136 - The Place You Call Home
“You know Mite, I think I live on this ship,” O’Neill said, sitting on the bed in his private quarters on the Austraeoh.
“Absent.”
“Just because I can’t see you doesn’t mean I don’t know you’re in here,” O’Neill said.
“Dubious.”
“I’m not arguing philosophy with you.”
“Incorrect.”
O’Neill ignored that comment. “Even when I did have a home, back before the war even started, this was my ship. I went on missions, explored distant worlds, saw everything.” He adjusted his uniform in a mirror, unsatisfied with an awkward wrinkle on the shoulder. “I think I know this ship better than I know my house. …Or what was my house, who knows if it’s still around.”
“Lonely.”
“You’re a judgmental little bugger, you know that?”
“Affirmative.”
“Good. Just checking.” Deciding his uniform wasn’t going to get flat enough for his liking, he shrugged and left his quarters. On the opposite end of the hall, Minna was talking to her husband, Frigid.
“Now please don’t put your art projects on the bed next time, okay?”
Frigid rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Yeah, I… I should have thought ahead.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful! It’s just that you have a nice table right there. I know the bed has more cush, but I need to sleep whenever I can get it.”
Frigid chuckled. “All right, all right, I’ll use the table.” He kissed her. “Love you. Don’t blow us up.”
“I blow us up a little bit every day.”
“Then not a lot.”
Minna closed the doors to her quarters, turned around, and realized O’Neill was standing there. O’Neill was highly amused to see her blush, such a rare sight on her face. “…Good morning, sir.”
“You’re a lucky woman,” O’Neill said. “Not everyone got to take theirs with them.”
“I… I’m aware.”
O’Neill nodded. “…Sometimes I wonder if things might have been different, I would have picked someone…”
“No offense sir, you were already old when you took the potion. The drive wouldn’t be there… as much.”
“And you had no biological drive to speak of.”
“I married a pony, what makes you think it had to have anything to do with that?”
O’Neill blinked. “Good point.”
Minna put a hand to her chin. “I wonder… Who would it have even been?”
O’Neill shrugged, indicating the discussion was over. A few moments later Minna started chuckling.
“I bet you’ve got an excellent mental image.”
“Yes. Yes, I do. Sir.”
“Well keep it to yourself, we’ve got work to do.”
The two entered the bridge at the same time. “Overhead on Deck!” Clandestine called. She swiveled around in her chair to salute the two of them. “We’ve picked up something very interesting on the sensors. Vita’s given the O.K. to investigate.”
“What is it?” O’Neill asked. Minna’s eyes widened in surprise before he’d even completed asking the question.
A few seconds later, the rest of the bridge crew saw what Minna just had: an image of a male Celestialsapien with a white fuzzy creature sitting on his shoulder.
“Have we tried hailing?” O’Neill asked.
“Of course we have,” Clandestine said. “It’s not like a Celestialsapien to respond. We’re not expecting much at all.“
“THERE IT IS!” A loud amused voice said. Suddenly, the Celestialsapien was on the bridge – unmoving as their kind generally were. The white creature on his shoulder, however, was fully active and talking like mad. “Hey! Hey! Hey! Guess what I am. C’mon, you can do it. You’ve got some good clues already.”
“You’re one of Them,” Minna said.
“Cheating, I like you,” the Them said, scratching behind his chinchilla-like ears. “So hey, hello intrepid travelers across the New World! What’s shakin’?”
“We’re wondering why you’re a rodent,” O’Neill answered.
“Chinchilla,” Mite offered, unhelpfully.
“Well, it was the first thing I thought of when I realized the intangible body thing doesn’t exactly work here!” the Them said, twitching his nose. “I have to say, I do like being a god-mouse, though I expect it’ll get boring after the first year and I’ll need to find some good old magic to turn me into a god-cat or something.”
“…He’s not setting off any alarms, right?” O’Neill asked.
Clandestine nodded. “He’s not any stronger than your average Discord.”
“I resent that!” the Them objected.
“The Celestialsapien on the other hand… Yeah, he set off some of the alarms. Nowhere near as high a power as a Celestialsapien should have, but still concerning.”
“Don’t worry about Flep. Flep is chill.” The Them chuckled. “Flep hasn’t made a single decision since the collapse. Heck, I don’t think he’d made a decision for a few years before that. Guy’s in a Celestialsapien deadlock. Could be like this for millennia. Wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t drag him.”
“…Put him on an unmanned probe,” O’Neil ordered. “I’d like to keep him around, but don’t want him throwing a tantrum and killing people. As for you…” He leaned down and looked at the Them. “You need a name.”
“Chem. I am chinchilla-chet-them.”
“Chet?” O’Neill asked.
“Chet,” Mite said.
Chem smiled and twitched his adorable tiny ears. “Good, glad we’ve got that mystery solved.”
“I have no idea why Chet is in there,” Minna deadpanned.
Chem ignored her. “Anyway, as a rodent I must really enjoy cheese. Please, bestow upon me your graceful confections of cheesy natures. Because cheese. If I don’t like cheese I’m going to have to take this body back to the store I bought it from.”
“Didn’t you create it yourself?” O’Neill asked.
“Yes.”
“Nevermind.” O’Neill shook his head. “Listen up, Chem. You can have your cheese. You can have lots of the cheese. But if you’re going to be with us, you have to follow the rules of basic decency, which I know is unimaginably difficult for you Them.”
“It’s agony,” Chem confirmed.
“Well deal with agony if you want unhindered access to the cheese. I do have spells that can keep you out.”
“Eeyep.”
“Furthermore, as a member of this crew, you will be expected to pull your weight. As a ‘god-mouse’ this should not be difficult for you in the slightest. You might be put on dishes control one day, or combat the next. Understood?”
“I understand perfectly! The question is how much can I eat away at the intention of your rules withou-”
Chem got slapped across the room by Minna. “About that damn far,” she spat.
“…G-gotcha,” Chem muttered. “To the kitchen! To eat cheese! …and wash dishes.” He vanished in a puff of white smoke.
“Are we going to tell him we have a machine to wash dishes?” Clandestine asked.
“Nope,” O’Neill answered.
“I’ll make sure the crew knows.”
~~~
Eve decided it was time to land the Skiff – give the occupants a chance to stretch their legs, see somewhere new, perhaps make camp.
“Where we landin’ this time?” Applejack asked. She had stopped acting standoffish several days ago, but the tiredness in her voice hadn’t abated in the slightest.
“Small planet,” Eve said. “And I mean small. Few kilometers wide at most. Looks to have a single town on it.”
“We’ll probably be able to find beds then,” Corona said. “I’d like a bed, frankly.”
“Some beds aren’t worth anythin’,” Applejack muttered.
Eve brought the planet up on screen. Half of it was light, half of it was dark, and most of it seemed to be a town nestled in some wilderness.
“…How’s it have day and night?” Applejack wondered. “Thought that was impossible.”
“It appears to be an effect localized to the atmosphere,” Corona said, pressing a few buttons on her console. “Neat. The town’s currently in the day half.”
“Wonder if anyone’s alive down there…” Eve took the Skiff down, swirling around the planet once just to get a full map of its surface. They landed on the outskirts of town without much fanfare and trotted out. The world seemed slightly brighter than natural – the grass was a bit too green, the ground more yellow than brown, and the cobblestone path that led into town was a bit too regular for the kind of construction it was. This was not unusual to anyone, most Equises at least had the vibrant colors.
As they approached the town, they found it in a state of disrepair. Numerous windows were broken, vines were crawling up walls, and lots of paint was chipping away. A lopsided sign told them the settlement’s name – Pelican Town.
