137 - Never Forget
Pinkie blinked. “I love blinking.”
“NOW IS NOT THE TIME!” Pidge shouted from the cockpit of their pill-shaped vessel. She pulled up, dodging the incoming attacks of white and black sparking creatures.
Pinkie appeared behind Pidge and pulled back on her cheeks to make her smile. “Whaaaat? Come on, enjoy life.”
“I want to continue enjoying life! LATER!” Pidge shook her off, grasping the controls again. In this moment, a white creature fired a zig-zagging bullet that would have hit the ship had Rina not blocked it with a shield of darkness.
“That was close, Pidge!” Rina shouted.
“Yell at Pinkie!”
“Pinkie’s enjoying herself and won’t put you in real danger,” Flutterfree said.
“It sure feels like real danger!”
“It is!” Pinkie agreed, tapping the blindfold hung around her neck. “But you won’t get destroyed because of me.”
“That leaves the possibility open we get destroyed by something else,” Jotaro pointed out.
“Jojo has a point!” Pidge said, veering to the left as a rush of black creatures fired off bolts, every one of them missing. “They’re closing in on us from all sides! I’m running out of escape options!”
“I miss the days we could just portal to another universe and confuse the shit out of them,” Vriska muttered. She took out the infinite-sided die and rolled it between her fingers. “Let’s see…”
“Do you have enough luck?” Flutterfree asked.
“I doubt it, but luck’s never an exact science!” She threw the dice to the ground.
A fire extinguisher appeared and exploded, filling the cockpit with pressurized carbon dioxide.
“VRISKA!” Pidge shouted.
Rev deflected a shot of darkness with her holy shield. “I don’t think we can see well enough t-”
One of the sparks finally got past the shield, hitting the pill-shaped ship right on its engine. The pill entered a nosedive, falling through the disgusting yellow clouds of the world until it hit the side of a spiked, white mountain. The pill bounced off like a ping-pong ball and smashed into a larger, greener mountain.
“Outside time!” Pinkie ordered. Rina and Rev nodded, teleporting everyone out of the pill ship and giving them breathing spells so they could survive the toxic atmosphere. The sparks did not care that they were outside the ship now – they fired their bolts with extreme prejudice. Now that they weren’t moving, Rev and Rina were easily able to create a dual-layered shield around everyone, protecting from attacks from all sides.
“Right, uh, plan?” Pidge asked. “We won’t be able to keep this up forever!”
“Escape is not an option,” Jotaro said, folding his arms together.
“We can’t fight that many,” Flutterfree countered. “…I don’t even know how many there are.”
Pinkie furrowed her brow. “I think I know what’s going on here… We have to realize that we aren’t going to be able to beat them or escape! Third option – reason with them!”
“They’re mindless,” Rina pointed out.
“Ah… Then we have to wait to be rescued!”
“Oh, that’s rich, by who?” Vriska asked, folding her arms.
Pinkie pointed up in the sky a second before the Merodi Warship Jarn appeared in the clouds. This particular ship vaguely resembled the Austraeoh, but was significantly smaller and only had three prongs around it. Its spectral rod activated, a burst of rainbow energy pushing all the sparks away.
Indignant, the sparks started attacking the Jarn, but its shields were fully operational and more than enough to take care of some zig-zagging bolt attacks. The Jarn shot out a tether-claw toward the busted pill-ship. Rina and Rev dropped the shield to let it through.
“Everyone hold on for dear life!” Pinkie ordered. She didn’t even have to say it – they were already holding tight. The claw pulled them out of the earth with a sharp jerk, dragging them through the air. A few of the sparks saw them flying by, but the bolts weren’t fast enough to hit the flying wreckage until it was already in the Jarn’s cargo hold.
For a few seconds, they still felt the Jarn shake from outside attacks. Eventually the shakes abated, leaving Pinkie’s Party safe.
“…Wonder who saved us,” Flutterfree mused as she dug through the wreckage of the pill-ship. She eventually found the part that used to be the cockpit and removed the large wooden crate that contained Tornado. She checked it over to make sure it was fine.
Vriska looked around. “Merodi ship, probably preservation, mostly empty… Some of the lights don’t seem to be working…”
The side doors of the cargo hold opened, revealing a set of familiar faces. The leader was a very familiar pink demon-bug holding a red-green staff…
“Mlinx!?” Pinkie blurted, eyes wide.
“Pinkie!? You have eyes!?” Mlinx responded in kind.
Pinkie fluttered her eyes in exaggeration. “Yep! Like what you see? Cause I do!”
