119 - Conference, Part 2
“We can’t use John!”
“Why the hell not!? Why do his powers exist if we don’t get to use them in times like this?”
“What would he even do? He’s just a man. We all overplay how useful he is.”
“He could destroy everything by accident! If you thought the unintended consequences of time travel were bad, I’ve got a news flash for you!”
“He is no longer a foolish child, he is a grown man who has seen much in his time with us. He understands what needs to be done.”
“He could disagree with the decision! What then? We tell him to do something and he betrays us?”
“John is not a traitor!”
“…Nor does he think all that much about things. He’ll go with whatever his friends think.”
“Will he, though? Won’t his friends be just as divided as we are?”
“Why are we even discussing this? Using retcon only has bad consequences! The very few times we’ve approved it, it’s either been useless, or had some kind of cost associated with it!”
“White Nettle.”
“That was useless! He didn’t do anything and there was a problem with a paradox that had to be resolved!”
“How can we not use him?”
“Because he’s a person?”
“That’s not a consideration here!”
“Get out!”
“These things are bigger than just one person!”
“I think you’ve forgotten one of the finer points of The Message…”
“John can undo it after it happens.”
This brought the room into silence for a moment as all of them turned to stare at Ava – the woman who rarely said anything with even a hint of opinion.
Ava’s features remained level. “John has the ability to wind back metatime, and is the only individual who can do so. If we decide we don’t like the result after we preserve or collapse the multiverse, we can go back. In essence, he gives us the opportunity to have a reset button.”
“…If we were to initiate the collapse, we could go back,” Corona said, eyes widening.
“Could we?” the Research Overhead asked. “Our best theories suggest that John requires the Tower to use his retcon powers. In this new world without a Tower, retcon will likely not be feasible.”
“Since we don’t understand how retcon works, it might well be rendered impossible by editing the connection between universes,” Corona pointed out.
“Unlikely,” the R.O. admitted.
“Do we actually have any data on retcon? No, because we don’t want to poke it with a light-year-long pole. We could collapse the multiverse and decide it wasn’t worth it. We could preserve the multiverse and decide the result was horrible. I say we run the collapse and see – it’s the result we know the least about.”
“Time travel kills all those who are overwritten,” Eve said, glaring at Corona. “The death toll would be the same either way.”
“Do you want to play numbers?” Corona blurted. “R.O. How much local time would have to pass here for the number of deaths caused by time travel to equal the number of deaths caused by the collapse?”
The Research Overhead performed some calculations. “There is a wide range due to unknown. Anywhere from fifty to fifteen thousand years.”
“That isn’t very long,” Corona pointed out. “Even if we flipped the multiverse from collapse, to preservation, to collapse again, that would be a max of thirty thousand years of multiversal death due to time travel.”
“How much of that comes from the Gallifreyans?” O’Neill asked.
“Ninety percent, estimated,” the R.O. answered.
“Not the Xeelee?”
“They have download-upload processes that prevent rampant death from rewrite.”
O’Neill looked at Corona. “This looks more like reason to declare war on the Gallifreyans than anything else.”
“Even if we could remove the Gallifreyans from the question, that only reduces it by a factor of ten,” Giorno said. “Three-hundred thousand years is still nothing in the ocean of the multiverse. Thrackerzod might be older than that in her-time.”
“Is it possible to edit the Dark Tower to make time travel impossible?” Renee asked.
“…Possibly,” Corona admitted. “I haven’t discovered how yet. R.O., you can probably figure that out quickly.”
The R.O. shook his head. “I’m expecting a few days to run those calculations. Ka revealed the way to collapse and preserve to you. Anything more will require effort on our part, if we are allowed to find it at all.”
“Time travel is such an integral part of so many stories and dreams,” Aiskera of Cultural said. “If we said we wanted to keep the Dark Tower but remove the part we didn’t like… I think that’d go against the choice we’re being offered.”
“Not all time travel is rampantly deadly. There are loops,” the Commerce Overhead pointed out. “And we could add time travel to our list of things we are against in the multiverse. We could give aid to bring it to an end.”
“See, that’s something we’re too small to do,” O’Neill said. “Just a little speck trying to alter time travel. I don’t think we could go to war against Gallifrey even if we convinced the TSAB to help us. They’ve got too many tricks. And the Class 1s aren’t going to do anything against them. The only ones who could care would be the Xeelee, and we all know they love the Gallifreyans for being a technology-based civilization. So much that they’ll overlook the abuse of time travel.”
“Nobody really thinks of it as an abuse, most of the time,” Corona pointed out. “You rewrite time and you don’t think about the lives you’re destroying. Even if the world you make is better, it still had to replace something.”
Eve’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks.
Daniel lost it. “And it’s the same thing with the collapse!”
“Of course it is! It’s a replacement to end the replacements!”
“You’re just here to destroy us!”
Corona twitched. “And you have a brain-damaged vendetta against me!”
“That’s your ‘fault’!”
“That you won’t let me fix!”
“BECAUSE IT LET ME SEE THIS COMING! You’ve done exactly what I said you would! Do you understand?! Do you!?”
“No! I don’t!”
“You’re here to destroy us!”
“I am here to sa-”
“ORDER!” Ava shouted, slamming her hands on the desk. “That’s it, enough of this! We’re taking a recess. It’s late and we’re not going to decide anything anytime soon. Reconvene tomorrow. Afternoon.” She stood up and walked out of the room.
“...About time,” Yellow Diamond muttered.
~~~
“All right, let me hear it,” Daniel said when they got home.
“Trust me, you don’t want to hear it,” Renee said with bated breath.
“If you don’t let it out you’re just going to stew over it a-”
“And if I let it out I’m going to hurt us!” Renee shouted. “So, can we not? I… I don’t need that devastation on top of what’s going on right now.”
“You agree with her!?”
“Stop reading into things with your insanity!”
Daniel let out a disgruntled ‘tch’.
“Love, I’m sorry, that wa-”
“It’s exactly what you think and I’ve known that since this started.” He folded his arms behind his back and looked out a window at the streets of the Hub – filled with people trying to go about their daily lives, but for the most part failing because of the great weight on their minds. “You even had a nagging doubt in the back of my mind that maybe I was wrong. Maybe I was insane. But I’m sure I wasn’t now. I was seeing this.”
“Not even Twilence could see this, Daniel. Not ahead of time.”
“I’m certain Renee.” He turned to look at her. “I am absolutely certain this is what I’ve feared all these years. She’s going to bring Doom to us all, and we have to stop her by any means necessary.”
“Danie-”
“Renee,” he said forcefully, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Believe me. Just believe me. I’m absolutely certain.” He gently fell to a knee so he could look at her from a level position. “Renee, I’ve never asked you to just trust what I think. I’m asking now. Trust me. She has it out for us. It’s true.”
Renee looked into Daniel’s pleading eyes. Then she broke down and started bawling.
An ice-cold spike drove into Daniel’s heart.
She couldn’t do it.
Daniel stood up and turned his back.
“Daniel!” Renee called after him. “Daniel, love!”
“You call me that. But you apparently trust your friends more than me. Even those who’ve betrayed you.”
“Daniel, it’s not like that and you know it!”
“I also know Corona’s our Doom! Apparently that means nothing! So what can I trust about my knowledge?” He left the house.
Renee growled, lighting her horn and teleporting him back into the room. “You don’t get to do that.”
“I am not a child.”
“You’re the closest thing in this house!”
“Is that a jab?”
“I don’t know! I don’t care! I’m not letting you walk out like that!”
“I’m not going to spend every day with one of her sympathizers!”
“She. Is not. Evil.”
Daniel glared at her. “You should get rid of her now.”
“How can you say that!?”
“Because I know.”
“No you don’t! You don’t, Daniel!” Renee wailed. “You don’t know anything about her!”
“Why can’t you just take my word for it?”
“BECAUSE YOU HAVE LITERAL BRAIN DAMAGE! Do you need me to bring up your charts again!?”
“You know as well as I do that ka works through that!”
Renee twitched. “We can’t just blame everything on ka! There are still real things, Daniel!”
“If ka isn’t real why aren’t you with her? Why are you with me at all? Cause this sure isn’t real in that case.”
Renee froze. “No… Nononono that can’t be true… No…” She swallowed hard.
Daniel felt the weight of his own words press on his chest. He slumped into a chair, looking at nothing.
“…What have we done to ourselves?” he asked, eventually.
Renee was crying too hard to answer.
~~~
Corona had thought the days of ponies trying to kill her on Lai had long since passed.
She had apparently thought wrong.
A unicorn-deer shot her with a powerful magic laser – easily deflected with a flick of her wrist. A couple earths and a mawlie tried to take her down, but she surrounded herself in a three-tier magic shield, each shield rotating independently to maximize her defense. None of her attackers had the power to do anything to it.
That did not stop them from trying. There was murder in their eyes. Deep, uncontrolled rage that was focused completely on her.
She knew why they were attacking. She was their enemy. But she hadn’t expected the people she had lived among so long to be driven to the point of violence so quickly.
Corona shook her head and walked toward the palace, face set as the attacking squad slowly turned into a mob whaling on her shields to no effect. She started to see faces she recognized on the ponies.
They slowly broke down the defenses she had placed on her expression. Her face fell and tears began to form as she saw one of her old neighbors trying to ram his horn through her magic.
“…Done with this,” she sniffed. She teleported right to the interior side of the castle’s front doors and put her hands on her face. She slid down the doors until she was sitting on the floor, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.
