A/N: WARNING! DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE WEIRD TIME SHIT!
"Blarg..." How long he had been unconscious, Comet had no idea. He also had no idea whether or not he was awake - this could be a dream. There was really no way of telling, that he knew of. After a few moments of checking his surroundings, however, he was quite certain that this was a dream. The twenty Twilight Sparkles told him that much. "... uh."
"Are you OK?" Twenty concerned voices asked.
"There are twenty of you," Comet stated wearily. "Why are there twenty of you." And where, for that matter, was the stab happy Dersite agent? Comet couldn't see any sign of him, and wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing.
"Oh, well," only one Twilight spoke this time, which was probably for the best. "That Dersite agent was a little harder to deal with than I thought, so it turned out I had to use 20 of myself to take him out." Oh, of course, Comet thought, she's the hero of Time, after all. He could see which Twilight was the most recent in the timeline as she had all of the accumulated wounds of the other nineteen. If the 5th Twilight had a scratch on her leg, then all the subsequent Twilights would also have the same scratch on that leg.
This struck him as a highly irresponsible use of time manipulation, and he wasted no time in saying so. Twenty Twilights shrugged off his concern.
"Calm down. Nothing bad has happened, we dealt with the agent, and you’re still alive by some random chance, what's the problem? Oh, speaking of which..." the most recent Twilight nodded, and the other nineteen travelled back in time to the start of the battle. "See?"
"Whatever, but I won't have any part in such nonsense." Turning his attention back to the room they were in, Comet noticed something. "Wait, this room's different somehow." The main change was that the entire rear wall had slid open to reveal the chamber beyond. He glanced to Twilight for an explanation, to find her smiling smugly.
"Why so surprised? I can solve these puzzles just as well as you can, you know." Trotting past him further into the temple, Twilight called back to him. "Coming?"
***
"I do wish you'd be more careful with them!" Taking the frogs out of Ember's hooves as gently as she could while still being indignant, Fluttershy lowered them onto the large platform that seemed oddly reminiscent of a lily pad. "They're delicate, after all. Not to mention cute."
"Give it a rest already," Ember grumbled. He didn't approve of this planet, or its frogs, or anything to do with being a hero of Space, and Fluttershy's insistence that the frogs were cute was simply making things worse. "Let's just breed the damn frog and get this over with."
"How did you ever manage to make your frog if you treat them like that!?" Fluttershy didn't know what it was, but something about Ember just made her more aggravated than usual. "I suppose you just sat around complaining while the others did it all?"
"Yeah, pretty much." He didn't need this. He didn't need some crazy frog loving pegasus telling him what to do. He didn't need to be ridiculed by the game itself at every hurdle. What he needed at that exact moment was a swarm of underlings and enough space to swing a hammer. "So let's just get this over with."
"Fine." Pushing the button, Fluttershy carefully watched over the strings of letters that began flying across the screen. Exobiology is a touchy thing, and the slightest miscalculation would ruin the entire frog. Ember, meanwhile, decided to annoy somepony else for the time being.
[mushroomAddict began pestering psychoticDeceiver]
MA: hEY mILD
PD: It seems youre still not getting this.
PD: Were enemies now.
MA: sO WHAT iM BORED AND NOPONY ELSE WANTS TO SPEAK TO ME
PD: You say that as if I do want to speak with you. Which I dont.
PD: Please go away.
MA: nAH i THINK iLL STAY RIGHT HERE
PD: Look we cant be talking when were on opposite sides.
PD: Thats just all kinds of wrong.
MA: uH WHATEVER i JUST WANTED TO TALK
MA: aNYTHINGS BETTER THAN THESE FUCKING FROGS
PD: Ah of course youre with Fluttershy arent you.
PD: Tell you what, Ill send some of my friends your way.
MA: wHO
PD: All you need to know is that theyre going to kill you.
MA: iD LIKE TO SEE THEM TRY
PD: Well whatever.
PD: Im going to go kill your friends now.