Vriska facepalmed. “Geez…”
“So, uh, aren’t you going to try to attack us for being part of the collapse?” Pidge asked. “That’s what everyone else does. Or at least they yell.”
Veila, the albino female demon, shook her head. “We already made peace with that. Gilgamesh here came along on day two as part of the Void. We accepted him without… too much trouble.”
“I blew up the cheese machine,” Gilgamesh said, twirling his halberd. “It was a sticky situation.”
Pinkie giggled. “Nice to see you Gilgy!”
“Likewise, Ponkadonk.”
Mlinx rolled his eyes. “Welcome aboard the Jarn, Pinkie’s Party. And Rev. And…?”
“Rina,” Rina said, smiling awkwardly. “I’m with Rev.”
“You’re with us,” Pinkie said, pulling Rina in and giving her a hoof-noogie. “Got that?”
“Yep… And a headache…”
“How are you faring in this New World, if you don’t mind my asking?” Veila questioned.
Pinkie smiled. “Don’t mind at all! We’re on a quest to the center of the universe so we can finish the job! The Dark Tower still exists, and as long as it does the sacrifice of the multiverse hasn’t been met.”
“I told you it still existed!” Gilgamesh said. “I told you! You all said ‘there’s no way’ but I knew and you just wouldn’t listen! Tsk.”
Veila sighed. “You win, Gilgamesh. Apparently it does exist.”
“We don’t have to bother you with the quest if you don’t want,” Pinkie said.
Mlinx shook his head. “Gilgamesh and I have already talked at length about the Tower. If it still exists, the tragedy cannot be for nothing. I will gladly give you my aid in this.”
“That was easy,” Vriska said.
“…Am I allowed to ask where Nova is?”
Pidge let out a sigh. “Dusted.”
“I’m so sorry…”
“We’ve lost people too,” Flutterfree said, looking at Tornado’s box. “This was Tornado. Ba’al wanted to make her a pointless redshirt. I’m not letting him. I’ll tell you about her sometime.”
“I look forward to it. Now…” Mlinx lowered Siron’s staff and rubbed the back of his head. “I… have another crewmember. You’ve got a history with her.”
“All histories have been forgiven,” Flutterfree said. “The war isn’t happening anymore.”
“This was before the war.”
“…Oh,” Vriska said. “…Flagg?”
“Spirits, no!” Mlinx laughed. “I’m not that stupid. Just… regular stupid. When she comes in you have to promise not to attack her.”
Pinkie cleared her throat. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“I haven’t heard a Pinkie Promise in a while,” Flutterfree observed.
“Eh, it’s worth it this time. I trust Mlinx.”
Rev nodded. “Everyone deserves a second chance. …Even Flagg, though I never think he’d put himself in such a position…”
Veila turned around and poked her head out into the ship’s hall. “You can come in now.”
The pegasus that walked in had a powerful strut, crazed dichromatic eyes, and a red striped hat on top of her head. “Hey. Remember me?”
“Oh. Hey Fluttershout,” Pinkie deadpanned. “Wondered where your capture device went.”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Fluttershout dusted off her hoof. “So, just to be clear, I hate you, your guts, and everything you stand for. If it wasn’t the stupidest thing in the world, I would kill all you fuckers in a heartbeat.”
“Gee, we’re all so thankful for your consideration,” Vriska deadpanned.
“Yeah, yeah, let the war of snide remarks begin. Let’s see… Hey, preacher-pony, who are you hiding behind you?”
Rev sweated. “A pony who’s rather… scared of you.”
“Rina? Scared?” Vriska asked. “Since when?”
“Since now,” Flutterfree said, also taking up a defensive position in front of Rina.
Fluttershout narrowed her eyes. She performed a quick jump-movement to the left, so fast Flutterfree and Rev couldn’t block her sight.
Fluttershout saw Rina’s features – a darker version of Twilight… Overly vibrant green eyes…
The Element of Insanity’s eyes twitched. “Wipe that stupid grimace off your face and face me, Brutalight.”
~~~
The Everykid dragged Mattie across Swip’s deck, her little feet scrambling across the metal.
“Why do you do this to me…?” Mattie wailed.
“You can’t say no to something so freakin’ cute,” Swip responded.
“IT’S TRUE!”
The Everykid dragged Mattie the rest of the way to the bridge and pressed her face into one of the main screens.
“…Kid, I can’t see anything when my face is pressed into it. Unfortunately.”
The Everykid rolled her eyes and pulled Mattie’s head back a few inches. Mattie was able to recognize that she was looking at a map of the local systems, including a little yellow indicator of where they were. The Everykid kept jabbing her finger at one planet in particular.
“…You want us to go there?”
