Chapter 3
“I've got it figured out.” Twilight Sparkle dumped a load of books onto the round table in the center of her Imposing Doom Fortress (formerly Magical Friendship Castle). It'd taken her longer than she had planned to find the proper reference materials after Spike's villainous reorganization of her library, but such things were just the price of wickedness. “So, while it looked like we were doing good when we saved Ponyville from the cra-- from the otyugh, we were really just defending our conquest, so that means we're still bad guys.”
“Whew!” Pinkie Pie took off her domino mask and wiped the nervous sweat from her face. “I'd hate to think I used artificially flavored frosting for nothing!”
“But. Um. Does that mean we can stop being evil, then?” Fluttershy said.
“I don't think so, no.” Twilight shook her head. “I've still got some more nefarious plans I'd like to implement.”
“So do I!” Spike popped up from behind Twilight's chair, holding his cape up just below his fake moustache. “Behold, the fruits of evil!” With that, he tossed a handful of cloth scraps into the air, like monochrome confetti. The scraps floated down to land on the table, and the lettering on the tags could finally be seen.
DO NOT REMOVE BY PENALTY OF LAW
“I've already hit every mattress in the castle-- soon, I'll cut the tags off every mattress in all of ponyville! MWA HA HA HA!” Spike twirled his mustache with one hand, and snipped at the air with a pair of scissors in the other.
“Good job! I'm very proud of you.” Twilight beamed.
“Spike.” The corner of Rarity's eye began to twitch. “Are those my good fabric shears?”
“Uh.” Spike's eyes went wide. “Evil awaits! Bye!” He dropped the scissors on the table, turned literal tail, and took off running. Rarity glared after him, but didn't pursue. Instead, she busied herself with picking up the scissors and examining the blades for any dulling or damage.
Rainbow Dash facehooved. “I can't believe a baby dragon is better at being evil than we are.”
“He does have a slightly different perspective on this than we do, I guess.” Twilight rubbed at her chin.
“Of course he's got a different perspective! He's short!” Rainbow said.
“Not that-- I meant the fact that he's a dragon. There's still a lot of propaganda that stems from the centuries-old feud between the Chromatic and Metallic Dragons. It's ludicrous to assume that Spike's evil due to being a purple dragon, but rather, it's not unlikely that he's subconsciously internalized some of the stereotypes that he's read about over the years. Remind me to talk to him about that when this is all over.”
“And just when will that be?” Fluttershy said.
“I'm not sure yet. I'd at least like to unveil at least one evil plan.” Twilight opened up a book and began paging through it. “And I think I've got just the thing … “
“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward. “Are you gonna use dark magic to summon some big demon to blow up the world or something?”
“I could do that.” Twilight didn't look up from her reading. “But I'm trying to be evil, not stupid. Heralding the way for an Elder One is honestly too time and resource intensive, not to mention counterproductive. I'd much rather conquer the world instead of feeding it to some ravenous hunger from beyond our comprehension of space-time.”
“So what is your plan?”
“I'm going to open a new wing of the Ponyville Hospital.”
“Ooooh. I get it!” Pinkie Pie shivered in fear and also maybe anticipation. “You're going to give everypony better medical care so that way they live longer so that way they have more time to suffer from the inherent meaninglessness of existence! That's totally evil!”
Pinkie Pie blinked her guileless blue eyes at the other four ponies at the table as they stared at her.
“What? I've been reading Neightszche. That's what bad guys do, right?”
“That's a little more … philosophical than what I had planned.” Twilight sat back in her chair. “I was just thinking we'd name it the 'Princess Twilight Sparkle Intensive Care Unit,' as a testament to my evil vanity. Or something. There's enough money for it in the 'discretionary spending' budget of the Mayor's office-- well, technically my office now, by right of conquest, but still. I'm pretty sure Mayor Mare just used this money for campaigning and direct-mailers and stuff, but if I misuse the funds for something else, I figure that's pretty evil. Not like there's anyone to stop me, anyway.”
“Aha!” Rarity pointed her scissors at Twilight, quick enough to make the princess flinch. “That's it!”
“You think taking advantage of poorly worded budget legislation is evil too?”