“Uh…”
Corona expected to have to shout at one of Toph’s guards to give her a moment, but when she opened her eyes she didn’t find anyone in armor wanting to tell her the ‘proper’ way to be – but the concerned face of a white mare.
“P…Prism?”
Prism nodded. “You look like you went through a Diamond Dog.”
Corona snorted. “That’s a mild way of putting it.” She slammed the back of her head into the thick doors, staring at the ceiling. “How did they get so angry so fast?”
“It’s Lai. What did you expect?”
“Some friends, I guess.”
Prism shrugged her wings. “Sorry, not really any around here.”
Corona shook her head. “I’m here to meet some. They’re waiting in the throne room.”
“Yeah, I know that, I came here with Corea,” Prism pointed out. “…Look, I’m not your biggest fan, and I definitely don’t agree with that crazy plan of yours, but I hear you’re putting Eve in her place. It’s… I should probably feel ashamed for holding onto this grudge for so long, but it feels good to finally see someone stand up to her and have an effect.”
Corona looked at her concernedly.
Prism sighed. “I just… I feel like I owe you something. So here’s my piece of advice – just leave. If you go in there… It’s not going to be pretty.”
Corona wasn’t an idiot. “That bad?”
“There aren’t that many things that get my cornball angry. You have. I think it’s personal to her – and to Toph.”
Corona stood up and adjusted her battle-dress. “…Thanks for the warning. But I can’t start running from my problems now.”
“You almost broke from a mob attacking you. How are you going to handle what’s in there?”
Corona smiled sadly. “I’m going to talk. It’s what friends do.”
“…If you say so. Good luck.” She spread her wings and flew down one of the many halls.
Corona took a deep breath and stretched her wings in preparation. That short conversation had managed to calm her down – give her something to latch onto. A kindness…
“I should go talk to Flutterfree after this,” Corona told herself as she walked into the throne room.
She noticed the lighting was significantly darker than usual. Even more ominous, there were only two people in the room, all the advisors and citizens conspicuously absent. Just the Queen and the Avatar.
Corona considered making a joke for a moment – but got the impression from their darkened expressions that would be ill advised. Instead, she held her hands behind her back and looked Corea in the eyes. Toph would know Corona was giving her attention without a direct gaze.
Corona saw something in Corea she had rarely seen in the joyful mare. Even as her home slowly declined, she had kept her smile, her laugh, that childish excitement in her eyes. None of those things were present.
Toph wasn’t much better. She was holding her features as tight as she could, like one did when they were trying to hide a strong emotion. Corona couldn’t imagine it was a positive one in this case.
Corona shook her head, choosing to be the one to break the silence between them. “I’m here to talk. I had been exp-”
Corea twitched. “Agni Kai.”
Corona stared at Corea. “What?”
“You know, the ancient firebending ritual of honor duels? Surely you haven’t forgotten my culture that easily.”
“I haven’t forgotten. I want to know what you think it will accomplish.”
“As my teacher, by going down this path, you have shamed my name and my spirit. Not only do I need to reclaim what I have lost, I need to show you the disgrace you have brought yourself.”
“Corea, I’m not going to fight you.”
“You’re going to do it,” Toph ordered.
Corona turned to her once-Queen. “…Toph, I don’t have to listen to you.”
“You are a Second, true. But I can invoke Representative Overrule if I want to.”
“I’m not talking from a legal standpoint!” Corona blurted. “I d-”
“Do it,” Toph said. “Do it and maybe, maybe, you won’t find out how much the anguish you’ve brought is destroying us.”
Corona twitched. “I know exactly how much i-“
“SHUT UP!” Toph shouted. “You owe her this much.”
Corona forced herself to calm down. “Fine. Firebending and physical attributes only, fight to the burn.”
Corea nodded, standing on her hind hooves and fixing her gaze on Corona. Then she turned on the Avatar State, eyes shining a brilliant blue as torrents of flame shot out of her hooves.
Corona splayed her fingers, catching the fire with her own bending and twisting it around behind her. She specifically ensured her usual fire-immunity spells were off. She wasn’t going to cheat to victory today, even though it would be easy. She was going to prove to Corea that she still had ‘honor’.
It was funny, in a way. She was now certain the side she had chosen was the right one. When they had been hunting the Wishing World… when they had been deliberating… when they had been preparing for the meeting… there was the endless, nagging doubt that screamed at her to stop.
It was gone now. Ever since she had given her speech. She was set.
This existence needed to be changed.
She spread her wings and leaped through the flames, quick enough to avoid getting a burn. She twisted around, unleashing a torrent of electricity from her fingertips. Corea absorbed the electricity into her body with her hooves, moving it around her body and out a hind leg, right back at Corona.
Corona caught it herself, sending it back through her foot. Using her free hand a deep blue fire was tossed, ionizing much of the air around it. Corea couldn’t catch something of that heat, while redirecting a lightning bolt, so she sent the bolt through the blue flame, dissipating it – but allowing the shot to go wild. Corona took the opportunity to rush forward, one hand sparkling with electricity, the other burning with blue fire of a heat beyond.
Corea let out a breath of orange flame, making Corona really glad she had spent much of the time her mind was hooked up to the Shaping Mechanism training her body. She twisted to the side, using her wingtip to blow the fire breath away. Toph had to raise a rock to protect herself from the flames.
Corona splayed her wings as far as she could manage, channeling her energy through them. Every wingtip erupted with a blowtorch-like flame, cutting through the air with extreme heat.
Corea saw the opening – with the energy flowing into her wings, Corona had left her chest exposed. She rocketed forward, the power of the Avatar State shooting blue flames from her back hooves, her front ready to burn a hole through Corona’s chest.
This was exactly Corona’s ploy. Corea was right that Corona had her energy spread outside, that it would take too long to enter a defensive posture. But Corona didn’t need to be defensive – she just needed to back up. With a single flap of her wings, she tossed herself back. Had she not allowed herself to fall over, Corea would have plowed right into her. As it was, she sailed right over.
Corona was able to create a couple burn marks across Corea’s coat as she passed over. “AAAUGH!”
Corona stood up and dusted herself off. “There. Did that satisfy you?”
Corea glared at her, eyes shining with the Avatar State. “Corona Shimmer, w-”
“I’ll take that as a no.” Corona sighed, dissipating her glove and touching her hand to Corea’s head.
She was suddenly standing in front of all the Avatars – including the Avatar Spirit Raava, the white being clearly very displeased with the quasi-alicorn’s presence. “You are not welcome here, defiler.”
“I’m not here for you,” Corona told Raava. “I’m here for Corea.”
“Corea is the Avatar. We are all the Avatar. You deal with all of u-”
Corona lost her patience. She forced a mental lock around her and Corea. “There. Now we’re alone.”
Corea’s dream-self looked around, concerned. “Wh-”
Corona created a second layer so she could empathize with Corea directly.
She saw images of training with Corea. She saw moments where they had shared great memories together. But alongside these images she saw news reports of the recent day. Corea screaming at her reflection. A deep, burning hatred.
Hate.
Corona ejected herself from the connection, returning to the real world and cleansing her mind with a magic spell – she didn’t need to start a horrible round of self-hate. She needed to keep her mind clear.
“Are you happy!?” Corea demanded.
“No,” Corona said honestly. “I am not happy. I have not been actually happy since I realized what I needed to do.”
“You didn’t have to do it!”
“You didn’t have to challenge me to Agni Kai. But you did.”
Corea twitched, not even noticing the healing spell Corona had put on her burns.
“Can we talk now?” Corona asked. “Can w-“
“There is nothing to say,” Toph said, trying to hide her face. “You got your stupid honor.”
“I didn’t care about that!”
“Then why didn’t you let her have hers back!?”
“A couple reasons! First of all, she’d know if I was playing nice with her. Secondly, I thought that maybe I could make a point! That maybe I’m not evil just because my plan is so deadly!”
Toph slammed her foot into the ground. “Maybe? Maybe? Maybe isn’t good enough!”
“Toph, I am not doing this for any perso-”
“I can feel the lies.”
“I’m not lying!”
“You’re contradictory!”
“Anything worthwhile is!”
Toph twitched. “Get out.”
“We’ve been friends too long to storm off, Toph!” Corona blurted. “I am not w-”
Toph pointed the Master Sword at her. “Get. Out.”
“No,” Corona said. “I’m not going until we’ve res-”
Toph grabbed Corona’s hand and placed it to her forehead. Corona screamed and stumbled back, staring at Toph with horror.
“Do you see?”
“Wh… Toph, how can… wh…”
Tears were rolling down Toph’s eyes. “Get… get out of here before I do something stupid.”
Corona was no longer staring at Toph – she was staring at the tip of the Master Sword. She had just seen an image of it run through her chest.
Could she defend against such an artifact? …Could she be sure?
No. No she couldn’t.
She couldn’t deal with this anymore.
She did what Toph wanted. She teleported away.
Toph screamed and threw the Master Sword into a nearby wall, narrowly missing Corea. The Avatar barely noticed.
“We’re going,” Toph said.
Corea said nothing.
“I said we-”
“Go jump off a cliff,” Corea muttered. “Maybe it’ll give you another bright idea.”
“This was your idea!”
Corea said nothing, opting to ignore Toph completely.
Toph didn’t waste any time – she turned around and walked away, her armor clanking loudly.
The crack in the wall deepened.
~~~
“Where is she?” Allure demanded.
“I don’t know,” Prism admitted. “I do think you need to leave her alone.”
“I need to give h-”
“Corea just gave her Agni Kai and Toph was this close to trying to kill her,” Prism interrupted. “You tell me if that’s an emotional state you want to walk in on.”