“That sounds vaguely familiar for some reason,” Eve commented.
“Could have been a world you visited,” Corona offered.
“I did visit a lot.” The three of them walked into the town. While the vast majority of the rural buildings looked abandoned, there were a few things that told them not everyone was gone. There was a neatly-kept flower bed near the center of town, and one of the stores in the center of town had a fresh coat of paint on it. Looking through the window, they could see that the shelves were mostly empty, but there were some cans of food stocked on the top shelf.
“Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in…”
The three travelers turned around to see a white pegasus with large glasses and a rainbow mane staring right at them with a look of smug contempt. She set down her toolkit and can of paint, looking at them expectantly.
“Prism…” Eve said, visibly shrinking away.
Corona coughed. “Hey, Prism. It’s been a-”
“Both of you,” Prism interrupted. “Both of you. Wow, this is going to be a powder keg. The destroyer of worlds and the destroyer for worlds. Acting like nothing’s happened.” She chuckled to herself. “Don’t know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn’t it.”
“…Am Ah missin’ somethin’?” Applejack asked.
Prism blinked. “Who are you?”
“Applejack.”
“I think I could have deduced that one.”
“…Just call me Jack if you have to, Ah don’t need to think of a new name.”
Prism shook her head. “Fine, the point is, yes, you’re missing something. Evening there killed my mother and started a big war; Corona there started another war and killed a lot more people, but was at least honest about it. They both suck, now you’re caught up, any questions?”
“I guess.”
“Good. Now, I’m going to be nice.” Prism cleared her throat. “There are people here who would want your head on a platter, Corona. You should run.”
Corona shook her head. “I can’t run from those who hate me. I have to face them.”
“Corona…” Eve cautioned.
Corona held up a hand. “I’m not going to hide, Eve. We’ve been lucky since Lai. I can’t just hope to continue being lucky.” She put her hands on her hips. “Who do I have to face here?”
Prism shrugged. “Well, here’s one now.”
Trotting up was a unicorn version of Sunset carrying numerous wooden boards and nails in her magic. Everyone recognized her as Sunny in an instant. At the same instant, Sunny dropped all the boards and nails, gawking. “Corona? Eve!?”
Corona waved awkwardly. “Yeah. It’s us.”
“You really shouldn’t be here,” Sunny said. “Jane will… and then there’s… and…” Sunny blinked. “And you’re not leaving, are you?”
Corona shook her head. “Have to face them eventually. Might as well be now.”
Sunny took a breath. “In that case… Welcome to Pelican Town! I’m… I’m sorry that this is probably going to be the only warm welcome you get. We’ve got the starts of stable food production and the town restoration project is coming along nicely.”
Prism adjusted her glasses. “Behold, my architectural genius.”
Sunny turned to Jack. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced.”
“Applejack. Or just Jack, since apparently you need that.”
“Yeah… We do.” Sunny tossed her mane back. “You should come back to the farm with me if you want to see the others. You should prepare for sparks to fly. Prepare for a lot of it.”
Corona cracked her knuckles and dusted her hands together. “I’m ready as I’ll ever be for that.” She paused, turning to Prism. “Corea…?”
“She’s here too,” Prism answered. “Bet you’re both relieved and panicked because of that, huh?”
“…I just want to see her.”
Prism pointed with her wing. “Then you’re going to love the farm.”
Jack looked at the pegasus and shook her head.
“What?”
“You just remind me of me,” Jack said. “That’s not a compliment.”
Prism wasn’t sure how to come back from that.
~~~
You know what tends to panic people?
“Hey, yeah, all of you? Lord English is approaching this planet and we’ve got to move your entire town to a different one in about three hours.”
You know who thought panic was a good motivator to behave?
“SHERLOCK!”
Sherlock looked up from his seat in Rev’s church hall. “Hmm?”
Lightning slapped him. “What the literal hell is wrong with you?”
“I don’t believe Hell’s literal anymore.”
Lightning twitched. “I don’t care how effective you think something’s going to be, you don’t just cause people that level of panic! There have been heart attacks!”
“That’s why Death is here.”
“Sherlock…”
“I don’t miss details, Lightning,” Sherlock said, folding his hands together. “For instance, did you know Valentine and Froppy are here? In fact, they’re right behind you – not that close – and we’re about to witness something that needed to be resolved a while ago.”
Lightning slowly turned around, curious. She saw Valentine and Froppy, both smiling. This was definitely unusual for Valentine – and the giggling was unusual for Froppy. She noticed bright, shiny new rings on their fingers.
“Ah, that-”
“That’s not what we’re here to see,” Sherlock interrupted. He pulled a newspaper out of his coat and handed it to her. “Here.”
With a roll of her eyes Lightning sat down and pretended to read the newspaper, but kept watching them.
It was at this moment Johnny Joestar showed up, riding an animalistic horse. “Valentine!” he shouted – not angry, but clearly not pleased, either.
Valentine’s smile dropped in an instant. He turned around to face Johnny. “I didn’t expect you to be part of this little expedition, but I see that I shouldn’t have made such an assumption.”
“What’s this about settling down?” Johnny asked.
“It’s as simple as that,” Valentine said. “We’re settling down. I’ve had enough for one life. You should understand – you settled down before.”
Johnny’s face twisted. “…Valentine, where’s Gyro?”
Valentine’s face remained passive – but Froppy flinched.
“He’s not around, is he? Dusted?”
“Yes,” Valentine said.
“I saw it happen,” Froppy croaked. “Tornado and I were there.”
“Then why are you stopping? We have to go get him back!” Johnny shouted.
Valentine frowned. “No, we don’t.”
“So, what, your obligation’s over?”
“Johnny, you know what it means. You’ve read the discoveries we’ve made.”
Johnny clenched his fists. “Don’t you dare…”
“We… We…” Valentine had to stop for a minute to collect himself. “What we did was…”
“You brought back a copy,” Froppy finished for him. “…Constructed from the ground up from nothing to be just like him.”
“How is that different!?”
“It’s very different,” Valentine said. “We were not undoing a death by doing it. We were causing another one.” He put his arm around Froppy. “Gyro found out what he was, Johnny. He’d explored the multiverse and read enough to figure it out. That he wasn’t really Gyro. That he wouldn’t be brought back next time, it would be someone else. He didn’t wa-”
“FUCK THAT!” Johnny shouted. “I need him back, Valentine! My family’s gone, I don’t have anything to help them. But Gyro...”
“He asked me to destroy it, Johnny!” Valentine shouted. “And I did!”
“I don’t have anything now!”
“…You can stay here with us,” Froppy offered.
Johnny, for one moment, looked at her with an expression of understanding. But it was gone in an instant. Wordlessly, he turned the horse around and trotted away.
Sherlock turned to lightning. “And now Johnny will stop being so aggressive. He’ll recover now that he’s not holding onto this.” He smirked.
“…I thought Sherlock wasn’t supposed to be good with people.”
“You get older, you get wiser. Speaking of, your conversation is over there.” He pointed to the front door of the church.
A young man with dark hair and oversized glasses poked his head around the corner. Seeing an angry Valentine inside, he decided it probably wasn’t a good idea to enter and went away.
Lightning’s heart went into her throat and her breath became heavy.
“I thought you’d recognize him,” Sherlock said with a smirk. “Go on, this is your chance to have a little conversation.”
Lightning dropped the newspaper unceremoniously and walked out of the Church.
~~~
Jane stuck her hands into the ground and with one forceful motion pulled a large parsnip up. She smirked – the farm was coming together even faster than expected – and tossed the parsnip into her inventory. She was exceptionally relieved that she had gotten that part of her powers working again, it had been a pain to cart everything around in baskets.
