Story of a Stick

by Xinrick

Stick get's a happy ending

I was meditating in the house I shared with Shining, Cadence and Sombra. I’ve only done this once before and it was a pain in the ass but It’s my only shot to enter my pocket dimension personally and look for this door Pain mentioned. I took deep, slow breaths letting my body relax, my mind clear and trying to astral project.

Breath in.

Breath out.

Breath in.

Breath out.

“Hey Simon.” I opened my eyes, seeing Crystal standing before me. “You finally got inside your own bellybutton huh?” I looked around, seeing I was in a rather fancy entrance chamber. Many hallways and stairs leading in all directions, up, down, sideways… woah. Trippy.

“Yes, cause I have been…very busy with a lot of other things.” I said carefully. “So…this is my pocket dimension huh?”

“Yup. Well, the entrance hall.” Crystal shrugged. “So, looking for something specific?”

“The right door…” I said carefully. “And given that this is going to be some MC Escher esc bullshit…it’s gonna take a while.”

“Well, if it helps I already labeled a lot of them.” She said, walking me over to a door that had the words ‘Marker Room’ written in marker ink. “Makes navigating easier.”

“And given that I have yet to be a part of this magical candy land, I’d like to see what’s in it.” I said honestly. “So onward to opening up way too many doors…christ, you’d think…” I said about to continue but then saw a black stick figure running through one of the doors and looking around…gave me and Crystal a wave and ran through another door. “Oh you’ve gotta be kidding me…” I groaned.

“Yeah, no idea who that is but they just do that every so often.” Crystal said with a shrug, opening the Marker Room and handing me a marker. “Let’s get looking.”

And so, we did. I walked with Crystal til we found some doors that were not marked yet and began opening them. There was all kinds of stuff. Repeats and the like.

There was a room of USB drives. A room of computer parts. A room of dragon scales. A room of left socks. A room full of needles. A room with a single corpse laying on the floor. A room with comic books. A room full of drugs. A room full of sheds. A room full of sheds full of sheds. A room with a Mick Gordon reference. A room with a single grape. A room with all kinds of booze. A room full of fog. A room full of fish that swim in the air.

There was a lot of randomness here.

“Ugh, this is taking forever…” Crystal huffed as she closed the door on a room full of paper planes.

“Yeah…like…the fuck is this?” I asked. “I know I called this MC Escher but come on.”

We opened more and more doors, finding nothing but oddities. The doors were endless and I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up looking.

No, no don’t think about that. Pain said there is something here that I need to find. But what? After everything what the hell is there for me to find? What does she want me to find? What can help me now? There’s still sticks causing trouble on Equis and a lot of damage controle here so what the fuck am I looking for?!

I kicked the next door open, finding it dark. That’s new…

I walked in and blinked as lights on a sensor turned on. A lab? All kinds of strange equipment everywhere. Okay… this is new…

“Woah, futury.” Crystal said as she followed in next to me.

“Yeah…this is…quite a lot.” I frowned, walking in and looking around at all the…rather high tech equipment. “Why the hell…”

I looked around and found a terminal. Pressing a button started an audio clip. “Greetings. If you are listening to this then your world has likely been destroyed by any number of factors of apocalyptic events. The facility around you is built to take a DNA sample of your species, if you are one of or a sole survivor, then all you need to do is place a DNA sample into the chamber to your left, and it will analyze, take apart, and rebuild your DNA into new forms of your species. This process can rebuild a species from just a single sample, and given how the process works, very few will have enough genetic similarities to be considered family. Depending on the sample, up to two or five thousand new members of your species can be recreated.”

“Woah! Okay that is very useful.” Crystal said.

This… This is what Pain wanted me to find! I can bring back my species entirely, here!

“I…I can save this world…” I said with a growing smile. “Not just my species, I can save every species that was killed because of this bullshit.”

I grinned, then laughed as I felt like the best thing ever. Finally! I can help!

---

Six Years Later

“Dad, I'm heading out!” Dawn called as she was rushing towards the door.

"Hold on their missy." I said, quickly scooping her up before she could escape. "And where do you think your going?"

“To the park! James, Poppy and Kelp just got new sketch pads and I wanna see what they draw!” She said, trying to wiggle out of my arms and used her power to float up. I was dangling from her now. Still can’t believe my daughter has the power of flight.

"Alright, but you got everything you need? Don't want you forgetting anything like last time." I said with a cheeky smile at that silly incident.

“No, I got my phone in case of emergencies.” She chuckled, floating down and getting both of us on the ground. “Can I go now, and yes I’ll be back before dark.”

I smiled, kneeling down and giving her a hug. "At least one hug okay?" I chuckled.

“Okay.” She chuckled, giving me a quick hug before bolting out the door.

I laughed, walking over to the door she left open and closing it up. Outside was the Crystal Empire. The new capital of Equis and home to all kinds of creatures. Sticks included.

All the rogue sticks were finally captured two years ago. Most were able to be rehabilitated. Those that were not were imprisoned. Rebuilding the world is taking a long time, but that’s fine. The new generation of Sticks and their powers are helping speed things along. The extinct species that were killed off are back, even some that were long since extinct.

I gave a small content sigh. "Six years…who would have thought things could change this much…" I chuckled.

"Mom! Big brothers acting old again!" I heard my little sister call out playfully.

"Oi!" I called out. "I'm not old!"

“He’s a father now sweetie, Simon is going to be acting older at times regardless.” Mom laughed.

"Mo~m!" I whined.

"Don't worry son, you'll get used to it, as well as learn the power of puns!" Dad laughed happily.

"Why must you all torture me like this?" I whined playfully.

"Cause big brother awesome!" My little brother cheered.

“Speaking of, isn’t Cadence due soon?” Mom asked me. “My god, first one with Shining then one with Sombra, does that mean I should be expecting her to have your baby next?”

"Uh…maybe?" I said sheepishly.

“Heh, that’s gonna be something. Pony magic with Stick Figure abilities. Oh man that baby is gonna be a trouble maker.” Dad laughed. “We are not babysitting.”

"Don't abandon me with that tornado waiting to happen." I begged. "I wasn't here when Dawn was an infant. I don't know how to handle that…"

“Too bad.” He and mom said simultaneously.

“First time parenting isn’t an easy thing and hands on experience with a baby will be better for you.” Mom said.

"Why must you abandon me like this?" I whined playfully.

“It comes with growing up Simon.” Dad laughed.

“Speaking of, can’t believe Dawn is nine already.” Mom sighed. “I remember when we arrived here and she was three and so tiny!”

"Yeah…they grow up really fast." I said with a proud smile. "I'm just…glad she can live in such a happy time."

“Yeah. So, what’s Crystal been up to?”

Heh, that’s a loaded question. Since getting that room with the lab working she’s been using my pocket dimension to house and feed the excess new population. At least until there’s room for them in the expansions. Girl goes between the reconstruction locations and my pocket dimension all the time. At least it keeps her busy.

"She's been busy to say the least, making sure everyone is okay in the lab and checking the reconstruction zones…she's been keeping busy that's for sure."

"When are you going to ask her on a date?" My little sister, the little gremlin she is, just had to ask.

"Excuse you." I blushed at that.

“You already have a sausage fest of a reverse harem, at least consider another girl. I’d like more grandkids.” Mom said.

“Ugh…there’s no winning with you people…” I grumbled, digging into my pocket dimension and pulling out Crystal Wing. “Want to go out on a date?”

“Sure, how’s saturday?”

“Good.”

We shared a nod and she jumped back in as I looked at my family. “Happy?”

“Much.” Mom chuckled. I huffed, but smiled. This is my life now. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The End