Hard but Brittle
The strategy had served the girls well in the past when facing magical menaces. It was elegant in its simplicity: Come together and let the rainbow sort them out. The resulting prismatic shockwave swept across the schoolyard. In its wake, shambling Shadowbolts stopped and blinked away the dark magic leaking from their eyes and minds. Moondancer returned to a more reasonable state of being in every sense of the word, the slowly spreading cracks in existence she'd opened just by existing sealing up like they'd never been. Sunny Flare staggered to her feet, the concussion from her long drop healed in an instant.
And above most of the students, Mr. Discord's eyes widened as he vanished with one final "Oh dear," leaving Principal Cinch to stare wide-eyed at the harmonious pulse a split second before it overtook her.
Abacus Cinch wasn't sure where she was, only that it was very, very orange. No landmarks broke up the staggeringly sienna surroundings. For a brief moment, she wondered if this were Tartarus, if she would spend an eternity surrounded by nothing against which she could measure herself, denied all ways to test her merit.
Sunset Shimmer's arrival was something of a relief, even if the sheet of rainbow light cascading off of her shoulders came off as rather gaudy. "Do you understand what you very nearly did?"
Cinch quirked an eyebrow. "Win the Friendship Games?"
Sunset sighed and shook her head. "Even now, is that all you can think about?"
"It's what matters," Cinch said while folding her arms. "Maybe not to you, o high and mighty Sunset Shimmer, but to us mere mortals, these sorts of things are important."
Sunset took a deep breath, then gestured like a conductor preparing an orchestra. A screen appeared above her, showing the maddened Moondancer. "Do you see those hairline cracks around her?"
"Yes."
"Those are damage to reality itself, caused by too much magic in too small a space. Moondancer did the most overt damage, but you were causing plenty yourself. At the rate you were going, the universe was just about as damaged as it was before we had to remake it." Sunset glared. "I trust I don't need to spell out the rest for you."
Cinch clamped down on her shock, but she couldn't stop the small gasp or her widened eyes. "You're certain about this?"
"It's my job to certain about it."
The conclusion only after swallowing against a suddenly parched throat. "Then I was sacrificing the universe for the sake of the Games."
Sunset nodded, but said nothing.
After an uncomfortable pause, Cinch crossed her arms. "What?"
"Anything else you'd like to say on the matter?"
"Like what? 'I'm sorry?' 'I'll never do it again?' Empty words. I suppose 'thank you' is the most appropriate. This would have been an immeasurably grievous error." Cinch sighed. "So, what now?"
"Well, if this were Equestria, you'd probably get turned into a crystal statue."
"I take it that that won't be the case?"
"It won't. Statues can't learn or make amends. From what I've heard, they bide their time and think up revenge schemes until the moment they break free." Sunset smiled and offered a hand. "Instead, I'm offering you the same chance I got a few months ago. It's never too late to change, to use your influence for the betterment of yourself and those around you."
Cinch scowled at the hand as though it were soaked in something unspeakable. "I concede that I need to rethink some of my methods, but I can't say I like what you're implying." She still took the hand and shook. "Still, no trophy is worth what I nearly did. If nothing else, there would be nowhere to put it."
Sunset fought back a smile. "Really?"
"I was married to John Discord once. I still haven't completely recovered from the experience. So, what now?"
Sunset smiled. No, beamed. As in light radiating from her face and washing out anything else in Cinch's vision. "Now we can start the cleanup."
To everyone else, only a moment passed. One second, the rainbow shockwave was spreading across the grounds. The next, Sunset Shimmer and Principal Cinch stood in front of the entrance, hand in hand. Cinch looked around, confusion playing across her face and mixing with progressively more irritation.
"Principal Cinch," said Celestia as she strode towards them, "I can think we can all agree that your reaction to this last event was unconscionable."
Luna nodded at her side. "Indeed. We must present ourselves with certain levels of decorum and professionalism if we are to act as examples to our students. What you did disgraced not only yourself but Crystal Prep as a whole."
Angry mutterings sounded as the two student bodies gathered around them, an auditory fog of agreement and profanity. Cinch looked around the gathering crowd, bristling as more and more students followed the Canterlot administrators' example of glaring at her. Finally, she turned to Sunset Shimmer, who simply raised an eyebrow.
