Freedom Through Harmony: Book II

by Electricut

Fifty

Chapter in color

Fifty

Derpy

QUICK FIX: well
QUICK FIX: thats it
QUICK FIX: hes gone
DOC: He wouldn’t want the same to befall us. He would want us to get out of here, to safety.
FANCY PANTS: you’re right. but… there’s something we have to do first.
FANCY PANTS: my denizen, abraxas, offered me a weird deal before we got to the battlefield. i didn’t know what it meant at the time, but i think we need it now.
FANCY PANTS: he can get us some failsafes on our new planet. and it cannot hurt to have a backup plan against something like this.
FANCY PANTS: in the meantime… i think you should all consider getting god tier before we leave.
FANCY PANTS: it’s a power boost we might well need, both to stand strong against discord, and to govern our new world.

The radio in the shuttle comes to life with static for a moment, then a voice speaks: “Armies of Derse! Point every weapon towards the demon Discord! Ignore Prospit, and if you see the Heroes of light, you are now ordered to assist them!”

QUICK FIX: the dignitary again
QUICK FIX: seems like he had a change of heart
DERPY: maybe…
DERPY: he said some weird stuff though. i’m not sure it’s that simple.
DOC: Derpy is right. He mentioned something called Tellius, and spoke as though he were addressing someone else, not us… In addition, Dersites are supposed to be bred to oppose the creation of the new universe.
DOC: Something odd clearly happened with him, but I can’t guess what.
CHEERILEE: I suppose it doesn’t matter now. Discord has likely made short work of him.
CHEERILEE: But as he said, we may have friends elsewhere. And both Prospit and Derse should be able to help us now. At least, what’s left of them…
FANCY PANTS: right. so we should have a bit of assistance out there.
FANCY PANTS: for now, it looks like we’ll have to split up. i think i can handle myself, and when you guys hit god tier, you’ll probably be able to, too.
FANCY PANTS: but until then, i want you in teams of two. if it does come to a fight, you’ll be better prepared together. but try to avoid a fight anyway.

The others nod, none minding him taking charge. Doc moves to Derpy’s side, Cheerilee to Quick Fix’s.

“Take us to Derpy’s land first.” Fancy Pants tells Quick Fix. She nods and adjusts the course slightly. Soon, Derpy and Doc step off of the vessel onto her land. “When you get God Tier, you’ll both be able to fly, much faster than this old hunk of junk. So once you’re ready, come to my land, and we’ll make a run for it to the end of the game.”

The two nod, and the shuttle flies off. Doc turns to Derpy, concerned. “We were never asked our thoughts on the matter… Are you alright with this?”

Derpy frowned, a knot in her stomach. “To be honest, I’ve never been more scared. I want to be strong enough to stand up to Discord, but… Getting there isn’t going to be easy.”

“I know what you mean. Apparently I’ve been facing my mortality all my life, but I don’t remember it… It can’t have been easy, even then. To willingly end one’s life, even if they will come back stronger almost immediately…”

Derpy swallowed. “We can figure it out when we get there. C’mon.” She leads him across her land, tracing her previous path over the barren rock and haphazard steel, to where she knew the Quest Bed would still be waiting.

Soon, the two stand at the foot of the slab. Derpy knows what must be done, but finds herself quite hesitant to take the final step. Doc puts a hoof on her shoulder, but she shakes her head.

“I won’t ask you to do this for me. Even if it needs to happen, even if I’m alright with it and I’ll come back… It’s not you.”

Doc frowns, but understands what she means. She lies down on the Quest Bed. “I’ll wake up on Prospit after this. I’ll come back, and bring your dream self with me. That way you’ll still be right there with me when it’s your turn.”

“Good idea.” Doc says. He wants to say more, some words of comfort, but nothing comes to mind. Every part of him is screaming to not let this happen, but he also knows that it will not be permanent, that she will come back, and that it is for the best.

She readies her weapon.

Quick Fix

Quick Fix dashes forward, wrench swinging wildly, and destroys the underling before her. The proper citizens of Derse had been ordered to leave them unharmed- even assist them- but the underlings hadn’t received that message. Cheerilee swings in from behind her, slaying another.