She looked at the fields around her, spreading out a fair distance. Only the parsnip field was ready, but she could see sprouts for all the other crops – including apple trees. Everything was going much faster thanks to all the knowledge and skills she had at her disposal. They had even found some ‘red pumpkins’ on a nearby planet and were trying to grow them. A trio of silent golem beings were actively tilling this particular field. Jane called them Morp, Sedi, and Iggy based on the rocks they were composed of. They never did much of anything other than work, work, work the fields, but they seemed to enjoy the labor so Jane didn’t have an issue with it.
She looked further out. To the south there was a nice forest – no doubt they would be raiding it for wood several times over the course of the next few months. But for now, she knew that was the place Corea loved to take her walks. Not to mention it had the old wizard tower, and Corea had taken a liking to the arcane building.
Jane’s smile faltered, concern rising up that Corea would hermitize. It wouldn’t be beyond her at this point…
Turning to more pleasing things, she looked at the farmhouse. Unlike all the buildings in the town, this one looked lived in, and that was because it was. Everyone had banded together to renovate it into a real home for all of them. The paint was fresh, the windows clear, and the gardens were beautiful.
To think, this had once been Jane’s home so many, many years before… Before she’d even learned of the multiverse… Now it didn’t even feel like the same place.
She decided that was a good thing. It needed to be a new home.
“Hey! Jane! We’ve got visitors!” she heard Prism shout.
Jane’s smile widened. Visitors? Always good to see a new face…
The first ‘new’ face she saw was Corona. Without hesitation, Jane grabbed her sword and charged.
She stopped when Eve and Sunny stepped between the two of them, raising magic shields. The sight of the two of them defending Corona made her mind go blank for a moment.
“…What?” she eventually managed.
“War’s over, Jane,” Sunny said.
“Doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve this…”
“Whatever she deserves, I do as well,” Eve said, walking up to Jane and looking down at her with contempt.
Jane put her sword away. “…You’re too forgiving.”
“What did she do that I didn’t?” Eve asked.
“Killed fucking everyone.”
“I never wanted to do that,” Corona said with a sad expression.
“I don’t care. You did.”
“And I wasn’t supposed to survive it. But I did, something screwed up the collapse, and here we are.” Corona folded her arms. “We’re just going to have to live with it.”
“I am not living with you.”
“You don’t have to. We’re not staying. But there are people I need to face. You’re one of them.”
Jane let out a bitter laugh. “There’s no resolution here. Got that?”
“I got that. I’m not expecting one. I’m expecting acceptance.”
“You shouldn’t expect anything. I could run you through at any time I wanted.”
“Jane, no,” Sunny said, shaking her head. “That’s not what we’re doing.”
“You’d lose anyway,” Prism pointed out.
“Not helping…”
Prism shrugged her wings. “I’m just pointing out the flaws in everyone. It’s my purpose here.”
“That’s it, I’m done,” Jane said. She pointed at Corona. “Get off my farm.”
Corona took a few steps back for a moment – then narrowed her eyes. “No. I need to see Corea.”
“Fuck no you don’t, you’ll make things worse. You’re a divider, Corona. I’m not letting you do any more damage. Get off my planet.”
“Jane…” Sunny cautioned.
“Sunny, it’s not right to let people like her be here.”
Prism let out a snort. “Really? Really? Are we going to tell that to all collapsers? Oh, wait, didn’t you almost fight for the collapse?”
“Prism, shut the fuck up.”
Prism bristled. “How about no? You’re not as messed up as Eve or Corona, but you’re brimming with hypocrisy.”
“Prism, stop it,” Eve said. “You’re not acting with dignity either. I don’t think any of us are.”
“I haven’t said anything yet,” Jack pointed out.
“You’re exempt,” Eve admitted. “The rest of us are trying to power play each other into some sort of situation we like, even me. That’s wrong. The situation is ugly, and we shouldn’t try to soften it over or run away from it. Yes, Jane, sending us away is you running away.”
Jane sighed. “Eve, why are you doing this?”
“Because Corona was never my enemy,” Eve said, pulling Corona close. “Even during the war, she was just the other side. Always the other side. Never the enemy. We wanted nothing more than to be friends again.”
“And we are,” Corona added. “We’re not going to let the New World stay divided.”
Jane twitched. “You’re still not welcome here.”
“We have no intention of staying, we’re traveling to the core. But we’re here, and we’re going to talk.”
“Just for the day, Jane,” Sunny said. “Just the day.”
Jane turned her back and returned to work. “Do what you want. If you’re still here tomorrow I’m chasing you out.”
“Thank you,” Corona said with a slight bow.
“Fuck you,” Jane responded without turning around.
Corona sighed, turning to the farm house. “Well… Guess we should see if she’s in there.”
“She’s actually over there,” Prism said, pointing to the forest. “You can see her coming back.”
Corea was coming back, trotting along the farm path with a blank look on her face. Prism walked up and nuzzled her, prompting only the slightest of smiles that quickly vanished. She looked up as she passed Corona. “How’s that survivor’s guilt treating you?”
Corona grimaced. “Not well.”
“Good. Glad to see you’re still around to see all the suffering you’ve caused.” She trotted away without another word, entered the farmhouse, and slammed the door.
Nothing Jane had said had dented Corona’s armor. But with only a couple sentences, Corea had torn her to her very core. Tears welled up in her eyes and her legs began to tremble. Eve had to support her to keep her standing.
“The Avatar Spirit was Dusted,” Prism explained in a neutral voice. “But she survived, her spirit broken.” She trotted into the farmhouse as well.
Eve looked into Corona’s eyes. “Corona…”
“I… I need to try to heal her.” Corona wiped her eyes. “If she’ll let me.”
“Ah’m not sure she will, but Ah’ll have a talk with her about it.”
Standing in the doorway of the farm house was a muscular orange mare with the Element of Honesty hung around her neck.
“Applejack!?” Eve said, irises shrinking. The farm mare looked just the same as she always had – hat and all. “I… I uh…”
“Join us for dinner,” Applejack said, cutting her off.
“WHAT!?” Jane shouted, standing bolt upright. “I did not a-”
“Jane, I’m going to use one of your favorite phrases on you. Shut the hell up. You’re angry and it’s unreasonable. Ah’m quite upset but you don’t see me yellin’ in everyone’s faces.” She opened the door. “Come, sit down, let’s get caught up.”
Eve gulped, suddenly a lot less confident about her decision to land on this little planet.
~~~
GM nervously looked at the giant pillars of magic runes Strange was setting up around the town. I’m supposed to be avoiding the story. This is the story. He nervously rubbed his knuckles together, trying to think about something else.
“…And now I’m sure. You’re definitely GM.”
GM twitched – he had made sure everyone in town used his real name, not the moniker, so he wouldn’t be outed as the reason all the problems in the world existed. He took a breath. “Please don’t…” He turned around and told Lightning his name.
“I know what your name is,” Lightning said, a twitch in her mouth indicating nerves. Not that GM noticed this, his obliviousness was legendary.
“Y-yeah, of course you would…” He weaved his hands together and nervously looked around. “I’m not him. I may have based him off of me, but I’m not him. I made him the villain.”
“I know. He told me as much himself.”
“W-well of course he would, seeing as…”
Lightning put a hand to the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Would you calm down? Just… Look, there’s a table over there. Let’s sit.”
“But that’s Gevo’s, he’s not open until after the-”
“Just go sit on the chair. I’ll mess with Gevo if I have to.”
“R-right!” GM stammered. He cautiously followed Lightning to the table and sat down.
“Now… Tell me why,” Lightning said.
“Why? Why what? Why the…”
“Why the Collector? Why me?”