In that moment, Cinch went as limp as a puppet with her strings cut. "I... agree."
Every Shadowbolt's jaw dropped as one.
"Indeed, I—" Celestia blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I am to some degree as surprised as you are, Principal Celestia, but I have no choice but to agree with you." Cinch sighed. "What I did this evening was horrendous on multiple levels. I believe I owe each and every person here..." Her expression twisted through a sour pucker and all the way to acute constipation. "An apology, for whatever it is worth. I do deeply regret the actions I took once I allowed my emotions to get the better of me."
"Holy shit," Lemon Zest whispered.
Twilight gave a slow nod. "Holy shit indeed."
Celestia smiled. "Well, in light of your sterling reputation, I think we can agree not to mention this incident to the school board." She turned her gaze to the assembled students, her eyes twinkling. "We here at CHS have some experience with keeping seemingly notable events under wraps."
"I think not," said Cinch. "Actions must have consequences, or we learn nothing from them. I will report this myself. After that, I believe this will call for a prolonged leave of absence at absolute minimum, assuming I will even still have a job. Dean Cadence, will you be able to handle affairs for the fall semester?"
Cadence blinked and looked around to see if any other deans were in the area. "I, uh..."
Twilight dashed to her side. "I can help!"
Sugarcoat just waved a hand. "Likewise."
Several more offers of aid rang out. Cadence risked an uneasy smile.
Cinch nodded. "Good, you seem to have that well in hand. Now, I believe I can at least be trusted with arranging the buses back to Crystal City." She walked off. The crowd parted for her. She made a shooing motion as she passed the Wondercolt statue. "This may take some time. Go talk amongst yourselves. The Games are over; I suppose that means it's time for friendship."
The two student bodies looked at each other as blankly as middle schoolers at a school dance.
"Um... Yay?" hazarded Fluttershy.
Dash wrinkled her brow in confusion. "Yeah, uh, what just happened?"
All eyes turned to Sunset. She cleared her throat. "To put it succinctly, I hit Cinch with a clue-by-four."
"About damn time!" cried Lemon Zest. This got more than a few cheers from the Shadowbolts.
Celestia smiled. "Well, I know these Friendship Games haven't been what any of us expected, but given what we've all just been through, I think it's fair to declare us all winners."
The assembled students stared at her, expressions ranging from awkward smiles to incredulity to barely restrained laughter.
"You heard Principal Cinch, kids," said Luna. "Go mingle."
That got cheers.
Soon enough, many of the groups that had formed during the welcome party—only a day ago, yet it felt so much longer—were reestablished. The Rainbooms and Twilight found their way to an isolated spot near the front doors. "So," said Twilight, "what did you do specifically?"
"Depowered Cinch while I could. Normally, I wouldn't risk that kind of thing, but with you all behind me, there was no danger to making sure she couldn't pull that 'Crystal Heart of Darkness' thing again. She was on the furthest edge of the power curve until now."
"It's good to know that people with that lovely aspect don't all run the risk of becoming so frightful," said Rarity.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Anything else?"
"Gave her a similar dose of perspective to the one I got back during the Fall Formal."
"Oh yeah. We did kinda rainbow her in the face, didn't we?" said Pinkie.
Applejack looked around. No one even seemed to be limping. "I'm guessin' no one bein' hurt after that tussle ain't just good luck neither."
"It's why I had the effect go off as a wave rather than a beam. Harmony magic heals when it isn't directed to any greater purpose." Sunset smiled as she looked to Twilight. "Does this all meet with the ethics committee's approval?"
"It does."
"Hold on," said Dash, "we're seriously just not doing anything else to Cinch after she brainwashed most of her school into mindless slaves?" She blinked and turned to Sunset. "Uh—"
"As long as the next words out of your mouth aren't 'no offense,' none taken."
Dash mimed zipping her lips.
"Besides," said Twilight, "Principal Cinch went through a lot worse than just magic."
Applejack scratched under her hat. "Wanna run that by us again, Twi?"
"Principal Cinch prided herself on her ruthlessness and apparent infallibility. The school she saw as her weakest rival just completely trounced her and offered to spare the reputation she treasures out of mercy that she'd never show if the tables were turned. Canterlot conclusively proved that we're equal to if not better than her in every conceivable way. She's going to spend the entire summer rethinking her life, if not longer." Twilight paused and felt her own wide smile. "Am I a bad person for enjoying this this much?"
