[VOID] 105 - Class 2, Part 1
Eve opened her eyes, a smile on her face.
“Hi,” I said.
Eve’s eyes focused. “…Were you there the entire night?”
“Yep.”
“That’s creepy.”
I smiled. “Yep.”
Eve sat up and rubbed her eyes. “You’re not secretly some kind of freaky stalker, right?”
“Oh, Gan’s flesh, no. At least not the kind you’re implying I am.”
“I thought we were supposed to be entering a Time Abyss or something?”
“Not a true Time Abyss, it’s only seventy relative years or so. There’s just going to be a lot where it seems like nothing’s happening and time flies. It was just a warning of sorts. Just because things are going to move quickly doesn’t mean we can’t just pick up where we left off.” I looked out at your ‘screen’. “RIGHT?”
“Who are y- oh.” Eve rubbed her head. “Audience in general?”
“Mhm.”
“Do they watch me while I sleep too?”
“Rarely,” I admitted. “Generally only when there are nightmares or something to deal with. If you’re just going through your normal routine they’re only watching if something’s about to go wrong.”
“Yaaaaay.” Eve rubbed her eyes. “I knew this, ugh.”
“It’s fine if you push it out of your mind. It's not the most comfortable thing to know.”
Eve summoned herself a cup of coffee. “So, since you’re here, and you’re supposed to be helping us now… Uh, how about you tell me the plot of today’s chapter or episode or whatever?”
“Sure thing,” I said, smiling. “We’re in a two-parter focused on the aftermath of the war against Skarn. You and I are just small parts of a half-dozen or so little stories that need to be fleshed out.”
“That’s handy.”
“You’re only going to get to ask that question a maximum of nine more times. Cause after that my vision goes dark. And you won’t ask me all those times because you aren’t involved in every chapter!”
“Yeesh. You have the path to the future mapped out don’t you?”
I made a mock salute. “I know all the major twists and turns, mon capitan. No I’m not going to tell you everything that’s going to happen over the next seventy-odd years.”
“Wasn’t going to ask,” Eve said.
“Oh.” I blinked. “Ah, the little details…”
“From what I hear Pinkie tell me of that incident with the world of Prophets, sometimes the little details can make you slip up.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Eh… Yeah. Sometimes the fluidity of things or interactions with other prophets will screw with me. You’re going to find that I’m not a tremendously overpowered ally at this point. Which is why I’m here.”
“You’re saying we could do everything you do without you.”
“Yep. If you really wanted to you could smash Rohan, the Pinkies, and all your Skaian Seers in a room together to get the same results. I’m just convenient! …And important in other ways. Which may or may not be obvious to you.”
“Doesn’t matter to me. You be you. I’ll thank you for helping.”
I smiled warmly. “Thanks. …My first piece of advice to you as an official subordinate is to ask you to not overexert yourself. You may feel like you’re done with your ordeal, but the scars are still on you. You’re through the woods but you aren’t at your grandmother’s house yet.”
“…Should I not work?”
“Oh, no, you got enough vacation time in running off to join the war.”
Eve let out a bitter laugh. “I really need to reexamine my idea of a vacation.”
“No argument here.”
“So, what should we do with today then?”
I shrugged. “That should be your decision. I could just tell you, but that’d be dumb.”
“Guess I’ll introduce you to the Overheads then. It is what we were talking about last night. I’ll work on the speech I’ll have to give.”
“Don’t worry too much about the speech,” I reminded her. “O’Neill’s is more important. As is Corona’s.”
“…I was there with Corona.”
“And do you really think anyone knows that?”
Eve blinked. “Ah, Giorno, always keeping secrets.”
I nodded. “It’s one that needs to be kept. Nobody can ask why you were there, so nobody can know you were there. All they know is that you took some time off to grieve. Which is technically true.”
Eve nodded slowly, furrowing her brow. “…I have to keep living a lie.”
“Enough people know, Eve. You can be honest to them. Not every interaction you have depends on your past actions, y’know.”
Eve shook her head. “We are what our past makes us.”
“That’s no reason to dwell on it.”
“True…” Eve put a hoof to her chin. “If I’ve done it for this long I can keep doing it, especially with support from my friends. …Most of them.”
I looked at her sadly.
“I know, you warned me. Still hurts.”
“It went well, considering,” I said.
“Yeah.” Eve gulped. “I think we need to see Renee first. I’ve made up with most the others I can.” She ruffled her feathers. “But first, breakfast.”
“Ooh, I love waffles!”
Eve blinked, pondering this for a moment. “Do you know what we’re having for lunch too?”
“Hrm… blue jello,” I said, scribbling something in my notebook.
“Now here’s the question, is that going to happen because you saw it, or because you wrote it?”
I grinned mischievously. “I don’t have to tell you everything.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“I’ve been locked in the basement of a library for an effective eternity, of course I’m enjoying this. I get to interact with ponies. I haven’t done that in decades. It’s all ‘I’ll just watch them and insert myself in a few key places’ and ‘oh hey, I’ve got a visitor, let’s see if I’m allowed to talk to them’.”
“Welcome back then,” Eve said, smiling. “C’mon, waffles await.”
“You cook. I’ve eaten my own cooking too much.”
“You’re a bad cook?”
“Nope. Just consistent.”
“A version of me that speaks of consistency with disdain…” Eve chuckled. “Fun.”
“Monotony is a killer. You’ll learn that soon enough.”
“…You have to work on your ominous foreshadowing.”
I rubbed the back of my head. “Er… Right, yes. I’ll try to rediscover tact. Again.”
“Hm?”
“There was a long period of time between when Vriska’s and my adventure ended and before yours began. Relatively speaking for me, anyway. Enough time to have multiple series’ of small adventures.”
“I bet you could fill entire libraries with your adventures.”
“I have.”
~~~
Renee looked at the four people sitting across from her desk.
Nova, Flutterfree, and Vriska wouldn’t meet her eyes. Jotaro looked at her with a stern, serious glare.
She met it.
“I told you not to go,” Renee said, finally. “You did anyway.”
“Eve needed us,” Jotaro said.
“You would have done the same,” Nova pointed out.
“You could have told me what you were doing at least,” Renee said. “I was worried sick! I had no idea where any of my friends were, if they were okay, or what was even going on! I’d get scant reports here and there that were nothing more than rumors! I’ve gone through more gallons of ice cream than I can count and didn’t sleep until you came back yesterday!”
“I’m s-” Flutterfree caught herself. “Actually… No. No, I’m not, because it needed to be done. I’m not happy that I hurt you, but I don’t regret what I did. I don’t think any of us do.”
Renee stared at her. “…You’ve changed.”
Flutterfree looked at the sharp tips of her wings. “I… we’ve been through a lot.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m still the same as ever,” Vriska said, leaning on a nearby wall. “But that wasn’t my first real war. No, the ghost-war doesn’t count, virtually nobody died there.”
“The rest of us aren’t going to be the same,” Nova said. “…Pinkie’s got it the worst, though.” Nova checked her screen. “She’s still in surgery.”
“I hope it goes well…” Flutterfree said, nervously scratching her hooves together.
Renee sighed. “Look, the reason you’re in here is because you all work for me and you didn’t listen to me. So I’m going to have to punish you. All of you are suspended for two months.”
“…Just two months?” Jotaro asked.
“You did save everyone and specifically went to help Eve and suffered because of it,” Renee said.
“You didn’t have to do it at all,” Flutterfree pointed out. “…This is just so Pinkie can be given time to recover.”
Renee let out a soft chuckle. “You always see through everything.”
Flutterfree smiled back. “You’re giving me too much credit.”
Renee rolled her eyes. “Well, the whole ‘serious, stern discussion’ plan is out of the window. Just try not to go off like that again without at least telling me, okay?”
“I am sorry for not telling you,” Flutterfree admitted. “You deserved to know what we were doing and why we were going.”
“Thank you,” Renee said, sitting back in her chair. “…How are you all holding up?”
“I’ve turned into a refined killing machine and slaughterer of hundreds who watched someone die by crumbling, but otherwise I’m completely fine,” Flutterfree said with an innocent smile.
“She’s not okay,” Nova translated. “She needs to have some extended talks with Rev and Eve about her new place in existence.”
Flutterfree sighed. “Yeah. I… I probably need these two months to seek professional help.”
“Just ask and I’ll have the best psychologists in the multiverse at your beck and call,” Renee said. “And don’t think you have to come back right away either. There’s no rush.”