“No, not that.” Rarity set her shears back down on the table, and everyone let out a breath. Uncaring, Rarity continued. “The reason we haven't been effective villains is because we don't have any opposition! We're nothing more than a quintet of fabulously dressed hooligans without anyone to properly oppose us. What we need, ladies, is a hero.”
“You may have a point there.” Twilight said. “But it's not like we can put out an ad in the classifieds. 'Wanted: One Hero of Destiny. Magic Swords not provided.'” The corner of her lip turned up a little. “Or, I guess we could, but I doubt we'd get the caliber of hero necessary for our purposes.”
“Oh! Oh! I know! I know!” Pinkie Pie waved a hoof in the air. “Why don't we just kidnap somepony? That's how it works in the fairy tales! The bad guys are always kidnapping Princesses and locking them in towers and stuff! And then a hero comes and lets them out!”
“We've already got a Princess.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Oh, right.” Pinkie screwed her face up in intense thought. “Then … what if we kidnap a Prince? Rarity sure scared Prince Blueblood back at the Grand Galloping Gala that one time-- it should be easy to catch him!”
“NO.” Rarity snapped-- and then cleared her throat, playing off the sudden outburst. “I mean, ah, that's … a compelling idea, but we wouldn't want to get ahead of ourselves. Blueblood's in Canterlot, a place we decidedly haven't conquered.”
“Yet.” Twilight said, absentmindedly.
Rarity arched a brow. “Beg pardon?”
“Oh, just planning ahead, that's all.” Twilight waved a hoof. “It's good to set your goals high, you know? But as is, we'd need to secure the geode mines of the Crystal Empire to ensure the materials needed to make the ether-batteries needed to feasibly mount a proper siege on Canterlot. Of course, if I were in Cadance's horseshoes, I'd probably find a way to backwards-engineer Sombra's dark magic to take the Crystal Empire out of phase with the primary timeline before letting that happen.” Twilight took a map of Equestria out of her pile of research materials and unfolded it over the table. She traced lines and borders with a hoof, lost in strategic thought. “And even if she didn't, we'd need to establish steady supply lines so we wouldn't freeze and starve in the winter like Gnollpoleon's army did. We'd probably have to annex every bit of arable land in the immediate area to make it work, including--”
“Sweet Apple Acres!” Rarity said, with no small degree of enthusiasm.
“Very good, Rarity.” Twilight smiled, teacherly. “The orchard is the cornerstone of local agriculture.”
“Not to mention it's run by one of the most stubborn ponies I know!” Rarity sighed, dreamily. “If we start menacing Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack's sure to pay attention to me!” She blinked, and hastily added on. “Us. I meant us. Because we're evil now. Yes.”
Twilight didn't look up from the map. “Whatever you say, Rarity. But we're going to have to be careful-- we don't want to damage the orchards, and we're going to need the Apple family's cooperation to make sure they're operating at peak efficiency.”
“Darling.” Rarity steepled her hooves in front of her chin. “Just leave it all to me.”
Applejack groaned as she walked into the kitchen. Honestly earned mud and sweat spattered her coat, and all four of her legs ached. She tossed her hat onto a hook by the door, and made a beeline for the refrigerator. She reached all the way to the back of the fridge, pulled out an earthenware jug, and uncorked it with her teeth. The cool, sweet cider didn't make Applejack's pains vanish, but it at least made them feel worthwhile.
Applejack chugged down an unladylike swig of cider, gave an even more unladylike belch, and put the jug back in its proper place. It wasn't until she closed the refrigerator door that she noticed the wax-sealed envelope stuck to the front (with an apple-shaped magnet, naturally).
Curious, Applejack pulled the letter off the fridge, and after a bit of fiddling (as well as the careful application of a paring knife) opened it.
My Dearest Applejack,
We have kidnapped your family. If you ever wish to see them again, you must come to Twilight's Magical Friendship Castle Imposing Doom Fortress and surrender yourself, as well as Sweet Apple Acres. You have until sunrise to make your decision. Choose wisely.
R.
P.S. If you would, wear something nice.
“Huh.” Applejack glanced around the empty kitchen. “Thought it was quiet.” She bit the inside of her cheek, and re-read the letter, just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her after a long day's work. Sure enough, the words remained the same, even if they didn't make any more sense on a second reading.
Applejack got the cider out of the fridge again.