The Everykid nodded profusely.
“I would love to do every little thing that face of yours tells me to do, but I don’t think we can just go off course without reason.”
The Everykid made a ‘three, two, one’ gesture with her hand. On cue, Thrackerzod burst into the room. “Something’s trying to communicate with me.”
Mattie raised an eyebrow. “We talkin’ dead lover or tentacled eldritch monstrosity?”
“The latter.”
“And here I thought I was joking...”
Thrackerzod ignored the comment. “It’s something from the Embodiment, I’m sure of it. But it’s not using an eldritch energy… It’s contacting me through the soul directly… I can’t tell which direction it’s in, or even how close we are, just that we’re near. Though in what relative scale I don’t have any idea…”
The Everykid tapped expectantly on the map.
“…Let me guess, you had a version there that let you know something important before you were separated?”
The Everykid nodded in confirmation.
“What’s there?”
The Everykid thought for a moment. Then she closed one of her eyes and lay down on the floor, flailing all her limbs around wildly.
Thrackerzod turned to Mattie. “I don’t speak hat kid.”
“Neither do I, but that’s precious.”
“If you say so. We’re going to that planet.”
“No objections from me,” Mattie said. “Swip?”
“Already charted,” Swip beeped. “It’s actually a lot closer than it looks; the display just isn’t rendering a three-dimensional map. I’ll be able to get a good picture as soon as I adjust my cameras. I… Oh.”
“What is it?” Thrackerzod asked.
“That’s no planet,” Burgerbelle said, ominously.
“…When did you get here?”
“Just in time for ominous one-liners.”
“She’s right,” Swip said, displaying the image onscreen. “That isn’t a planet.” Before them was a planet-sized hunk of flesh, eyes, mouths, and swirling vortexes of teeth. Unnerving purple-red blood seeped out of several gashes in the creature’s surface and occasionally it would twitch unnaturally and roar, not that they could hear it from their location in space.
“…What is that?” Mattie asked.
“…Whatever it is, it appears to be hailing us,” Swip said. “Answering…”
There was no image on the other side of the call – just a voice. “Looks like we got an answer! Isn’t that something? A bunch of Sweeties, a masochistic mistress, a kid of kids, and that jellyfish thing you have in the hold.”
“What are you?” Thrackerzod asked.
“Me? Ohahahahahah! I’m just Tzeentch, piggybacking off this eldritch corpse’s connection signature. And it looks like I found what I was looking for – some fresh defenders!”
“…Defenders?”
“The Emperor of Man has it in his head that he has to kill me, and I’d rather like to go on living, thank you. I’m sure you all understand how killing me would be putting an endangered species even closer to extinction!”
“Enlighten us,” Mattie said with an incredulous eyebrow.
“Sure, sure! Take this behemoth I’m currently resting in. This used to be the great Azathoth, now nothing more than a fleshy mindless corpse! Yes, it’s alive, but trust me, it’s a corpse for him.”
“Azathoth…?” Thrackerzod said in disbelief.
“Yep! Looks like hell, doesn’t he? Oh how the mighty have fallen. See, little unicorn, most of us eldritch creatures didn’t have a physical body to fall back on like you did. I, being the Lord of Change, was fast enough to get myself something proper before the collapse, but virtually all the others just faded out of existence or transformed into fleshy masses like this that couldn’t hold their minds!” He cackled. “We drove so many insane with our nature over the years, now the opposite is true! For most. I’m fine, I wish to reiterate, and I’m appealing to your inner nonviolent nature to keep him from skinning me alive.”
“…All right,” Mattie said. “On one condition.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“Admit the collapse didn’t happen exactly as planned.”
Tzeentch was silent.
Mattie smirked evilly. “Come now, having anxiety are we? All you have to say is some simple words and we’ll do our best to protect you. It’s a decidedly unbalanced offer in your favor. Some minor embarrassment for your life. I’d say that’s not only a good trade, that’s an excellent trade. I’ll even throw in some personal ‘fun time’ as a bonus.”
“You’re revolting.”
“You like?”
“…Depends.”
The Everykid pantomimed puking.
“Can we stop with the nonsense and reach a decision?” Swip demanded.
“Yes yes, Tzeentch, just admit it and we can move on.” Mattie twirled one of her whips.
“Fine. Ahem. The collapse did not go exactly as planned. There. Happy?”
Mattie chuckled. “Yes. Happy. Swip, send that recording directly to the Emperor whenever he arrives.”
“…You can’t be serious.”
“I’m taking a very reasonable gamble that if he has a record of you saying that he suddenly won’t feel like killing you, since killing you would mean he didn’t get to rub it in.” Mattie winked.