Jotaro put a hand on Flutterfree’s shoulder, giving his comfort. She smiled. “Thank you. …All of you. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t have friends like you.”
“Go insane?” Vriska suggested.
“I’m already insane,” Flutterfree pointed out. “But that’s because I hang around Pinkie too much.”
“…Speaking of, we should probably go check on her,” Nova said, looking up from her screen. “Her surgery is wrapping up. We should be there when she wakes up.”
Renee stood up. “I’ll go with y-” she got a notification on her desk. “…Or maybe I won’t.”
“…Why not?” Nova asked.
“Eve wants to see me. Says she has something important to talk about.” She stretched her neck. “I’ll catch up at some point. I suppose we did just end a war yesterday and all of us have jobs to do…”
“It’s okay,” Flutterfree said. “See you around.”
“Bye,” Renee said with a wave.
Nova teleported them away.
Renee accepted the meeting with a button – at which point Eve and myself teleported into the room.
“…Hi,” Eve said.
“…Hello,” Renee responded.
Both of them fell into silence.
I cleared my throat, taking a step forward. “Clearly you two need to talk. Renee, I’m Twilence, we haven’t met. I’m a highly Aware Prophet who’s able to help you now that you’re a Class 2 civilization.”
“Wait wh-”
I kept going. “I’m going around with Eve and introducing myself. I look forward to working with you. Now I’ll go sit back here on this chair and let you two get reacquainted.” I did as I said, planting myself on a chair in the back of the room and pulling out my notebook. Instead of writing anything down, I just read.
Renee turned to Eve. “…She seems nice.”
“She is. She also suffers a lot more from knowing things than Pinkie does.”
“An informant of yours?”
“…Not really? When we talked – which wasn’t all that often – I’d be the one to help her unload her fears. And then I’d unload mine. She’s the reason I knew revealing who I was wouldn’t… go well. Ever.”
Renee nodded slowly. “Eve, I don’t care about that. …Okay, that’s a lie, but it doesn’t fly in the face of who I thought you were. If almost any of the other girls were to walk up to me and say ‘I’m just a replacement’ I would feel bad but I wouldn’t feel like it was all that unexpected. In many ways, we’re all replacements because of that whole retcon paradox…”
“That’s different and you know it.”
“I do, I do,” Renee said, rubbing her head with a hoof. “Stars, that was confusing… My point is I’m not all that upset about that. It makes sense that you would keep your ‘identity’ a secret. What I am upset about is this war.”
Eve’s ears drooped. “I… I can’t tell you if the choice was the right or wrong one, Renee. I can tell you I regret it. I… I wasn’t ready to sacrifice everything.”
“I know that, dear, and you are forgiven. I was never going to ostracize you. I had the same idea myself, if you’ll recall, I just didn’t act on it.” She folded her hooves together. “The problem was that you were able to do it. If you had asked me if I thought you’d be able to betray the system you built… I would have been completely certain you would not be able to, regardless of the circumstances or reasoning behind it.”
“Well, I did. And now you know it’s possible for me to do so. And you can’t trust me anymore.”
“…Afraid not, darling.”
“That’s fine. Maybe I shouldn’t be trusted.” Eve looked into Renee’s eyes. “…You got my letter?”
Renee nodded. “Yes. I did.”
“Are you going to try to convince me to resign?”
Renee looked at Eve for a long while – and then shook her head. “No… No, I’m not. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this since I found out. I… I got angry. I thought you were bad for us if you were willing to do this. And then I remembered that nobody’s perfect. I couldn’t think of you just as the one mistake you made. So what if you brought us to war once? You’ve brought us to peace so much more often. You’ve extended the hoof of friendship successfully to so many that would have considered us enemies. We’re on good terms with the USM now, many worlds that attacked us in the past are part of us. You did these things, Eve. One blemish on your record does not negate all of it.”
There were tears in Eve’s eyes. “But Renee… Your system!”
“We made the system with the intent of not falling into the trap of legalism,” Renee said. “There’s no final authority on everything. There’s always allotments for freedom and bending of the rules. Even if the law says you should be removed from your position for your actions, the spirit of Merodi Universalis says that can be brushed aside. How many times have we pardoned criminals and given them a second chance? How many people do we work with despite being crazed murderers? How many of our friends do things we consider horrible?”
Renee put a hoof on Eve’s tearstained cheek. “Darling, you deserve to have the forgiveness we’ve given everyone else. You can’t just give. You have to receive as well.”
“…T-thank you,” Eve said with a hard swallow.
“It’s the least I could give you.”
The two entered a long, heartfelt embrace.
I sat in the background, carefully reading my notes.
Renee cleared her throat a short while later. “Now, Twilence, I believe that introduction of yours was woefully inadequate. I need a full personnel report.”
“Hm? I’m not joining the Expeditions Divisi-”
“Full report, Twilence. Full report.”
“Right away,” I said, clicking my pen in preparation for the paperwork flood.
~~~
Pinkie woke up. She opened her eyes and saw nothing.
Eh, what was I expecting, that it would all be a dream?
“Uh… Pinkie? You awake?” Vriska called from her left.
“Yep. I know it’s hard to tell, but c’mon Vriska, I opened my eyelids! That should give you some indication of my awakeness!”
“…You have a blindfold on.”
“Oh. Huh.” Pinkie chuckled. “Guess I’m going to have to start checking for that. …Somehow…”
“You’ll figure it out,” Flutterfree said.
“Well, my first instinct is to just be Aware and know, which would work most of the time, but this entire scene is being narrated from my point of view so I can’t exactly cheat right now. I am the bat with a flashlight shone in its face. I am the worm in the earth. I am… Give me another animal metaphor.”
“Crab?” Vriska suggested.
“I AM THE CRAB ON THE SEAFLOOR!” Pinkie blurted, sitting up. She heard something clang. “…I just hit my head on the overhead light, didn’t I?”
“Yep,” Flutterfree said. “You were rubbery though, so it bounced right off.”
“Pinkie Pie – living play-doh,” Pinkie said with a chuckle. “So, uh, was the surgery a success?”
She heard Nova’s screen beep. “It says a complete success. The damage to your brain was completely reverted, though only the insides of your sockets could be grown back. No eyes – which was expected. The sensors on your hooves are active and should work fine. It says here using them will hurt at first, but the pain should wear off after a couple of hours of walking.”
“Time to test!” Pinkie declared. She lowered one of her hooves to where she felt her haunches were and gently pressed down.
She didn’t feel anything. All she got was a signal in her brain that formed a localized headache, and she saw bright white. She jerked the hoof back. “…Ow.”
“Oh thank goodness, it works,” Flutterfree said with a deep sigh.
“I didn’t feel anything,” Pinkie said. “My brain just twitched, that’s what happened.”
“That’s basically how it works,” Nova said, making a few more beeping noises with her screen. “Since your soul is cursed not to have a sense of touch, the new ‘sense’ the doctor created has to go directly into your brain. You just happened to have an entire visual cortex you weren’t using that could receive electrical inputs.”
“The irony – because I’m blind I’m able to get feeling implants.” She tried to roll her eyes – immensely disappointed that she couldn’t do that. She carefully put her hoof back down, feeling a jolt of pain when she touched something solid – presumably the table. But she held it there. The pain wasn’t bad, and she would definitely get used to it, but it was a little jarring at the moment. The ‘light’ was annoying since it made her think something was in front of her, but she could train herself to ignore that. At least she’d know she actually had a way to tell that she was touching something now. “So, any weird features I should know before I start exploiting this?”
“Each hoof sensor has a different signal so your brain will know which hoof is touching something,” Nova said. “Each hoof has two signals – touch, and grab. Grab will only activate when you’re successfully holding something.”
Pinkie reached into her mane. She didn’t need to feel anything to pull stuff out of there. She told her hoof to grab – and it did, sending a slightly different ping to her brain. She pulled out her squeaky hammer and twirled it. “Huh. Neat.”
There was a crash right after she said that.
“Aaaaand I just broke a vase.”
“I just fixed it,” Nova said, presumably having repaired the vase with a spell. “It’s all good. You’ll need to learn to be more aware of your surroundings. It’ll take time.”
“Time we actually have. Two months of ‘punishment’ hm?”
“Were you watching us while you were in surgery!?” Vriska blurted.