Stats
Page generated in 0.064 seconds
Total duration
1,048 users online
1,839,362 hits today, 2,054,621 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.®
Because drinking fixes everything... Obviously.
Next time: Jaywalking.
8030861 What! are you implying it doesn't? This is Heresy.
Okay, so Rarity has a little crush I see. And she's just blown any chance of getting Applejack, nice one girl.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/98/84/db/9884db4b82575c54b017d378513d21b3.gif
"Me" Eh?
Oooooh siege warfare!
8030970 Three words.
Zap Apple Cider
I'm just waiting for word of this to reach Canterlot. I mean, Luna's kinda already done her turn as a villain, but Celestia hasn't had a chance to.
Because there is nothing quite as evil as needles!
I've got a nagging feeling that this is her solution for everything.
And I love Spike's little attempts at being evil. He is indeed being a bit more successful at it than the others. Well, relatively speaking, at least.
As a curiosity why does this story have the dark tag attached to it. Nothing so far really seems like that's warranted.
When in doubt, drink 'til blacked out!
Wait, so bahamut and tiamat are just in a PR war?
8024298 Oh ho, you think it ISN'T possible in real life?
You might want to watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vytJbTcHzKs
Something of a common misconception; Nietzsche warned against nihilism in the face of a universe without meaning, and he spent much of his later years seeking something more primal than religion as a reason to value things. In many ways, he set the stage for the Existentialists that...
All is forgiven; carry on.
I'm liking how Twilight went and let her mind down the rabbit hole in this chapter thinking how to take over Canterlot and the Crystal Empire. I trust that at some point it should become obvious enough that the pain of doing that wouldn't be worth it.
~Leonzilla
8031284 please explain your thought process here so that I can follow.
8030953 I see Spike doing this as his next great evil. I also love how they are trying to turn AJ into the hero that will stop them, probably while still hanging out.
"Okay seriously? Why'd yall grab mai family this time? "Applejack sighed." This is tha forth time this week alone and Applebloom's gitting a mite pudgy from all them cookies yah been luring her in with."
" Cause we're evil." Dash cackles kicking a cloud behind her to give the dramatic lightning flash and thunder roll for her laughter. " Also we have a card game planed for this Saturday and we wanted to invite you."
"Oh sure i'll be there." Applejack agrees. " NOW Gimmi back Applebloom, she's got chores tah do."
Or, how about you kidnap a hero? Just for this occasion, I mean?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/12/1/1034171__safe_artist-colon-bbbhuey_flash+sentry_spike_twilight+sparkle_equestria+girls_adorkable_blushing_comic_cute_face+of+mercy_flashlight_frown_gri.png
He's even got the right name for it. That's kinda evil, isn't it?
Did anyone else see a Cthulhu reference in there?
8031325 Yup, probably immediately after she tries it.
Huh. I always thought Spike was a cesium dragon. Or possibly a fluorine dragon, what with the flames that burn faster than information can be destroyed, but that isn't a metal.
I have many questions about Gnollpoleon. I assume he was born in Corsicyena.
In all, this was a very fun setup chapter, though I am bit concerned about just how much Twilight is thinking about this. It's always important to monitor your dosage levels with this sort of thing.
Silly ponies. Nobody can deny that the most dangerous villians are the ones who mask their true intents behind a facade of heroism.
The sad part is...Twilight was already FAR more evil by ACCIDENT with the Smarty Pants Incident. Not only that, but she's already had to use Dark Magic when she went to the Crystal Empire the first time. What's sad to me is that somehow RD or Twilight hasn't done a more competent job at being evil. I mean I get the comedic aspect, but I mean c'mon, give the girls are LITTLE more credit!
I think AJ needs to reassess her circle of friends. She's the only sane one.
He's quite mad, you know...
8031923 Well if she is smart and can learn from her experience conquering poniville she will realized it before, and if the author is even smarter it will be sure to find a way to keep this story entertaining despite that.
~Leonzilla
8030861
Alcohol! the cause of... and solution to... all of life's problem.
Internalized Draconogy?
Ah, good ol neighilism
I honestly don't even know how this is a horse pun but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
8031331
Sure; no problem. Ultimately I'm making a joke involving the author using a common misconception, while complimenting another delightful D&D monster reference and using that to show I'm not being overly critical.