“And you’d be right!” The face of the Emperor appeared on the screen, jumping into the call. “Here I was planning an all-out attack on the flesh spawn, when it turns out you’ve given me the best fucking present of all time. Tzeentch, how’s it feel?”
“I don’t have to put up with this.”
“You do, actually,” Mattie said. “Regardless, Emperor of Mankind! Glad to see you’re still up and kicking. Let’s arrange a little get together on the corpse of Azathoth. I have a feeling one of my ladies wants to have a look at it.”
“See you there,” the Emperor said, leaving the call.
“I will get you back for this,” Tzeentch promised.
“Hmm. Good luck embarrassing me,” Mattie laughed. “Seriously, my mind’s open, come inside and try to find shame in there.”
Tzeentch made an annoyed eldritch gurgling noise.
“Exactly. As. Planned.” Burgerbelle recited.
Tzeentch hung up.
~~~
The City sent out exploration teams just like Merodi Universalis had. However, these teams rarely went to other planets, they mostly spent their time exploring Nucleon. The central world of the universe was so large it made even red giant stars look small. The surface area alone could hold billions of Earths, and that wasn’t even counting the extensive caverns beneath the surface of Nucleon.
These caves were what the ‘primary team’ of the City was currently exploring. Roland, Jenny, and Aradia marched through a dark cavern several kilometers beneath the surface of Nucleon, trying not to dissolve themselves in acid puddles that Jenny swore kept moving. They all had lights affixed to their clothing, though Jenny carried aloft a large Numenera device called a glowglobe that made most of these useless.
The trek had been very successful so far – they had found a capture device installation, numerous rooms filled with abandoned dragon hoards, and a spaceship. All of this was kept in Jenny’s handy staff of holding. “Never leave home without it!” she would say every time it proved to be exceptionally useful.
“You say that often,” Roland observed as Jenny drained up a puddle of acid that had just dissolved her foot, forcing her to replace the boot again. “Is there a story of the day you forgot it?”
“Do not speak of such horrors,” Jenny said with a shiver. “The Night of the Forgotten Staff of Holding was one filled with danger, death, drama, love, and a horrible tragedy.”
Aradia chuckled.
“The love wasn’t for me, it was for one of my companions. Who got her head cut off. …I think? Maybe that was me.” She hit herself in the head. “Darnit, stupid memory…”
“Why do you not increase your mind?” Roland wondered. “I know it is possible, others do not have the memory problems you do.”
“Eh, I guess it could be fixed. Give myself endless memories. But one of the cool things about Jenny of the Red Gloves is that she’s never consistent from era to era. If you look back you might find one of me that was the bad guy!”
“This doesn’t concern you?”
“Live in the moment,” Jenny said, skipping down the cavernous tunnel. “It’s not really possible to know the best way of living your life, so why not let yourself mix it up every now and then? Don’t have to worry about finding some sort of meaning or truth, you just live. I am a free spirit.”
“A force of chaos,” Aradia countered.
“Ah! You wound me so.”
Aradia rolled her eyes and chuckled. “I just think it’s worth your time to give things some thought. Maybe it would be good to get your mind adjusted to store more memories.”
“Nah. Then I wouldn’t be Jenny. Or, well, I would, but I wouldn’t be what makes Jenny so interesting.”
“You may change your mind in another life,” Roland observed.
Jenny shrugged. “I’m well over a billion years old and none of my past selves decided to do it, even though some were really powerful, so…” She winked and grinned. “I’ll take my chances!”
A drop of acid fell from the ceiling and dissolved her down to the bone. She regenerated of course, but she wasn’t happy. She took another set of clothes out from the Staff of Holding and put them on. “I should have invested in acid-proof clothes.”
“You could invest in paying closer attention instead,” Aradia pointed out. “They aren’t hard to dodge.”
“She is not one for caution,” Roland observed. “Millions of lifetimes without a need to fear death…”
“Yeah, I am a bit careless,” Jenny admitted. “But it’s just so fuAAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!”
Aradia rolled her eyes, looking down the hole Jenny had just fallen down. “Well. Should we go after her?”
Roland readied his revolver and nodded. Aradia picked him up and used her wings to carry him down, deeper into the caverns. They were soon able to make out a point of natural light at the bottom. They were not surprised – they had found several large, empty expanses cut out of Nucleon’s crust before, most with some sort of light source.
As it turned out, this one was different to all those others. This one wasn’t some sort of wilderness – it was a city. A bright city of white buildings, magitechnical conduits, and thousands of purple ponies scrambling around.