“Oh no, I was out cold. I just went back and read what I missed.” She giggled. “It is time to begin ‘Pinkie’s Rehab’! New episodes Tuesday at eight, seven central.”
“Yare yare daze…”
“Hey, big guy! I didn’t know you were in here! So quiet!”
“Sorry.”
“Ah, don’t be. Gives me an excuse to listen better. I’ll be able to pick up on breathing before too long. Lessee…” She closed her eyelids even though such a motion was pointless. “Hrm… Air conditioning unit, buzzing lightbulbs over there, Vriska’s standing creepily close to me, I’m sitting on a bed with springs given the squeaks when I shift my weight, this over here is a heart monitor with its infernal BEEP BEEP BEEPing…”
“Wow. Impressive,” Nova said.
“You should see Toph,” Pinkie said. “Or if you want someone who isn’t cheating with earth vibrations, Flair. They just know where things are and don’t have to think.”
“You’ll get there eventually.”
“You bet I will!” Pinkie blurted, exuding optimism. “Nothing’s gonna stop Pinkie Pie! …By the way, what do the implants look like?”
“Round horseshoes,” Vriska said. “Can’t even see them unless you lift up your hoof.”
“Nice. …Can I get out of the bed now and try to walk around?”
“Yes,” Nova said. “Turn yourself to the left and move your back hooves off the bed. Then slide forward – I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Pinkie felt around carefully with her hooves. She was able to sense the pose of her body, so she knew when her legs were dangling over the edge of the bed. She carefully placed her front hooves solidly onto the bed. She pushed herself off gently, allowing her back hooves to set on the ground.
The sensation of them touching the floor the first time sent chills through her mind, but she kept her cool. She settled all four of her legs down, standing proud.
“Hah. Did it! Take that, disability! Pinkie Pie can walk!”
“You’re standing,” Vriska pointed out.
“Vriska!” Flutterfree chided.
“Ah, she has a point,” Pinkie said, starting to walk forward. “I’ll be just fine an-”
She heard a thunk inside her skull. “…And I just ran into a wall. I believe the correct response is ‘ow’. Ow.”
Nova let out a soft chuckle. “Hey, at least you were able to walk.”
“Yep! Things are looking up!” Pinkie grinned. “Now, before we begin rehab, who wants lunch? Or breakfast. Or whatever time it actually is.”
“Sure, I’m famished,” Nova said. “There’s a nice joint down the block th-”
Pinkie pulled an entire table out of her mane set with high-quality sandwiches. “You forget who you’re visiting.” She sat down in front of the table, holding out a hoof. “Unfortunately I probably shouldn’t be trusted with my own food right yet so someone’s going to have to stuff this sandwich into my mouth for me. Vriska! I know you’re just dying to help me here!”
Vriska facepalmed. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
“Hey, I’m blind and have virtually no sensation within my body. I reserve the right to mess with people. Chop chop, sandwich, mouth, don’t let me bite my tongue~!”
“Uh, you just did,” Flutterfree said.
“…Ponyfeathers. I’m going to need to start carrying health potions. Or protective clothing or somefimimm.” Pinkie blinked, receiving a muddled signal of lettuce through her sense of taste. She just stuffed the sandwich in my mouth.
Pinkie started chewing, slowly. With effort, she was able to know where her tongue was in relation to her teeth, and she realized that gave her some indication as to where the actual food was. She really should be eating soft foods right now, but screw that, she could figure this out.
It took about a minute of intense focus, but she managed to get it down.
“Practice makes perfect!” She declared, pressing a hoof down on the table for effect. “ANOTHER!”
Vriska obliged.
~~~
Nova walked home later that day, having been told by Pinkie it was okay to leave.
Nova wasn’t sure about that. Pinkie sure seemed fine, tackling everything with a smile and a laugh. Apparently getting Eve back really had cured her of her swirling depression.
Honestly, that didn’t surprise Nova. She had seen Pinkie bounce from absolutely despondent to joyful in a matter of seconds numerous times. It was part of being Pinkie Pie to experience exceedingly drastic mood swings at levels normal people could never hope to understand.
Nova knew Pinkie really was back, given the state of her mane, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t hiding behind a big smile. Pinkie was more than able to shroud her fears and pain in laughs so long as they weren’t all-consuming feelings.
…Or maybe Nova was just worried about her. Whenever she had thought about losing senses previously, she had thought about sight and hearing. The things everyone relied on most if they weren’t a unicorn. Smell and taste were pretty pointless senses to be frank. She had always thought her sense of touch was one of the lesser senses as well, but seeing the slow way that Pinkie moved…
She was never going to take it for granted again. Simply moving became difficult without a basic sense of touch. Pinkie stumbled, had no idea when she’d hit her head on something, and could have a sword driven into her without her having a clue.
If it had been anyone other than Pinkie, Nova would have thought this would be impossible to move past. You couldn’t adventure like that. Not unless you were Pinkie and were made of rubber the vast majority of the time.
Still… It had to be hard for Pinkie. And she wasn’t really letting anyone see how hard it was. At least not yet.
Nova sighed, walking in the front door of her home. She had been here last night, briefly, to let everyone know she was okay before rushing off to help get Pinkie into surgery and deal with the aftermath of the war…
She hadn’t slept at all. She’d just kept busy.
She walked into the living room and fell onto her couch, looking at the ceiling.
“Nova? That you?” Sunburst asked, poking his head from around a corner in the house.
“Yes. Yes it’s me.” Nova rubbed her eyes. “I’m home. For real, this time. Sorry if I fall asleep.”
He walked over and sat next to her. “Won’t be a problem. I understand I’m boring.”
“For once, it wouldn’t be because you’re boring. It’d be because holy crap am I exhausted. Between the war, the battle, Eve, Pinkie, and the not sleeping… Just gah. I need a serious unwind.”
“Well I can certainly provide that.” Sunburst said.
Nova giggled. “Thanks for the offer. I might take you up on that later. But right now I’m just going to sit and stare at my ceiling. Maybe I’ll find the answer to life.”
“Forty-two.”
“Nineteen,” Nova countered.
“Are we arguing over stupid numbers now?” Stardust said, walking into the room.
Nova’s smile was replaced with a groan – one she immediately tried to cover up. But it was too late, Stardust saw it.
Stardust turned around and walked away.
“Stardust, wait!” Nova called, pulling herself off her couch. “I’ve just had a ba-”
“I get it, mom,” Stardust said without turning around. “I’m just one of your little chores you don’t have the patience for right now.”
“Stardust!” Nova called. “You don’t get to just walk away like that!”
Stardust let out a sigh and turned around. “Why not? If I stick around you’re just going to get fed up with me and start giving me a talk.”
“Why not? Because if you walk away and I let you, you’ll do it again and again. Not happening, Stardust. Even when I feel like tar I’m never going to let you just walk away when I – or anyone else – wants to talk to you.”
Stardust opened her mouth to object – but she didn’t quite have enough guile to face her mother directly quite yet, even when Nova was clearly weakened. “A-alright.”
Nova let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. Now let me apologize. I’m sorry – I was weak and let my impatience get the better of me. My reaction to hearing you walk in with a question was wrong. I really did lose my patience with you before you even started.”
Stardust looked at Nova, an expression of confusion appearing on her face. Her inherent fear of her mother’s authority wasn’t parsing well with the sudden display of humility.
“How about you come sit on the couch with dad and me?”
Stardust was silent.
“You can bring your book, if you want,” Sunburst suggested.
“Er… Sure,” Nova said with an awkward smile. “Family time with… a book. You know what, I may think it’s silly, but sure, we can have family time with a book tonight.”
Stardust brightened up slightly.
“Really. Don’t expect this to be a pattern or anything, but today you can sit there with a book if that’s what you want. I just want to be able to see your face, okay?”
Stardust nodded, scrambling to her room to grab her book.
Sunburst looked at Nova expectantly.
“…What?”
“You’re not going to go on a mini-rant?”
“Celestia, no,” Nova let out a laugh. “I don’t have the energy for that. Stardust can have her nose in a book tonight and I won’t get on her case about it.”
“Didn’t you say something about ‘letting them get away with something once lets them think it’s okay’?”
“That’s tomorrow Nova’s problem,” Nova said. “And there’s also the corollary. ‘Let them have good things and show them love’.”
“I don’t think that’s strictly a corol-”
Nova kissed him. “Shut up. It’s profound, or something.”