Now, for the long version. Feel free to skip to the second break if you already know all about Nietzsche.
Friedrich Nietzsche was a philosopher of the mid-to-late 1800s, who wrote on provocative ideas at the time - he's most known for his philosophical contributions, but he commented on or critiqued culture, art, and other topics relevant at hand. Because of both his revolutionary ideas and writing style, he got a great deal of attention, though he's still somewhat controversial owing to his works being misinterpreted (or, in some cases, just having different interpretations).
Perhaps the best known of his premises is the Death of God, often phrased as "God is Dead", which appears in several of his works (most notably one titled The Gay Science or The Joyful Wisdom - translated from German, remember). This is not a literal death, not a case of there being a God that died, but rather is a declaration that increasing science, knowledge, and secularization has destroyed religion in the west as a source of moral value, "killing" God's role. He didn't see this as an inherently bad thing, but he was extremely worried about how people would react to it. Some, he noted, would simply go on pretending that God (or religion) is still relevant and useful out of fear or angst, but the trouble comes more to those that recognized it, and when more recognized it. He did not see Christian morality as self-evident, so with the loss of Christianity as a moral foundation, the morals it supported are also lost. He went further though; he was concerned that without such a basis, the idea of objective truth or value itself could be lost to a person, which could lead to nihilism (the belief that life is without intrinsic value, purpose, or so forth).
This is where the misconceptions come in; in the public consciousness, many mistakenly consider Nietzsche to be a nihilist himself, or an advocate for nihilism. Thus, like Pinkie Pie in the chapter above, many folks will reference Nietzsche in defense of a nihilistic perspective, or comment about becoming nihilistic themselves after reading his works.
In actuality, the opposite is true; he warned against falling to nihilism after recognizing the Death of God. He saw it as a natural occurrence, but claimed that society (and people individually) can only truly have a foundation on which to thrive after overcoming it; in that regard, he spoke and wrote of it expectantly only in the sense that it must first come so that it can be overcome. By way of example: "I praise, I do not reproach, [nihilism's] arrival. I believe it is one of the greatest crises, a moment of the deepest self-reflection of humanity. Whether man recovers from it, whether he becomes master of this crisis, is a question of his strength!",
Further, Nietzsche spent the latter portion of his life searching for a philosophical basis for morals and values, working to overcome the nihilism as mentioned. A related part of his philosophy is a concept he termed the Will to Power, which he claims to be the major driving force in human behavior. This was never all that well defined, to be honest, but it includes achievement, ambition, and the striving to reach the highest possible position in life. He saw happiness not as an end itself but a consequence of fulfilling ones goals and ambitions. And in essence, this was also part of overcoming nihilism; turning one's eyes away from supernatural or metaphysical claims or demands and instead looking at the value in the world itself as it is, reevaluating values as we know them and finding their reasons to live, so to speak.
In this, Nietzsche himself was not a nihilist, but instead was an early Existentialist; rather than "all is meaningless, let us despair", his was more along the lines of "There is no meaning but that which we will and make."
And at long last, we come to my comment itself; all of the above, essentially, is what I was referencing with the first portion of my comment. Rather than writing the whole thing out - which is a bit much, as you can see - I only touched on him not advocating for nihilism itself. That let me be brief, and I hoped that it might provoke a little curiosity on the topic leading to folks asking or looking up his Wikipedia page. Which brings us to the second bit; Gnollpoleon is a pretty clear reference to Napoleon Bonaparte, the French military leader and Emperor who famously attempted an invasion of Russia and lost a very large number of soldiers to the harsh winter. The other reference is to the Gnolls, a famous Dungeons and Dragons monster; effectively anthropomorphic hyenas, usually depicted as savage, evil, clever, demon-worshiping bad guys. Simply put, I was quite amused by this portmanteau.
The joke is that I was so amused that it stopped and absolved my earlier criticism in its tracks, hence the earlier section ending mid-sentence on an ellipsis. By making this little joke at my own expense, I hoped to be able to mention my nitpick about Nietzsche without making it seem like I was treating it as Serious Buisness (which I'm not; Pinkie sharing the misconception is perfectly understandable), and at the same time compliment the comedic choice of "Gnollpoleon" as a leader who lost troops to Canterlot winter.