Allure twitched. “I need to give her a piece of my mind.”
“And everything keeps cracking…” Prism muttered. “You find her yourself, I’m going to stay here and make sure Corea doesn’t…” she couldn’t finish the thought. “Just do whatever you want.”
Allure allowed her expression to soften. “…Prism…”
“There are a lot of things I’m not in the mood for today. Dealing with anything else is on that list. So, basically, everything’s on that list. Get lost.”
“…Hope Corea’s okay,” Allure said, scampering out of the palace. She found herself wandering the streets of Lai aimlessly.
What was she even doing? She had no idea. Perhaps ka would have something for her. An encounter with Corona was exactly what she needed.
…Or was it?
Maybe she just needed to look at the scenery – a wonderful mixture of Merodi construction. Unlike most cities that had been built since Merodi Universalis was founded, Lai’s Capital City did not have a futuristic feel. Sure, there were screens and magic cars and the like, but the buildings were still stone and designed like Lai ponies had built them, rather than machines.
It had been rebuilt from disaster. What Elemental Four had not achieved.
…Allure hadn’t even been to Elemental Four in… a decade? More? She never heard anything about it anymore. Benders had spread out across Merodi Universalis, their world falling into obscurity. They were always ‘the eighth founder I can never remember’ to the Merodi. In the history books but conveniently forgotten.
The diminutive unicorn shook her head – thoughts like that wouldn’t solve anything. Action would. Action… Well, she wasn’t invited to the Merodi meeting and didn’t really have enough of a grasp on politics to influence policy, but she sure knew how to deal with Corona. Get her to… realize something.
She pushed these thoughts out of her mind as she saw some people she recognized – Jade Harley, Witch of Space and John Egbert, Heir of Breath. “What are you two doing on Lai?”
“Sightseeing,” Jade said.
“Trying not to panic,” John translated.
Jade raised an eyebrow over her empty, ghostly eyes. “John, I’m not trying not to panic.”
“Heheh… Yeah… You’re not ‘the most powerful being’ in the multiverse.”
“…Huh?” Allure said, confused.
John forced a smile. “Well, uh, see, Roxy’s in the meeting because… reasons.”
“I know what the Intelligence Division is, John.”
“Shh!” Jade hissed.
“Right, right,” Allure muttered. “Bad day. Go on.”
“…Anyway, yeah, she made a point of bringing me up as the guy who could change things. And then she told me what she had said in her usual ‘like, this doesn’t matter, but it totally matters a lot’ sort of way, and, well, I’m basically freaking out a little right now.”
Allure looked up at John. “I can see why… but why are you nervous? You have retcon. You can do almost anything.”
“Because they’re still deciding what to do with me! What if I have to destroy everything?”
“…Can’t you just do what you want whenever you want?” Allure said, cocking her head. “If you don’t want to destroy everything, you don’t have to listen to them. You can use retcon to fix everything against their wishes. And only Pinkies would ever know.”
John stared at her. “Wow. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“And I was trying to get him not to think of that,” Jade said, shaking her head. “John, look, you can’t just try to do something.”
“I mean, I don’t really have any ideas…”
Allure coughed. “Stop Corona from making the Wish.”
Jade glared at her. “You’re not helping.”
“Jade, why can’t he make this decision on his own?”
“Because you’re leading him on and putting ideas in his head,” she said. “Bark! …Sorry.”
Allure chose to ignore the bark and the apology. “You’re doing the same.”
“…I was trying to keep him from doing something stupid.”
“In all fairness, I am known to do stupid things,” John said.
Allure and Jade stared at him in disbelief.
“What? I’m not a kid anymore, I can admit I have problems.”
“John, you can do anything!” Allure said. “You don’t have to let your fears dictate anything to you! You can go back – right now – and stop all this from happening.”
John bit his lip. “Uh… Yeah, how about no? I… don’t really want to make that decision. Corona had a point… I don’t ‘have the right’ or whatever.”
Jade let out a breath of relief. “…Thank you John.”
“Eh, don’t mention it. I’m screaming internally either way. Excellent.”
Allure twitched. “…It seems like everywhere I go, people want to empathize with her or try to reason out something good from the evil she’s spouting.”
Jade looked at Allure with sad eyes. “Allure, why are you making her your problem?”
“Because she’s everyone’s problem and nobody else is doing anything. They’re letting her talk, walk around, and convince people.”
“She’s not convincing people,” Jade said. “…Not enough, anyway.” She gestured at one of the larger public screens in the city. There was a news reporter talking about the Message – and the results on social media of a poll about Corona were scrolling on one of the sidebars.
They wanted her charged with the highest treason.
“…The death penalty?!” Allure blurted. “She needs to be stopped, but she’s not going to be… She…”
Then Allure saw her. Corona, wearing a cloak, staring at the giant screen.
The quasi-alicorn let out a great, heaving sob. She placed a hand on the screen. “How alone am I?”
The ice that had grown over Allure’s heart thawed for a moment. She choked on her own breath.
“…I’m getting her out of here before she causes a riot,” Jade said, walking to her.
Allure didn’t stop the Skaian. She let out a sigh and dialed Celestia City, leaving Corona to her suffering.
There was no point in making it worse.
~~~
Nanoha hated it when she had to keep her mind in two places at once. Raising Heart made it easier to see both the TSAB and Seat meetings but it didn’t really make it easier to factor both into account, even with all the magic cognitive aids she had active.
“We need to show our willingness to compromise!” Nanoha told the TSAB. “I know that the collapse is the option we don’t want, but if we can come to an agreement with the Seats, there’ll be options to mitigate the damage it causes. We could have time.”
“Your willingness to compromise and empathize has served the TSAB well over the years, Nanoha,” Marshall Hiro Nakamura began, adjusting his glasses.
“Stop buttering her up and get to the point,” Fate grunted, folding her arms.
Hiro nodded slowly, leaning forward. “This is a moment where compromise is not an option. I am not willing to sacrifice our people this way.”
“If we aren’t willing we doom ourselves,” Nanoha said. “I don’t want to either, but we need to at least be open to the possibility! If that decision is reached, we could find the best way to initiate the collapse and minimize destruction. Many, many universes are almost nothing but empty space – there have to be ways to bring it all together that are safer than others.”
“That wouldn’t be fair to individuals outside the TSAB, would it?”
“It’s the ‘As Few As Possible’ principle,” Fate explained. “We’d love to save everyone. But if we can’t, we save what we can.”
Nanoha nodded. “If agreement for Collapse is reached, the Class 1s can be tasked with caring for the lower societies. Working together, a nearly seamless transition might be possible. There’d still be unparalleled death on a scale I’m definitely not happy with – but it’s infinitely better than placing a Tower Ring and spinning the wheel of death. Nature isn’t forgiving.”
“The Tower might be,” Hiro pointed out.
“We can’t trust the Tower,” Fate said.
Hiro paused. “I see your point.”
“But…?”
“But I can’t bring myself to compromise.”
Fate looked to Nanoha, asking a question with her gaze.
Nanoha shook her head. Today wasn’t the day to tear down the government. Today was quite possibly the worst day to do that. It…
“Excuse me,” she said, switching her focus back to the Seats. “Something’s happening.”
She allowed her eyes to see the universe of the Seats, where the Gallifreyans were taking a tally.
“Preservation,” Nanoha answered.
“That’s one abstention, one compromise, one undecided, two collapses, five preservations. The vote i-”
“THIS IS NOT A DEMOCRACY,” a Horrorterror pointed out. “A MAJORITY DOES NOT MEAN A DECISION HAS BEEN REACHED.”
>:< Furthermore, the debate is not over. We still have much to discuss before we can exhaust every variable.
“WELL SAID,” the Celestialsapien announced.
>:< Thank you.
“We don’t have time to discuss every variable!” the Time Lord insisted. “We must act now!”
“THE OPTIMAL COLLAPSE EXECUTION IS OVER THE COURSE OF EONS WITH DAMAGE MINIMIZATION,” the Horrorterror pointed out. “THERE IS NO NEED TO RUSH THIS DECISION.”
The Living Tribunal spoke up. “I agree with the sentiment. We can debate until the end of all currently present universes if we must.”
>:< Not that long. Low-to-mid Class 2 societies are trying to build Tower Rings already. It will take them a few local months – at the fastest time – to accomplish, but at that time we will have to have decided something. For most of them, it has only been a local day with a variance of about five similar periods.
“There are some high Class 2 societies not here,” Gallifrey pointed out. “The Starcross Society. The Combine. The Void.”
“MOTION CARRIED: INVESTIGATE HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS FOR TOWER RING CONSTRUCTION. PUT AN END TO IT UNTIL A DECISION IS REACHED.”
>:< Agreed. The Xeelee networks have begun their multiversal search.
“Buying useless time,” the Time Lord said.
“I think it’s worthwhile,” Nanoha said. “It’d keep us from having to react to something on a hairpin trigger – which we’ve never been good at.”
“Truth,” the Living Tribunal said.
“IT WOULD BE SO MUCH SIMPLER IF WE HAD ELECTED A CHAIR,” the Great Will emissary suggested.
“And unfair,” the Them said.
“MOTION CARRIED: STARCROSS SOCIETY CONSTRUCTION ERADICATED. NO SIGN OF COMBINE OR VOID CONSTRUCT CREATION. STARCROSS SOCIETY CONSTRUCTION WAS FAR FROM COMPLETE. WE HAVE LIKELY OVERESTIMATED THEIR DIMENSIONAL CONSTRUCTION CAPABILITIES.”