"Given how Cinch was?" said Sunset. "Not very."
"Er, excuse me." The girls turned to see a blushing blue boy.
"Oh. It's you." Rarity gave him a flat look. "What is it, Mr. Pin?"
"I was hoping I might apologize for my previous behavior. I wasn't myself."
Rarity put a finger to her lips. "Hmm. I suppose you weren't. Very well, let us discuss matters." She nodded to the others as the two walked off. "Girls."
"Huh." Sunset blinked. "Didn't see that coming."
"E-excuse me." All eyes turned to a blushing brown boy. "I was—"
"Still not interested," said Applejack.
"Oh."
A hand slammed onto the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, Trend. I'm sure there's someone out there who's into you before it'll be cool." Its owner poked her head out from behind him. "Yo, Sunset!"
Sunset beamed at the approaching Lemon Zest's use of her actual name. "Yes?"
Lemon pointed off into the distance. "You may wanna go tell Sour and Second we're done tryin' to beat the crap out of each other. And, you know, make sure that they're not still endarkened. Dunno what the range is on your deus ex machina."
"Hold still." Pinkie, wearing a magenta lampshade, slipped a lime-green one onto Lemon's head.
Sunset just bit her lip. "That... may be a concern, yes." She squinted off into the distance. "Guys, you all go have fun while I track them down."
The others nodded and dispersed.
"Think you can do it?" said Dash.
Ditzy bit her lip and spread her wingbow. "I can certainly try. You're sure she didn't just slam into the ground or something?"
"There's been no sign of her anywhere. I think she was trying to show us both up at the same time, so that means going fast enough to leave the universe."
"I'll give it my best."
Dash nodded. "I know you will." After a moment, she added, "Just let me get out of the way first."
"No hard feelings?" said Twilight.
Moondancer looked to Sugarcoat, squeezing the blue hand she held in hers. "No hard feelings."
"We could both do a lot worse on the rebound," added Sugarcoat.
Sunset manifested in a warm glow. Her cheeks never seemed to stop even after the rest of her settled down.
"How are they?" said Twilight.
"Let's just say that Sour Sweet managed to purge the dark magic through the power of love," said Sunset, her gaze distant. "Love and all but eating her boyfriend's face."
Sunny Flare sighed. "You were right."
Lemon gave a surprisingly subdued smile. "Normally I'd gloat at this point, but that'd be pretty dickish of me, so I'll just say thanks. Besides, it's not like I ever expected Aunt Abby of all people would be the first one to take a running leap off the handle."
"Still, I shouldn't have disregarded what you said just because I thought you were..."
"An idiot? Imbecile? Buffoon?" Lemon leaned from side to side with each synonym. "Tell me when I'm gettin' close."
"All of the above. Still, if Canterlot taught me anything, it's that buffoonery has its merits."
"Damn straight. High five." Lemon held up a palm well away from Sunny.
"Uh—"
"Boo-yah!" Pinkie skipped by and made sure Lemon wasn't left hanging.
Sunny tilted her head as she tried to process what had just happened. "That was stupid beyond words."
"That's the new world for you, Flare Bear."
The end of the battle hadn't changed much between Neon Lights and Vinyl Scratch. Both still faced each other, leaning over magically created turntables. Both continued to deliver sick beats at precise antiphase to one another, the tracks canceling each other out such that no one heard a peep. They'd gone from artist to artist, going from the major labels through progressively more obscure tracks, each recognizing the other's ploys and matching them without a single note escaping the perfect cancellation.
Octavia looked back and forth between the two, as she had for the past five minutes. Both were sweating buckets, their headgems guttering, but they still held firm, playing sample after sample. Only the faintest hint of synthesized tones reached her finely trained ears. She sighed. "Are you two going to snog or not?"
Twin record scratches announced the end of the duel. Both combatants fell onto their rears and panted for breath. Neon looked to Vinyl. "She wins?"
She gave a wry nod.
"I usually do," added Octavia.
Fluttershy sat against the side of the Wondercolt statue opposite from the portal, frowning. Throughout the closing festivities, Principal Cinch hadn't shifted from her vigil on the sidewalk, arms folded behind her back.