8032129
It's a reference to another D&D monster, so more general fantasy than horses.
8032222 The simple truth is that morals and ethics are derived from a conscious mind AND the power to implement them. If there is no higher power or intellect than the human mind, this can only mean that morality and ethics come only from overriding human opinion in a particular social order... and is thus completely arbitrary and subject to societal whims and the rise and fall of those societal orders. In a larger context, there is no overriding morality in the universe as a whole in this view, as the universe in this case is merely winding down its energy gradient and thus nothing has any purpose or directive other than expending energy down to its lowest state.
The notion of meaning loses all relevancy, and morals and ethics from a purely logical standpoint cannot actually exist as so many are contradictory and all have only a foundation in very incomplete and sentimental thoughts by mortal life forms with no power at all to prevent even their own ends.
Hence, why I shall become an Ascended. AND MY WILL SHALL DOMINATE THE COSMOS!! MUWAH HA HA HA HA!!
8032110 So... it would cancel out all of the problems then.
Well, you caught me, and it would seem I've swallowed the hook, so I may as well give it a like. Lol, this is actually really good. One thing I saw though:
Not quite sure why they've gone French.
8032403
To the contrary; morals and ethics are tools that serve a purpose, and are not arbitrary but instead depend upon the beings that craft them and the purpose they're set to. True, morality is not some objective force in the universe; there is no "justice particle", no "kindness wavelength", but there doesn't need to be. When we agree on the purpose of morality, we can compare differing moral systems as to how well they achieve the purposes. From this arises the principles that inform our morality; universal applicability, the harm principle, and so forth, and its use and utility remains; it need not be part of some universal purpose, merely of aid to creatures such as us.
And you're welcome to try, darling, but if you can do it, why think you're the first and only?
8032549
Of course, that is how alcohol works. Drink enough of it and the problems just go away.
(it was a Simpsons's quote, if somebody didn't know it, BTW)
>8032110
Good job, that dragon! Of course Spike would be better at, he's had more practise...
Actually Twilight...
A successful evil empire actually DOES do lots of "good" things as part of its day-to-day (see Evil Overlords Handbook for some examples). All successful evil empires come from someone or someones wanting to bring order (those that stem from That One Guy wanting personal power and luxary tend not to last longer than That One Guy exists). In all seriousness, if your first action as evil overlord is to open hospitals, you're on the right track. Not only does it prolong the lives of your new subjects (even from a purely practical standpoint, healthly populaces make better workers), but it actually wins you some PR - ultimately, of course, you want the populations to be as evil as you are and loyal to you, so this sort of thing is important.
If one were to conquer Earth, one of the first actions (after humilatingly crushing whichever government or governments were to raise the loudest objections) would be to shunt resources into the places of worst poverty (e.g. Africa), establishing you a populace who would be profoundly grateful for having roofs over their heads and, y'know, clean food water and medicine and so on. Yes, the successful Evil empire does charity work, even while it brutally, publically and messily crushes any resistance against it.
The evlulz is definiately a welcome perk of the job, but it must also take place to professionalism and practicality of you want the job done right.
8033411
I rarely dabble in philosphy (because I'm an engineer), but surely Alondro is sort-of following Nietzsche's ideas as you explained them - in word, rather than spirit - by setting himself a grand ambition to be achieved to make meaning, which is not derived from existant accepted religious values...?
On the other hand:
8032403
Pffttahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
No intellect than the human mind! *slaps thigh bone* Oh man, that idea kills me every time. (Thank frag you add the "if" part, or I'd probably have really done myself laughing...!)
I'm insulting the intelligence of humans, in case that wasn't clear. Was that clear?
8034236
In many ways, yes; his ambition suits the Will to Power, and his phrasing even comes as something of an overcoming of personal nihilism.
My nitpickery is focused on something else; he is mostly in line with Nietzsche's ends, but I take pause with the premises he uses to get there. I would not construct and define morals quite as he did, for example, and Nietzsche's Übermensch is something for humanity to collectively reach. Granted, I suspect he's being playfully facetious, so that's to his credit really.
8033411 I'm not the first to deny morality and alter ethics to my designs. North Korea's been doing it for decades.
In reality, those who dominate then inflict their will upon others, which is why dictators will attempts to rise ceaselessly as they know they can craft a society to obey their whims so long as they can induce enough fear in the populace.