>:< Agreed. Xeelee ping has not found anything in Combine or Void space. …Hold on, pending… Pending…
“Pending?” the Them flashed in surprised. “What would you have to spend time processing? You’re one giant computer!”
>:< Horrible secret uncovered. Our scientists believe the Beyonders are building a Tower Ring obfuscated by dimensional jammers.
“This accusation is an act of war!” the Beyonder shouted.
“Let’s examine the levels of stupid in that sentence,” the Them said. “Let’s see… Oh wait, here’s the big one! Building a Tower Ring during the Conference is an act of war.”
“We have built no such thing!”
>:< Then you would have no issue with us sending a piano wire exclusion principle device through the suspected area? Completely harmless – except to constructs that could function as a Tower Ring device.
“We will die before we let your stupid machines into our territory.”
“THE GREAT WILL SHALL USE HIS OMNISCIENCE TO ASCERTAIN YOUR TREACHERY,” the emissary said, flashing greenish.
“Get out of our land or we wi-” the Beyonder let out a scream of rage as his sources back home told him the Great Will wasn’t listening.
“TOWER RING DESTROYED,” the Great Will said.
“You broke the truce!” the Them shouted. “You broke it!? How stupid are you!?”
“Less than you all for giving this discussion thought!” the Beyonder shouted. “This aggression into our territory is an act of war.”
“WE WILL MEET YOU IN BATTLE AND SMITE YOUR TERRITORIES WITH OUR VOICE.”
“You two are on the same side!” the Them blurted.
“Side? There are no sides! There is only Beyonder – and a fake god.”
“YOUR BLASPHEMY WILL BE YOUR DOWNFALL.”
“MOTION CARRIED: WE CANNOT ALLOW A WAR TO BREAK OUT BETWEEN SUPPOSED ALLIES IN THIS DEBATE! IT WOULD IMBALANCE THE DECISION!”
“Then you stand in the way of our honor!” the Beyonder shouted. “It isn’t like we were going to reach an agreement anyway! It was always only a matter of time before everything fell apart! We simply took advantage of the opportunity, as true warriors should! There will be no agreement, no compromise, and no peace! There is no w-”
Nanoha slammed Raising Heart into the ground. “The TSAB is willing to compromise!”
Beads of sweat trickled down her face. There was complete silence in the hall of the Seats.
She flipped her perceptions back to the TSAB. Hiro had evidently been watching and was screaming at her.
“Fate-chan?” Nanoha asked. “Now is the time.”
Fate activated her device, Bardiche, and created her scythe. She hit Hiro with a beam of magic, knocking him unconscious. “You sure?”
“I had to go against him to keep this together. Make the calls – we have to take over, direct rule. I have to return to the Seats – I trust you to take care of this.”
Fate nodded. “I will.”
Nanoha switched back to the Seats, feeling her nerves about to break. What if that had been the wrong call? What if that did nothing, and she’d just destabilized the TSAB for no good reason?
>:< The Xeelee also put forth their desire to compromise to either of the final decisions.
Nanoha let out a sigh of relief. There it was. Hope that they could avoid outright war.
She pulled herself together, pointing Raising Heart at the Beyonder, and then at the emissary for the Great Will. “I suggest that we agree to prevent these two from going to war.”
“SECONDED!”
>:< Thirded
“Agreed.”
“IT IS A WORTHWHILE ENDEAVOR.”
“…Eh, fine,” the Them muttered. “Might as well. Even if it would be interesting, have to have at least some sanity, right?”
Nanoha turned to the Beyonder with a slight smirk. “See? There are things we can reach an agreement on.”
“You had to stage a coup in your government to do it,” the Them pointed out.
Nanoha rubbed the back of her head. “Well, it kept everything from exploding… So it was worth it.”
The Gallifreyan adjusted his robe. “This leaves Them and the Horrorterrors for collapse, with the Beyonders, Great Will, and ourselves for preservation. All this has accomplished is diminishing the majority.”
“NOT A DEMOCRACY,” the Horrorterror pointed out. “THIS IS A COUNCIL. WE MUST CONTINUE ON, ALLOWING THE CELESTIALSAPIENS TO ARRIVE AT A DECISION, AND THEN WE MUST FIND A POINT WHERE ALL OF US ARE SATISFIED.”
“We will never be satisfied,” the Beyonder retorted.
“You’re warmongers,” the Living Tribunal said. “It is in your nature to fight. But if you are the only one remaining, you can be forced to conform. This may not be a democracy, but enough of a power imbalance will tip the scales in either direction.”
“Those scales are slightly tipped in your favor, right now,” Nanoha pointed out. “The Time Lords are still on your side.”
“They’re useless,” the Beyonder muttered.
Nanoha pointed Raising Heart at him. “You need to adjust your attitude. At this rate, no matter what is decided, you’ll turn the multiverse against you. You’ve broken the sanctity of this Conference with what you tried to pull. That doesn’t make us think highly of you. I-”
“It makes you look like idiots,” the Them said. “In every way imaginable you’ve made this worse for yourselves. Maybe you shouldn’t try antagonizing your allies in this debate.”
This shut the Beyonder up.
Nanoha felt more than a little guilty about the satisfaction this brought her.
~~~
Rev walked up to the podium.
For the first time in a while, not only was her church full, but there were people standing in between the seats and in the aisles. There were more outside, enough that she’d had to order a large screen to broadcast to the street. Easy to get when you know Overhead Evening Sparkle well, but still a bit more than she liked to do.
News reporters and TV stations had picked up on the large crowd at her church, and, realizing she had a feed ready, were going to record the entire thing and tear it apart.
She was being asked to be the spiritual voice of Merodi Universalis.
I told myself I wouldn’t become like this… but desperate times call for desperate measures.
She took a breath. “… ‘and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and worth with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody’. First Thessalonians four, eleven through twelve.” She looked at the crowd, letting the words sit in. “I’ve failed to live by this passage despite my best efforts, as evident by the size of this congregation and the extensive media coverage. We, as a congregation, are not called to change the physical world, but the spiritual one. We are not meant to rile up strife or conflict with our words – but meant to fight for peace and spiritual health. Not war. Not anger. But even in this denomination I’ve seen people screaming at each other in hatred. …It’s unbecoming.”
She paused for a moment. “In this way, it matters not what side of the debate you are on. What matters is that you ‘love your enemies’. If you think the multiverse must be preserved, while your neighbor thinks the multiverse must be collapsed, ‘bear with one another’. I urge you – all of you – to stop the shouting and the screaming. Lead a quiet life where you mind what is in your control, what is in your authority. Just live your lives despite the turmoil. I understand this is a hard thing to ask of most of you, and that many of you will ignore it – but it is what most of us are called to do.
“As for those of us who are in positions of power, positions where living our lives involves making this decision…” she found Flutterfree and Eve in the audience – of course the Relations Overhead would want to be here for this. “…Rely on the Lord. Pray, ask for His guidance and wisdom.” She saw Flutterfree sag. “…Some of you have already been doing this, and haven’t received an answer. Don’t give up on Him. ‘He will not leave you or forsake you.’ Even if you can’t feel Him now, He is watching you, guiding you – maybe so you can make your own decision, or so He can show you the right way at the right time.
“Corona was definitely right about one thing in The Message: that no single person has the right to make this decision. Isaiah says “‘my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts’, says the Lord, ‘and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine’.” We cannot understand Him, and we cannot see the full picture. But she was wrong in her assumption that together we could make the decision. ‘For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ Think about the Tower of Babel – we were united, and we were arrogant, we were wrong. Think of Israel, the chosen people, always fighting and arguing and screwing up even when the truth was right in front of them. Alone we cannot make the decision. Together, we cannot make the decision either, even as a spiritual entity. Not even the whole Church could do this.
“This is the kind of decision that should be left to the hands of God… And yet, that answer isn’t going to satisfy you. You won’t be able to accept it. You need some direction. An answer. Well… here’s what I have for you. ‘give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.’ Jesus himself said those words. We live in a nation, Merodi Universalis, and we are to follow the laws of the land unless they go against God. Even if it means paying unfair prices, or deadly ones.” She looked at them all. “But you want more than that. You want to know which option is good and which is evil. I’m going to do something I don’t usually do and actually give my opinion on this.
“Both are evil.
“There is no good in this decision. There are good intentions, but no good results. Just like when the Builders built the Dark Tower, they had good intentions, but the evil they unleashed was unfathomable. None of us can fathom the evil consequences from the two actions. If we decide, we do wrong. But there is literally no other option.
“Evil must be done because of what’s happened. Because of the Tower’s Choice.
“But know this – whatever side ends up winning will be the right side. ‘God works all things together for good’. Whichever of the two evils will serve God’s ultimate plan is the one that will be chosen. Whichever one will teach us how to move on, whichever one will execute His will. We cannot know that. We can say He promised never to Flood us away again – but He did not promise to stop us from doing it to ourselves. We can say He couldn’t execute the promises in the Word if the multiverse continues to exist as it does, but we woefully underestimate His creativity.
“Whatever ends up happening, that is what is best for us. This does not mean you shouldn’t think about what’s happening – far from it – but it means you shouldn’t think the fate of existence rests on your shoulders. It doesn’t. The Lord sits above, and He is the one who ultimately makes the decision.”
Rev paused – that was the bulk of what she had to say, so she let the audience think about it deeply. In a few seconds, she would switch to more personal messages about how to deal with yourself in times of crisis like this, and how to keep loving each other even in times of possible war. She was going to try her hardest to remain neutral in the discussion, so she could invite everyone here in this time of turmoil.