"You don't need to worry about her, Fluttershy. She does that just fine on her own."
Fluttershy didn't even flinch. She'd gotten used to Mr. Discord popping up without announcing himself. "She just seems so sad."
"I must admire your unbounded capacity for compassion."
"Sunset really did do her worst, didn't she?"
"Indeed. It wasn't a fair matchup. Abacus is particularly weak to public humiliation, something Sunset still has a gift for. You don't forget your old skills just because you start playing nice. And the reaction..." Mr. Discord sighed. "I feel I should apologize."
Fluttershy turned to him. "Why?"
"Abacus is a very predictable creature. I suppose that's part of what attracted me to her in the first place; I appreciate reproducible results. And I know her response to certain stimuli very well indeed, especially annoyance. If I had attended this year's Friendship Games, if I had seen how upset she was getting, I might have been able to cut this off before it got so... grandiose."
"She's done something like this before?"
Mr. Discord grinned. "Oh, I could tell you stories." He shook his head. "I can't help but wonder how much of this was force of habit and how much was some subconscious influence that kept me from circumventing some admittedly exquisite chaos."
"Do you think there's anything I can do for her?"
"It's very kind of you to ask, Fluttershy, but it's best that you don't interfere. At best, she'll see it as condescension. At worst, outright mockery. No, I've seen this before as well. By eleven tonight, she'll be in one of our old haunts, trying to find the answer to her problem at the bottom of a shot glass. And then I'll come to distract her from her problems and offer a solution she never considered."
The two sat in silence for a short time. "You still love her, don't you?"
"I never stopped. I'd like to think the same is true for her. It's just that over time, we gave each other more reasons to hate than to love. We're not good for each other in large doses, but as friends?" Mr. Discord gave a sad smile. "As friends, we're just bad enough." He patted Fluttershy on the shoulder. "Come on; your friends are probably wondering why you're not mingling with all the noisy teenagers."
The Wondercolts waved as the buses pulled out back onto the road. Contact information had been exchanged, friendships had been forged, and in a few cases, dates had been arranged.
"He's so dashing when he isn't consumed by dark magic," Rarity sighed.
Twilight adjusted her glasses. "You do know that's not his real name, right?"
"I'm hardly one to complain about putting on airs, darling." Rarity leaned in close and drawled, "Or didja think that's my normal accent there?"
Twilight's mind locked up as she tried to process the Whinnesotan inflection coming out of her most elegant friend. "Please don't ever do that again."
Rarity patted her arm. "I assure you, I don't plan on it."
At that point, Ditzy emerged from beyond, dove to the Rainbooms, and shook her head. "I looked everywhere from the shadow-cracked hypersphere to the cynical butterfly dimension and I couldn't find any sign of her!" After the resulting blank stares lasted for a few moments, she added, "They're on opposite sides of this universe, more or less. Both are far enough away that I can barely see home from either. If Indigo Zap is anywhere in probability space, it'll take someone more experienced than me to find her."
"Well, we'll get in touch with the ETSAB soon enough," said Sunset. "For now, everything seems to be fine."
And high above the surface, far beyond the reach of the harmony spell, countless flecks of crystal drifted. Ground from Cinch's teeth or worn from her clenched fists, the pressure wave that came when she embraced the darkness had blown them into the stratosphere. Each one was saturated with malice and impotent fury. Each one waited for similar emotions once it drifted back to Earth, that it might grow as any seed crystal in a suitable solution.
Each one was the egg of an monster born of angst.
"You'd think she'd know better."
"Did you say something, Pinkie?"
"Nothing!"
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- FanOfMostEverything · 3.4k words · 191 6 · 3.5k views
- Masterweaver · 19k words · 164 5 · 3.3k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 13k words · 141 4 · 2.1k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 4.8k words · 187 5 · 3.2k views
- ArtieStroke · 17k words · 162 4 · 2.8k views
- FanOfMostEverything · 2.3k words · 161 5 · 3.5k views
- Masterweaver · 18k words · 129 8 · 3k views
- Masterweaver · 2.2k words · 203 11 · 3.9k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.181 seconds
Total duration
1,110 users online
1,686,135 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
... Cinch got off light. After all, as the source of the Grimm, she may well be (indirectly) responsible for more deaths then anyone else this century...
...
Expected to see Rainbow Beam... But I guess it makes sense to jump cut?
