Up to Fate

by Onomonopia

Pinkie's Fate

Pinkie finally decided to wake up. She had expected pain. Some sort of agony or terror that would rend her body. But the agony that currently roared through her body was beyond pain. It made her nerves burn like a cold fire. She tried to lift her head, but found that her body wasn't responding. It took everything she had to open her eyes, eyes which were blurred with the tears drawn out by the pain.

She was laying up against a pillar in a temple that was all too familiar. The temple where she had met the god. Her mane was covering her face, barely allowing her to see through it. She didn't like the fact that there was more red in her mane than she remembered. She was still in the suit of fate, but it was ripped, the cape was shredded and what had once been a blinding gold was now dull. And laying before her on the ground was a single, golden helm.

"Hey Nabu. Are we dead?" she asked.

'No. When I realized that we were about to be erased, I used my power to warp us here. But I was not fast enough,' Nabu said.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that was what happened," Pinkie barely managed to say.

'You fool. You shielded me with your body,' Nabu snarled at her. Pinkie smiled softly in reply. 'You used whatever power you could muster to protect me? Why?! I am the god! I am the one meant to protect you.'

"Do I...need a reason...to protect my friend?" Pinkie asked. Nabu's silence answered for him. "Y-you brought us back here? Why?"

'It is the only place that we could retreat to. The only place that I still have some power,' Nabu replied. 'Maestro...Maestro is so far beyond what I had expected. I...we beat him. That I know. With our combined might, we managed to defeat the one that bested us. But then...'

"There were more. So many more," Pinkie whispered. "Enough Maestro's to block out every star in the sky. How is that possible."

'...Darkseid himself said that he created avatars to interact with the multiverse around him. Because he was too powerful to enter it himself. I wonder...I fear...this may be a similar case,' Nabu whispered. 'Shattered magic. A magic to defy any rule or law. Be it natural, god made...or even how a tale is supposed to work. A power Pinkie, that I fear, I cannot match. What good is order against a being that ignores all rules?'

"Don't beat yourself up. You did what you said we would do. We beat him. We just didn't expect him to bring his friends," Pinkie said. Then a small smile crossed her face. "How sad is that? All of his friends and allies is just him in different bodies. Can you imagine...being so alone?"

'I can. I have been. But he is beyond alone. Maestro is...I believe he is convinced that he is the only being that matters in the infiniverse,' Nabu explained. 'That everyone else is just...toys. Puppets to dance to his strings. Items of entertainment. He is beyond evil. To be evil, you have to understand what you're doing is wrong. He doesn't see himself as wrong. The Maestro is all there is. Everything else...is just a toy in his toybox.'

"And I went and ticked him off by trying to be his friend," Pinkie added on.

'You were just being yourself. According to Maestro, that is how you are in every reality he messes with,' Nabu said, with what sounded like...respect for Pinkie. 'I have seen a lot in my existence. Endless possibilities, much like the Maestro has. But a being who stays true to herself no matter how her world is changed...that is amazing, even for me. I can see why someone like him, who has an insatiable desire to see how things would be different, would loathe somepony like you.'

"How long?" Pinkie coughed out. "How long do we have before he finally finds us?"

'Right now you and I are speaking in a field that I have created for us. We are between the ticks of a second, the turning of a page, between the thoughts of a mind...I have bought us maybe a few minutes, at most,' Nabu admitted.

"Do you...have a plan?" Pinkie asked.

'I have nothing...he is too powerful,' Nabu snarled. The god cursed his own weakness, his own inability to find a way out of this mess. He had conquered gods, stopped universal and multiversal threats, warped the very reality of the multiverse itself...but always in a way to restore order. To keep the rules in check. But now...

"Did you...enjoy your present?" Pinkie asked. This snapped the god out of his thoughts.

'The cupcake?...yes, even though I could not taste it. I enjoyed the gesture,' Nabu softly replied. 'And you were right. I did enjoy a more...chaotic combination of two of the most orderly flavors.'

"Glad...that my hunch...was right," Pinkie said. She tried to laugh, but it quickly turned into violent coughing. She glanced down at her hoof to see drops of red on her golden gauntlet. "Oh that can't be good."

'Use my magic to heal your wounds.'

"What would be the point?" Pinkie asked. "We heal my wounds and then, in a few minutes, Maestro just destroys our reality. It would be a waste...of your magic. We need...to think...of a way to beat him."

'Do not speak like that. You must live. You must live for your husband, the fool who has stood by you all this time. Live for your son, who adores you as the greatest hero that your world has ever seen. You must live, Pinkie. Your life is worth so much to so many. Maybe not in this reality, but in the one that is supposed to be.'

"Cheese Sanwich...Lil' Cheese...what do you think of them?" Pinkie asked.

'What do you mean?'

"You didn't...really like either of them when we first started our journey. I was wondering...if you're opinion...had changed at all. Are they nothing more than tag alongs on our destined journey? Or maybe...?"

'...No. Despite my words...I have come to respect your husband. There are very few in the infiniverse who have the courage to stand before a god. Even less who will call one out like he has. He is afraid of me, but his love for you is greater than his fear. It is true strength.'

"Yeah...he's always been like that."

'As for your son. He is a perfect mix of the both of you. Your father's strength's and his refusal to give into fear. But he also has your kindness, your creativity and your ability to see more than the world would allow you to believe is there. With the right guidance, he could be a force for order...a force of good beyond that which your world has ever seen. There is so much potential within him. Star-Swirl saw it. As do I.'

"They say that foals...should be greater...than their parents," Pinkie agreed. "And he will be...so much greater...if given the chance."