Aradia gasped. “Is it really?”
A velociraptor flew through the air and splatted against the ceiling like a fly on a bug zapper. A tremendously muscular man with chest hair in the shape of Australia leapt up, grabbed the velociraptor, winked at Roland and Aradia, and fell back to the ground.
Roland raised an eyebrow. “This is a good find.”
“You have no idea…” Aradia took them down to the ground, where Saxton Hale and Jenny were waiting for them, amused grins on their faces. Araida rolled her eyes. “A dinosaur toss just for us? You shouldn’t have.”
Saxton Hale laughed. “She’s a smart one, this lass!”
Jenny nodded. “That was still pretty awesome. So, team! I bet you’re glad I fell down that hole, huh?”
Roland nodded. “I still do not understand why.”
“This is the Sparkle Census!” Saxton Hale announced, holding out his hand. “Nearly completely preserved within this New World!”
“Yeah, well we’re from the surface,” Jenny said, folding her arms.
“I’ll believe it when I see it, Jenny.”
“I think we can take her word for it.” The grandiose form of the Grand Secretariat walked up to the visitors, Princess Luna on one side of her, Overhead Jingle of Aid on the other. “I expect they have much more to tell us about this New World as well.”
“Sit down and buckle up!” Jenny said, dusting her hands together. “It’s storytime!”
~~~
Fluttershout decided screaming would be a dumb move, so she tackled Rina instead, clobbering her across the face. Rina reacted with a magic shield. “BACK OFF!”
“No,” Fluttershout said, vibrating her front hoof with intention to break the shield.
She did not get very far at all. Star Platinum grabbed her by the neck and smashed her into the ground, holding her there.
“Jotaro!” Pinkie chided.
“You pinkie promised, I didn’t,” Jotaro said. “Mlinx, you aren’t upset for me defending her?”
“…Not particularly, no,” Mlinx admitted, walking up to Fluttershout. “Am I going to have to restrain you again?”
“You fucking morons, you hate Brutalight! Kill her!”
“I’m not Brutalight!” Rina shouted.
“YEAH RIGHT!”
“I. Am. Rina,” Rina emphasized. “Brutalight died in the temporal trap.”
“Wait… Fluttershout’s right!?” Vriska blurted.
Rina looked to Vriska in a panic. She turned to Rev, pleading for help. All Rev did was slowly nod.
Taking a deep breath, Rina reached into her eye and popped out a green contact, revealing her real purple eye beneath. “…She’s right.” She popped the contact back in. “But that’s not who I am anymore.”
Vriska ground her teeth. “I’m not sure I care…”
“Listen to what she has to say,” Flutterfree pleaded.
“Do you know everyone’s secrets or something?” Vriska asked.
“…I might?” Flutterfree said with a shrug.
“She doesn’t know mine!” Gilgamesh blurted.
“Don’t insert yourself into their conversation,” Veila chided. Gilgamesh’s only response to this was a disgruntled grumble.
Vriska backed a few steps away from Rina. “All right. I’ll listen. You better start talking.”
Rina took a breath. “…Back then… she was trapped in a trap by the Gallifreyans, sprung on an unsuspecting Xeelee prison transport that no one would miss. In that box, she could think, but she couldn’t do anything. While her friends dwelled on their rage, on their hate… she dwelled on the last conversation she’d had with Evening. About the fate of everything. About ultimate meaning. About what lies beyond…” She paused. “She decided that there must be something more. She decided she hated the horrors were inside her. This took… Several years.
“When the Gallifreyans fell and the temporal traps broke, all of the Elements of Insanity were released. When she emerged, she tried to tell her friends what she had found. They ignored her and wanted to join in on the carnage of the war around them. She gave in to what she was, for a time… the need was still strong, the Insanity part of her… but she knew now. The time had changed her. She couldn’t go on like this.”
“So she turned on her friends!” Fluttershout interjected. “Betrayed them, tried to force them to be who they weren’t, all the while taking the impulses out on us!”
Rina winced. “I… she didn’t have the pills then. The… the urge was too much. So she left… and died. Like a ghost, she stumbled until she found life.” Rina turned to Rev. “She washed up on your doorstep. And the next day, I came out.”
“…You can’t just say that was a different person who did those things, you know,” Rev said.
“She was me, but she also wasn’t me,” Rina said, looking blankly into space. “I… she…” Rina shook her head. “I know what I did. I know I was sick. The time with my own thoughts allowed me to see my own insanity for what it was. So I came to get better. Rev looked after me, gave me medication… Flutterfree too. And now here I am.” She ruffled her wings. “Not B-Br- not her, but Rina. I am Rina.”