The Crystal Flecks remind of of some Snow Queen versions... With the Fleck into Eye or Heart...
So, Zap's dead? Or something else... Now a multi-part crystal being??
... So, the Triptych-verse is Cynicism, right? 'Cause Cynical Butterfly? Or is it the Shadow Hypersphere?? Also, why Cynical Butterfly as its representation? ... EDIT: Oh. Profile Pic!
... Wait, so Ditzy just examined the limits of probability space, or something, right? ... Basically, "what does Ditzy mean by Universe?"?
And this wonderful little tale has now drawn to a close.
EDITED:
Much better epilogue the second time around. Actually does what it's supposed to without feeling rushed or bad.
This feels lacklustre. I mean, a sequence where Sunset has to slam Cinch around before the breaking speech would have helped some. Just a straight-up dialogue where everything is sort-of resolved comes across as... boring? Probably not the right word, but that's about as close as I think I can get.
8062277
I am Buffy-Season-6 dissappointed in this ending. You literally Deus Ex Machina'd the confilct. We didn't even see what Sunset did to Cinch.
(And come to think of it, how the hell did Cinch and Discord get together?!)
That deserves elaboration.
Tl;dr: Great story, reeeeeeeaaalllly sucky ending.
... that's it?
That's the thing about Sunset - For all her power, perception and insight, she's still a very, very mortal and fallible young woman who is prone to make mistakes and choose the easy path because it makes people happier and healthier now. So, yeah, by not seeking a holistic solution to Cinch and the Dark Crystal, she's simply saved trouble up for tomorrow. Of course, she can't know that and that is why, for all her more hysterical 'followers', she's not really divine.
I would have insisted on de-powering Cinch and giving her a chaperone or two to keep her in line. Maybe even suggested, strongly, to CP's Board of Trustees that she be put on an extended leave of absence on the grounds that the stress of so long in her position was beginning to lead to increasingly erratic and unpredictable behaviour.
8062277 8062314 8062430 8062790 8062983
Well. That could've gone better.
Suffice to say, I do see where you're all coming from. This got rushed out because I was feeling guilty about taking two weeks to compose what was intended to be a brief epilogue, and the rushing shows. Rest assured, I plan on expanding and remastering this before tackling any other major projects. My apologies in advance.
Well, that was certainly a fun story, and certainly enjoyed many parts of it.
But I don't really think this is a good story.
It started really well, a lot of buildup to a Friendship Games of a different type. Time was spent introducing us to bit players with the promise that they would be more developed and have a greater impact that in the original movie. More Shadowbolt development, and diverging characters thanks to the Saturation and things since. It looked really grand. And then it sort of just went poof. The chapters once the games began were enormously rushed, the multitude of characters had barely a scene each and became largely irrelevant. The fact that Cinch's responsibility for the Grimms was announced in the author's note instead of the story itself is really a very strange thing to do. The final battle itself not only had very poor pacing, but the battles of the participants felt remarkably irrelevant to things. Even taking the time to once again state outright that Sunset can't do anything to stop Cinch herself feels weird. Strictly speaking, it's built in that Sunset can't stop these things. She is the catalyst. Sure, once the rainbow laser goes off she gets to interact, but there shouldn't really be any real expectation that Sunset can wave her hand and stop the baddie. That's Twilight and Company's job.
I think the real waste in this story, though, was the Shadowbolts. For all the buildup, there was almost no payoff, save perhaps Zap. It just seemed to fall apart once the games themselves started.
Though the epilogue doesn't help. It's not a denouement. It's barely much of anything, to be honest. It feels almost incomplete.
As a personal issue, the mystery eggs thing comes off as yet another mysterious mystery, and the allure of them has worn down a lot for me.
Yeesh, um, kinda gave you both barrels on this.
I wonder if Planeswalker Ditzy is going to refer to the Oversaturated World as the voodoo shark dimension.
8063189 I hate to say it mate, but I was really confused when I saw "Epilogue" because the previous chapter seemed to be leading into some kind of climactic confrontation. The previous chapter, itself, ended on what felt like a cliffhanger, not a conclusion.
And then, yeah, what Blue Paladin said.
So that's where the Angst Monsters came from...
Figures. Cinch is a real b
ch most of the time. I kinda agree with jacen, she got off light.