MA: k
[psychoticDeceiver ceased being pestered by mushroomAddict]
"Are you done yet?" Ember called to Fluttershy, who shot back an angry glare. "I'll take that as a no."
"Not just yet, no," Fluttershy replied, having resumed her position at the appearifier as she collected yet another dozen samples. Samples from frogs that they would then go out and hunt down, so that appearifying them would create paradox slime rather than actual frogs. "Isn't there any way that you can make yourself useful?"
At that point, both ponies were silenced by a sudden roaring from outside the ectobiology lab, which was built atop a large hill overlooking most of the forest. Quickly rushing to the entrance, Ember looked out on this view of LOTAF to be greeted by a horde of rapidly approaching ogres.
"I'm sure I'll think of something to do," he called back to Fluttershy.
***
MA: k
[psychoticDeceiver ceased being pestered by mushroomAddict]
Grumpily storing his laptop away, Mild resolved to look anywhere but at the impressive force of foot soldiers that Silver was currently marching through the streets of Derse's moon. Briefly, he wondered why they all just referred to it as Derse's moon, instead of giving it a proper name, but he supposed that it probably didn't matter. Flying down from his vantage point, he came to stand next to Silver on top of the armoured vehicle they had brought along for some reason.
"Do you really think they won't hear the oncoming army, and move out of the way?" Mild asked, his tone betraying the fact that he really wanted this plan to fail miserably. At least then Silver wouldn't be able to act so high and mighty. "I'm just saying that it doesn't seem to make much sense."
"Neither does the idea to bring you along," Silver replied, although she continued surveying the moon for any sign of the three missing ponies. "So are you going to help, or just complain all day?"
"I'll help, but don't think that the three of us aren't going to have a nice little talk before this is all over." The third pony he was referring to was, of course, far too important to name. Anyway, Silver knew what he meant.
"Naturally. I just hope you're ready for that," Silver said, not without a hint of satisfaction. "In the meantime, can we focus on fixing everything you screwed up?"
"Sure." It was just as well that he had already sent agents to LOTAF, Mild reflected. He would need all his concentration to keep Silver in check.
***
Combat was the only sense in which the Prince respected and understood his aspect. Warping space itself to crush his enemies into singularities was a little beyond his reach, but he could still manage a sphere about the size of a marble. And he still had his warhammer, after all. His only concern was that he was about to run out of enemies, having cleaved through a few dozen ogres already.
The vague sense of satisfaction which he was granted after finishing off the last underling was dispelled as a faint cry came from back within the ectobiology lab, and Ember remembered that he had left Fluttershy on her own. She was hardly the most competent fighter, in that she refused to actually fight anything as a matter of principle - whatever that was. Either way, if she was in danger then she almost certainly needed his help, so he rushed back into the building. There, confronting Fluttershy and the assembled frogs, stood a group of 10 Dersite agents. These were elite soldiers, the best of the best. They had been trained for years to hate frogs with all their being, to stab in a way so precise as to be considered an art form. They were tough, they were ready, and they were here to fuck as much shit up in as little time as possible. Sadly, they had not prepared for an Ember Glow that had been deprived of any real challenge for several hours.
What followed was entirely too graphic for this story, even with some of the things that occasionally slip past the censors. Not that there are any. Suffice it to say that expletives were yelled, frogs were saved, heads were rolled, hammers were swung, agents were killed, warps in the fabric of space were created, internal organs were shredded, limbs were -
Wait. This is starting to defeat the point of skimming over the details. Let's just accept that the pain exchange was massive, and entirely in Ember's favour, and all things considered it wasn't very nice to watch.
But, eventually, it was over. For a few moments, Fluttershy sat in shock, a pile of frogs peeking out from behind her, while Ember shook himself and sat down to rest. Then Fluttershy somehow found the strength to talk.
"Um..." Rather, she found the strength to make noises of some description. Stringing words together was still a little beyond her reach. "I..."
"... had better get on with the frog thing," Ember finished. "And then we can get outside and do something exciting for once."
As she nodded and got back to work, Fluttershy silently wished that she never, ever, ever found out what Ember considered 'exciting'.