GM gulped and took a breath. “…Let’s start with you. Because you came first.”
Lightning raised her eyebrow.
“You were… I was… Hmm… I was thirteen and I was given your game – Final Fantasy XIII – for my birthday. Looking back now, it wasn’t that… great of a game.”
“It absolutely sucks. Move on.”
“R-right.” He swallowed hard. “It was bad. But I didn’t notice that at first, I just thought it was different, fun, and… well, stunning. The scenery… the complex story… I hadn’t really started writing yet, so I really didn’t know what I was looking at, but… It was an experience. I never finished it myself, but the characters stuck with me. Yours most of all.”
Lightning nodded. Then she exaggerated the motion to make sure he caught it and moved on.
“So I just kept you in the back of my head. And as I watched and learned, I kept more and more characters in the back. And then the first big thing I ever tried to write was a big story where I brought all of you together. …That was a bad idea. A very, very bad idea. I tried again almost immediately afterward, but that also didn’t go so well. I don’t remember exactly how, but that’s where you lost your eye. …Not this version of you, the first one. Second. Second.”
Lightning touched her eyepatch gently. “…The Collector found me like this.”
GM nodded. “That… makes sense? He’d want the one of you that was… ‘his’.”
“So how did he come about?”
“I started reading fanfics. I looked for giant crossovers because… that was what I wanted to read and I couldn’t find many good ones. I eventually did in a ‘Grand Tour’ – that one’s the reason Nanoha is such a big deal – but he didn’t come from that one. I forget most everything about the story I’m thinking of except that the main character was powerful, manipulative, and evil in almost every way. But he was the hero and his conquest was supposed to be a good thing. And every chapter in the author’s notes there was a reminder that ‘he’s not infallible’ but I never read far enough to find that. He always seemed to have a plan or ploy…”
“That sounds like him.”
“There’s a difference, but that’s where the idea first took form.” Now that he had gotten talking, GM was a lot less nervous. “I didn’t fully understand what the Mary Sue was until a bit later, but I was easily able to draw lines back to that one guy and all the other Sues I started seeing. It was… annoying. I mean people can write stuff like that if they want, but the prevalence… I’m not innocent, but I never…”
He shook his head. “The Collector was born out of this mess. He was originally designed as a meta-type threat for… I forget what exactly. It was just an idea. What if I was slightly more evil and would use everything I knew to create a world of my favorite heroes? They wouldn’t want to, so I’d have to use hyper mind control on them… And I remembered the old Sue stories and realized this was an opportunity. Not a very clever one, I have to say, but an opportunity nonetheless.” He looked at Lightning. “He was never intended to be the hero. He was the villain.”
“He knew this,” Lightning confirmed.
GM nodded. “He embraced it, because he knew it would make the change he brought more extreme. Or, well, I wrote him to, I guess…” GM paused, thinking. “He wasn’t a good person, and the ends could never justify the means, but he was made to not care. I couldn’t do that.”
“Clearly,” Lightning deadpanned.
“Eheh… Yeah. He’s definitely not me. He’s me if I had strength, no integrity, and believed the ends justify the means. He was evil. But he was very good for the story – and for you.”
Lightning folded her hands together. “…I’m not sure he was evil.”
“Of course not. That was your purpose. To be the one who stood by him, even when his lack of integrity got the better of him in the end.”
“And what’s my purpose now?”
GM shook his head. “I don’t know. I can look back on the Collector now that his story is done and say for sure. You? You’re still around. I may never know for sure what your deal is.”
Lightning nodded slowly, understanding.
“So, uh…”
“That’s all I needed,” Lightning said, standing up. “Thank you. I won’t tell anyone who you are. You deserve some peace.”
“Do I?”
“You didn’t know what you were doing.”
GM smiled awkwardly. “…Yeah.”
“PREPARE TO MOVE THE TOWN!” Strange called over a megaphone. “T-MINUS THIRTY MINUTES! EVERYBODY GET TO A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN HOLD ON TO SOMETHING FIXED!”
“That’s my cue to go home,” GM said. “It was… interesting to meet you.”
Lightning lightly waved. “That’s one way to describe it.”
~~~
Awkward didn’t even begin to describe the dinner.
The Table was large and round, seating Eve, Corona, Jack, Jane, Sunny, Corea, Prism, and Applejack comfortably. It was the only comfortable thing about the situation. The food was way too reliant on parsnips, everyone kept looking around with steeled and upset glares, and much was exchanged without a single word being spoken.
Sunny looked to Applejack. Upon receiving a nod, she cleared her throat. “So… What’s it like out there, Eve?”
“Beyond the System?” Eve asked.
Sunny nodded.
“A little confusing,” Eve admitted. “The planets arrange themselves in orbitals and move around like they’re part of some liquid. It’s relatively easy to figure out where you are within a single system, or with respect to how close you are to the core, but everything else is inconsistent. We looked behind us a few days ago and realized the system we started in had moved so far the computer couldn’t find it.” She smiled warmly. “But other than that, it’s amazing. There are a mixture of planets left just as they were, but also planets that are conglomerations of all sorts of things. Th-”
“They weren’t left just as they were,” Jane interrupted.
“She means from a natural standpoint,” Corona pointed out.
Jane decided that if she said anything else, she would explode, so she just stuffed a parsnip into her face.
“…What’s farmin’ like?” Jack asked.
Applejack turned to her with a soft smile. “So interestin’ to see one of me who never farmed… It’s a hard life, but not one that takes much in the way of thinkin’. You just gotta make sure your food grows. There’s no market here, just food, so we don’t have to worry ‘bout any of that either. You just gotta focus your mind on the task, get involved with the plants, and get through it.”
“The plants aren’t the only thing,” Prism pointed out. “There’s buildings that need redoing, systems that need fixing, and the magic of course.”
Corea forced herself to smile. “Y-yeah. I’ve been working on the magic. I’ve still got that, at least.”
“…How’s that been going?” Corona asked.
Corea looked up at her. “I could eject you through that wall there.”
Corona looked away for a moment – but then she got an idea. “Really? I’ve been working on restoring my magic as well, something tells me otherwise.”
“You wouldn’t see it coming.”
“I don’t know, I have pretty good eyes…”
Corea tapped her hooves together and pushed on Corona with a telekinetic push. Corona would have gone through the wall had she not teleported herself to the other side of the room where she proceeded to crash into Corea and flop onto the table.
There was silence for a moment.
“Pfft,” Corea said with a chuckle. “That was… really stupid.”
“It kinda was,” Corona said, an amused smile on her face.
Corea looked at the parsnip sauce all over the two of them. She let out a chuckle.
“You really should have known better,” Corona said, stretching her wings.
“Well excuuuse me if I didn’t spend time meditating on our old training sessions.”
“Just because your master turned out to do some questionable things does not mean training was worthless!”
With a smile, Corea shoved Corona. “Here’s a paradox. You told me the opposite thing before.”
“People are allowed to grow!”
“Can it happen in reverse?”
“Evidently!”
Jane loudly stood up from her chair and kicked it over, storming off elsewhere into the farm house. Corona and Corea’s smiles vanished instantly.
Eve sighed. “I’ll go talk to her…”
She trotted after Jane, finding the woman sitting on the porch, watching the sunset. Her entire body sagged with weariness.
“Why you...?” Jane asked.
“You probably don’t want to hear this from Sunny.”
“What, you think an authority figure will do anything? Eve, I know you, you can’t just do that.”
Eve pulled up a chair and sat down. “I’m not here as an authority figure. I’m here as your friend.”
Jane grimaced.
“Why do you think it’s wrong to rebuild these bridges?”