She was certain that was her role. At least for now. The mediator.
“Those of you who have Bibles with you, let’s turn to Matthew fourteen…”
~~~
Lady Rarity walked down one of the streets of Skaia’s Dream, barely registering the fact that the scenery transformed from that of the pink moon to that of a tall tower-like building covered in snow. She had her full armor on, hiding her face, but making enough noise to draw attention to her. There were a handful of Terezi Skaians nearby, ‘watching’ her with curious expressions.
The spirid-unicorn paid them no mind. She knocked on the tower’s door with one of her hooves.
The door slid open. “For the last time she isn-” Omega ‘office dog’ Jade blinked. “Oh. I guess you can come in.”
“Thank you,” Lady Rarity said, walking through the doors and into the dream-tower. The interior was a mixture of a child’s bedroom and a greenhouse. Alpha Jade was there as well, floating around with John as they tended to plants seemingly made out of spirographs.
Alpha Jade saw her. “Oh… I wasn’t expecting you until a bit later,” she admitted, floating down to her. “Bark.”
“…Where is she?”
The two Jades pointed to a staircase that led upward.
“Thanks. John, good to see you.”
“Uh, yeah,” John said, awkwardly smiling. Lady Rarity ignored the response and clanked right up the stairs into a dark red room. A serpentine red path twisted out from where she stood, leading to a platform that resembled the SBURB symbol for Light: a sun.
In the middle of this sun sat Corona, legs crossed, wings folded, and hands pressed to the ground. Her eyes were closed in an attempt to achieve serenity – but she only looked in pain.
“Having second thoughts?” Lady Rarity asked.
“No,” Corona said, opening her eyes. “And that’s the problem.”
Lady Rarity sat down and removed her helmet, revealing eyes full of concern. “Why?”
“Because doing what I think is right has never hurt this much. …Toph wanted t-”
“I heard,” Lady Rarity said. “Do you blame her?”
“No!” Corona retorted.
“Maybe you should. She’s not being very understanding. Neither is Corea.”
“I can’t expect everyone to agree.”
“Corona, I said understand. Not agree.”
Corona nodded slowly. “I can’t expect everyone to understand either. But what if they’re right then – if not everyone can understand, what if there is something wrong with me?”
“…I don’t think there is. You were thinking about it at every angle until that meeting.”
“Was that when I really decided?” Corona wondered – mostly to herself.
“I couldn’t say.”
There was silence for a few minutes.
“I feel alone in this,” Corona said, suddenly.
“Corona, I’m here, and so a-”
“I mean, in a sense of larger groups of people. I know you and the others are loyal to me. …Mostly. But have you seen the news reports? They want me dead.”
“Eve won’t let that happen.”
“Eve’s not in charge of Justice.”
“She doesn’t have to be.”
Corona nodded. “I know. I probably don’t have to fear for my life. But it’s the hatred I see… I hear… Nobody’s really arguing for me. I’m the only voice.”
“I’m sure there are a few…”
“And what does a few matter? The Merodi will choose preservation and then use John to ensure it happens. If they get desperate they’ll just prevent me from ever sending the Message.” She looked into the ceiling. “And if we decide not to use John, well, then we’re nothing and it doesn’t even matter.” She laughed. “All this stress and fretting for a decision we make that might amount to nothing. Fighting a losing battle for no reason because I just can’t let it go.”
“Maybe that means you shouldn’t. Let it go, I mean. Maybe you do matter. They always say we’re the ‘protagonist civilization’ in the hushed meetings. That means something, doesn’t it?”
“Maybe The Message was the end of the story. After all, that’s when Twilence’s sights ended. That could have been our purpose.”
“Then why stop seeking what you believe in?”
Corona smiled sadly. “You know, I thought you would object to the collapse after we sent The Message.”
“I was always undecided. But… have you heard Rev’s sermon?”
“…I’ve been sitting here contemplating life far too deeply for the last few hours.”
“One of the things she said was that we were right to think we couldn’t make the decision. But we were also wrong to think everyone had the right to make the decision. We’re all too broken, faulty, messed up to do so. It doesn’t average out.”
“That’s depressing.”
“It means we don’t have to be afraid of fighting for what we believe at the expense of the average,” Lady Rarity said. “Even if we’re among people who all disagree… There’s a chance they’re all wrong. Somewhat likely, actually, given how this is mostly a coin flip.”
“…Hadn’t thought of it like that,” Corona admitted. “…Still wouldn’t have been better if we did this in secret. They deserved to know there was a choice.”
“Even if there was never going to be a right answer?”
“Maybe?” Corona shrugged. “…All I know is that, despite it all, I don’t regret it. …Yet. I might later.”
Lady Rarity forced a smile. “...Normally this would be the time I say ‘everything’s going to be fine’, but…”
“If I have my way there’s very little that will be fine,” Corona said with a bitter laugh. “No wonder I’m alone in this fight. It takes away our future. Guess I thought too highly of everyone. Or made some other mistake. I’m not sure about that yet. I just know I’m hated now.”
A Jade – they didn’t know which one – poked her head into the room. “Uh… Feferi and Minna want to see you. What should I tell them?”
Lady Rarity scowled. “Tell them to come back l-”
“Let them in,” Corona said, standing up.
“Corona, you don’t need another set of friends attacking you.”
“They’re not close friends,” Corona pointed out. “They must have a different reason. Jade?”
“Got it.” She spread her hands and teleported the two into the room. Feferi and Minna stood side by side – the High Commander of the Military Division standing at attention, while Feferi casually leaned on her trident with a nervous smile.
“What’s this about?” Corona asked.
Feferi cleared her throat. “We’re here as liaisons… messengers? Archer fish?”
“Couriers,” Minna said.
“Right, couriers. We swam all the way over here to tell you that you’re not alone.”
Corona blinked. “…Seriously?”
Feferi nodded. “We… we believe in your cause. A way to change everyfin for the better!”
“…Why?”
Feferi’s smile dropped. “It’s… It’s just too sad, Corona. I sea horrible, horrible things. And I think they’re finally getting to me. SBURB actually wasn’t that bad… Neither were the Horrorterrors. But the dreams some of the Skaians show me…” She shook her head. “Existence can be better. And I think you can do it!”
“I’m a product of evil,” Minna explained, keeping her structured, regimented tone. “People like Skarn could never do what he did ever again. I’ve reasoned that you have the better option.”
Corona looked at them sadly. “…Are you talking about treason?”
Feferi bit her lip – but Minna nodded. “It is. We are not the only ones. Blumiere. Red Diamond. Rosalina. They’ve told us of their support, even if they cannot do anything publicly.”
Corona shook her head. “All this cloak and dagger…”
“It may be necessary,” Minna said.
“We’re not going to outright betray them,” Corona said. “They’re our friends – our people. We’ll go with what they decide.”
“Even at the cost of your life and those of your friends?”
“They wouldn’t. Eve wouldn’t let them.”
“If war breaks out, they will be convinced not to take chances on you.”
Corona furrowed her brow. “Then I’ll only need you if everything goes wrong.”
“…Our fates are to be decided by the Seats’ ability to agree with each other,” Lady Rarity vocalized.
“Wonderful…” Corona said, grabbing the bridge of her nose. “Minna, Feferi, thanks. Be prepared – I hope I don’t have to use you, but since you’re here, I’ll be prepared. Do what you can to influence the Overheads and Seconds in the meeting.”
“We can do… some,” Feferi said.
“Thanks. And… thank you for being here.” Corona smiled. “I was beginning to think I was alone.”
“That’s why we’re here!” Feferi beamed. “We’ll be organized and ready to move before the meeting even begins!”
“It’s not that far away,” Lady Rarity pointed out. “You should probably move.”
“Right!”
Minna nodded, saluting. “We’re with you, even if no one else will be.”
The two left to prepare.
Corona spread her wings. “That was unexpected.”
“No longer alone, hmm?”
“Not sure if that’s a good thing or not. Now there’s potential to tear Merodi Universalis apart…” Corona shook her head. “It’s true that some things are more important than that. …So many impossible decisions lately.”
~~~
Eve once again sat in a waiting room, waiting for the Merodi meeting to begin.
Corona was in the same room with her, just like last time.
“…I’m sorry,” she told Corona.
“Hm? Why?”
“For what’s about to happen in there.”
Corona smiled knowingly. “You think I’m going to lose?”
“Almost certain.”
“I have supporters,” Corona said, leaning back in her chair. “Been talking to some of them. Working with some political intrigue – generally not my thing, but I think we have a chance.”
Eve looked at Corona. “…Corona, you’re generally not a politician. You’re a guardian and a scientist. Do you want to know why this not only isn’t going to work, but will fail spectacularly?”
Corona’s confidence started to boil away. “…What?”
“Nobody wants to lose their positions,” Eve said. “It’s as simple as that. The undercurrent of society is hatred of what you’re trying to do. If they vote for your side – and lose – the people will demand they get replaced. Ava will listen. The stability of Merodi Universalis hinges on the citizens’ trust of their leaders. They won’t trust people who voted for the collapse.”
“The meeting isn’t public.”
“And there are more than a few people in there who aren’t going to keep quiet about who voted for what. The only people they can’t talk about are Giorno and Roxy – otherwise we’re transparent. If, say, the Research Overhead sides with you, both of you go down.”
“That’s only if we lose,” Corona said. “If we win…”
“I don’t think that’s likely. Can you get a 14-12 majority? What if you tie? Then it goes to just the Overheads. I know most of them would never agree with you. Myself, Renee, O’Neill, Luna…”
“Well… I’m going to keep up hope,” Corona said. “If we lose to you, all that happens is you lock us up and try to use John to change things.”
