn, it can only be Quick Fix, making that stallion her father.

A button is pushed on the control panel. Derpy looks over to see Smarty Pants, who nods to her. Derpy nods back, but less enthusiastically. She’s beginning to get a bit scared. She figures it would be better to let Smarty Pants take over some of this mysterious work, though. Just as before, the slime imprint of the pony targeted- Quick Fix’s dad- appears on the machine, and is sucked into another of the tubes.

The third screen. A meteor collides with a mountain, revealing a brief glimpse of a frog temple nearby. A mare emerges from somewhere in the mountains, looking as though she had been hiking, and soon retrieves a young Cheerilee. The slime imprint is taken.

The fourth screen. A small city is seen, and Quick Fix and her father are in view once again. She’s still only a baby. Another meteor crashes down outside the town, and a pegasus mare moves over to the crater, and retrieves a young Leeroy, before bringing him into the city. Derpy knows the story from here. An imprint of the Battle Master is taken.

The fifth screen. A town near the mountains and frog temple. The meteor crashes down, and a fairly young looking mare retrieves a pony who can only be Fancy Pants. An imprint of Fleur is taken.

The sixth screen. Static.

Derpy frowns, her mind now considering another fact in the mess of events that have passed so far. This should be Doc’s screen. But there’s nothing there. At least, not yet. Gradually, the static fades, to reveal a completely alien creature. It stands on two legs, much like a resident of Prospit or Derse, but it lacks both a hard outer shell, and a coat that would belong to a pony. It has a mane though, snow white from age.

She watches, mesmerized, as the creature’s life flashes before her eyes. Time and again he changes appearance, outfit, company. Pushing the button on the control panel does nothing; a slime imprint of this creature cannot be taken. She only continues to watch as he ventures across strange and wonderful landscapes, with different companions at his side, and always returns to the strange blue phone box that serves as his vessel.

At last, in his thirteenth distinct form, he lands somewhere much more familiar. He opens the door to the phone box into the fields of Equestria.

The screen fades to static again. One of the tubes on the machine remains empty, while the other five are filled with slime. However, the machine seems to recognize that it’s received all the data it’s going to get, and it begins working. Before the machine, on what appears to be a large transportalizer, five young ponies are deposited. They aren’t the ones that were taken from the meteor crash sites, but after several moments, Derpy realizes that they might be the ponies who ventured into those crash sites to retrieve Derpy and her friends.

There’s one more button to push, and Smarty Pants takes care of it. The slime empties into the chambers below, two to a pair, and with the slime from Derpy’s mother receiving a chamber to itself. Seeming to notice the imbalance, the machine takes a minute to compute some extra calculations. The first screen clicks back on, targeting a random gentlepony Derpy’s never seen before, and a slime imprint of him is taken. This fills the other half of the chamber.

Five more baby ponies are deposited. THESE are the ponies that were found in the craters, young versions of Derpy and her friends. One of Derpy’s eyes meets one of the other Derpy’s eyes, and they look at each other curiously. The older Derpy has never been more confused.

She notices herself level up to the title of ECTOBIOLOBABYSITTER, and receives an absolutely insane amount of boondollars.