But I understand your rush and I encourage your remastering. Just take your time and you'll make it shine. (I sense a musical number incoming)
I enjoyed this story up until this chapter, but I'm sorry to tell you that I didn't like the ending.
Cinch still doesn't seem to really understand the severity of her ruthless and petty ambition. A more appropriate response would be, “Oh crap I almost destroyed the universe! That's where I keep all my trophies!” I guess Cinch wouldn't say “crap,” but you get what I mean.
Sunset's insta-healing and mind-wiping sets a bad precedent. Yes, she did it when the world gained magic, but that was to keep all of society from panicking and collapsing, so it was consistent with Harmony. This time only two schools were involved. If Sunset insta-heals for this one event, why wouldn't she do it all the time and spare everyone from all physical and emotional pain? And if she doesn't plan on doing it every time, what is so special about this particular instance that made her do it? Besides, in this case, if you remove all the immediate consequences of Cinch's horrible actions, she doesn't learn anything, setting herself up to make another mess Sunset will have to clean up (yes, even without her being OP herself - she can easily find a magically gifted student to push to their limits).
So yeah, I hope you write a better ending if you have the time and inspiration.
8063205 8064731
Thank you both for some incredibly helpful reviews. Blue, you told me a lot more than you realized. Maran, you delayed the publication of the improved chapter, and it's a darn good thing that you did.
You should never feel guilty about taking the time to actually put out something worth reading. Because if you do give in to that guilt, you'll just get stuff like this.
That was... disjointed. While I get what happened, it came off as a bit to... flat? Basically, it transitions from the harmony beam being fired to Cinch already being defeated. While the harmony show-stoppers are always depicted as being unstoppable, not even showing Cinch react comes off as too abrupt. Sure, she probably can't do much more than scream or give the big no, or a one-liner, this actually gave me some insight as to why it's there. A villain defeat without reaction on their part seems... unsatisfying.
Oh man. Imagining Rarity with her parents' Whinnysotan accent is a surreal experience.
I'm guessing Sweetie Belle doesn't have it because she was born after moving to Ponyville.
I like this ending better than the mind-wipe ending, so I'd say the revision was a success!
On New Vers!
Yeah! Shipping Royal + Rarity! ... R-s... Baby names... Radiance? Ruby?? R-names are hard to make...
When it said "Pin", I thought it was Oz Pin(head)... But, no, that's Bacon Academy.
I wonder what's Oz Pin's new name?
Thanks for the clarification! ... For those who don't know what changed: Universe to Probability Space
... Wondering a cross between Triptych + Oversat... ... OMG ... (For those who haven't read When Parallel Lines Converge and its continuations) Triptych!Eldritzy... ... I likely didn't think of that before 'cause Triptych!Ditzy is newer than Parallel...
Hmm... How is Abacus gonna change from all this? ... Is Abacus gonna meet the Anti-Sunset Crew? A bit random... But hmm... Discord could guide them together... And they might help each other...
This is so AWESOME! Especially the lampshades
It feels much better. It feels...right. This is the true ending.
Does this have any relation to Agitate the System? And then, of course, there's the question of where Indigo Zap has gone...
Thanks for taking the constructive criticism so well. I hate being so negative about an author I admire, but I also wanted to give my honest opinion.
The dialogue between Sunset and Cinch seems more weighty now. And I was very glad to read this part:
Great to see her taking responsibility for putting the universe at risk.
That is more justifiable when she puts it that way. And at least there's no memory-wipe this time.
Overall this is ending is much more satisfying than the first draft. The character interactions are given space to breathe and really resolve.
Whinnesotan Rarity is gonna give me god damn nightmares- but aside from that, this chapter wraps up things nicely! Like the whole 'origin of angst monsters' thing- big fan of that.
Also god damn I read Probability Space as Paradox Space at first, when will Andrew Hussie let me live in Peace
I don't get it. Indigo Zap kinda, accidentally, deleated herself from the universe and the ONLY reaction, from anyone, is just Sunset all but saying 'Oh well' and everyone is ok with that?
Did I miss something here?
8124034
Most of the students are physically and mentally exhausted, and the one girl who had a shot of locating Indigo has come up blank. As such, Sunset's passing it off to the proper authorities and is bracing herself for a very awkward conversation with Indigo's parents.