“Because… Because… It’s just wrong, okay?”
“That’s not good enough, Jane.”
“Killing so many is evil!”
Eve smiled sadly. “Jane… You agreed with her.”
“I did n-”
“I know you, Jane. Not the best, but I do know you hated what your Prophet had done. When you were sent on the mission against the Nihilists, I read your interviews. You were conflicted. Very conflicted. But you changed your mind because of Sunny.”
Jane was silent.
“You don’t want to let yourself think that might have been the wrong choice.”
“It wasn’t!”
Eve didn’t have to say anything. All she had to do is fix Jane with an understanding expression.
“...Are you saying the collapse wa-”
“This isn’t about me,” Eve said. “For the record, no, I don’t think it was the right choice. But I understand it. You should understand it more than me. That scares you.”
Jane grunted, looking into the distance. “It was still messed up. Tower’s still here. World’s just different.”
“Ka levels have been dropping.”
Jane blinked. “They… have?”
Eve nodded. “Our best theory is that the Tower is fading. It’ll be a long time before it’s gone completely – estimates place it at about a few decades – but the power is disappearing. It won’t be controlling lives forever.”
Jane was silent, gazing into the distance. Eve decided she’d given her enough to think about and left her with the sunset. She ran into Applejack on the way back.
“Didya get her to think, sugarcube?”
Eve nodded slowly. “I did. I don’t think I fixed the problem, but I got her to at least see where her anger’s coming from. Part of it, anyway.”
“She’s an angry one, it won’t go away,” Applejack said. “It’ll just be redirected at somethin’.”
Eve nodded slowly. “…Applejack…”
“Ah have no argument with you or Corona. You did what you had to do. Both of you.”
“But…”
Applejack sighed. “Ah’m disappointed, Eve. Disappointed that we couldn’t do it. Couldn’t just… agree. Couldn’t save my family. Couldn’t stop the war when we got to the top. Couldn’t, couldn’t, couldn’t…” Applejack shook her head. “We failed, Eve. And Ah don’t mean we lost the war – we did – Ah mean we all failed. You, me, Corona, everyone… It wasn’t enough. If we stayed true to the magic of friendship… maybe we’d all still be here.”
Eve knew Applejack was thinking about her family. “…I’m so sorry.”
“Ah know. And you also know it ain’t good enough.”
Eve gulped.
“Let’s get back to dinner.”
They came back to the table, where Corea was looking at Corona with a sad expression. “…Look, I know you want to fix things, Corona. I just can’t trust you to do it. My soul’s broken. I saw what happened to Daniel.”
Corona was pleading with her. “You’re not so bad as that…”
“Corona, I’ve seen Daniel. He’s bedridden on the third floor.”
Eve gawked. “Daniel’s here!?”
Prism nodded. “He showed up a few days ago… barely alive. He never leaves his bed. Rarely talks. Half out of his mind.”
Corona sat back in her chair, staring at nothing.
“…Finally found someone you don’t want to face?”
“I…”
They all heard a thump come from the stairs, everyone turned to see none other than Daniel himself walking down the stairs, heavily leaning on a metal cane. Everyone knew he no longer aged – but he looked ancient. His hair had become completely white, his glasses barely fit on his face, and every part of him sagged. His eyes looked lifeless.
He moved like a ghost.
But he still moved, marching right toward Corona. He could only shakily walk toward her, but she knew what he wanted to do. What he had wanted to do ever since that day at the games so long ago…
Corona stood up, making sure to stay out of the way of his cane.
She didn’t realize he had a gun in his other hand. He fired, hitting her in the stomach, sending her life-giving blood across the table.
Corona let out a hiss of pain and moved. She tore the gun out of his hand and pressed a bare finger to his forehead. A moment later they both fell to the ground, dazed.
“What happened?” Jane shouted, running into the room. “Wh-” she saw Corona’s wound and Daniel, deciding it was best to fall silent.
Corona grunted, forcing herself to stand up. When Daniel opened up his eyes, he saw Corona holding the gun out to him.
“The curse isn’t holding onto you anymore,” Corona said. “It’s gone now. Do you still want to kill me?”
With shaky, old hands, Daniel grabbed the gun. He pointed it right at Corona’s forehead – locking eyes with her.
An eerie breeze wafted through the room, blowing the folds in Corona’s dress.
He dropped it. “Gh… Gh…”
Corona lifted him up and set him in a chair. Only then did she heal the wound in her stomach. “How are you feeling?”
“…Something’s unfinished…” he said, breathing heavily. “Not you… Something else…”
“Renee? …Eve told me what happened to her.”
“Yes… No…” He coughed, clenching his fists. “It happened… Everything changed… There was a voice…”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know…” Daniel said, starting to cry. “I… I don’t know…” Then he lost consciousness.
“…I’ll take him back to his room,” Sunny offered, trotting over to him. “…Thanks, Corona.”
As she carried him gently up the stairs, Corea tapped Corona on the shoulder. “…You fixed him?”
“…That insanity curse, yeah,” Corona said. “There was something else in there that I didn’t know what to make of…”
“He lost his wife,” Prism said. “Take a wild guess.”
Corona nodded sadly. Then she turned to Corea. “Can I…?”
Corea sighed. “…Okay. Give it a try.”
Corona pressed her hand to Corea’s forehead and instantly felt the hole in her soul where Raava and the other Avatars should have been. She did not want to alter the soul directly, that wouldn’t be proper… But the mind. The broken part of the mind, that could be mended. It no longer needed to be dependant on the spirit.
She removed her hand. “…How do you feel?”
Corea rubbed her head. “A little foggy. Also, I’m craving cake. …Hey, Prism, do we have cake?”
There were tears in Prism’s eyes. “C-corea?”
“…Is it really that noticeable? I don’t feel that different.” She smiled. “Guess I’m smiling though. It’s not like the emptiness is gone or anything o-”
Prism pulled Corea in for a deep embrace. “I… I thought I was losing you…”
Corea let out a soft chuckle. “Prism, really? I’m stronger than that.”
“No you’re not, now shut up and enjoy the moment.”
“…I thought I was the moment.”
Prism let out a choppy groan. “You’re back, all right…”
Corona smiled, flexing her wrist. “…This is a gift. It doesn’t make up for anything I’ve done.”
“You’re damn well right it doesn’t,” Prism said, switching from ‘emotional’ to ‘cold’ in an instant.
“But take it anyway,” Corona said. She flexed her wrists, sending white magic around. “…Anyone else who needs healing while I’m here?”
Eve’s ears twitched involuntarily. Then she let out a laugh.
Corona turned to her, confused. “…What is it?”
Eve pointed at her ears. “Yeah. Yeah there’s somepony else who needs healing.”
“But you chose not to get that fixed. It’s part of you…”
“And it’s a New World, Corona. I have to be willing to accept that maybe the decision to keep them was wrong.”
“For the love of…” Jane turned and left the room, hand to the bridge of her nose.
Corona held her hands to the sides of Eve’s head. “…Are you absolutely sure?”
“No,” Eve said. “But now’s the time. I can’t turn my ears on anymore… so fix it.”
“My life has turned into fixing the damage I’ve caused…”
“Is that so bad a life?”
“No. No, it isn’t.” Corona smiled and pushed her healing magics into Eve’s ears. The purple alicorn took a breath, stepped back a few paces, closed her eyes, and listened.
There was no pain this time. Just the sound of the night outside.
Crickets. I had forgotten what those sounded like…
~~~
“T-MINUS ONE MINUTE!” Strange shouted from his position floating above the town. He had set up a large perimeter of magic totems around every building and farm he could fit, preparing to teleport all of them from one planet to another. The level of magic he had to use was astounding – far more than existed in the aether at any given time. For the last few hours the totems had been absorbing and storing magic for later use.