Pinkie put a hoof around Rina. “Hey, we’ve been adventuring with you the last few weeks. You may be angry and have a cruel streak, but I know you’re not evil.”
“Idiots! The Insanity is incurable!” Fluttershout blurted.
Rina turned to Fluttershout and nodded. “You’re right. It’s incurable. Even with the pills, it has to be fought, and a constant effort has to be made. There are moments… Moments it has come through. Strong moments. But… I haven’t given in since the war ended. She – I told you it was possible to do. Seeing that it can work… will you believe me now?”
“You’re just a drugged-up puppet!” Fluttershout shrieked.
“She’s our friend,” Flutterfree said. “…Right?”
Jotaro nodded curtly. Pidge just shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I never had to deal with Brutalight, so I don’t really know.”
Vriska narrowed her eyes. “…Not sure I trust this, but I at least agree that you aren’t evil. You might still be a fucking bitch though.”
“Takes one to know one,” Rina chimed. “Agh, sorry, that just came out!”
Vriska facepalmed.
“…You people and your friendship…” Fluttershout said with distaste. “It’s disgusting.”
“We had friendship, once,” Rina said, walking up to the pegasus. “We could have it again.”
“You betrayed us!”
“Yes. I did. I’m sorry for tormenting you in that way. I’m not sorry for leaving. You can just fucking deal with that, it was the right decision.”
“You’re right. You’re not even the same pony.”
“That’s a great thing.”
Fluttershout ground her teeth. “You’ve done the one thing we agreed never to do. We’d never rewrite ourselves.”
“Pills aren’t mind control. …Remember Applepills?”
“Dead, just like all the others.”
“But you accepted her.”
“You’ve forgotten your own words! Do you remember what Insanity is!?”
“Yes. I do. And I lost the part of it that let me march on without questioning.”
Fluttershout growled. “That’s it, I’m done, checking out. Mlinx, drop me off on the nearest planet, I don’t care if I starve or whatever, I’m not sticking around with this fucking traitorous bitch.”
Rina bit back tears. “If… If that’s what you want.”
“What I want is to go on another murdering spree but I doubt I’ll survive that, huh?”
“No. No you wouldn’t.”
“So fuck it, get me off this crazy train.”
~~~
Thrackerzod stood on the surface of Azathoth’s corpse. She was standing near the edge of one of the eyes, the ocular organ serving as a shimmering mountain-like structure on the horizon. The ‘skin’ she walked on was riddled with tiny teeth, bones, shadowy rocks, and blood of all colors.
Thrackerzod dipped her hoof in one of the pools of purple blood, examining it closely.
“…Find what you’re looking for?” Nettle asked.
“I’m not looking for anything,” Thrackerzod answered, shaking the blood off her hoof. “I just wanted to see my old master.”
“I thought that was what you were supposed to say in situations like this.”
The third and final member of the group, Everykid, nodded at this.
Nettle looked bewildered. “I’m supposed to? Then…”
“It’s an expression,” Thrackerzod said. “The ‘something’ is generally not meant to be a physical object, but some sort of closure. I suppose in a distorted, creepy way that is what I’m looking for.” She stamped a hoof on the fleshy ground. “I wish he was completely destroyed. That every last little bit of him was gone from existence. I don’t care that this is more suffering for him, he was Azathoth, and by Azathoth’s oiled suckers he needs to stop existing.”
The Everykid raised an incredulous eyebrow.
“Perhaps I should not swear by him when he is the topic of the sentence.”
“Probably not,” Nettle admitted. “…Think we can kill him the rest of the way?”
“Not easily,” Thrackerzod said. “This body is dense and planet-sized. We’d need a planet buster, and the Emperor doesn’t have an Exterminatus on him that I’m aware of.”
“Hmm…”
“It is of at least some comfort that I know he will not be using his nature to harm anyone else ever again.” Thrackerzod turned to the Everykid. “Thank you for showing us this.”
The Everykid curtsied and beamed.
“…Why everyone finds you endearing I’ll never know.”
Nettle blinked. “You can identify cuteness, right?”
Thrackerzod nodded. “It’s a biological imperative to help children. Focused a lot around big eyes and heads. I just will never know the appreciation of it.”
“Do you know beauty?”
Thrackerzod pondered this. “Yes. Relational beauty for sure, because that is a beauty that can be directly experienced through emotion given enough time and exposure. But visual beauty? Art?” Thrackerzod looked into the distance. “I find things like this semi-eldritch landscape of torture and torment beautiful. Does that answer your question?”