“EEEEEEW!” Stardust squealed, having just returned with her book.
Nova let out a laugh. “Get up here you little rascal. Let’s see what this book of yours is about.”
“Uh…” Stardust shifted nervously.
Nova levitated Stardust and her book to the couch. “Hrm… …‘Twilight’?”
“Uh, yes…?”
“And what do you think of this book?” Nova asked.
“It’s absolute garbage that I’m reading just to gain a newfound disdain for the culture in which I find myself part of.”
Nova turned to Sunburst. “…What’s this book about?”
Sunburst shrugged. “I dunno. I think it’s a teen supernatural romance, one of the more popular ones.”
“It’s lame and I feel insulted that it comes highly recommended,” Stardust muttered, opening the book up.
“So why don’t you stop?” Nova asked.
“And just leave the story hanging!?” Stardust said with a panicked gasp. “NEVER!”
Nova blinked. Then she let out a chuckle. She may not have understood her daughter most of the time, but she was still great nonetheless.
“Have you read any books you’d think I might like?”
“You don’t read books.”
“I can take some time out of my schedule!”
“…Well, you might like The Mare Machine…”
~~~
Rev’s church had a confessional in the back. It wasn’t used all that often – Rev didn’t push confessions as a ‘holy sacrament’, despite the fact that her original congregation had been deeply involved in the regular act of confessing. But it was there in case anyone needed it, and from time to time there was a person who did need to simply confess what they had done in a spiritual setting.
Rev had been mildly surprised when Flutterfree asked to go through with it, but she hadn’t hesitated. They took their positions on opposite sides of the booth’s interior. The light was dim, but not ominously so. If felt… homey.
“Forgive me, Reverend, for I have sinned. It has been… a long, long time since my last confession.”
“So long as you have confessed your sins to the Lord, you need not concern yourself with listing them all.”
“My sins… are many. I encouraged my sister to go off to war for her sake, ignoring the needs of all others. I turned myself into a killing machine for the sake of a war. I killed hundreds. I lost my patience an untold number of times. I became a brutal being brimming with Rage, losing all self-control. I hurt my friends with dark words and violent motions. I neglected my own needs, ruining this body that I was given. I killed a man with my bare wings.” She looked at the ground. “I could confess many, many more. I did so many things in the war…”
“How many of those things were necessary?”
“Some. Definitely not all of them. And none of them were pure.”
“We are often placed into difficult situations where impure actions must be taken for the sake of what is pure and holy.”
“I didn’t have to go,” Flutterfree said, tears forming in her eyes. “I could have stayed back. I’ve stayed back before. Kept myself out of fights I didn’t need to be in. But I didn’t this time – because of her. She was the one in danger this time. I could have left it to the others, but I didn’t. I sacrificed my own body to go help her.”
“And was that a sin? Sacrificing oneself for others is certainly a noble deed.”
“…I don’t know. I do know all my thoughts weren’t pure. At the time, I did want to punish everyone who was a danger to her. I let my rage get the best of me. Many of the deaths I inflicted were very necessary. But my presence wasn’t.”
“So your sins stem from a single decision made for the sake of another?”
Flutterfree nodded to herself. “Yes. Yes, they do. I was thinking too much of her, not of others, not of the Lord. I even encouraged her to go off to war…” She trailed off.
“It is a deep, complicated sin you have given,” Rev said, looking up. “It was one not born out of selfish desire, but of love for a sister. That doesn’t make it righteous.”
Flutterfree nodded.
“For your penance, please devote yourself to prayer this night, specifically prayers of forgiveness alongside ones of clarity. Seek out this sister you sinned for, and make yourself right with her. Furthermore, have an extended discussion with your closest spiritual advisor about what actions you should take next. She’ll have some ideas.”
Flutterfree smirked. “Yeah. …Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
“May God bless you,” Rev said, bowing her head.
“Thank you, Reverend.”
The two wordlessly left the confessional and walked to a small table Rev kept in the back room.
“…So am I supposed to pretend that wasn’t you talking in there?”
Rev let out a soft chuckle. “It’s fine, we can talk about what happened in there. We didn’t exactly do a normal one in the first place.”
Flutterfree nodded, sitting down in a chair. “…I certainly feel better, getting it all out.”
“It does help,” Rev said. “Sometimes your own mind can get in the way of direct prayer, a fact I’m sure you’re becoming well acquainted with.”
Flutterfree nodded. “…It’s all so muddled. I don’t know if half the things I did were necessary or not. And now I realize the whole reason I was in that mess was because I was thinking only of Eve. Nothing else.”
“Love can be a very dangerous thing, in any of its forms,” Rev said. “It is the highest, purest emotion we can have. But, fallen as we are, we can screw it up just like anything else. Love can result in neglect – neglect of others, neglect of God, neglect of self.”
Flutterfree looked at her wings. “Yeah…”
“Our bodies are temples,” Rev said. “We have to take care of them. Sacrifice is very noble, don’t get me wrong.”
“But I went a little far this time.”
“…I can’t say that for sure,” Rev admitted. “I’m not some source of all ‘spiritual answers’. Maybe you really did need to be there. Could they have won without your power?”
Flutterfree looked at Rev. “No. But God works all things together for good. Just because the result was good doesn’t mean it wasn’t bad to start with.”
Rev nodded. “I’ve taught you well. …You’re right, of course. Your deep bond with Eve resulted in you taking some impure actions. Throwing your soul and your body to the wind for her sake. But I want you to know something.”
“Hm?”
“Don’t think this means the special bond you share is wrong,” Rev said. “I know you sometimes wonder if it is – if you’re stepping over a boundary you shouldn’t. I always tell you that you’re not, and the same advice applies here. Everybody makes everybody else stumble at times. It’s because we’re not perfect.”
Flutterfree nodded.
“You’ll need to go talk to her,” Rev said. “Tell her how you feel about all this. Get it out in the open.”
“I know. I will. We see each other daily. I just… I wanted to come to you first.”
“Because I wasn’t part of the problem?”
Flutterfree nodded. “…I’m sure she and I will work it out. We always do. But like you said, I have a case of self-neglect here I need to deal with. I am important. I need to change a bit. Stop being what I was… But also stop being a warrior.”
Rev smiled warmly. “I agree. I can see the transformation happening within you already.”
“Yes. Within.” Flutterfree looked at the knives sticking out of her wings. “But these are always here. Making me a warrior. I could cut your head off right now.”
“No, you couldn’t,” Rev said. “I mean, you think you can, and if I was just a regular pony, yeah, but trust me when I say you couldn’t.”
“Right,” Flutterfree rubbed the back of her head.
“Have you considered doing something about those knives?”
“I can’t remove them, it would do serious damage to my nervous system. Unpredictable damage. Disguising them with magic won’t work because of Lolo.”
“So? Shave them down.”
Flutterfree blinked. “…What?”
“Like a fingernail or wild hoof. Clip the ends off. The stuff inside you still functions, there’s just nothing on the outside.”
“…I’m pretty sure that’ll do damage as well.”
“Covers, then?”
Flutterfree stared at Rev. “…That’s an excellent idea. Why didn’t I think of that?”
“You were too busy swirling in your mental self-harm.”
Futterfree smiled nervously. “Heheh… Yeah…”
“Don’t worry, the advice is free. I bet you could even get ornate engravings or something.”
“I think I’ll go talk to Flair about that. See if it’ll work.” There was a big, genuine smile on her face. “I… I won’t have to walk around as a killing machine all the time!”
“Thank God for small miracles.”
“Amen!”
~~~
Corona, Toph, Lady Rarity, Roxy, and Giorno stood outside Lai’s new palace.
Toph had not stopped working all night. With her earthbending, she had recreated the entire palace from memory. If it wasn’t for the fact all of it was made out of earth instead of the normal materials, it would have been a perfect match.
They weren’t here to look at the palace, though.
There was a monument behind the palace. It was a round pedestal of earth with a concrete sculpture on top of it. A sugar-skull – the symbol that had been Olivia’s own before she had been forced to abandon it. The symbol of Sombra.
It had been made out of her crumbled dust by Corona’s request. Enchanted to never wear away. It would remain here, behind the castle, forever – without a name. ‘Olivia Velazquez’ already had a grave somewhere else from when they thought she was dead earlier. Sombra would be remembered here.
The five of them had been there for almost half an hour already.
“…Just how cruel do you have to be to make curses like this?” Corona asked, removing her shades to wipe her eyes. “Who does that!?”