***
"So here you are at last, Mage." In contrast to the cool surface of LONAG, the centre of Hephaestus' palace was boiling hot from the roaring fires which were surrounding the denizen's throne. The denizen himself was a huge humanoid figure that burned with all the heat and intensity of the other fires.
"Hephaestus," Twilight called out to the denizen, fully prepared to launch into battle at a moment's notice. From what Comet had explained, they were about to be in for quite the fight. "I'm here to make you answer for what has happened to my planet." Even as she spoke, however, Twilight noticed that the fires which were supposedly extinguished were burning hot. This was curious.
"Oh? The planet above is just as it has always been, Mage. The plants are growing, the people are happy. I am heating this planet just as I have always done."
"What? No, the people are dying! The plants are dying, the surface is freezing, this... this doesn't make any sense!" Desperately, Twilight turned to Comet. "What's going on?"
"I wonder..." Comet quickly took his laptop out of his sylladex.
[fractalAbomination began pestering psychoticDeceiver]
FA: hey mild
PD: What?
FA: where are you, we've been looking all over
PD: Im still on LOSAC, where did you think I was.
FA: oh, right
FA: out of interest, do you know if acapella's gotten in yet?
PD: No she hasnt.
FA: right, kk
FA: ttyl
PD: Sure.
[fractalAbomination ceased pestering psychoticDeceiver]
"Like I thought," Comet said. "We're in the past. This is before Acapella entered my session, meaning that you lot probably haven't even heard of this game yet."
"Wait, so that means..." Twilight paused, confused. "What does it mean?"
"Not sure yet. Anyway, Hephaestus," Comet continued, addressing the denizen. "I don't suppose you could see your way around to releasing the hoard?"
"All in due time, Page. I will give you the hoard, but first... but first you must answer my riddle." Although it was impossible to make out the denizen's face, Comet could tell from the voice that it was grinning widely. He rolled his eyes.
"Here we go again," he said to Twilight.
Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry, rellery yellery, red yellory?
A few moments of silence passed, in which Comet tried desperately to not burst into laughter.
"... What!?" Twilight asked, a little perplexed by what Hephaestus had just said. "That's not a riddle!"
"Tell me about it," Comet said, as he had been given the exact same riddle. "It's a tongue twister."
"I'm going to have to press you for an answer, Mage," Hephaestus said, reminding the two ponies of his presence. "Red lorry or yellow lorry?"
"But... uh... I-" Twilight began, before Comet cut her off.
"Don't worry; I know this from when I got it wrong before. It's yellow lorry," he called out to the denizen. "Yellow lorry." For a few seconds, Hephaestus considered the response.
"No, I'm afraid that's wrong."
"What? But last time-"
"What happened in some other parallel Universe doesn't concern me. You got the riddle wrong, so prepare yourselves!" So saying, the denizen stood up from his throne and equipped his warhammer menacingly.
"Wait!" Twilight called out, holding back Comet who was about to leap towards Hephaestus. "You're my denizen, so I'm the one who answers the riddle, and I think the answer is red lorry." Another few moments passed.
"... are you sure you don't think it's something else?" Hephaestus offered hopefully, only for Twilight to shake her head. "Oh. Well, fine. Take your hoard and leave me." With that, he stormed out of the chamber rather dejectedly, leaving Comet and Twilight to continue to the room behind his throne.
"That was stupid, and shouldn't have worked," Comet said, as they entered the new chamber. "But well done, for what it's worth. Also, wow." That last sentence was in reference to the area they found themselves in. It was a huge cylinder, with a huge mound of grist in the centre. Around the edge of the room, many complex machines could be seen, performing some kind of task or another. "If I'm right about how huge this grist hoard is supposed to be, that pile of goodies will go down for a fair distance. Even so... that's a lot of grist." Something about what he said triggered something in Twilight's mind.
"Oh, that's right; I can make that item now! The one you gave me, remember?" Twilight had forgotten all about her previous failed attempt to create the item, partly due to her mild concussion. But now it all came back to her. But not, it seemed, to Comet.