“…I think that’s a bad idea,” Eve admitted. “I think we need to dial back our minimal use of time travel to zero as well.”
“Thank you for at least believing that.”
“…Aradia’s not taking it well,” Eve revealed.
“You’ve talked to her?”
Eve nodded. “She says she always knew that all those deaths happened whenever she rewrote something, but she just accepted it as the way things were and sought beauty in it. The Message has made her question things. I don’t know what she’s decided…”
“If she was time travelling still, you’d already know.”
Eve blinked. “True…”
“And don’t worry, I’m… pretty sure I’ll be okay if I get locked up for eternity. I can still contribute from a secret lab miles under the ground in a dead universe.”
“That’s not the life you want.”
“It’s one I’m willing to risk,” Corona said.
“…You’re willing to risk everything.”
“You would, too, were our positions reversed.”
Eve smiled. “Yeah…” She looked at the clock. “It starts soon.”
“Mhm.”
She pulled Corona into a hug. “Whatever happens…”
“I know,” Corona said, biting back tears. “I know.”
~~~
The meeting began once more. Ava cleared her throat.
“Why do you always start?” Roxy asked, suddenly.
Ava shot her with an incredulous glance. “I serve my role unless there is an objection. Do you object?”
Roxy put a hand to her chin and squinted her eyes. “…No…”
“Very well then. I-”
“I object,” the R.O. said. “You cannot be truly objective. You ended the last meeting in anger. I can suspend my biases by forced coding to lead the discussion from a middle ground standpoint.”
Ava sat back in her chair. “Objections?”
There were none. Ava held her hand out, indicating the R.O. could continue.
“I am certain we have all come here already knowing what we’ve decided,” the Research Overhead said. “Does anyone really think there is any new information we can use to make the decision?”
“Nanoha’s just taken control of the TSAB by force,” Giorno said.
“Is that relevant?”
“It’s important to know.”
The R.O. nodded. “Has that information suggested to any of you the idea of changing your mind?” He read the faces of the crowd, getting a negative in every query. “Is there anything else?”
There was silence. A few people coughed.
“Clearly, all the talking has been done out of this meeting,” the Oversight Overhead said. “Just get on with it, R.O.”
The R.O. nodded. “I propose we take the vote now. We all know what we’re going to say. All for preservation, raise yo-”
“Objection!” Corona blurted, slamming her hands on the table. “I know you. You’re going to say preservation first, prompting a lot of hands to go up – and then due to pressure everyone else’s hands will go up. You’re making a ploy, a ploy to get a near-unanimous vote out of this.”
“No such thing would happen.”
“Maud?” Corona asked the oculus.
The Expansion Overhead closed her bizarre eyes and opened them. “Corona speaks the truth. My vision can see the vote – all but her would raise a hand.”
The Research Overhead did not have any retorts to this. He had been caught.
“I propose anonymous voting,” Corona said. “Pressure from the people or each other cannot be a factor in this decision. We all have data pads – set up a voting network where we’ll all vote at the same time. That way nobody will feel pressured to vote one way or another for the sake of their jobs or popular perceptions.”
Corona caught Eve glaring at her. She might be regretting talking to me…
“I second this,” Ava said. “There can be no ploys.” She took out a data pad. “Giorno, is the computer secure?”
Giorno checked his report. “Yes. Nothing’s getting in or out of this network for anyone to see right now.”
“I’ve got us in a Void shroud,” Roxy said with a smirk. “Not even those weird Seer types can look at us.”
“Pinkies?” Ava asked.
The only Pinkie in the room – the Commerce Second who went by the name Sporkler – let out a short laugh. “We can see this happening as it’s happening. Won’t be able to tell exactly who voted what though, except in a few obvious cases.”
“Then let us begin,” Ava said holding up her data pad. Everyone else brought theirs out as well, holding them as if they were religious artifacts.
A simple poll appeared onscreen. Preserve and Collapse. All it would take was one finger press.
There was a second of silence where nobody pressed a button. They stared at the options, struck by the monumental choice before them.
Corona and Eve were the first – pressing at the same time. Two beeps rang out in unison – prompting all the others to place their votes. The instant a choice was entered, the screen went blank.
A hologram in the center of the table lit up, displaying the final split.
Preserve – Collapse
18 – 8
Corona’s heart sank.
That wasn’t a close majority. That was a clear majority. Over two thirds of the Merodi had voted for preservation, even when fingers couldn’t be pointed.
Eight. Just eight.
It was more than she would have gotten had the R.O. gone through with his plan – one – but that was still a blow to her.
“Votes released to public – seventeen to seven,” Giorno said. “A sort of balance.”
“Same result,” Ava said. “Clear majority for preservation. Eve, you’re in charge of the announcement for the outside powers, I’ll handle internal.”
“Now that this is resolved…” the R.O. said. “Corona, you’re fired.”
“You do not have that authority,” Ava reminded him.
“You’re in charge of Labor – you get rid of her.”
“A trial is required,” the Justice Overhead said. “A trial that I will be overseeing personally.”
Corona twitched – the Justice Overhead was a member of the Sparkle Census named 7U who clearly had it out for the quasi-alicorn at this moment. Corona was sure she’d be convicted within the week. Which… was what she agreed she would submit herself to if she lost.
“We shall begin that trial two days from now,” 7U continued. “The rest of the multiverse and our citizens need some time to adjust. Corona, seeing as you are requested at a high-stakes trial, you are not allowed to leave Merodi Universalis before your trial date. Do you understand?”
“I do,” she said.
“Good. Now go enjoy your last moments of freedom.”
Corona let out a bitter laugh. “I will. Thanks.”
~~~
Nanoha checked back with Fate via a data uplink – there hadn’t been a single drop of actual blood shed in the takeover. She, Signum, and Vita had needed to take out a few key individuals, but they were all fine and healthy enough to be screaming bloody murder from their lavish cells.
The people had been told what happened a few hours ago. Their love – and fear – of the White Devil had been more than enough to keep them from forming mobs over this. When they had been told her actions had stopped the Class 1 civilizations from going to war, some may not have agreed, but nobody wanted to fight her over it.
They basically accepted Nanoha as queen, even though she didn’t even have a title right now.
She’d have to work that out soon. But she also needed to pay attention to what was happening with the Seats… She always did.
She considered digital clone duplication. Highly illegal and full of ethical questions that couldn’t be answered, but possibly necessary. She could deal with the issues of having a double later if…
“Guess what we just found!” the Time Lord shouted.
Oh no. Nanoha thought, paling.
“Whatever you’re about to say, consider not,” the Them grunted. “I can just sense it pushing us back another nonspecific span of ‘time’.”
“Another Tower Ring. Not in any of our jurisdictions.”
“White Nettle?” the Living Tribunal asked.
“Her signature is not there,” the Gallifreyan said, scowl deepening. “It’s a signal in the E-Sphere, on an edge that is largely uninhabited – except for a small spread of SBURB universes!”
“WE WOULD NEVER BREAK THE CONFERENCE AGREEMENT.”
“Maybe you didn’t. Maybe you just suggested to a lower society with your corruption that they should build one!” he waved a hand, sending the details of the Tower Ring to everyone present. Nanoha looked it over – it was a shoddy eldritch-based construction, but it took place in a segment of universes with access to heavy time acceleration; presumably how the Gallifreyans found it.
She didn’t believe this was an official Horrorterror sanctioned project for a moment. “This is probably just a faction,” she said.
“I DOUBT THAT,” the Horrorterror said. “WE GENERALLY DO NOT DIVIDE. NO, THIS HAS TO HAVE BEEN PLANTED.”
“By who?” the Beyonders demanded. “The Many-Angled Ones? The Embodiment? The Accanara? Only the Many Angled Ones have anywhere near the means to do such a thing.”
“Their end goals are also at odds with both preservation and collapse. They seek order.”
“IT IS UNREASONABLE TO BELIEVE SUCH EVIDENCE WOULD BE PLANTED TO INCRIMINATE THE HORRORTERRORS. WHO WOULD WANT A WAR OVER EXISTENCE? NOT EVEN THE BEYONDERS!”
The Time Lord smiled – as if he had caught the Great Will in a trap. “Then what do you say about this? A Tower Ring composed of weak Spiritual energy slowly forming across multiple universes in your territory?”
“THE GREAT WILL DID NOT DO SUCH A THING.”
“I thought you were omniscient? How could you not notice?”
“THE GALL!” the Beyonder shouted. “You do exactly what you assaulted us for? I thought you were supposed to be a god of truth!”
“THE GREAT WILL IS NOT RESPONSIBLE!”
“Oh yeah? Explain how you couldn’t see the Tower Ring!”
The Them flashed in anger. “Admit you aren’t an all-powerful deity for once you arrogant b-”
The Great Will foresaw what the Them was going to say and lashed out in judgement, burning the Them’s soul hard enough to shut it right up. “THIS IS NOT A PLACE OF INSULTS!”
“Nor is it a place of war!” Nanoha pleaded.
>:< If we cannot trust everyone to adhere to the Conference’s truce, how can we trust anyone? Even if these two Tower Rings were somehow planted, none of us can be sure. If there’s a chance that any of us are building them, the rest have to be building them as well. Because the moment someone creates one in secret and unleashes it…
“ACCUSATION: THIS IS YOUR PLAN, YOU HAVE A TOWER RING!”
>:< We do not.