“Mad artists,” Giorno said, hands in his pockets. “Arthon thought it was poetic and beautiful to fuse physical ailments to souls. Or maybe he just found it amusing and used art as an excuse to fuel his own sadism.”
Lady Rarity sighed. “He’s already paid the price for what he did.”
Corona nodded, saying nothing.
“I wonder if she had any family,” Toph said.
“…There were a few people she talked about back home from time to time.” Corona said.
“Then let’s go find them,” Roxy said.
“I don’t know who they are for sure,” Corona said. “And it’s been decades since we had any contact with Earth Omnic.”
“Then let’s open up new contact and find them,” Toph said, folding her arms. “Kapeesh?”
Corona looked at Toph and nodded. She pulled out her dimensional device and searched for Earth Omnic. She dialed the portal. “Raging Sights, find out what ping frequency this place uses. I’ve never been.”
Raging Sights beeped, giving Corona an information frequency. The four of them walked through the portal into a forested area while she made the call. “This is Corona Shimmer of Merodi Universalis, contacting… whoever this communication device was given to.”
A second later, a smooth robotic voice responded to her call. “…This is Zenyatta. Would you by chance be the otherworlders?”
“Ah, yes, right, we met you before we were united,” Corona said. “Uh… you met General O’Neill, right?”
“I did indeed.”
“Good. You might be able to help us. Are you in a place it would be convenient for us to teleport to?”
“I am alone in my temple. By all means, come in.”
Corona had Raging Sights triangulate Zenyatta’s position, teleporting all four of them to a simple temple made of marble. Zenyatta was a humanoid robot with nine blue dots on his head instead of a face. He looked up at them from his sitting position. “I take it things have changed drastically on your side of existence since I last spoke with your people?”
“A lot,” Corona said. “Is it the same here?”
Zenyatta nodded. “The Omnic Crises are over. There is currently peace on Earth. I had been considering making the call to you myself over the last few months to tell you we were ready – but it appears that wasn’t necessary.”
“Glad to hear you’re ready,” Corona said.
“Though, am I correct in assuming that is not the primary reason you are here?”
“No,” Corona said. “Do you remember Sombra?”
“…She was a problematic hacker back when you first arrived. She vanished when you left. I believe I heard something about her leaving the universe.”
“She did,” Corona said. “She was an enemy, at first. But then she started working for us, helping us uncover the secrets of the multiverse. And… she was my friend.”
“She has passed.”
“Yeah. She passed.” Corona looked at Zenyatta. “I know she was secretive, but do you think there’s anyone who would like to know what really happened to her? To know that… she ended up a hero, in the end?”
“I have my doubts that such people exist here anymore,” Zenyatta said. “But it would be my honor to search. It will take time, of course.”
“We can wait,” Giorno said. “A-”
Corona’s phone rang. She pulled it out with her telekinesis and glared at it – and then her jaw dropped.
Olivia was calling.
She nervously answered the phone. “Hello?”
“If you’re hearing this, I’m dead,” Olivia said, getting right to the point. “I don’t know how I went out. I hope it was awesome doing something great and heroic, but it’s just as likely I was punched by some overpowered idiot and kicked the bucket in an instant without doing much. Whatever happened… Hi from beyond the grave! I’m probably totally freaking you out right now.”
“No, really?” Corona said, a hand to her mouth.
“Anyway, I’m not going to get all touchy-feely here – no way to tell how many toes I’ll step on or things I’ll screw up. For all I know I’ll have gone through a drastic personality shift whenever it happens, and I can’t really speak for whatever I was feeling at the time. So, sorry if you were expecting something cathartic, Corona. But I do have something for you that I’m sure you’ll love me for and hate me for at the same time!”
Corona raised an eyebrow. “Oh?” she asked the recording.
“See, you’ll only get this message if you go to Earth Omnic, where my super-duper-uber secret base is. First off, the location of the base is encrypted in this audio file, should be easy to find now. There’s presents waiting!”
Corona didn’t wait – she teleported all of them to the coordinates, including Zenyatta.
They appeared in a cylindrical room with no entrances or exits. The moment they appeared in the room, the screen-lined walls lit up with the sugar-skull emblem.
“Welcome to the secret Sombra base, Corona and… company.” the recording declared, chopping up at ‘company’, indicative of multiple recordings being spliced together. “Got two presents for you. First, you get all the files on the multiversal Truth.”
A tremendous flow chart spread across the screens, all centered around the Dark Tower.
“Chances are I haven’t figured it out, not completely. What I know right now is that the current Truth of the multiverse lies in the top room of that Tower. I’ve tried more times than I like to admit to get in and ascend the stairs and get to that room, but it never lets me in. No matter what I try, it always sends me somewhere else. It’s like I’m not meant to know. Which I’m never going to accept, but it’s rather disheartening.
“Amiga, you have this now. Everything I have. Maybe you’ll find the answer.”
Corona felt Raging Sights downloading all the information.
“And as for the second present… You might get mad at this one.”
A light shone from the ceiling at the center of the room. A small purple crystal in the shape of a sugar-skull was sitting there, plugged into the pedestal with a series of tiny black wires.
“…Is that what I think it is?” Lady Rarity asked, a hoof to her mouth.
“This is the Sombra Artificial Intelligence,” Olivia explained. “I call her Sai. She, uh… well she’s my attempt at a mind upload. See, I knew I might die, as evidenced by this recording, so I figured I might as well pursue alternate methods of extending my life. She’s an upload of my memories and experiences in a little purple box that really isn’t perfect. No discernable soul, the emotions are wacky, she’s inconsistent… So she’s not me but she sorta is me…”
Corona closed her hand around Sai, feeling the energy within. Olivia was right, there was no real soul in there, no full mind, just a bunch of code.
“So, feel free to be mad at me for leaving you a shadow of myself that’ll just bring bad memories. You can do whatever you want with her. I’m sorry if she’s painful to have around.”
“She won’t be,” Corona said, holding Sai to the light.
“Anyway, if you actually want to talk to her, just say ‘Sombra’ or ‘Sai, activate’. She should automatically provide you with some of my personal nanobots as well, if you ask. …Adios, Corona. Here’s to hoping there really is something after.” The recording stopped.
Corona and her companions stood in silence for a moment, soaking in what they had just heard. Corona lifted a finger to her eye and wiped away a tear.
“Sombra, activate,” Corona said.
“Hola, Amiga!” the crystal beeped in Olivia’s voice. “What can I do for you?”
“Get those nanobots ready… and then keep researching the mutiversal Truth,” Corona said, generating a string and placing the crystal around her neck, making sure to hide it beneath her shirt.
“All right!” Sai beeped. Raging Sights reported to Corona that she now had control over a large array of Sombra’s microscopic machines. Then Sai went silent – returning to quiet research.
Olivia was never someone to let something as pedestrian as death keep her from finding answers.
~~~
Allure and Minna sat down to have lunch.
“So…” Minna said, tapping her fingers together. “I think I’m ready to tell you everything that happened now.”
Allure nodded. “Go on. I won’t interrupt you. I’ll just drink this juice.”
So Minna began her story. She spoke of how she left, how she ended up on a Speeder team with Eve, how she was recruited directly by Corona, how she was separated with Lady Rarity, how she found the facility where she and her soldiers were made, how she destroyed the place and helped kill Brell, and how she helped Olivia hack into the Shaping Mechanisms. She finished her story and looked expectantly at Allure.
“Well…?”
“…I’m just glad you’re alive,” Allure said with a smile on her face. “…Actually, I’m also glad the people who tormented you got what was coming to them, but I really shouldn’t be happy that Brell was killed. She sounded… confused.”
Minna nodded. “She was. I don’t think we could have saved her though. Insanity ran in that family.”
“I figured,” Allure said. She leaned forward and clasped Minna’s hand with her hooves. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad to be back,” Minna admitted. “I… I didn’t like not having you there.”
“You’ve had me most of your life,” Allure said. “This definitely wasn’t the place or time to learn independence.”
Minna nodded slowly, eyes wide. “…I did enjoy it, at times. Not the being alone, but the thrill. I… I never really felt a thrill like that, before.”
Allure raised an eyebrow. “Not even with Frigid?”
Minna blushed slightly. “Not the same feeling. This feeling was… like I was doing what I was meant to do. Even after I had destroyed the facility, I still felt it. It felt right.”