"I gave you the what now?" Comet asked, only half listening as he inspected the machines. The one he was standing by showed an image of the entire Land of Night and Glow from somewhere in the Medium. Sure enough, it seemed bright and cheerful on the outside, just as Hephaestus had said. "Hrm... I wonder."
"You gave me the code ages ago, back when I had only just entered. You know, PH04?D6E," Twilight said in an attempt to jog his memory. He seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. "OK, never mind."
"I'm sure I'll figure it out if it's important. Anyway, you go off and make your special item if you want. I have a theory I want to try out." With that, he ran off to a connecting chamber, while Twilight was left to use the alchemy devices which were scattered around the central grist mound.
After a few minutes of searching, Comet finally found what he was looking for. A stone tablet, probably broken or otherwise rendered unreadable on the surface, written by the consorts living above him at that exact moment.
According to the elders, our ancestors will soon be returning the Mage to us so that her task can be completed. A cause for celebration, surely. And yet not so, for her success on our world is a mere illusion in the face of the ages that cannot be undone. At least, that's what the elders say. I sometimes wish they wouldn't insist on such a convoluted, winding manner of speech. Wouldn't it be easier to just speak plainly? "It's not a time for celebrating because she hasn't actually saved anything." There, how hard was that? Bloody ancient wisdom, it does my head in.
Somewhat intrigued by the change in tone, Comet flipped the tablet over.
The boss caught me sleeping on the job again the other day, which isn't so wonderful. She said that if it happened again then she'd fire me. I said that I'd tell Dad, but then she just goes off on a rant about business standards like always. I mean, I get that I have to treat her professionally in the workplace and all, but she IS my sister, you'd think that she would cut me some slack. Ah, stone slab, sometimes I feel that you are the only one who understands me.
Beneath this was a crude drawing, presumably of the writer's sister, with the label "BLUH BLUH HUGE BITCH", as well as a brief note explaining that it was really hard to draw on a stone slab. This was interesting... kind of.
So his theory was correct, as confirmed by this frustrated scribe. In the present, as far as the consorts living on the surface of LONAG when Twilight had arrived were concerned, Hephaestus was dead. It seemed that as they had progressed further into the planet, the rate at which time passed had slowed. The combined effect of this over a long period of time was, apparently, that while Hephaestus was dead relative to the surface, he was very much alive and kicking by the time they reached the centre of the planet. Which meant that, technically, they would 'win' if he simply found the spell or time warp or whatever it was, and strengthened it so that the 'safe time zone' when Hephaestus was still alive covered the entire planet.
This probably would have sounded more like a plot hole than a genuine solution to anypony who wasn't a hero of Time, so it was a good thing that Comet was so qualified to fix the planet.
***
"Look out!" As warnings are wont to do, Fluttershy's cry of alarm came a few seconds too late, as Ember was caught off guard by the basilisk that leapt out of the trees and into him from the side, knocking him off of the cliff face which they happened to be walking along. "Ember!" Quickly leaping into the air, Fluttershy dived towards the falling earth pony as he attempted to battle with the basilisk in mid-air. All things considered, he was doing an excellent job.
"Take... this..." Ember grunted, kicking himself away from the basilisk as the two opponents continued to fall. "You... little..." Equipping his warhammer yet again, Ember gripped the weapon between two hooves. "BITCH!" Swinging the weapon over his head, and feeling the impact against the basilisk, Ember allowed himself a moment of grim satisfaction - which is the only kind of satisfaction worth a damn. He then turned his attention to his next opponent, gravity. Or at least, he would have done, except that at that moment Fluttershy reached him and grabbed onto his hooves, managing to drag him to a stop before hauling him back upwards until the two of them once again reached the edge of the cliff.
For a minute, both of them sat in silence. Fluttershy, because of complete exhaustion. Ember, because he was attempting to figure out exactly what had just happened, and why.
"Are you... OK?" Fluttershy asked. Ember nodded, and she smiled. "Good... would be a shame if anything... had happened." Ember nodded again, thinking for a few moments before replying.
