After navigating a short maze of doors and hallways, Val finally found her.
Penumbra was sitting on the edge of her bed, facing the wall where a holographic star chart shimmered. No wings, no horn... No big tall alicorny physique... Just like how she had been during her time on earth.
"Eclipse..."
Eclipse closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I know." Val replied. "But... Since I'm here already... Will you at least hear my goodbyes?"
Eclipse chuckled. Val thought there was something funny about what she said, but then she sniffed and she saw the glimmering tear rolling down her neck.
"Funnily enough, millions of years of existing and goodbyes are still the hardest thing to do. It's always so hard to let go."
"...May I join you?" Val asked cautiously, and Eclipse nodded. She walked over to her, her metal feet sinking a little in the fluffy carpet, and she sat down next to her.
"I've said this a million times to a million different people... But... I don't want you to go."
"Everything'll be better without me." Val sighed. "Everypony'll be happy that I'm gone. There'll be a celebration about it. It'll be great." She let out a grim murmur.
Eclipse said nothing. She just stared off into the star chart, watching the trillions of tiny white sparks glimmer and shift. Then she picked a star and magnified it in her hoof.
"This is the system we live in." She said, then zoomed in on Earth. "This is where we, at present and in the past, live and have lived. This is our world, this is our all." She said, then everything shrunk again back into that tiny speck as she pushed it back into the chart.
"I know, I know... My problems are so puny compared to that of the universe's..." Val said, rolling her eyes.
"That's not what I meant." Eclipse said, and Val's ears perked. "In fact, I'll tell you the exact opposite. In the big picture we might be insignificant, that even if we disappeared no one would notice. But the big picture isn't relevant in this case, is it? Would you expect your actions to affect a system, say, on the other side of the universe?"
Val shook her head.
"Let's look at what is relevant then." Eclipse said, zooming back in on Earth. "You know what I see, Val? A dying world. It's almost there, it's so close." She turned to Val. "And you know what I see here?" She nudged her chest. "A pony that has a chance to fix that. To bring it back enough for the world to save itself."
"Rainbow'll fix everything with Genesis... I won't matter afterwards."
"Oh. But you will. Remember what I said about relevance? You don't have to exist for the whole universe. You don't even have to exist for the world. You just have to exist for what is relevant. Ponies that still care about you and believe in you... Ponies like me. Ponies that have forgiven you, ponies like Rainbow. Guaranteed not every pony will fall into these two categories, but that is a consequence of your actions... A consequence you will have to face, and you won't be alone. All those science faction ponies you led, they'll stand with you. You'll all face hardships. You won't be alone." Eclipse emphasized the last few words. "Plus, don't you even feel a slight bit bad for abandoning them?"
"I'm not abandoning them! I..." Val was at a loss for words, and almost broke down again.
"Really, I can throw all the morales and stories I can at you... But in the end all I want to say is... I care... And if I do, so will someone else." Eclipse said softly. "You were a hope I had, a dream that finally one day a champion worthy of Genesis will come. Of course there were a few hiccups along the way... But you're here now, and you certainly didn't disappoint me."
"I don't even have the amulet." Val muttered, turning out her empty palms.
"It's not about that to me. You and Rainbow are equally worthy- you've worked long and hard to get here and Rainbow stopped you when you faltered. I'm not disappointed that you didn't get Genesis in the end... What I'm happy about is that you had the strength to make it here, further than anyone else ever did. So many have failed... Not even making it off the planet. I'm glad you of all ponies made it though, you had made me quite fond of you." Eclipse chuckled, something Val didn't share.
"You're just making me feel bad at this point. Rainbow's heading over to Genesis right now... What we talk about, it won't matter anymore. I'll be gone soon." She sighed, and Eclipse giggled. She looked over to her. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just adorable that you think that's actually what she plans to do to you."
Val peered at her.
"You're really creepy when you have emotions."
"Well, I have to show some occasionally... It's good for mental and physical health."
"I've never seen you laugh, like, good and proper. Not just some chuckle. Like, full on laughter." Val suggested, and Eclipse shrunk away.
"No."
Val narrowed her eyes. Without a second's hesitation she jabbed a thumb into Eclipse's side.
"HaHA! No! STAHP!" Eclipse wriggled, then rolled onto the floor and out of reach. "I... It's the least intimidating thing..."
"Oh please. The only reason you were scary before was because you barely talked or did anything, really." Val said. "I wondered if somehow putting you into a cyborg body robotized you or something, now that I think of it, it makes sense that you could control your emotions that well. A few billion years ought to do it." She said, and Eclipse coughed politely. "Plus your color palette, all black and red and evil and stuff."
"It's charcoal." Eclipse muttered defensively.