Allure nodded slowly. “Some of us are meant to explore. You… never struck me as the type, but then again we didn’t know what you were before.”
“So I can join up?”
“Not until you’re eighteen, missy!” Allure said with a chuckle. “After that, sure, you can go sign up with Expedition-”
“Military, mom.”
Allure blinked. “…Minna, are you sure?”
“It feels… right.”
“But wasn’t that just what Brell wanted you to be?”
“She wanted me to be a mindless killing machine,” Minna said. “Not a protector. Not a savior.”
“This is the point where I try to point out that Expeditions does the same thing, that Expeditions is a lot safer, and that we’re likely not going to have an actual war for a while.”
“I mean, I’ll think about it, but if I join Expeditions I’d want to be part of a strike force or quasi-military unit. …I really felt like I belonged, mom.”
Allure let out a sigh. “I’m not going to stop you – once you turn eighteen – but I want to be sure this is your decision and not brought on by… by whatever’s hidden inside you.”
Minna looked at her hands, then at a nearby screen so she could examine her reflection. “Maybe it is that. Maybe I’m naturally drawn to being a soldier because of what I am. But there’s nothing wrong with being a loyal soldier, is there?”
Allure shook her head. “Not at all.”
“So long as I’m not being controlled and manipulated into doing it, why not follow my nature?”
“…Because it was forced on you?”
“And you were ‘forced’ to be a Cutie Mark Crusader, and then part of the League of Sweetie Belles,” Minna pointed out. “…We’re all a story, after all. Our natures and our stories might be the same.”
Allure let out a soft laugh. “You’ve matured a lot in the last few days.”
“…I found myself.”
Allure walked over to her and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you did. If you really think that’s your calling, go ahead. I won’t even try to stop you.”
“Thanks,” Minna said, hugging her back.
“You still have to be eighteen.”
“I get it, I get it.”
“I mean it! No more running off even if another war happens!”
“Alright! Yeesh!” she laughed.
~~~
“…Are you sure you understand?” Flutterfree asked Eve as they walked through the deep halls of Celestia City. I hung back far enough so that I couldn’t hear their conversation with my ears, but that didn’t mean I didn’t know what they were saying. It was just a courtesy.
Eve nodded. “I think I do. I risked all of Merodi Universalis for their sake – or what I convinced myself was their sake, anyway. I still have no idea if the decision was right or not.”
Flutterfree nodded. “Good.” She carefully hugged Eve so as not to scratch her skin.
“Glad we had this talk,” Eve said, smiling.
“Same. Now, you can go back to introducing Twilence to everyone important and I can go talk to Flair now, see what can be done about these knives in my wings.”
“See you later,” Eve said.
“Yep!” Flutterfree spread her wings and took off.
I trotted back up. “You’ll be glad to know most of that conversation was private.”
Eve let out a sigh of relief. “Good. At least there’s something I can cherish.”
“There’s a lot of things. The vast majority of your time is spent offscreen.”
“Though usually not the important stuff.”
“Usually not. But in this case, she already had a conversation so the readers could look at her – it would have largely been redundant with you.”
“…Interesting…” Eve said, rubbing her chin. “There’s probably a way to exploit that…”
“There is. Generally not worth the effort to figure it out, though.”
Eve nodded slowly, pondering this new influx of information. We finally passed by the room we were heading for, which included four Overheads at once – O’Neill, Ava, Jingle, and the Research Overhead. They were currently listening to O’Neill talk.
“Heavy damage is localized to Earth Vitis, Elemental Four, and Lai,” O’Neill said. “They’ve lost major cities in the assaults. Canterlot, Republic City, and the Lai Capital. As crazy as Toph is, I doubt that her efforts to rebuild the Capital will pan out. Otherwise, war’s completely over since every one of them just dropped dead. Cleanup is more important than that. Plans, Jingle?”
“Diverting resources from Equis Vitis, Equis Concrete, and Skaia’s Dream to the needed worlds,” Jingle reported. “Earth Vitis is expected to recover quickly given their high population density and internal relations. The four major nations of Elemental Four suffered significant levels of damage, but aid will repair the structural damage there. The crater of Republic City is a complete loss save for Air Temple Island… Elemental Four’s neutral territory is gone.”
“How will that affect them?” Ava asked.
“Cultural’s report says they’ll bond together, though the behavior of the Avatar is a big factor in their long-term response,” Jingle said. “…She’s lost a lot of close friends. That city was her home. She’s accepted professional help to cope, but I don’t have the authority to say how she’ll fare even with that.”
“She’ll pull through,” Eve said, walking in. “She’s strong.”
“Ah, Eve,” Ava said with a smile. “What brings you here?”
“Finish your meeting first, it can wait.”
Jingle nodded. “Lai is going to suffer the most. They are a single unified people under one ruler. Even the quick rebuilding of the palace has only done so much – they lost their seat of power. They don’t have another major metropolis to turn to. So the majority of Gem and Equis Cosmic efforts are being diverted. R. O., your people will need to work closely with ours to maximize the efficiency.”
The Research Overhead nodded.
“Aside from that, Ava, we’ll need more personnel to undertake a relief effort of this magnitude. It is a bit… odd that we’re devoting our resources to internal regions.”
“I will send out a call for volunteers,” Ava responded. “I expect many will come instantly.”
“Thanks. Other than that…” Jingle let out a sigh. “We do need to address the people in a more direct way than ‘the war is over’.”
“O’Neill’s the one that falls to,” Ava said. “No offense to present company intended.”
“None taken,” Eve responded.
O’Neill stretched his back. “Always more and more speeches… I’ll come up with something by the end of the day.”
“You can use Cessera if you need to,” Eve offered. “She loves writing speeches. She’s actually a little annoyed that she never gets to write any of mine.”
“I’ll take you up on that.”
“I know you will,” Eve said with a smirk.
“I think we’re done with the general report,” Ava said, turning to Eve. “Care to introduce your guest?”
“This is Twilence,” Eve said, giving them a brief overview of who I was and what I could do. O’Neill and Ava already knew who I was, but the Research Overhead and Jingle had no idea.
The R.O. beeped. “Fascinating… A device infused with Awareness… How would such a thing be possible?”
“Trade secret,” I said with an innocent smile. “You wouldn’t be able to make it anyway.”
“Words like that just make a scientist want to know more,” Jingle said.
“Oh, I know. I’m just not going to let him poke me with knives.”
“I have no intention of doing so,” the Research Overhead admitted. “But I wouldn’t mind it if you dropped by the labs and told me what you knew about the device.”
“I think Starbeat would understand it better, I could have her send the information to you later.”
“I would appreciate that.”
“While it is nice to have you on board, we do have a nation to run,” Ava said. “If you don’t have any suggestions I believe it would be prudent for us to get back to repairing our worlds.”
I pondered this a moment. “Be careful assuming that some worlds will be fine – large-scale psychological damage is hard to see when there isn’t much damage. Equis Vitis in particular is struggling to accept the things that have taken place. You might want Cultural to look into that.”
Ava nodded. “I shall make the calls. Thank you, Twilence.”
“No problem.” I turned to Eve. “Guess that means we get lunch now.”
“I’ll join you,” O’Neill said, standing up and stretching his back. “It’s time for the age-old tradition of jello eating with General O’Neill.”
Eve shot me a ‘really?’ glare. I chuckled.
~~~
“So…” Vriska said, inviting herself to sit at Aradia’s table. “How ticked off are you at this point in time?”
They were in a food court on Celestia City that served ‘almost everything’. Vriska had yellow corn dogs while Aradia was poking her fried rice with her fork.
“Oh, a bit. I know I get over it eventually – future self helping you all save this city and all – but I’m just… I’m not mad but I’m upset.”
“Y’know Eve did what she had to, right?”
Aradia let out a sigh. “Now that I’ve had a look around time, yeah, I get that. I see that this needed to happen to alter our course onto a new trajectory, I was still manipulated. I should be used to that at this point, but… I really thought I had put that behind me. Changed how I handled things.”
“So, you failed?”
“Yeah, I failed at my job. Even if it turned out for the ‘better’ this time.” She looked at the ceiling. “It’s just frustrating. To have so much power and still fall to a simple lie.”
“No shit,” Vriska said, rolling her eyes. “We’re such badasses we forget we’re still people.” She let out a bitter laugh. “It was about time you got your ass handed to you.”