cross-eyedAngel entered the group chat at 7:31

CA: i have never been more confused.
AA: What happened?
CA: i think i have little baby versions of most of us sitting here.
CA: our guardians, too.
CA: either they’re clones, or i just created us.
AT: You said most. Are there some among us who are not there?
CA: er, yeah.
CA: i’m not sure why, doc, but you and your guardian aren’t here.
CA: leeroy and quick fix are actually brother and sister.
CA: cheerilee, you and fancy pants are brother and sister, too.
CA: but i was just from my mom and a stallion i’ve never seen before.
CA: and i didn’t create doc in this lab. the screens that let me see all of us and our guardians wouldn’t let me see you.
CA: i saw some other weird creature instead. something on two legs that kept changing how he looked.
AT: Ah…
AT: Yes, I… think I know what you saw.
AT: Since beginning this journey, I’ve discovered something about myself, and I probably should share it with all of you.
AT: I will when the time is right. Most likely when all six of us are available. Fancy Pants, Quick Fix and Leeroy should know, too.
gamingAvarice entered the group chat at 7:45 P.M.
GA: someone call for me?
AA: Fancy Pants! Are you alright?
GA: better. not super, but better.
GA: i’m down on skaia right now, scoping things out.
AA: How did you get to Skaia?
GA: flew there.
GA: through space.
GA: i’m literally a god now, you see. 
GA: now, lemmie see what i missed…
GA: so, cheerilee, you and i are brother and sister?
AA: Apparently so. I would never have guessed, especially considering both of our guardians are female.
AA: I suppose that is irrelevant to ectobiologic reproduction, though it doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s not a science I even knew existed before now, let alone one I know anything about.
CA: now that you mention it, that is kinda weird…
GA: yeah… ah well.
GA: point is, i’ve got a new sister.
GA: hopefully, with this power up, i won’t fail to protect you like i did fleur.
AA: Fancy Pants… I’m sorry.
GA: it’s alright
GA: wait what the hell is happening over there
AT: What’s going on up there?
GA: the kings are moving out
GA: the black and white kings are mobilizing and engaging in battle
GA: their troops have been going at it, but they hadn’t taken to the field themselves until now.
GA: they’re fighting each other with spells.
GA: oh man
GA: oh man oh man
CA: what is it?!
GA: the black king won
GA: white king’s dead
GA: black king got his staff.
GA: he’s doing something with it.
GA: sky’s getting dark.
CA: something’s happening here, too.
CA: it sounds like something big is moving outside of… wherever I am.
AT: Hold on, I’ll check.
AT: You’re inside an asteroid.
CA: really?
AT: Yes. There’s a frog temple built on one of them; that seems to be where you are.
AT: There are many other, somewhat smaller asteroids around you, some of which have begun moving in the direction of Skaia.
GA: holy hell, did he call in an air strike on the whole planet?!
GA: derpy, you’re in the veil. Big belt of meteors or asteroids or whatever that surrounds the system we’re in. derse is just beyond it.
GA: you probably don’t want to be on the frog temple. if they knew that was there, they’d destroy it in a heartbeat. they HATE frogs.
AA: I wonder if that has any connection to my frog-related quest.
GA: almost certainly.
AT: DaleK-9 said that Dersites also oppose creation, while Prospitans favor it.
AT: Derse is said to be the force that stands in the way of our Final Reward.
AT: And they dislike frogs, while one of us has a frog-related quest.
AA: Meaning… These frogs must be a big part of getting our Final Reward!
AA: But how? What do I do with them?
AT: It remains to be seen. How close are you to meeting your Denizen?
AA: Two gates away. I’ve more exploring on Quick Fix’s world to do, then I’ll step through the Seventh Gate.
AA: Hopefully she will be able to tell me more.
CA: guys, there was a countdown clock on the wall in this lab. it says ‘reckoning’.
CA: it’s at 0. i think what the black king just did was the reckoning.
CA: ah!!
AT: What’s wrong?!
CA: the babies just vanished, along with the stuff they were playing with!
CA: doc, can you see where they went?!
AT: Uhm… Yes! Yes, I see them. They’re on some of the meteors that have begun drifting towards Skaia!
CA: oh no!!
GA: the first meteor is almost here. i think i should move.
GA: wait. a portal opened up.
GA: the meteor disappeared through it!
GA: i think skaia is going to catch them. the smaller ones, anyway.
GA: those portals aren’t big enough for the larger asteroids in the veil.
AT: Then we have time, but not much.
AT: We need to move.
CA: we need to save our baby selves!
AA: I’m not sure we do.
CA: ?
AA: I’ve had visions in the clouds of Prospit. Some of them involved young foals, riding on rock through gates of Skaia.
AA: I think this is meant to happen, Derpy.
CA: but where are they going to go?
AT: If they really are us, then in theory, they should go back in time to become us.
AT: You said you saw us on the screens in the lab, correct?
CA: yeah, i did…
CA: and they- we- did land on meteors.
CA: so i guess it’s the same for our guardians, too.
AT: Don’t worry. It’s a stable time loop. I’ve been dealing with them quite frequently lately.
AT: It may seem like a paradox, but time is simply righting itself. Skaia always manages to keep the timeline in check.
AT: For now, I think you should take Fancy Pants’ advice and leave the meteor lab. It’s not safe anymore.
CA: okay. i’ll catch up with you all soon.
cross-eyedAngel left the group chat at  8:01 P.M.
AA: Oh! That reminds me. I need to get back to the frog temple on Equestria. The flower is set to bloom in nineteen minutes.
AA: Off to Prospit I go. Wish me luck.
aboriginalAlmanac left the group chat at 8:01 P.M.