Both of their communication devices click on at once.

cross-eyedAngel entered the group chat at 8:05 A.M.

CA: okay, it’s done.
CA: i’m god tier now.
AA: Are you alright?
CA: it was really scary.
CA: i’m still a little shaken…
CA: but i should be okay.
CA: and i got a really cool breath outfit!
CA: oh, and a horn!
AA: That’s good!
AA: I’m sorry you had to go through that. This is dark business we’ve become entangled in.
AA: Hopefully we’ll finish shortly, and be safe once and for all.
CA: yeah…
CA: wait, what is that?
TT: whats goin on
CA: oh celestia, he’s here!
AA: Discord?!
CA: yeah!
CA: i don’t think he knows i’m here.
CA: or that i’m awake, anyway.
CA: i’m almost to doc’s tower, i need to get him out of here!
CA: oh, but cheerilee, your dream self is here too…
AA: Don’t worry, I can switch and get myself out of there. Just get Doc and run!
CA: alright!

crosss-eyedAngel left the chat at 8:21 A.M.

Derpy

The newly awoken Page of Breath slips quietly into the tower of the Heir of Time, dream self currently asleep. The demon Discord has just arrived to the golden planet, and Derpy knows she will need to get away fast. Her friend, the Mage of Space, has stated that she will escape on her own, and Derpy decides she simply has to trust her on that. But Doc needs to be moved back to his land, and quickly.

She wraps her arms around him and lifts him from where he lays, then glances out the window. No sign of Discord. She knows he is still there, but may have moved on to another part of Prospit. She adjusts her grip on Doc and leaps out the window, wings catching her. Not only do her wings work once more, but they have grown to be much larger and more majestic than before. But what’s most important is that they will carry her and Doc to safety.

“Are the armies of Prospit and Derse already gone?” Derpy wonders worriedly. “Either Discord finished them already, or got away…”

She moves between buildings to keep a low profile. If she took a straight shot away from the golden planet, she would be a wide-open target. She has to work her way through the city until she reached a point where she could make a straight dash to Doc’s world, where he would be waiting for her.

A building explodes behind her. She hears the noise, but doesn’t turn to look. She has to keep moving.

Another explosion, but further away. It seems to have been in relatively the same place as the last one. “Is he not following me…?” she wonders. Then, reality hits. “He’s not here for us, he’s here to destroy Prospit!”

She looks up to see some Prospitan vessels already leaving, others waiting for more passengers. They’re already doing what they can to evacuate. She equips her communication device, never slowing down, and shouts into it: “Cheerilee, you have to get out of here! He’s destroying the whole planet!”

Derpy sees her opening, the shape of her destination a bright light in the sky, and launches herself and Doc away from Prospit’s surface. Behind her, the explosions are growing more violent, but she stops for nothing. At last, she slows to turn around and see the state of the planet.

It’s clear that Prospit is finished. Fires rage across the great city, cracks running through. It is still in one piece, but anyone still there will not survive.

cross-eyedAngel entered the group chat at 8:39 A.M.

CA: cheerilee, are you okay?
CA: prospit’s gone. tell me you made it off.
CA: cheerilee?
TT: shes still asleep here
TT: shes not picking up on the dream self end though
CA: oh no…
CA: alright. quick fix, wake her up.
TT: you sure? itll put her dream self to sleep again
CA: it might be too late for that. but she’ll be okay if you wake her up now. hurry!
TT: you got it

Quick Fix

The Knight of Void places one hand on the face of the Mage of Space, a slight frown on her face. She knows what she must do, but it wasn’t something that was high on her list of things to accomplish in life. However, if her love’s life was on the line, it was worth it.

Quick Fix hauls back and slaps Cheerilee, waking her up. The other girl rubs her cheek, but is otherwise unharmed.

“How’d it go?” Quick Fix asks.

“Not well.” Cheerilee admits. “In fact, I’m very glad you woke me up. For a few terrifying moments, after I didn’t make it off of Prospit… It was all darkness.”