“YOU JUST ADMITTED TO THAT BEING THE ONLY LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION!”
>:< We did not mean that we were, merely that
The Xeelee did not finish the response. Having realized the logical error in what they were saying, the connection was terminated.
Presumably to go start building a Tower Ring.
“No!” Nanoha shouted. “Everyone, the Xeelee have left – we can force them back in if we work tog-”
The Beyonder left. In the same instant, they sent out a general declaration of war against all nations in the multiverse that sought the Collapse.
“I just stopped one of their reality bombs form tearing this universe apart,” the Living Tribunal said. “For all our safeties, we should leave. I will stay to protect those who are here as long as I can.”
The Time Lord left without a word, as did the Sunflower Official and Celestialsapien.
Nanoha turned to the Great Will’s emissary. “…Off the record, someone had to have planted those, right?”
“YES.”
“You don’t have to tell me how – but please, tell me who.”
The Great Will’s presence vanished. Either It didn’t know, the emissary didn’t know, or it was too much of an ‘ungodlike’ thing to admit to. That wasn’t helpful in the slightest.
“Welp, we tried,” the Them said, sparking in an amused fashion. “So, how about we get to warrin’, huh? Should be… interesting…” as soon as the fear started taking over, he left.
“…WE WILL NOT SURVIVE,” the Horrorterror stated frankly. “OUR SOCIETY IS BARE ENOUGH AS IT IS.”
“…I’m sorry,” Nanoha said.
“PERHAPS IT IS OUR OWN FAULT.” That was the last of the Horrorterror’s words in the realm of the Seats.
This left just Nanoha and the Living Tribunal.
“I took over my government for nothing…” Nanoha realized.
“Do not be hard on yourself, child – you bought time. It is likely you are in the position you are now for a reason. You can lead your nation directly in this time of turmoil.”
“…We can’t fight a war on the level the rest of you can.”
“Your role may not be to fight.”
Nanoha looked at his deep eyes and forced a smile. “…Thank you. What about you?”
“Soon, there will be a judgment. A great heavenly fire will purge the multiverse… I know not the exact details. It will not be pleasant.”
Nanoha nodded. “Good luck, Tribunal.”
“Likewise, Nanoha Takamachi.”
The two left at the same time.
Someone fired a weapon at the now unprotected universe, shattering it into the Sea of Infinite Possibility.
The Dark Tower rearranged the position of its affected doors.
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dd/mm/yy
19/09/19
Chapter 119
Eleven.
Personally I think it's a miracle that anyone still likes Corona. Realistically the only people who would side with her are the suicidal, the nihilistic, the ones who think they can guarantee their own survival and the people who believe in committing great evil in the name of the greater good.
How many of her friends could that really describe?
9840727
The suicidal have better ways to end their lives, the nihilistic don't either don't care or [REDACTED], the ones who think they can guarantee their own survival are rare and absolute fools.
The ones who believe in commiting great evil in the name of a greater good, however... It's not impossible to understand. After all, a considerable part of the multiverse is being destroyed and recreated by time travel and memory wipes and other shenanigans every microsecond. The devastation of Collapse pales in comparson to a single minute of deaths under the Tower's reign. It would only stand out by being visible... and by being final.
Echoes of Siron at that first ill-fated round table meeting between Equestria and its first multiversal allies. Defy the very concept of harmony and cooperation in the name of militaristic honor, and send the whole thing tumbling down. But the scale is so much greater this time, and the entire multiverse will be consumed in the fires of the resulting war.
Meanwhile, Corona can take cold comfort in the knowledge that seven other people in high places took her side. The next few days are going to be very rough for her.
The shells are loaded. The fuse is lit. Time for the fireworks.
Or perhaps someone owns a calculator
For the record, I chose the side of the Collapse. Because... really, in what reality wouldn't it win? Preserving the multiverse is fine and all, and sure it'd allow the Tower to continue making stories ad infinitum. But destroying the Tower in a grand story where the entire multiverse is at stake, achieving its magnum opus of stories the likes of which could only be told here and now, and freeing everyone of its influence like a dictator being toppled? No matter what side you choose, one story is still much better than the other. Ironic that it's the same option that prevents more stories from being created... but this one just has so much meaning that it's worth it.
And with the obligatory questionably insightful comment out of the way, I can move on to what I actually wanted to say. One Above All, Great Will. You have been judged for your sins against cinema, and you have been deemed: GUILTY! Therefore, your sentence shall be: a job offer from CinemaSins (You fucking dipshits)! You are not eligible for a return policy or cashback guarantee, and please fill out a survey of your experience whenever it's most inconvenient.
Yeah, this fanfic is done.🙁
Too bad, it was quite enjoyable until this arc.
Just release the last chapter and be done with it.
9840656
i wanted to pretty much do the exact same thing but instead of a video i just wanted to just write the text into a comment. but now i cant do that because you already did your thing.
but hey , good chapter
Well, this is an interesting high-stakes variant of the trolley problem. Either do something, and kill nearly the whole population, or enforce the status quo and leave untold numbers to death, suffering and unfathomable horrors for eternity.
Perhaps, a more down to earth analogy for this choice would be having a lever, where if you pull it, 99.9% of the world's population immediately die, but aging and disease, and thus natural death, no longer exist for the remaining people and their descendants. Or, you can destroy it, leaving the status quo unchanged.
I'm with Rev on this one. Both choices are evil, but the intentions of both sides, or at least both Eve and Corona, are pure. On the one hand, I would like to side with Eve, as her experience allows her to know firsthand the regret that comes with making a great sacrifice to end a much greater evil, as the she was responsible for the Congeries war. If she regrets making that sacrifice of both her morals and friends in order to stop an incomprehensible evil, maybe similar regrets would plague those that survive and chose the Collapse for the same reasons.
On the other hand, Corona clearly isn't doing this out of malice, nihilism, cynicism, or anything other than true altruism. She knows better than anyone the pain of losing those close to you, yet despite all of her efforts to convince herself otherwise, she has just become more adamant in supporting the collapse.
With nearly 3 arcs worth of story left, I doubt either of these two sides will get the victory. I expect a great conflict, and I expect that through great personal sacrifice on part of each of the Protagonists, a better third option will appear. Either way, Corona is not the antagonist, if anything the Tower itself is the biggest antagonist of all. Regardless of the outcome, I doubt the Tower will exert the same control it does now when all is said and done.
9841101
You won't even believe how spot-on your entire comment is.
9841009
I might organize something like this for you.
9841186
Already gave the Chapter Outline to them in PMs.
Even though it is technically public, anyone who gets on the discord server can see all the chapters.
-GM, master of chappies.
9840899
The multiverse is more stable with the Tower. If everything that exists is one universe, a single universal power can literally end all of existence. A universal power that is NOT being kept in check by Ka and not necessarily defeated by heroes as the Narrative is gone.
9841379
I'm sure measures would be taken to prevent that from happening. Valid points... but irrelevant. Again, what makes a better story: a grand and glorious ending, or quiet perpetuity? Obviously the Tower doesn't care what happens after it, or else it would take measures to ensure its own survival and cheapen its own story.
9841439
The Tower has already decided what happens. All this might just be drama and a false choice before the Tower's rule is cemented to last for an eternity.
Also, the Tower is programmed to create stories and create meaning via stories. Destruction is a grand finale, and the other choice is eternity of smaller stories. Seems pretty easy on value scale which the Tower would choose.
9841186
nah, thanks, i'm good.
I'm done with this.
The way I see it, GMB wrote himself into a corner and couldn't figure out a way to escalate the stakes other than smashing everything.
and with the end of the multiverse dangling over everyone's heads, who cares about pointless conflicts, adventure or discovery?
When he's done, someone write a short summary. As far as I am concerned, the story ended after the teddy bear war.
I finally realized what my problem with Sunset is. She's basically choosing to sacrifice everyone she ever claimed to care about in the name of the greater good. How many characters that would do that kind of thing are characters you could actually like? I mean honestly she basically just gave all her friends a massive middle finger, of course, they would be pissed, I'd question the sanity of the ones who aren't upset.
9841598
I mean, this was the plan since the very beginning, so I don't exactly consider it 'a corner'.
I'll be sure to get you a summary, probably within a few days, since it already exists.
-GM, master of rice limes.
9840556
Saying you dislike the concept of Ka in relation to SOTS is like saying you don't like the Force in Star Wars. The Tower and Ka has been baked into the fundamental DNA of the series from day one. So was awareness.
That being said, I agree that the grimderp has made this tale a bit hard to swallow.
MCU Thanos: *on Corona* That's my Pony...
No, seriously, John/the Tower Rings is pretty much this settings Infinity Gauntlet, the Collapse this settings Great Work, and Corona is Thanos on a ridiculously larger scale.
9841594
Ah, but the more you have of something, the less it is worth. When you have infinite stories, none of them are worth anything. Nothing anyone does will mean anything, for all their efforts will inevitably fade into nonexistence, forgotten in the vastness of time, as dictated by the Tower.
Likewise, the less you have of something, the more it is worth. This is the only opportunity the Tower will ever get to ask the Question-- the Collapse would destroy it, and Preserving would make the Collapse impossible. The entire countless eons of eons of the multiverse starting from the Tower's creation has all been building up to this very moment: the end of stories, of the Tower, of an era, of heroes and villains, of the inevitability of ruin and death. For it to be squandered on infinity would doom the multiverse, and leave us very unfulfilled.
9841833
There is no worth in collapse if nobody is around to remember it.
An infinite amount of minuscule value is infinite value. Any finite value gets dwarfed.