Now it was time to use them.
“Death, is everyone accounted for?”
EVERY SOUL IS UNDER MY WATCHFUL GAZE.
“Cosmo, ready?”
Cosmo spread her hooves and wings out. “Ready.”
“Insipid?”
Insipid touched Cosmo just to be sure she had her powers. A small Harmony spark shot out of her horn. She proceeded to take the same stance as Cosmo, facing her. “Like, ready.”
“And lastly myself…” Strange lifted his hands and channeled the magic from the totems to one single point between his palms. He waited for the time to run down to zero. “TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GO!” He pushed the magic down between Insipid and Cosmo in one swoop.
Insipid and Cosmo pushed as much Harmony energy as they could out of their horns, hitting the magic of Strange and prompting a whirlwind of holy sparks. The magic totems themselves created a domed magic shield around the entire town, which only Strange himself was above. The Harmony power began to convert the entire area within the bubble into pure white light. Strange clasped his hands together and muttered the final incantation.
He did not see the town go anywhere. It was moving at light speed – one moment it was there, glowing brightly, the next it was gone and all that remained was a hole for the pink sea to fill up.
Strange folded his arms and waited to receive word that it had worked. This came in the form of Discord, munching on some popcorn. “Worked like a charm and was quite impressive to look at, too.”
“Are they all fine?”
“Death says a few souls are disconnected, but he’s got them held tight.”
Strange nodded. “Then all we do is hope English isn’t feeling particularly cruel today.”
“Oh, he is,” Discord said, munching on his popcorn. “But Sherlock says he won’t destroy the town.”
“I wonder why…”
Discord shrugged. “Something something cat and mouse, hero and villain.”
“Hmm…” Strange looked up at the sky. He could sense English with his magic, approaching ever nearer. “We should get off this planet.”
“We should.”
Instead of teleporting away, they chose to fly. The planet in question was the core world of the system, a world consisting mostly of different colors of ocean intermingling. It was beautiful. There had been other settlements on the planet – many other settlements – but the Church was the one everyone had been convinced needed to be saved. Maybe that was selfish of them. It probably was.
But that Church was more ka-important than anything else on the planet. So they’d had plenty of reason to pat themselves on the back regardless.
English knew this. English knew they would save one and leave hundreds of others to die. That was the whole point. They needed to feel it. To know they were, and always had been, playing favorites. That playing favorites was the way of the game.
He unleashed a brilliant beam of rainbow colors, boiling off the multicolored oceans of the world before the eyes of Strange and Discord. The vapor billowed off as clouds into space, leaving only a vague cloud as the center of the system.
Lord English spoke. “I AM THE CHURCH.” Then he returned to his Sarcophagus and kept moving – slower this time, so as to give his little watchers time to move.
Cat. And. Mouse.
~~~
Applejack had insisted they stay the night.
It took Eve all of two minutes to cast a sleep spell on herself because of all the noise. It wasn’t painful anymore but it sure was annoying.
She hadn’t bothered to set a wake-up time for herself, so when the sun poured in the open window she didn’t even budge. Corona removed the sleep spell, but didn’t wake Eve up – she’d sleep until she felt rested. Corona stretched her wings and walked out into the hall with a smile on her face.
The smile on her face vanished when she heard Jane shouting.
“No, never mind, this is a bad idea, you’re not going!”
Sunny’s indignant response came. “I’m going. They need me out there. I need to see the world, not farm.”
“Sunny…”
“…Jane, you can make me stay. Just tell me you need me here, and you can keep me here.”
“I… Goddammit, Eve…”
“What’s she have to do with this?”
“Nothing. Something. She says things.” Corona could hear Jane sigh. “…I shouldn’t keep you here.”
Sunny let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks. The core isn’t that far away, once I plot a proper route it’s not going to be too hard to get back and forth. This isn’t goodbye.”
“...I know it isn’t, Sunny. You’ll be back. I just… It’ll be goodbye for a while.”
There was silence for a moment. Eventually, Sunny sighed. “…So, do you think we need to make an announcement, or can everyone hear us through the walls?”
“Everyone can hear you through the walls!” Corea shouted from her and Prism’s room.
“Right…” Jane said, opening the door to their room. Corona was still standing outside, not even trying to hide herself. Jane twitched. “Listen up. Sunny says she wants to go with you. So she’s going. But if you let anything happen to her they’ll never be able to find all the pieces of your corpse.”
Corona’s considered letting that slide and agreeing – but then she decided that wasn’t the right move. She glared. “You listen up. I’m going to take care of her the absolute best I can, but I can’t promise anything. I’m not stupid enough to make promises like that anymore with ka the way it is. But I’m not just going to sit by and let you threaten me.” She took a powerful step forward and pointed a finger at her. “I’m not going to take that.”
Jane was taken aback.
“You don’t just get to threaten people,” Corona said, turning her back. “It’s no-”
Jane lashed out. Corona whirled around and caught the fist. For a moment, they felt each other. There was a connection Corona did not intend to create, but formed between them anyway. They weren’t close enough to see images, but they felt the emotions. Deep, burning anger alongside immense sorrow and regret, all mingled into one.
Jane and Corona recoiled from each other. Both sets of eyes were angled in anger – and wet with tears. They understood, and they weren’t sure what to make of it.
“…How different are we, really?” Corona asked.
“Just… Just go,” Jane said, deflating.
Eve chose this moment to walk out of the room, yawning. “That was an interesting experience… What are you all talking about out here?”
“Leaving,” Corona said, wiping her face. “Sunny’s coming with us.”
“…Really?” Eve said, blinking. “Are you sure?”
Sunny nodded. “Yes. I am. My place is not here, I need to be out mapping everything again.”
“…Ah’ll switch with her,” Jack said, coming out behind Eve. “…Ah’m a little sick of all the action. Ah… Ah think Ah’ll try farmin’.”
Corea jumped out of her room and slung a hoof around Jack. “Welcome to the family.”
“…Hmph.”
“I… I’m coming with you too…” Daniel said, shakily walking to them with his cane. “I… I don’t know why, but I’m convinced you know the way.”
Corona looked at him. “…The way to what?”
“Finish… it. I… I still don’t know what it is. But… I have to. I can’t rest…”
Eve walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “We’ll help you find it. All of us.”
Prism sighed. “Yeah, yeah you probably will. You’ll probably get a bunch more power while doing it and make the same mistakes again.”
Eve nodded slowly. “Probably.”
“Just keep the worse assholes from getting power, got it?”
“That’s pretty much my job description.”
Prism let out a snort and turned away.
Applejack cleared her throat. “…Breakfast’s on the table for anyone who wants it. Ah think it’ll be a good send-off.”
Everyone but Jane attended the breakfast, even Daniel.
Unlike last night, the overall mood wasn’t awkward and angry. It was that cruel mixture of joyful and depressing. Happy that bridges had been formed, sad that so many were changing places and moving around.
Standard for resolutions.
As everyone was heading to the Skiff, Jane ran up to them. She grabbed Sunny for a moment, making her trail behind the rest of the group.
“Look, Sunny, I’m sorry I was being a-”
Sunny held up a hoof. “I know, Jane. Thank you.” She didn’t need to say what for, they both just knew. The two of them smiled warmly at each other. They turned and walked up to the Skiff together.
In the end, everyone had come to wave goodbye. There were many hugs, kisses, snide remarks, laughs, and grunts. It was a mixed bag, but it was something.
Before Eve closed the entrance to the Skiff on herself, Daniel, Corona, and Sunny, she paused. She leaped out and walked up to Applejack. “…What about us?”