*
"So do you and Eclipse ever talk?" Rainbow asked as she followed Fate down the hall. The walls were lined with bright orange holographic lights, simulating the sun. Overall the palace had a soothing tone, though it still retained its regality with its scale.
"Why yes. We discuss many things, there barely ever is anypony out here." Fate replied. "We watch Genesis, she and I. It's rather interesting, we were so certain you and Octavia had something beyond friendship."
"Wha-wha-I-" Rainbow blushed, hard, taking a step back.
"Just speculation." Fate hummed, trotting on. Rainbow had to stumble forwards a few steps to catch up.
"So... You spy on us? Everyone?"
"We can, if we choose to. With the billions of you, we only indulge in the more... Eventful... Ones. Such as yourself." Fate replied.
"I feel severely violated." Rainbow muttered, and Fate nodded.
"You absolutely should." He said. "We watch you shower. That mane is quite the sight." He added, and Rainbow peered uncomfortably at him. "That was a joke." He clarified.
"Huh." Rainbow muttered. "I didn't know level four AIs joke." She said sarcastically, and Fate laughed.
They walked to the end of the hall, and there it was. A gigantic vertical tunnel spanning across a quarter of a kilometer, housing the very programming of the world- a giant, glowing, swirling orange mass in the center. The hallway faded to a bridge which led straight into the center of that swirling ball.
Vines and greenery had sprouted from the cracks in the walls and floor. Small groups of grass here and there wavered in a light breeze, and glowing purple particles slowly drifted from a myriad of tiny dimly pulsing violet flowers.
"Pretty." Rainbow said, careful not to trip or step on anything for that matter. She could feel the warmth of the swirling mass of particles on her face. "Is this it?"
"Not quite. Follow me in." Fate said, walking past her and leading the way along the bridge. He did, however, slow down so Rainbow could have a longer look around.
"What is this?" She asked, running a hoof through the particles. They danced around her hoof, like dust in a slight draft.
"Information. It's everything that has happened thus far." Fate said, looking up. "This is merely a decorative part of the world's library. You see, this tiny bit here is just for show." He said, and Rainbow frowned at the gigantic sphere spanning over a fifth of a kilometer. Fate smiled at her bewildered expression. "The Sun itself? That's the whole thing. Every snippet of information about every physical atom and every mental thought of every living creature on earth. It is a lot."
"Huh." Rainbow said, watching streams of the orange stuff travel up and down the lengths of the giant tunnel. Those must be like the optic fibers of Genesis... Information transfer.
"This is you." Fate said, getting her attention with a small sphere of orange particles.
"Everything about you. From the very beginning of your existence up to right now... And it's still going." He said, pointing to a tiny golden stream slowly feeding particles into the sphere. "It's not a lot when you compare it to the world. But like all information, it spreads. Here's everything you have affected." He pulled up another globe, almost ten times larger. "Every thought any pony has had of you, in any context. That's a lot." He grinned.
"Huh." Rainbow said again. God, she was going to sound so dumb in text books. She quickly shook her head- already all of this was becoming too much for her.
"My point is, Rainbow... If you think you haven't done much, you're wrong. If you think you have, you'll still never be able to comprehend the scale and magnitude of what you have affected. People close and far have thought and talked about you, for all kinds of reasons." Fate continued. "For example... Here a mare complains about your parking skills. She doesn't know you, nor has she ever seen you in person, and you don't know her either. But it's little things like this, like parking your car over the line, that you could generate an entire two minutes of conversation- and the funny thing is, you never even notice it, nor will you ever know about it. So many things that are relevant to you go on without you knowing, every single day."
"Okay... So what's the moral here?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
"There is none." Fate waved the globes away. "I merely thought it was an interesting perspective based observation."
It was indeed interesting, Rainbow thought. What would my death mean? How much would it 'ripple' through the world? And Val... How much would her continued existence affect others? A lot, she hoped. In a good way.
Fate led her through the initial shell of Genesis. For a few moments she couldn't see, blinded by all the particles around her.
"I know, right? Much less impressive." Fate said as she walked through the shell.
Inside was the real chamber. A majestic yet simple set of steps led up to a comparably smaller however still reasonably large golden glowing sphere. "But, this is it. Genesis, heart of it all."
Rainbow felt her heart drop a little as she saw it. Those steps... Those were going to be her final ones. At one point in the near future she was going to just... Be gone, inside that glowing orange mass.
She felt her energy sap, and she collapsed onto her knees.
I don't want to go, she thought. I don't want to...
So here she was, drained of her will seconds away from finally accomplishing what everything had been working towards thus far.
"It's a hefty price, I know. You could turn back now. There are ponies waiting for you back home." Fate said softly. "They need you. That's one option. The other... You could step in. Give pony kind a fresh start, bring an end to the bloodshed and even reset it. There are ponies you care about that have already left you, you could bring them back... Though you would not be there to see it."