'And then there is you,' Nabu said. Pinkie slightly moved her head, doing her best to look at the helm. 'A mare who I believed would be the only one who could wield my power. I saw your heart and thought you would make a suitable...host. And at first, that was all I thought of you. As another host. Nothing more.'

"I...knew it," Pinkie replied.

'But you were more. Through you...I began to care about your world. I learned to care about Star-Swirl, who I had seen as nothing more than a disposable pawn. I...felt sorrow...at his passing. Something I wasn't sure I could feel anymore. And the surprises you brought. Hiding your mind from me. Befriending Tirek and turning him to our side...even trying to befriend the Maestro. I never would have seen that coming.'

"Yeah...I'm sorry...maybe if I hadn't..."

'Do not apologize for being who you are. That kindness is the only reason we are still alive. Because you chose to save Tirek, Tirek chose to save us. It is not a weakness that you try to befriend others. I have met and ended many who would never even try.'

"You ever consider...writing a book...about what your life's been like?" Pinkie asked. "You'd have like...dozens of books worth material."

'And then you even remembered the birthday of an old fool like me,' Nabu whispered. But Pinkie still heard. 'What I am trying to say, Pinkie...is that meeting you has...made me reconsider a lot of my beliefs. My ideas on how a perfect world is supposed to be. And though the Maestro may have rejected your offer, I am proud...to call you my friend.'

"Thank you, Nabu. I'm glad you're my friend too," Pinkie said. The area around them began to shimmer, telling them that their time was up. "So, no idea what else to do?"

'I am sorry. I have nothing.'

"...then what if you stopped holding back." If Nabu had eyebrows, he would have raised both of them in shock. "What if I allowed you to use your absolute, full power? The power that you've been trying to keep from me all this time."

'What...what are you...?'

"Remember when we first met? How you said that you would only allow me to use a fraction of your power because if I wielded your full power it would decimate my mind and shatter my soul? Well, considering I've still got my mind and my soul is fine..."

'You know not what you ask for,' Nabu said.

"And then there's the other thing. The True Fate," Pinkie continued. Nabu went cold at that. "Yeah, the guy living in your helmet mentioned it to me. Something about how when I save you I will discover our greatest power. The True Fate."

'...my greatest power. Yes, he would tell you about that,' Nabu whispered. 'A merger of a man, a woman and a god. Combined together to form the final, true being. Perhaps...perhaps that could be enough.'

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's do it," Pinkie said.

'No! You do not understand! Unleashing this power could destroy my very soul. Imagine what it would do to yours!' Nabu warned Pinkie. 'If you do this, if you surrender your soul to the True Fate...in the shape we are in...it will consume you. It will erase you completely...in a way that even I may not be able to undo.'

"I don't care. It's the only way."

'But I do care!' Nabu roared. 'I care. That is the cost of the True Fate. I cannot just use any souls. It must be those within the amulet...within my helm...only those that I have allowed into my life. Myself...the first wielder of the helm...and you...my only friend. I cannot...I will not risk your soul just to...to...'

Pinkie didn't say anything for a moment. She simply hung her head and thought. Then, very slowly, she staggered to her hooves and limped over to the helm, gently placing a hoof upon it with a smile.

"I'm not supposed to exist. This version of me, anyway. None of us are. We are a world that isn't supposed to be. A world of misery, destruction, and now, one that faces complete erasure," Pinkie said. "And I had accepted that. I had accepted that was the way the world was supposed to be. And I never tried to change it."

"But then I met you. The god within the helm who told me this isn't the way that things are supposed to be. That this is supposed to be a world filled with love, laughter, friendship and happiness. Everything I had ever wanted...everything I want for my family. You gave me hope. You gave me a chance to give to my family the world that I had always dreamed of. And I would love nothing more than to be apart of that world with them. To laugh, love and be happy with them...but sometimes...fate has different things in store for us."

'Pinkie...do not do this. Remember your dream...your dream of living in a love filled world with-'

"Can you make that world for them, Nabu?" Pinkie asked. "Can you make sure that world they end up is full of laughter? Is one where they will never have to fear any evil or destruction? Make the world filled with love and friendship? Can you make it the world I always wanted this one to be? Be there for them...as I won't be able to. Can you do that...for me?"

'...yes Pinkie. I can do that for you.'

"Promise?"

'...Pinkie promise.'

Pinkie smiled at that.

'There might be another way. There are still plenty of spells that I have not tried, allies that I might be able to call upon. You do not need to give yourself to-'

"You've given me so much more than what I'm giving in return. You've given me a world where a pink pony won't have to watch her family die. You've given me a world where my husband can be the world's greatest party planner, just like he always wanted to be. And you've given my son a world where he can grow up happy and free, living a life filled with friends and laughter. Live the life I could never provide for him. A world where Star-Swirl can be the great wizard he once was. A world where maybe Tirek can be good. And where maybe...just maybe...you can have your own family and friends."

Pinkie then picked up the helm of Nabu, looking at her reflection on it as she thought about everything that had happened. Then she smiled and gently wiped off the ash and dirt that was covering the helm, allowing it to truly shine once more.

"And if all you're saying that I have to give in return for the happiness of all those that I love...to give them a better tomorrow...is my very being...well..." Pinkie said as she closed her eyes and slipped the helm over her head one last time.

"Then let it be my fate."

Comments

[Norwegian boy]

Damn Pinkie, I didn't think you had in you. Go and kick Maestro's ass.

[FleetlordAvatar]

I...I'm not crying...I swear...

[Awesometacular]

Alright, now go show that guy what a god truly is!