"You, uh..." He tried to think of a way of putting it gently. "You do realise that I'm a dreamer, right? I can fly." Another few minutes of silence passed.
"...oh," Fluttershy managed. "Uh. Sorry."
"Why? You were just trying to help, after all..." Getting to his feet, Ember picked up one of the frogs that Fluttershy had scattered when she had leapt into the air. "I'm.. sorry, for being impatient. Friends?" He offered, extending a leg towards the pegasus, frog in hoof.
Taking the frog from him, Fluttershy smiled again and nodded.
"Friends." It was a nice sentiment, and Fluttershy appreciated that he had apologised, but she was exhausted. At that point, all she really wanted was to just...
Just kind of...
Sleep.
***
The Land of Night and Glow in full bloom was an impressive sight. The combined light from the impressive forests which covered the planet did a fair job of lighting up the space beneath the impenetrable dark clouds. The consorts were happy and loud, in vast contrast to the hushed whispers of a population living in fear. Even if it was only an image of the past, that didn't exist outside of the protective spell, Comet still felt a sense of achievement.
"So we did it..." Twilight said, a confused expression crossing her face. "But... what did we change?" As far as Twilight was aware, they had simply returned to the surface after having collected the grist hoard. Comet hadn't yet told her about the spell, and had been sure to alter it so that Twilight's home would be unaffected. Because of course, when Hephaestus was still alive Twilight had yet to arrive on LONAG.
"I don't know, but don't complain," Comet said, which would have been a fair statement if he hadn't been lying. "Anyway, that's the planet taken care of. Next stop, Skaia." From this side of the time spell, it wasn't possible to see any transition between Twilight's house and the rest of the planet, but now they were right on the edge of the safe zone. After they stepped forwards, the time compression would unfold very quickly, which should mean...
"Oh Celestia," Twilight managed, as the two ponies stepped into the cylinder around Twilight's home where time was not being held back. From this side of the compression they could see the planet as it truly was - a barren, dying wasteland. "What is this?"
"Ah, I figured I'd need to mention this." Comet paused, trying to figure out what the best way of explaining the situation would be. "Hephaestus, relative to us in the present right now, is dead. As we journeyed lower into the planet, we passed through stages of a time compression field in which time passes slower - the net effect of this is that at the centre, Hephaestus is still alive. While we were down there, I extended the safe zone in which he's still alive, and adapted the field so that the only spot on the planet which is in real time is here, around your house. From here... from here we can see the planet as it truly is, and as it has been for years."
Taking a step back away from her house, Twilight saw that he was telling the truth - the planet reformed around her, and once again she was in the world of happiness and prosperity. The Land of Night and Glow, in the past. Once more she stepped into the present, observing the view of the planet changing rapidly as she passed out of the compression, until she reached the view of complete desolation that was the current state of the planet.
"So, we lost?"
"No. We won, to the best degree that we could have possibly won. Now that the entire population is in sync with Hephaestus, which is the best outcome that could be achieved with the situation we were given." Nodding towards the top of her home, Comet attempted to bring the focus back onto how they were going to not fail miserably. "Now then. Skaia?"
"OK, sure." It was a little depressing, and more than a little confusing, but Twilight supposed that in the end it didn't matter. The whole of LONAG was simply a means to an end, after all.
And again, she was a little disgusted with herself a little for thinking about it like that.
***
Somewhere on the Land of Secrets and Lies, the woods echoed with the sound of gunfire as Summer shot a group of four imps dead in the space of ten seconds. Angrily reloading her rifle, she then continued forwards in a determined manner.
"Are ya feeling OK, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, a little concerned as she noticed Summer's angry expression.
"No. I've just had the most horrible feeling that me and you are being left out of the loop."
"Whatever gave ya that idea? They'd let us know if anything was happening."
"Well, I don't care. We don't need those guys anyway, we're doing fine just like this." Summer paused. "Aren't we?"
"Yeah, for now. Just don't get too cocky," Applejack pointed out. "Your confidence is your weakness."
"Your faith in your friends is yours," Summer replied. "But yeah, this isn't so bad. I suppose it could be worse."