Quick Fix hugs her tightly. “I’m so sorry, Cheerilee… But you’re alive now. That’s what’s important.”

She nods. “You’re right. Though I suppose I cannot reach the God Tier any longer… That was likely his plan in destroying Prospit.”

“I’ll make sure you don’t need it.” Quick Fix promises. “I won’t let him lay one freaky mutant finger on you.”

Cheerilee nodded, head still resting on Quick Fix’s shoulder. “We’ll look out for one another. Hopefully we can get out before it comes to another confrontation…”

Doc

The Heir of Time sits in front of his house, where he knows his love will find him. He was all too glad to leave the site of the Quest Bed; while it was painful to leave her body behind, it was more painful to continue seeing it. He knows she is okay, and it would do him no good to dwell on it.

At last, he sees Derpy approach from above, and waves to her. She lands, and Doc notices several things right away: first, her new outfit and mighty wings, and second, his own dream self slung over her shoulder.

“Thank goodness you’re alright.” Doc said with relief, hugging her tightly and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I heard about what happened to Prospit.”

“Yeah… I don’t think Cheerilee made it off in time. She’s alive, but I don’t think she can get to God Tier now…”

“We’ll just have to move quickly. Hopefully, she won’t need it.”

Derpy nodded and moved away from Doc. “Let’s get to your Quest Bed, then.”

Doc nods, and the two depart. Luckily, he remembers roughly where his Quest Bed lies, as well.

Fancy Pants

“I’ve come to tell you that I need to take your previous offer.” Fancy Pants says to his Denizen, Abraxas. “An enemy stronger than any we had imagined has entered the equation, and we have need of your failsafes.”

The great, benevolent monster, lord of the Land of Fortresses and Sidequests, nods slightly. “A session disturbed by outside forces is not necessarily doomed,” he says in a tongue understandable only by the hero of his land, “Nor is a completed session necessarily safe from these forces. Your kind can be saved yet, but you will need a strength beyond your own.

“This strength is tied to the Quest Beds. And my offer is this: With help from Hephaestus’s strength and Echidna’s dominion over space, I can move your unused Quest Beds to your destination.”

“Our unused beds… But where’s the advantage of that, if we could just use them here…? I suppose Leeroy’s can’t be used by us anymore…”

“It may be wise to contact your fellow heroes. Events are transpiring rapidly in the Medium.”

Realizing what Abraxas is saying, Fancy Pants’ eyes widen, and he quickly retrieves his communication device.

gamingAvarice entered the group chat at 8:51 A.M.

GA: guys, give me a status update.
GA: something abraxas just said has me worried. what’s happened out there?
AA: Prospit has been destroyed.
AA: Derpy and Doc made it off of the golden planet safe and sound, but my dream self was caught by Discord.
AA: I believe this means I will be unable to reach God Tier as we had planned.
GA: well, that’s probably what he meant…
AA: What did he say?
GA: we can bring any quest beds we don’t use with us to the new world.
GA: he says this can keep us safe. i don’t really know how though.
AA: They must hold some hidden power, deeper than what we’ve discovered so far.
AA: The Denizens have never been wrong thus far. What will you need to do to accomplish this task?
GA: i need you to talk to echidna and have her help.
GA: doc, are you in this chat? we’ll need you to talk to your denizen, too.
AT: Yes, I’m here. Sorry, Derpy and I have been moving quickly.
AT: We will visit the core of my land after I reach God Tier. We are much closer to the Quest Bed than we are to the entrance to the interior of the planet.
GA: alright. i’m going to make quick runs to all of our houses, grab all our crap that we’ll want.
GA: once we’re ready, we’re not making any more side trips. we’re making a straight run for the door.
GA: i’ll let each of you know when i’m at yours, and you can tell me what to grab.
AT: That’s very thoughtful of you. Thank you.
CA: yeah, thanks!
GA: don’t sweat it.
GA: now let’s hustle. We can’t have much time left.

gamingAvarice is now idle