“I’m not undefeated!”
“Last time you had any difficulty was with the University of Doors,” Vriska pointed out. “The whole thing with the Celestialsapien doesn’t count and you know it. You were always going to be able to go back and fix that if you had to. You just happened to get it right the first time.”
“You really don’t understand how time travel works, do you?”
Vriska rubbed the back of her head. “…Guess not.”
“I’ll save you the explanation of time-metatime interactions that I have to deal with every day on this multiversal scale. I get caught up with the paradoxes all the time. It’s why I have so many backups running around – in my line of work there are sometimes universes where I’ll just be erased without warning. Getting bested by those sorts of things are part of the job. But I don’t get fooled by innocent lies.”
“I think you’re just full of yourself,” Vriska said, kicking back.
Aradia smirked. “You’re one to talk.”
“Oh yeah, I’m definitely full of shit too, it’s a thing we share apparently. We could both stand to be kicked down a peg or two. Of course you more so than me.”
Aradia rolled her eyes. “You’re full of yourself all right. But you do have a point. Maybe I am a bit too confident. …Or too trusting.”
Vriska shrugged. “I think you just rely too much on your abilities to let you know everything, and when something comes out of left field you don’t see it until it hits you.”
“Apt metaphor.” Aradia folded her arms. “I dunno. I can’t help but feel I could have done something to stop the war. But I also know that, if I was able to see this future, I would have let the war play out, possibly even helped create it.” She sat back. “I guess I’m just complaining?”
“Yeah. You are,” Vriska said with a smirk. “You’re just bitching and whining. ‘Wah, I can’t see everything and make the best possible choice anymore!’ Welcome to being a regular person.”
Aradia’s bright smile returned to her. “I am being a little silly, come to think of it.”
“Hey, that’s what Vriska’s here for, to point out your shit.”
“Who points out yours?”
Vriska blinked. “…Flutterfree, usually.”
“Glad you have someone who can do that for you. How is Starbeat doing by the way?”
“She breezed through the entire war like a ship on smooth seas. Not even scarred by the danger she was in at the end. She’s just got a ton of chill.”
“Really? I thought she was hyperactive and slightly crazy.”
“You can be that and still have chill.”
Aradia raised an eyebrow. “That’s dumb.”
“No, that’s me being full of shit,” Vriska smirked. “Get it right.”
“Mmmmm, nah.”
“HEY VRISKA!” I called, scampering over.
“…Twilence?” Vriska said, looking up to see me leaving the table with Eve and O’Neill – both of them eating the blue jello. “What’re you doing here?”
“You’re a Class 2 now, I don’t have to hide in my ‘basement’ anymore.” I winked.
“Nice to see you again!” Aradia said, smiling. “Though I already have, in your relative future.”
“I know, I saw that,” I answered. “I look forward to being the one at an advantage!”
Vriska blinked. “Suddenly I’m terrified of what you two will do.”
“Conquer existence,” I said. “…Either that or just innocently hang out. Both seem rather tantalizing.”
Aradia giggled.
Vriska shook her head. “The world isn’t ready…”
“The world wasn’t ready for more than one Pinkie Pie, so we got more worlds,” Aradia pointed out. “Just extrapolate from there and we should be good!”
“Oh, Vriska!” I said, turning to her. “Got somethin’ for ya.”
“Hm?”
I pulled a round, blue-pink object out and tossed it to her. She caught the orb in her hands and stared at it. The sphere was lined with dozens of complex shapes tessellated together to form a nearly perfect sphere. Every second or so, the shapes would shift to different sizes and arrangements to create a new arrangement for the sphere. Every single face contained a seemingly random symbol, and the symbols changed every time the object shifted.
“An infinity-sided die!?” Vriska blurted. “Where did… how did…?”
“I kept it around,” I said. “I knew you’d want it.”
“FUCK YES!” Vriska said, holding the die up to the light. “I AM NOW THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN EXISTENCE!”
Aradia raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Okay, maybe not the most, but you know.” She held the die in front of her eye. “When this sweet baby is rolled anything can happen. For most people, it’s worse than useless and extremely dangerous. But for me… I can tell it what to do if I have enough luck. At maximum luck… I could reshape an entire universe with this beautiful beast.”
“And you’re currently in an area of the multiverse that doesn’t have them banned,” I offered. “And even when Oversight and Justice do pick up on the power you have, they’ll make an exception for you due to your exemplary service to Merodi Universalis. You don’t have to worry about simply having it anymore. Not here.”
“Sweeeeet!”
“Sweet is right,” I said, winking. “You’re welcome.”
“I’ve got to go tell the others STAT! Sorry Aradia, need to showcase some fun!” She opened a dimensional portal and left Celestia City.
I turned to Aradia. “Y’know, now that she’s gone, you can go talk to Eve. She’s right over there.”
Aradia looked at Eve. “…Not yet.”
“…But now’s the perfect time?”
A new Aradia appeared, allowing the old Aradia to disappear. “Now I’m ready.” She walked up to Eve’s table, sat down, and smiled warmly. “Hi!”
“Uh… Hi!” Eve said, smiling nervously. “Look, I-”
“Don’t worry about it. Everything’s okay now, and this is better for all of us in the long run.” Aradia put a hand on Eve’s hoof. “You’re okay by me, Evening. Don’t go out of your way to reconcile with me. There are others your efforts would be better spent on.”
Eve nodded, a look of relief crossing her expression. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Now, O’Neill, have you ever tried invisible jello?”
O’Neill blinked. “No. The fact that I haven’t is clearly a horrendous evil that must be remedied immediately.”
I summoned four plates of invisible jello. “Enjoy finding it,” I said.
Everyone chuckled.
~~~
“So… I just got a message about the Shaping Mechanism,” Kitten said, addressing the golden-throne bound Emperor of Mankind. “Looks like we’re going to be able to use it to manipulate dimensional physics.”
“AND?” the Emperor spoke, as always vocalizing with a text-to-speech device.
“You already know.”
“I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY IT.”
Kitten let out a soft chuckle. “Well okay then. It is my pleasure to announce we finally have in our hands a final solution to Chaos. We can safely disconnect Galaxus Immaterium from the Warp. It’ll be difficult - we’d have to keep all the Chaos Gods from using reality anchors - but it’s a much better option than everything else we’ve been considering lately.”
“I TAKE IT BACK. THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING DAY OF MY LIFE.”
“We might be able to get you off the Throne soon…”
“I’M GOING TO HAVE A LOT OF FUCKING AMAZING DAYS DOWN THE LINE.”
“Don’t get too excited, it’ll take several years to get the universe ready… But when it is…”
The Emperor’s phone rang. A voice came through without him answering it.
“HELLO! It’s Tzeentch. You just figured out the solution to the Warp problem! Woohoo, good on you for finally getting around to that realization. But what you don’t know is that it was all part of the plan!”
“...Your defeat was part of your plan?”
“It wouldn’t be my defeat! Why do you think I’ve been spreading out into other universes and helping with the war? With this Shaping Mechanism, I can be FREE of the definitions of the Galaxy’s collective psyche! I will fully become my own entity, separated just as you wish your universe to be. Exactly. As. Planned.”
“TZEENTCH, SINCE WHEN WOULD WE DO WHAT YOU WANTED?”
“When I’m willing to use my daemons on the other three? I’ve already started up a civil war anticipating your response. You say this is the best fucking day of your life, well, think about how much CHANGE this will bring to me! YES! DELICIOUS CHANGE!”
“...I would say you’re insane, but that’s already evident,” Kitten deadpanned.
“Hoo hoo hoo! I look forward to working together!” He hung up.
“...You didn’t say yes…”
“HE KNOWS I WILL. THE TWISTED PSYCHOTIC INCONSISTENT FUCK. SIGH. THIS IS STILL A GOOD DAY.”
“Oh of course! Shall I get the festive hats?”
“YOU KNOW ME SO WELL.”
~~~
Eve walked into one of the Golden Joke’s meeting rooms that evening, expecting to give a general report on the war to the foreign powers. I tagged along, but for once I was not to be introduced – I was just a new face.
Eve was somewhat surprised that it wasn’t just Valentine, Hastur, and Twilight M4 in there. Valentine and Hastur were both there, yes, but so were the Grand Secretariat, Nanoha, Empress Twilight of the Void, Lightning of the Collection, and even a Melnorme. Eve hadn’t seen one of the one-eyed orange creatures in ages, presumably because of the generally anti-big-business stance of Merodi Universalis.