9841914
But not everyone will die in the Collapse. A vast majority, sure, but the remainders will remember. And then they'll have all the time in the world to do as they please, without fear of Ka. Whatever civilizations arise would not be fated to destruction.
I didn't say infinity meant little. I said it meant nothing at all. Infinite nothing is still nothing.
EDIT: Wow, just noticed this. I claim the 19 x 100th comment! Awesome.
9841955
This is assuming that people will actually survive. Ka is responsible for forming stable and growing societies, and dictates that vast majority of the time Heroes win. Without Ka, you got whatever survivors got lucky after the collapse fending off each other in a single universe.
A single universe, that can be destroyed by a stupid amount of individuals. Including villains that are not dictated to monologue by the narrative and then stopped by heroes instead of executing their evil schemes.
9842062
Um... not really. It's totally possible to form civilizations without Ka. 'Cause... uh, we exist? Plus the civilizations in the ancient past before the Tower, and all those guys that existed at some point but died out off-screen...
But, yes, there wouldn't be Ka to manage things anymore. Which means the universe could totally be destroyed. Which is... still irrelevant, actually. A blaze of glory is still a better story than infinite normalcy, and by golly the Tower is going to take that opportunity, damned be the consequences.
9841783
Shows you what I know, eh?
Anyway, don't take one disgruntled reader too much to heart.
You took a dubious genre (crossovers) and made it entertaining. And you tackled a scope that was unmanageable from the start and rolled with it.
Cheers mate!
9841793
I'm not sure when Ka was introduced, but it wasn't there from the start.
It's safe to say that I kept reading despite of it, not because of it. After all, you have to be able to suspend your disbelief on pro levels because ponies.
9842124
Who is to say La doesn't affect our universe?
Corona didn't have the right either. Not just the right to make the Choice, but the right to force it on everybody else. By giving it to everyone, she's taken choice away from them, too.
Ka may bring great pain and tragedy, but it brings great joy, too.
9842124
Sure, Civilizations form without Ka, but without Ka they will most likely destroy themselves or get stuck in a boring dystopia before anything interesting happens. This also means that evil dictatorships won't be toppled by heroes.
And the multiverse continuing forever under the Tower is not "infinite normalcy". The Tower still knows how to shake things up, even if nothing can make a lasting impact against the tower. You still got all the interesting shit human imagination can come up with even if the Tower is eternal.
And again, what good is a blaze of glory if nobody can remember it? You have a multiverse filled with Ka-created beings and monstrosities, many possessing powers over reality itself. What do you think will happen once Ka is no longer keeping things stable and a villain wants to destroy or enslave all of existence? The Narrative eventually forces heroes to rise from a single chance that usually take the threat down, but without Ka nothing like this happens.
9842761
On the contrary, it isn't highly likely that civilizations without Ka destroy themselves. With Ka, they inevitably and without fail get toppled, destroyed, forgotten, what have you, because endings make better stories than infinity. The possibility for a civilization to last forever can only exist without Ka or the Tower. Of course it does mean it might become an eternal dystopia-- but what does it matter if it's boring if there's no Ka?
When you have eternity, everything becomes normalized eventually. No matter how many plot twists and shakeups the Tower tries to create, or how many fantastical creations are dreamed up by the most imaginative Prophets, inevitably there will come a time when there simply aren't any more ideas. Everything will have happened already, and everything will happen again, and nothing will change because no lasting impact can ever be made. When faced with all stories losing meaning from being retold for eternity, or ending stories in a single grand story that can only happen once, the Tower would obviously choose the latter.
Yes, without Ka there cannot be heroes and villains like we're familiar with. Which is fine. All the Tower wants to do is tell a good story, and the Collapse is the best story for many reasons. Any efforts to preserve existence would be taken solely by other people, just as much as there'd be nihilistic assholes. And without Ka, conflict and death is only possible-- not inevitable.
Its funny how as i read through the chaptertitles , the lower i got the less i knew about what happened in each chapter , i had to actually open a few and check what was going on in them.
And in the latest arc it just stopped completely, i had NO IDEA what happened in these chapters , i just knew : oh yeah that was that one completely pointless one and that was that weird one based on the names, and i want somebody to wipe 115 from my mind because sadly thats the only one other than the finale that i have any memories of.
Maybe it could just be that around this exact time last year i was rereading the first 4 arcs of SOTS , twice, and that is why i remember them better than some of the later stuff, but some of my favourite chapters come AFTER arc 4.
The Hunger for Games basically is everything that makes SOTS great shoved into one chapter , and Avater Corea is an absolute Masterpiece !
( i could be wrong about that , i just read it once , but I remembe loving every single word in that chapter so yeah. I actually sat down and went : well twilence hasnt made an appearance in a while , she could show up again! before i started to read that chapter. It totally flew over my head while reading but afterwards i was like : did i just call that or was that just the luckiest guess ever? )
Personally i really hated the time skips in the latest arc. I get why they are there and why they are needed but i still think you could have done a better job with them. Dont ask me how , idk i just feel they could have been handled better. I think the biggest problem with them for me is that you could have left them out and nothing would have changed. I get that that makes sense in universe but it still feels weird reading : year XY before every chapter and then it doesnt really matter because the passage of time is irrelevant in the bigger picture.
But that isnt really my problem, thats just a tiny thing that doesnt really matter , if that was the only thing i wouldnt mind. I think for me its just the serialization of the story that doesnt sit right with me.
I had the feeling that you put the events that happen in your story over your characters in the last arc , but maybe thats just me trying to justify me not loving/liking this story anymore.
i mean the last few chapters were pretty good, might as well see how this all ends.
As i said already in another comment the differing quality of the chapters is whats really hard to swallow for me , because i know you can write incredible things, so reading stuff that is pretty bad in comparison is really sad for me.
i prefer having a story where the quality is consistent over a story that can be really great in one chapter , but then it just falls off in the next and just stays really meh for a long time only to have another really great chapter and then return to meh or okay again.
Thats what sots has been for me these last few months, always taking a gamble on whether the next chapter is good or not.
I mean hey, after all is said and done, I AM just a random guy talking on the internet, so take my words like you want.
Ya know. Hearing Daniel snap made me realize Corona has a real knack for driving people insane with her decisions. First him, then it was stated to be the only staying consequence of destroying Topeka... Ya know, just food for thought.
Despite all these conflicts and hatred of the Crown,
I vote for the collapse.
They will probably hate me, but at least this is a real choice.
In a world where you can live without fear of higher powers.
Flagg. It was Flagg. It was obviously Flagg. Hello? Anyone? Guys? He's the only one who stands to gain from this. It's literally his purpose. Anyone?
Bueller?
The what now?
You know, all this debate is nice and all, but isn't the collapse of the tower what /Flagg/ wanted from the start? Who's to say it was the tower that gave Corona the knowledge in the first place? I'm sure Flagg would be more than capable of sending her simulation into that scenario, and having it fall on the nineteenth run would just take even more suspicion away from him. And there's no way he's done with this story.
So, when the Beyonders were revealed to be making a ring I forgot the rings worked to protect the Tower, not just break it. I was confused for a moment, had to turn back a chapter and reread the votes of the seats to straighten it out.
I, I hadn't thought of him in a while. I'm not sure you're right, but it's something to consider...
10211854, 11096576
...
9841439, 9841594
You seem very confident in assessing the Tower's will. I suspect that either you have info I don't (talked to GM, read The Dark Tower series, ect.) or are making assumptions. Also what the Tower wants is not necessarily what is best.
Yeah, um...wow...
Pretty much all of my thoughts here are the same. Reiterations of the same thing.
Pain. Suffering. Betrayal. Hurt. Loss. Discord. Death. War.
There's no one good way out of this. It's just going to be the dramatic riding it out until the Climax. I'm enjoying the read, but man it still hurts.
Wow and/or whoa. I mean, John's still a person, even if it feels like 90% of the time here he's been reduced to a tool for the multiverse's use.
O_O
Jesus Fucking Christ. Considering time travel involved and everything, that just feels astronomical.
...Yeah anyone else get the feeling we've (they've) already subtly accepted the "war" outcome here and are expanding on from that point?
Man, that whole fiasco feels like it happened forever ago now...
Man, this whole scene hurt. Friend tearing apart friend. Lover tearing apart lover. This coming conflict, man...
When an already lost world feels they have nothing left to lose...
Yeah I think most of my comments and feelings are just gonna be repeats and reiterations of how awful this is going to be.
I commented earlier that he is a person but sometimes I wonder if the guy's just accepted it at this point that the world just wants to use him.
Dude, I commend you. I don't know you you manage to do it, but you keep finding ways to make this whole situation heavier.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...and this is, like, exactly the wrong thing to do...this won't go over well. Despite the Combine being a problem point, "we" are once again forgetting about the input of the lesser societies.
Uhhh...damn that was kinda quick, especially considering it was Starcross involved.
i.imgflip.com/4/6woq7y.jpg
Not gonna lie, I went through a gamut of emotions through how this turned out. That was astoundingly close to going out of control. Though at the same time I can't help but feel it's going to tip out either way by the end of this anyways so ehhhhh
Therein lies the rub. There really isn't a good decision for this, no matter how the turnout.
Factions begin to form through the chaos. Even if Corona gets held by MU from this, she has a support group. And no doubt there are others in the multiverse forming their own pockets.
A fate that was always paper thin as fuck, imo.
Yeah...there it is. The Seats inevitably broke down in the end. Not a big surprise.
Still, considering the implication of this statement since this is Class 1 societies we're talking about, that's still a pretty terrifying concept.