Morals and ethics are only opinions. There is no factual basis behind any of them. Nature cares nothing for them. They are but the dreams of men, lost in time and forgotten as nations rise and fall. They are impermanent and immaterial.
It's simply fact that nothing of man will stand the test of time, especially not things dependent on good behavior.
8034236 You should really look at how the Nazis operated when they first took control.
You would have idolized them the way so many others did.
Any cunning evil empire pacifies its fools with trinkets before tightening the noose.
8035885
Once more, to the contrary. While morality is by no means elementary, it arises from thinking individuals as part of a set of behaviors geared to allow them to get along as groups. It evolved for a purpose and serves that purpose still. Indeed, we see the instincts that give rise to our morality in numerous other animal species; altruism in rats, fair play in chimps, loyalty in geese, and so forth. It need not be anything special, supernatural, or ephemeral for it to be worthwhile; the simplest agreement "I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me" is of great worth to individuals trying to accomplish their goals.
Nature cares nothing for them? It's silly to think of nature "caring" for anything, but the very fact that they're still hear suggests the question: why are they? And the answer is simply that they're of use, derived from our nature, dependent upon the sort of creature we are and enhanced through our means of passing on behavioral traits, instinct and culture both. And yes, morals change, but not because they're arbitrary but because as we learn more, we grow in our understanding of what we value and why. And for the second time, no, they are not merely opinion; once the goal of morality is understood, differing moral systems may be compared and contrasted to see which is more effective. While morality is subject to us and our nature, its utility can be objectively compared.
So long as there exists a group of more than one being in existence, so too will there exist morality, for in the end, morals are simply the agreements and understandings that let us exist together. Even if everything of man passes away, morality will have made countless lives better, allowed unnumbered beings to achieve their goals with greater efficiency and effectiveness, and allowed us to enjoy and savor life in ways that would be lost to us without.
Turn your back on morals at your on peril; you enjoy their protection more than you admit.
8031985 Look at his color scheme, I'm pretty sure Spike's an amethyst dragon, they're purple lithovores after all. That would make his default alignment neutral.
Twilight and company are still terrible at being bad, and it's hilarious.
Also, AJ has some good thinking. Can't go anywhere when parched! Also can't handle too much idiocy sober, if that's the hard stuff.
Calling it. Applejack is already evil by simply not giving a buck.
8034236 The hilarity in where Twilight crushes the nobility under hoof (as being the ones who traditionally would object the loudest) and Celestia just looks on with a mix of pride and horror.
Luna would probably be breaking out the pom-poms
8036654 And yet those same example of species also attack each other for their own ends when it becomes useful. Their 'morals' end the moment they find it more beneficial to attack. Again, they are based on drives which are not truly altruistic, but are merely programmed responses which are overcome by contrasting stimuli.
These are not morals either, and they do not emerge from any greater authority than biochemical evolution, just as easily erased by tweaking the genetic code.
You are illogical. Your species has become irrelevant. You be modified to service... us.
i.stack.imgur.com/X6i1p.jpg
But really, talking about morals is basically futile in a universe that emerged from an 'accident'. They'll all vanish into nothingness when our sun swells and erases . A universe of randomness cannot possess them. It's all merely societal constructs and they change at a whim of power. If a society emerges which decides all individual will means nothing and can be killed whenever it benefits the whole, then are those morals equivalent to ours simply because the society has adopted them? And if moral equivalency exists between societal orders in diametric opposition to one another, can any society then claim to have the 'correct' system? Logically, this indicates that none of the systems possess any factual basis of support and are, as I stated, merely constructs.
There are only two possibilities:
1. Either the universe was created by a being or beings with knowledge and power beyond comprehension which can thus grant purpose to the creation and craft a system of higher order and rule.
or
2. The universe was a random occurrence and nothing has meaning or purpose from a quantifiable viewpoint. (Thus the growing secular hedonist mentality in Western society.)
If there was a third option hypothetically, it would be that life could evolve beyond material forms... but quantum physics has quite quashed that notion with its annoyingly dull laws and limitations. Can't even build transporters. How boring.
8030861 Well there's a reason alcohol is a solution
AJ has seen how her friends' "evil" plans have turned out and figures her family is fine staying with them.