“I’m not sure.” Nettle put a hand to her eyes and looked into the distance. “I’m honestly not sure why I’m asking.”
“Probably looking for some meaning in your new form.”
“I’ve decided it doesn’t matter that much,” Nettle said. “What form I am, how much I see… I’m still me regardless. I’ll decide what matters at any given time. I hung onto the past for too long…” She furrowed her brow. “Looking back from my view now, I was pretty screwed up. But I know my past self would think I was screwed up, abandoning my heritage like this.” She tapped her fingers together. “I don’t get it, I think.”
“Welcome to life. It’s always been this way, you just didn’t notice it before.”
“…What you just said doesn’t make any sense.”
Thrackerzod rolled her eyes. “Of course…” She turned to Nettle. “…Why were you so devoted to your heritage? You never met any Downstreamers.”
Nettle nodded slowly. “Saved… but also created. I didn’t really exist until my people had fallen. But I always felt like part of them, an extension. I always knew I was ‘programmed’ that way, but I never really cared about it. Still don’t really. Just decided not to do anything with it.”
“So only because you had to.”
“…No, I wasn’t like you. I had the freedom. I just… I refused to reproduce myself. I refused to repopulate the world with Downstreamers; I liked being the only one. I was unique. I had the power.” She looked at her hands and flexed them. “Now that I don’t, I guess I just let that go.”
“Hmm,” Thrackerzod said. “Kid, you’ve got the experiences of so many beings in the back of your head, what’s your take on this?”
The Everykid put her hands to the side and made them explode outward.
“…Helpful.” Thrackerzod kicked the ground again. “Nothing here at all for us. We should get back to Swip before people start tearing off each other’s heads.”
“I’d kind of like to see that…” Nettle admitted.
“We’re going to need to have a talk about ethics and morality.”
~~~
“…And that’s the story of the City so far,” Nanoha said, wrapping up the story she was giving to the leaders of the Sparkle Census... the unlikely duo of Princess Luna and Saxton Hale. To Nanoha’s side was Arceus, Empress ‘Empy’ Twilight of the Void, and Renee. Renee invited herself to virtually every meeting and Nanoha never stopped her. She had been suspiciously quiet and well-behaved that day.
“I have to say, I’m impressed,” Luna said, looking from Nanoha to the Empress. “It’s been just under a month and you’ve gotten the two sides to agree with each other.”
“It’s more of a truce than anything,” Nanoha admitted. “While I’m pretty sure I have all the leaders on board, the people are only behaving for two reasons. One, the threat of the Crimson King. Two, living in a City is a lot better than trying to live off the land of an alien world.”
“Three, I’m here,” Renee said, looking over the tops of some shades. “No small number of them feel the need to worship me.”
“And kill you,” Arceus added.
“Wouldn’t you know it, assassination attempts are down 100% from last week. I wonder why…” She mockingly tapped her chin.
Luna gave Renee a curious look. “…Yes… You. I have many questions and concerns about you, Emissary, but they will have to wait.”
“You’ll get your chance,” Renee said with a wink.
“What is your story, if you don’t mind me asking?” the Empress inquired.
“Well…” Luna started.
“IT ALL BEGAN one day when I was givin’ one o’ those Mechas a good pummelin’ on Esefem!” Saxton Hale interrupted. “Then all of a sudden, BAM, everythin’ just smashed together into one big universe, and I was stuck in a cave! And I went ‘roight, I’ve gotta figure out what to do here!’ So I take my Red and Blu boys and we gather everyone up we can and we start shooting our way out of the caverns!”
“They eventually found their way to the Sparkle Census,” Luna said, taking over. “Myself and Overhead Jingle were there, discussing how to best maximize the use of the Sparkle Census’ large amount of space and dimensional connections. We did not get far, because the last battle began in the middle of the talks. The Sparkle Census sent out the alarm to any civilians to begin filling up the largest bunker in Merodi Universalis. Soon virtually every square meter of the Sparkle Census was full. Mostly with Twilights, but there were several others. As it turned out the dimensional spells on the bunker did nothing to counteract the Dusting effect, but because we were all in the same place more than enough remained after the event to continue with life. We had just achieved some form of stability when Hale and his… mercenaries charged in.”
“She wanted to say gun-toting imbeciles,” Renee offered.
Saxton Hale laughed. “You got quite the mind on ya! So yeah, there we were, chargin’ into the Census and we hit this giant wall of magic made by the very Luna you see before you! Now, not one to be outmaneuvered by the Princess, I punched right through the barrier and made very sure everyone knew I was there!”
“He beat his chest like a gorilla,” Luna said.