"My choice is final... I'm leaving... But... I don't want to..." Rainbow whimpered. She gently clawed at the floor with her hoof, not bothering to hide her distress. It was about to end anyway... It won't matter soon.
"Either choice is completely justifiable, Rainbow. Ponies would understand if you turn away now. They'd never be able to make this sacrifice themselves." Fate said quietly, placing a hoof on her shoulder. It was warm, but it was still hard metal.
"Buck, I'm gonna cry again... Big bucking baby..." Rainbow muttered with a brief chuckle.
Fate helped her up, and assisted her as she stumbled towards the steps.
"I... I'm fine now... Thanks..." Rainbow said, then flinched and clutched her side. Damn it Val, she definitely got a good hit in there. She was about to cry again, then quickly swallowed and shook her head. Sighing, she looked up and turned towards Genesis, watching it shimmer.
She watched the particles swirl. Every tiny bit, something that mattered- all of it, connected. She seemed to get an idea of how to use it just by looking at it... It was so oddly natural.
"So..." She sniffed, and wiped her nose with a sleeve, turning back to face Fate. He waited patiently at the bottom of the steps. "Is this it? Is this... I guess... How it ends?"
Fate considered it for a moment.
"That's up to you." He replied.
Rainbow snickered, turning back to Genesis.
"It always is, isn't it..." She sighed, and started slowly walking up the stairs. Each step was shallow, making it quite effortless. The light of Genesis welcomed her at the top, and she could feel its warmth tingling on her skin. "Hey..." She said.
"Yes?"
"If Val does anything stupid, can you please just kill her. Or get Eclipse to kill her, or someone. I'm letting her live, I don't want to regret that."
"I'll send the message across to the mistress." Fate nodded politely. "Anything else before your departure?"
Rainbow thought about it for a moment.
"Look after her, so long as she doesn't try to blow up the world... Or something... She'll get a lot of crap from other ponies. It'll be hard on her, she's gonna need other ponies to help her stand."
Fate waited for a second, as if wondering if Rainbow would go back on her words and cancel that last will. She didn't.
He watched her take the final few steps towards Genesis.
"Goodbye, Rainbow Dash. It's been a pleasure." He said, right as she was about to enter.
Rainbow stopped, and chuckled. What else could she do? She was done crying. She could be a baby before leaving, but not while leaving. No, that wasn't the impression she wanted to leave.
"Toodles." She said, with a laugh, waving behind her as she stepped into the glowing orange sphere.
Her backwards wave was the last thing to disappear into the mass of particles.
"...It's been fun."
*
Well, as far as last words go... I've never been a fan. But I guess I just want to... Document... A few last thoughts.
I'm in Genesis right now. It's pretty comfortable. Good place to start recording this thing, I suppose, before we begin.
Keh-khem.
This little adventure... Misadventure... Whatever... That I've shared with my friends, it's been a hell of a thing. I can barely remember when and how it started... That one contract I denied in the warehouse. When I picked the damn thing up I'd never have known this is what it all would've eventually led to.
God, so much has happened since then. I don't even know where to start... It's been long and hard, and a little grueling at parts.
This is... Sort of... What I wanted?
I'd always wanted to be somepony important. I guess that worked out. Saved my friends in the end... Hell, saved everypony. I kinda-sorta deserve a pat on the back for that, right?
Well, there's always the other side to it. Damn double edged knives.
Silver won't be around anymore once I'm done, and neither will I. She was a splinter of me, and Rainbow Dash just won't exist anymore. I know she won't mind, but... It kinda just sucks. For the both of us.
I hate this, I really do. I wish I could stay behind, the whole purpose of me saving everypony I cared about was so I could see them. At least I'll know they'll be happy... If I know anything at all after this...
It's such a hard concept for my brain. I just can't wrap my head around it... That I just won't be anymore. I suppose I shouldn't... This sort of ignorance is exactly what I need right now. Wouldn't want to cry myself to death... Or whatever the hell it is.
I'm just rambling at this point, aren't I? I'm just rambling.
I should probably stop... Time to end this thing, right?
Dainty, if you're hearing this, love ya as usual... Though... You probably won't.
I know we haven't talked in a long, loooong time, Twi, Jack, Flutters, Pinks, Rare. But I still love you all... Hey, I did it for you.
Vinyl, you're awesome. Keep them beats up in the new world! It's what everypony wants.
And Tavi... I'm sorry I had to go. We've had some fun together, and your loyalty to me is something I'll hold on to forever, no matter what.
Please don't hate me.
Alright, well... Show's over. For the last time, this is Rainbow Dash.
Goodbye, everypony.