“Uh… What is this…?” Eve asked.
“A welcoming party,” Nanoha said with a smile. “You’ve made it to Class 2.”
“Did that get out already!?”
I coughed. “I may have let slip to the Empress why I was leaving.”
“It is not hard to tell,” Lightning said, flexing her Infinity Gauntlet – dimmed because it was not keyed to the current universe. “If you have the capacity to shape universes combined with a large number of realms under your ownership, you are a Class 2.” She smirked. “The Collection is a Class 2 by power and scope alone. We aren’t ‘decentralized’, since all of us live in one universe that’s just shrouded by hundreds of others. Skarn was similar to us in that regard.”
“So we’re suddenly a Class 2 and doors open up?” Eve asked.
“With us?” Nanoha asked. “Not really. If you wanted to file for inclusion into the TSAB you’d be given priority now, but that would still take forever. Twenty years, I would think.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Eve said. “We need to be our own entity.”
“And I have no problems with that whatsoever.”
The Melnorme moved forward. “Now that you have access to higher dimensional technology your avenues for trading have drastically increased. We have many requests of you for our own universes that we would be willing to pay handsomely for.”
“You don’t have a Shaper?”
“Ah, that information has a price.”
Eve narrowed her eyes at the Melnorme. “If you want to start actually engaging in relations with us, you’re going to have to be more open than that. I’m not paying for every little tidbit of information I want to know about you. We should just, I don’t know, maybe trust each other a bit?”
The Melnorme looked at her like she was speaking an alien language.
“It is the way of their people,” the Grand Secretariat said. “Not exactly convenient.”
“The inventors of Inconvenience Stores,” Hastur joked.
Valentine stared at him, then shook his head. Eve knew he must feel a bit suffocated here – expecting a report on the war, and instead getting overlooked by a bunch of Class 2 representatives. He was not a fan of being the smaller fish.
Eve went to talk to him – but ‘Empy’ Twilight got to her first. “I wish to welcome you to our ranks personally, Charter-Princess Evening Sparkle, Overhead of Relations. May this day serve as the start of a full-fledged relationships as equals.”
“You are of a significantly higher caliber than them, Empress” Hastur pointed out. “There is much disparity between a high-end Class 2 and a low-end.”
“True,” Nanoha said. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t be allies.”
Empy smiled. “I look forward to meeting with you more, Evening. Take good care of Twilence for me.”
“I will,” Eve promised.
I winked. “I’ll be taking care of myself, Empress.”
“Don’t be so arrogant of your abilities,” Empy reminded me. “You know where that’s gotten you in the past.”
I nodded solemnly. “I know. I never forget.”
Eve let Empy and me talk for a bit, finally making it to Valentine. “Sorry about this, I had no idea.”
“Clearly,” Valentine said, arms folded. “It seems as though you’re drawing the attention of everyone.”
“None of the Class 1s are here,” Eve pointed out.
“I wouldn’t be so certain of that,” Valentine said. “They’re watching. My people detected Xeelee wire for a split second. The Flowers are here too – that’s not just a rose in that vase.”
Eve walked over to the decorative rose, discovering that it was glowing slightly, a clear indication of Flower technology. “…Oh joy.”
“The faster you climb through the ranks the more attention you draw,” Valentine said. “I envy you for what you’ve achieved – but I also pity you for what is to come.”
Eve nodded slowly. “It’s going to be a long road ahead, apparently.”
Valentine didn’t say anything in response to this.
“Anyway!” Eve called. “I came here to originally give a report on the war, and that’s what I’m going to do. Everyone’s free to listen, this shouldn’t take too long – I have extra copies of the reports. So without further a-”
Jenny of the Red Gloves fell through the front door, landing flat on her face. “Ow…”
“…Jenny!?” Eve blurted. “…This is a surprise.”
“Uh, yeah, and your mind is about to be blown right off!” Jenny grinned cheesily. “Dracogen Enterprises is here to petition for inclusion within Merodi Universalis.”
Eve stared at Jenny. “What.”
“You heard me.”
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I wish there were more side stories of this seventy years span XD, anyway.... I never though twilence had a hand, who knew XD.
Easy there, Bookhorse Omega. No one's disputing that.
In any case, a lot of doors have opened, some more literally than others. Between reconstruction and the implications of the MU's class-up, these are sure to be interesting times.
(Also, Pinkie may want to consult with Terezi on the art of smelling colors, even if her visual cortex is already occupied elsewhere.)
9680764
Actually, Twilence inspire the original twilight the name Eve, after her dead, the now Eve took it, the name was chosen by the original twilight, so it is not her name choice and only used it to museake believe she is the original, but now is hers, twilight never got to use it.
The fact that sots will be ending in 5 months still feels crazy to me. It feels like i have read this fic forever but i only started reading at the beginning of 2018. I mean WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN THERE ARE NO SOTS CHAPTERS TO READ ANYMORE?! I know i kind of said that sots wouldnt be my number 1 priority anymore but there arent a lot of good fics that pump out chapters like this so what else should i read? ( I AM reading other fics that are still ongoing )
But hey still a few months to go before it ends !
9705404
The ending of SotS is scheduled for mid-March of 2020.
130 isn't the ENDING, it's just a climax. There will be 157 chapters.
-GM, master of commentus.
9706083
You're quick, I was about to say something similar.
9705404
There'll still be the League of Sweetie Belles, and Enchorus will probably keep going as long as people have ideas... (*scribble scribble*)
Hmm, I guess I guessed.
So, it doesn’t seem to me, or in the true upper room of the "Dark Tower" is located...
Original "God Tier Clocks of Sburb"
And no, you are not yet allowed to read these lines.
Read on to the chapters.
You will understand further.
9703110
I'm assuming musake means "to make." I would like to remind you that when she said her name was "Evening Sparkle," the others said "Is that what she chose?" and Evening said "Yes."
If nothing else was true, she did select the name to honor her deceased predecessor. That wasn't part of the deception, it just slots into it conveniently.
That’s great.
Exactly my reaction.
I feel called out.Twilence certainly seems to be taking this newfound change of allowed interaction in stride.
Farpoint is definitely off the table, fun as that was initially to let loose.
Okay yeah, she's definitely liking this.
Glad to see that Primary Team is well on the road to recovery. It'll take a lot of time and a lot of healing and therapy, but eventually they'll be more back to normal. And there's going to be plenty of time in this arc.
Hold up. Did I already forget and there was a memory wipe? Because they totally met already, names included, during the Battle of Farpoint. Right? Am I misremembering? Did I hit the sauce too hard? AM I GOING CRAZY!?
Eh, whatev.
I'm...not really satisfied by the outcome in here. Sure, Eve's worked things out to be forgiven but...the law-abiding part of me would have rolled with this better if the rest of the Overhead Council had also weighed it. But, it is what it is, and I guess MU still progresses onwards in growing on a case by case basis.
Pobrecita Sombra.
The spirit may have left this world, but the will lives on...
Kinda neat, kinda a little bit creepy that she put that facet of herself together. Probably might not see it again, but eh. She left a little of herself behind for Corona and friends.
I'm liking the idea of Protector Minna. Can't wait to see how her joining the Merodi Military goes in...next chapter-ish? Idk, but definitely within this arc since there's supposed to be a lot of time covered.
HA!
Ayyyy Vriska got a fun new toy! This will come in handy later on.
I will always treasure the scenes with the God Emperor of Mankind.
Oh yeah, I kinda forgot those guys existed. We haven't seen one of them in a relatively long-ass time.
...Huh, well that's a bit of a bombshell to end on.
11821296
How...
how has no one noticed this!?
You're right that's a major continuity error! How did I even...?
How has no one NOTICED!?
Um. Not sure if I'm gonna fix it. It's... been a loooong time...
Mostly just reeling in shock here that a detail that major has managed to continually slip through for so long. Does it ever matter and ruin the future plot? no. But. Um. Wow.
-GM, master of whahuh?
11821379
That's what's weirding me out so much that I thought I might have been going crazy! It's totally like me to forget a more minor detail like something that might have been doing a memory wipe of their encounter but that was a major part of the plot with them being together through battle. And it looks like it was only about roughly three months between when that chapter started and this one was posted...not that long so I figured someone would have said something in the comments.
Thank god for it being that small of an impact, I guess.