“Nothin’s changed, Eve,” Applejack said. “You’re still you, and Ah’m still me.”
“…Everything about this place was screaming ‘resolutions’. Daniel needs a resolution, your family needed a resolution, Jane needed to be told…”
“Not everythin’ needs to be resolved.” Applejack shook her head. “Evening, we’re mares. We understand each other. That’s all we need.”
“…Are you okay here?”
“Ah am now,” Applejack said. “Ah was thinkin’ what Ah was buildin’ was fallin’ apart… But Ah knew you could help. Make them confront all the stuff they were dealin’ with. Ah wasn’t expectin’ the direct healin’, but Ah’m not complainin’.”
Eve smiled. “I’m glad I could help.”
“It doesn’t make you and me even,” Applejack said.
“Nothing ever will.”
“And that’s perfectly fine.”
Eve nodded. Instead of a hug, she held out her hoof. “Goodbye, Applejack.”
Applejack met her hoof and shook it. “Goodbye, Evening.”
Eve smiled and returned to the Skiff. She closed the entry. “Ready?”
Sunny nodded. “Ready.”
Daniel was barely conscious, but managed a “ready…”
Corona looked up at the sky. “Ready as always…”
The Skiff launched into the sky, leaving the small planet far behind…
~~~
One day, the fleet was flying through space, not a care in the world. They weren’t close to any planets or systems, just traveling closer to the center.
Then the Celestialsapien known as Flep decided he needed to do something. One moment he was on the probe. The next he was not. The next he was back on the Austraeoh’s bridge holding a large box with soft glowing circuitry patterns on it. He dropped the box, where its weight dented the floor. “YOU MUST LOOK AT THIS.”
O’Neill dropped his coffee. “Any reason why?”
Flep made no response. Back in deadlock once again.
“Do we have any idea where he got this thing?”
“Negatory,” Mite responded.
Chem appeared on the bridge, twitching his nose. “Hmm… Well it had to have been somewhere within a few light-seconds.” He scurried onto the box and tapped it. “Looks to be of Xeelee make. Dormant, though.”
“Know how to activate it?”
Chem laughed. “I could probably break in, but we Class 1s didn’t exactly make it obvious to each other how our technology worked. …Or lack thereof, in our case. So your guess is as good as mine.”
Minna facepalmed hard.
“Wow. Future-girl sees the answer and it’s really simple. What is it?”
She reached out a fist and knocked on the edge of the cube. “Hello?”
In an instant the cube activated, projecting blue text into the air.
|> I am Xeelee unit Forward-8,743,293,813,029. I am currently on board the Merodi flagship Austraeoh in the presence of Overhead-General Jack O’Neill, High Commander Minna Belle, Commander Clandestine, and unidentified entities. I extend the appropriate greetings.
“…Greetings,” Mite said.
|> New entity detected. Mite.
O’Neill folded his arms. “So, do you have any idea why a deadlocked Celestialsapien would want us to look at you?
|> He likely interpreted my outer matrix via his perceptions to be important. Upon investigation, he would have discovered that I am a store of vital information, one of billions of Xeelee sent into single pods to record the last moments.
“…Didn’t your civilization fall?”
|> Correct. However, as you know, upon the defeat of the Gallifreyans a few Xeelee were released from their nefarious time traps. Most joined your cause, but a small sector of us returned to build a bunker for the Xeelee. We initially made attempts to seek out the other Class 1 societies to recreate some form of the Seats, but this was met with mockery, disdain, or silence. Desperate for some stability in the insanity, we went to the Flowers. They were willing to talk, but refused to create any bunkers. We assumed it was because they were throwing themselves to the winds of ka. This assumption was not wholly accurate.
“They did something,” Minna said. It wasn’t a question.
|> Their plan was… outlandish, and driven by devotion to the idea of the Tower’s will that we have seen little evidence for. They knew that they had to interfere – it was the only way the outcome wouldn’t end up predictable in one way or another. So they found a person who was doomed to die and prepared them to become the Voice of the Tower. One who can see all the Tower sees, and act as the Tower does, with the express difference of being a character that can be interacted with. This character is responsible for the New World, the Dusting, as well as the Tower’s continued existence. This Emissary is the source of all this.
“…At least now we know who to blame,” O’Neill said.
“You can still blame all of us for fighting the war the way we did,” Chem pointed out.
|> Blame for the war lies with both the Tower and the multiverse’s inability to agree. But this New World is the fault of the Emissary and the Flowers.
Minna put a hand to her chin. “…If this Emissary really caused there to be a Dusting rather than a full fusion… Didn’t that lower the amount of death?”
|> That is true. The death toll has been several orders of magnitude less than a true collapse, and there is still a presence of ka in this New World. But that is not why the Xeelee Remnant tried to destroy the Emissary. If the Emissary was the Tower, there would not be a problem. But the Tower does not have a will, a will had to be created for the Emissary to exist. The Emissary is a character connected more closely to the Tower than any Aware being or Prophet ever has been. With the Emissary’s existence, no longer will the Tower be a goal, a background presence, or simply a means to an end. The Tower will be active. The narrative energy around the Emissary will be more damaging than anything we have ever seen.
|> The Emissary still exists within this New World.
“Can we stop it?” Minna asked.
|> We tried. We were able to muster up a force more than capable of taking out not only the universe the Emissary was in, but also everything related to it. We were expecting the Flowers to try and stop us. We did not expect the Tower to defend its Emissary directly. You are no doubt aware of the occasional ‘glitch’ in the multiverse where a portal you take leads to a random universe?
“Yeah…” O’Neill grunted, having flashbacks of being lost more often than he would have liked...
|> We had no control over our dimensional devices. Every universe we entered was one that multiversal society had never set foot in before. There was never even a battle.
There was silence on the bridge.
|> We realized we couldn’t do anything, so we did what we could – plan to survive. We copied ourselves billions of times, knowing what the Emissary planned to do. When the collapse came, most, but not all of us, were Dusted. The Tower could not throw away such a tantalizing plot thread. So now you have found me, and heard my warning.
“What do we do?” Minna asked.
|> Run. Get as far away from the center of the New World as you can. The ka there will be the strongest it has ever been. The events that will be allowed to unfold will make the games Them held look like child’s play. Do not involve yourselves in the Narrative. Turn away and run and never look back. Live your lives in peace without knowing what is going to happen at the core.
Once again, there was silence.
“…Yeah I really don’t see us doing that,” Chem said, shrugging.
“Send the message to the fleet anyway,” O’Neill said. “Let them make their choice.”
“Yessir,” Clandestine said. “I bet not one of them turns away.”
|> We are all slaves to ka. Because if my warning is not to be heeded, I will join you, and witness the unknowable.
~~~
The Field of Can’-Ka No Rey existed across many universes before the New World. At the center of every one of the pure rose gardens would be an instance of the Dark Tower. Almost without fail, every instance of the Field was treated as a holy, sacred place that was not meant for men to tamper with. Those who tried found themselves disappeared within the doors of the Dark Tower more often than not. And this was in the worlds where the Field was not a constant source of dimensional instability and ka manifestations.
But in the New World, the Field was docile. The roses, though sharper than any physical thing and more red than any red point could be, allowed themselves to be removed from wherever was necessary. As a result, one of the rarest sights in the multiverse came to form in the New World.
Buildings around the Dark Tower.
At first, they were nothing more than gigantic TSAB-make turrets prepared to take out the Crimson King from miles away. Everyone knew this wasn’t enough, so they built more. Turrets, yes, but also walls, shield generators, and magical power stations that would drain ambient magic and store it for later.