***
Destiny's ear twitched for seemingly no reason. Sitting upright, she called over to Rarity.
"Hey, did you just get a weird feeling like somepony didn't specifically mention you in a conversation, but was clearly talking about you anyway?" Rarity thought for a moment.
"No, can't say I did."
"Oh, OK..." Destiny shrugged, then returned to her comfortable position on the pile of pillows that she had constructed. "Me neither."
***
"Personally, I don't think that they're hiding in there," Mild commented. "I mean seriously, the dream towers? That's a little too obvious, don't you think?"
"Let me put it this way," Silver said, trying to keep her voice under control. "If they're in there, then we win. If they're not in there, the worst that can happen is that team Nublet loses a few dream selves. This is also a win for us. So light it up already."
"As you command, o most glorious and perfect one," Mild retorted, his words like those of a motivational speaker addressing a group of adolescents, where the speaker's humour represents Mild's lack of sarcasm.
"Oh, knock it off, you don't have to use my full title every time you talk to me," Silver said. It can probably be safely assumed that there was a certain amount of sarcasm in her comment as well. Maybe even some irony - who knows?
Putting aside all forms of wit, low or otherwise, Mild finally began the task at hand, the task at hand being the destruction of the three dream towers, taking off into the sky. Although he could now do his Mindy thing, and had all of his other powers, it was worth remembering that now Mild was a unicorn, and was capable of the regular magic that any other unicorn could perform. And, as previously mentioned, Mild had a certain affinity for magic, which is partly what allowed him to do what he did next.
From his current position, Mild was aligned so that he could trace a straight line through all three towers. Closing his eyes, and focusing his magic, Mild bound himself in several layers of solid magical energy. Then, once he was convinced that his protective barrier was strong enough, he opened his wings and shot forwards, blasting clean through Rainbow's dream tower. Continuing onwards, he shot through Rarity's dream tower - by this point, Rainbow's had almost completed its descent to the moon below. Instead of destroying the support of the third dream tower, however, Mild dodged around it and banked upwards, twisting so that he was level with the room containing Fluttershy's dream self. Focusing his remaining barrier into one huge ball of energy, he fired it at the tower, completely destroying the room and any dream self-contained within.
Below Fluttershy's dream tower stood Rainbow, hiding in a dark alley along with Diamond, Acapella, and Fluttershy's newly awakened dream self.
"What do you think of him now, Rainbow?" Acapella asked, in reference to the exploding dream tower that Fluttershy had only escaped minutes earlier.
"Meh. Getting closer, but he's still pretty bad," was Rainbow's reply.
***
In Twilight's session, the Reckoning had yet to begin. The White King was still fighting, and there was still at least a day left before the Reckoning would begin to be a problem. Or at least, that was what should have happened.
Unfortunately for the White King - and, by extension, the players themselves - a certain creature had other ideas. A certain creature that had been lurking around the incipisphere for quite some time, gathering knowledge and watching the movements of the players. A creature with a past more convoluted, and a future more ominous, than basically all of the other characters in the story combined. A creature that had already brought about the death of one incipisphere, and that was more than ready to strike another two off of its list.
"Hm. Interesting," Comet noted, as he and Twilight appeared on the Battlefield. "By the time I reached my Battlefield, the White King was already dead. But right now the war's still going on in full force." He pointed out a few areas of the planet, emphasising where the White King was fighting off hordes of Dersite soldiers. "Obviously your King is pretty potent, given your prototyping, but even so we should try and help him last as long as possible. Which means kill any and all Dersites you happen to see."
"Uh, Comet?" While Comet had been planning out their next move, Twilight had caught sight of a tiny blob in the distance behind them. As they watched, the blob drew nearer, its features becoming easier to make out. This was a shame, all things considered. "Oh... oh no."
"What? What's going on?" If Comet was supposed to suddenly understand something, as Twilight's reaction suggested, he had no idea what it was. "Twilight?" Twilight didn't respond, simply staring in shock.
Whatever it was, it was clearly a very surprising revelation.