Basically, there's nothing more any of these people can do with regard to Indigo's disappearance, and a lot of them have more pressing matters on their minds.
8067606
Never. You'll never get that Hussie out of your head.
Yeah, Indigo just disintegrated herself, that's my headcanon. D:
8750264
If you do want to know what happened to her, check Fey Breeze.
How does Ditzy look inside a universe for Indigo, while not disrupting it?
Does she have some device or something, telling her "Indigo Not Found" or something?
8792032
Most people can't naturally navigate probability space under their own power. Even ETSAB agents usually need spells or training to get traction in the space between spaces. As such, Indigo still drifting through the in-between seemed like a safe assumption, and Ditzy didn't see her anywhere in there.
Poor Indigo!
Seems like this should take place before Fey Breeze.
9514285
It does. How did you think Indigo got where she ended up?
9514310
Just wish the group listing was in chronological order in some fashion. In the Oversaturated World that is.
9535788
Put doesn't sunset control the magic in this universe or am I wrong on that?
9535788
Also sorry about being annoying with the post i forgot that fimfiction alerts the author about posts on their story
9535789
Not to the extent that she can override free will. Well, she might be able to, but Sunset kind of has a thing about direct mind control. She's been down that road before, after all.
There's also the Doylist fact that if I gave Sunset that kind of power, it would literally be impossible to write meaningful adventure stories in this setting, since she could undo any major conflict before it really got started.
9535800
Sorry to be annoying again I'm sorry, but does magic originate from her because then couldn't she just remove Cinch's magic without controlling her mind? Tell me if I should stop with this I'm really sorry for the post stupidity and if this is hurting your feelings I'll stop. I'm really sorry
9535806
It's a fair question. And no, while Sunset stabilized and now oversees the magic, she didn't create it. It's a blend of Equestrian leakage and the magic that was already in the human world. There's no putting that genie back in the bottle.
9535816
Ok, that answers my question. Thank you so much
Interesting and hilarious and thrilling
Interesting revision of Friendship Games. Like I remarked on before, I enjoy this deeper exploration of the Shadowbolts as characters, and I like that Cinch got a little more development too, because I find her a very interesting character as it is. Not quite sure what the deal was with the random dark magic monsters out of nowhere, though. I gather from the comments that it was Cinch's fault? But that didn't come through clearly in the current revision, and I'm not sure whether that's because it was edited out, or if I just somehow missed it.
10087992
Basically, as Cinch ground her teeth or clenched her fists, she was so full of anger and spite towards Sunset and magic in general that it infused the tiny bits of organic crystal with those emotions. Remember how Sombra's black crystals spread in the Season 3 premiere? Like that, only without any conscious direction, so they took on a malicious life of their own. Thankfully, Cinch was a Twilight Sparkle or Maud Pie of crystal-aspeoct human magic, so that won't happen every time someone with shiny skin gets frustrated.
As for why the monsters exist at all, this was an attempt at getting the setting somewhat back under control after several others crossed it over with RWBY. I didn't want to stifle anyone's creativity, but I still had to get those bits to cooperate with the rest of the setting. (The official, Watsonian explanation for all the crossover elements is that Sunset had to do a patch job to keep the universe intact in those first few weeks, and the patches she used were copied from other nearby universes. Don't worry too much about the causality of what those elements of the world were doing before it hit Saturation Point; that's the Crusaders' job.)
10090796
So is Cinch secretly an umbrum aspect, or just unintentionally imitating her predecessor?
10090858
Unintentional echo. With or without amendments to the local laws of physics, the human world tends to reflect the pony one.
I think I will start using that phrase.
Now this is something I wish Cinch showed more often, a good side.
Guess she really does have a kind side afterall.
What's that?
That's what I thought.
https://m.Rushed. So very rushed. Sorry, can't like the fic. Too fast, and too comedic for absence of "Comedy" tag.
This came so close to being a good story. Maybe if it didn't feel so rushed. I wanna know what happened to Indigo, and don't appreciate a link to another story as an answer. Still a fascinating alternative take on "Friendship Games."
Seriously, who the hay thought that teenagers racing on dirt bikes was a good idea??
11789472
Yeah, this was definitely a case where I decided that a rushed but complete story was better than an unfinished one with unrealized potential for greatness.