All of this needed infrastructure. Easy enough to achieve when one of your allies was Arceus. Even as a weakened deity his power still specialized in creation, and buildings rose out of the ground daily. The roses made way – they always did.
The first people to move in were the collapse-supporting people Nanoha’s group had freed on the first day. At first they were hesitant to live under Nanoha and the shadow of the Tower they had tried to destroy, but the quality of life Nanoha offered was high – as well as a feeling of belonging somewhere. Roland’s presence as a hero who hadn’t been part of either side helped considerably, even though he never gave any speeches beyond “I agree.”
More groups arrived in the city every day – both preservation and collapse. Groups who may have been warring just days before stopped because they had been offered a place to stay. It was amazing what a stable societal structure could do to people’s desire to cause mayhem. There were still many complainers, but they were getting less and less every day as the City grew and grew. Jenny had even managed to restart Dracogen Enterprises as a way to help manage the economy of the growing settlement.
What had started out as an effort to defend the New World from the Crimson King became a civilization. It wasn’t TSAB – Nanoha was one of the only members of the actual TSAB there – and it wasn’t Merodi. It was something new, a conglomeration of people who had fought, people who hadn’t, and people who were just lost.
All were welcome in the shadow of the Earth.
One of the only buildings close to the Dark Tower itself was a tall skyscraper structure that vaguely resembled the Seattle Space Needle. From the highest window, Nanoha looked out at the roses and the ring of buildings beyond that.
“The Crimson King could return at any time and lay this to rubble,” Renee said.
“You won’t let him win.”
“No. But do you really want to take chances on how much suffering I’m going to find amusing? Or what else I might let happen?”
Nanoha knit her brow. “No.” Looking down instead of out, she saw the collection of tents around the skyscraper. She could make out a ring of burning flames that indicated one of the Dark Tower cults were performing a ritual. “I don’t understand how they can still worship you after having met you.”
“Mixture of lots of things. Denial. Anger. Rage. Cognitive dissonance.” Renee shrugged. “Also ka, but that’s the second reason.”
“The second is just as important as the first.”
“Yes and no,” Renee chuckled.
Nanoha sighed. “Why are you even up here?”
“Because I’ve set the camera on us. Need some ‘screentime’ as it were. So many groups doing so many things, I’ve got to balance what’s seen when. We’re at the end here, a little bonus with the actual meat of the chapter. Our meat will come a little later.” She used her hoof to adjust her mane. “You never know when that might happen.”
“I can see the look in your eyes,” Nanoha said.
“I can faaaaaake that!” Renee winked.
Nanoha tightened her grip on Raising Heart. “I am going to be happy when you’re gone.”
“You say that now…” Renee said, ominously backing away from Nanoha.
Roland walked in a second later. “The Emissary was cacklin’ to herself. Anything I should know about?”
Nanoha shrugged. “Something about cameras, faking, and her being amused about destruction.” Nanoha folded her hands and narrowed her eyes. “This City, simply by existing, is in danger.”
“It’s more help than I ever had,” Roland said. “In the end it came down to individuals.”
“It always seems to come down to that…” Nanoha said. “Great wars are fought with millions upon billions of lives, and no matter what happens through the rest of the war, it comes down to a few select individuals placed at particular moments and particular times…”
“So this will mean nothing?”
“If we don’t do it, that would be foolish,” Nanoha said. “But we do it knowing that, in the end, the fortifications will not be what are praised.” She looked into Roland’s eyes. “It’s people like you and me who defend our home.”
“Home?”
Nanoha smiled. “I… I like to think of it as a home. I feel like I belong here. The people may be rowdy, they may be broken, they may hate so much, but they’re people. There’s a lot of life here. Powerful, deep life. It’s definitely a home.”
“Is it more home than your TSAB?”
Nanoha’s smile faded. “…No. But that…” She closed her eyes, biting back tears. “That home cannot come back.”
Roland made no response, silently looking out the window with her. It was like watching the sun set for eternity.
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This chapter, like 134, teaches that even if we lose our homes. We must not forget ourselves.
However, there is a slightly different thought in this chapter. The idea is that some are friends or acquaintances.
And they may lose their home, but when they have to pave the way, they are able to discover a new home. Home for all those who hate war, hate those who consider terrible people. And when they reach their new home, they feel better.
Now they can finally create a new family. Family of friends.
This morality is best described as follows: Home, this is not the place where you were born.
A home is a place where you feel comfortable, and a home where you can live without conflict.
By the way, here we are shown for the first time “The City in Earth’s Shadow.”
This confirms that the story of Nettle in chapter 115 takes place in the distant future. These words can be confirmed by the following quote.
Now, do you see it?
˜ø∑ ¥ø¨ ß´´ ˙ø∑ ´√´®¥†˙ˆ˜© ∫´çøµ´ß ø∫√ˆø¨ß ˙´®´¿
But wait, does that mean that there really is no will? This is probably a cruel thing. Let's see how it will work after the end.
And finally, I wish you a happy new year!
I know it's definitely not what you're going for, but my immediate mental image is Minsc and Boo.
I wonder if any Sheogoraths survived...
Good on Minna. Nothing shuts up a formerly intangible super-transcendent quite like reminding it what physical pain feels like.
Um... Huh. Stardew Valley. Yeah, that checks out as a place to rebuild.
If Corona did nothing but run from those who hated her, she'd never have a moment's peace in the New World. Though Prism would probably be just fine with that.
No, no it is not. Though at least Jack is self-aware enough to recognize it isn't one.
A socially savvy Sherlock Holmes... the mind boggles.
Someone should really tell the Hub that.
Nice bit of meta-history for the story as a whole.
Good to see Daniel get some much delayed resolution. And he's coming along... Oh, this will not be an enjoyable experience for him.
To be fair, Eve's deafness wasn't her fault. Pretty much everything else she fixed in Pelican Town, yes, but not that.
Oh. Oh dear. I mean, we've seen some of the consequences of this already, but getting them spelled out really highlights just how terrible the Emissary truly is.
A lot of loose ends getting tied up, and a few more getting drawn out. The coming chapters will be impactful indeed.
As for favorite quotes... GM, there are over 1.8 million words to this thing at this point. Do you really expect me to remember specific lines?
10010630
I've gotten a LOT of submissions from people already, so... I guess some people just have good memories for specifics? *shrug*.
Either that or they've got an idea about what they want and they go digging for it.
-GM, master of avocados.
I call bullshit. I'm tired of her semantically saying this kind of thing. Yeah sure, it wouldn't be everyone if her plan had worked perfectly, but it'd be damn near close.
Oh hey, it's everyone's least favorite part of Legend of Korra.
Also, yay Fridge Horror, this means that Soul-Bound beings are twice as likely to die, or at least go catatonic, since it's equally likely one of their two halves will just stop existing.
RIP Garnet
And this means Azula is the only thing left of the Elemental Four right? I mean their culture was dead, Aang, Zuko, etc. Died at the blood bath, and Iroh and the rest of the Spirit Realm probably stopped existing with the rest of the afterlifes.
10010630
I don't think much an any Nirn was left after the war. The message itself would wreak havoc on the mortal population there. Given the fact that, in canon, the Elder Scrolls are a story/dream of a being known as the Godhead.
When a mortal discovers this fact, they either ascend like the Tribunal in Morrowind, or they go through what is called 'Zero-summing'. This is what happened to the old man from Mora's Daedric quest in Skyrim, they can't handle the truth, and the dream writes them out of existence.
So when Corona's message reached every version of Nirn and Oblivion, every mortal soul would either become a Demigod with power to rival the Princes (see the Tribunal's various conquests of Molag Bal and others) or dusted.