“The best way! However, I had enough of my wits about me to tell my men to stand down since these purple horses were no enemy of ours, they were our old allies!”
“I had to shout at you!”
“Not how I remember it!”
“You had to consider it for several minutes!”
“Sounds like a tense situation!”
Luna facehooved. “Point is, we managed not to get into a firefight and adapted Hale’s forces into our own. Then we started exploring the caverns. We never got very far. The Sparkle Census’ technology was hit particularly hard by the new physics and it took a lot longer than I would have liked to get any semblance of magic back.”
“But you succeeded, and that’s what matters,” Nanoha said with a smile. “And then we found you.”
Luna nodded. “We would be honored to be part of your project. Not only because you’re trying to save the universe, but for what it means. Getting everyone to band together again.”
Nanoha smiled. “Thank you. We’ll build a transport station directly from the Census to here, so you won’t have to deal with moving. At least not all at once. We could really use the extra hands, I admit.”
Saxton Hale grinned. “This Crimson King is gonna get Hale’d so hard he’ll die before it happens!”
Nanoha stifled a chuckle. “I would be elated if all it took was one punch.”
“Haven’t found Saitama?” Luna asked.
Nanoha shook her head. “No. And I’m not sure I want to. Who knows what an attack like that would do to a being like him?”
Saxton Hale laughed. “My punches are better anyway. They live long enough to hear you beat them to death!”
Nanoha smirked. Normally she would be concerned by such brutish violence, but she only found it amusing at the moment.
Not to mention slightly comforting. They needed warriors.
~~~
The Jarn entered the atmosphere of the closest life-sustaining world – which turned out to be a very dusty planet with whipping winds. Fluttershout didn’t care, she wanted to be set down.
So she was. Dropped off in the middle of the sky unceremoniously. She flew out into the dusty wind, keeping her eyes squinted at an angle so her eyelashes would keep the dust from burning. She angled her wings against the wind and corkscrewed downward until she gently landed on a tree half-buried in brown dust.
There was little light shining on this world, but it was warm anyway. The leaves were pure black, likely absorbing heat rather than light. She couldn’t see much further than an inch for the life of her, but she was Fluttershout and used sound to see more than a meter ahead.
She let out a screech – finding no signs of civilization nearby. The wind made it difficult to sense very far out, but it was still a little disheartening.
I’m not leaving this planet until I’m sure they’ve gone, Fluttershout thought to herself. She began moving around, checking out everything she could. She found a craggy cliff face inside of which several dozen furry creatures were dwelling. With one shout she killed every last one – food enough to last her a while.
She sat at the base of the cliff face, searching around until she found a suitable cave. It was outrageously dusty, but it kept the wind out. She was able to vibrate some wood to create a small fire and cook the meat.
Fluttershout may have been crazy, but she wasn’t going to eat raw meat if she could help it.
She munched and let out a sigh. She needed something more substantial to torture than just simple rodents. It wasn’t the same.
…She hated being alone.
“At least you’re still you,” she muttered to herself. “But you’re a combination of two things! Quiet, you’re neither of those. But you’re both of them. You’re not both of them and changing again would not bring either of them back, it’d destroy the you now! You’re shouty.”
As if she realized how ridiculous she was being, Fluttershout fell silent. She waved her hoof over the fire, finding the heat to not be all that thrilling. She groaned, laying on her back.
Then Rina was there. “Hello, Fluttershout.”
“Die,” Fluttershout said. She opened her mouth wide and unleashed a shrill pitch designed to blow brains out.
Rina tapped her head. “Soundproof enchantment. Remember when you told me to make it so you could have more freedom shouting?”
“There’s a lot more than brain-blowing I can do,” Fluttershout seethed.
“I know. But you’re starting to feel it. You need someone to talk to.”
“Not you. I see that necklace you’re wearing.”
Rina cocked her head. “Then why are you talking to me instead of fighting me relentlessly?”
To answer Fluttershout unleashed a sound pulse that tossed Rina outside, into the dust. Rina retaliated with a magic box, trapping Fluttershout. “Right, so, you’re lonely, going crazy, a-”
Fluttershout ripped open the box with a sonic burst, tackling Rina. Rina flash-teleported herself into the air. “-going crazy, and I have a sol-”
Fluttershout shot into the air, punching Rina in the stomach with a vibrating hoof. Then she let out another burst, tossing the dark alicorn into the edge of the cliff.
“LET ME FUCKING FINISH!”
“No,” Fluttershout deadpanned. She directed her attack at the ground this time, creating a seismic wave that cracked the ground.
Rina slammed her to the ground with her telekinesis, knocking the wind out of her. “I HAVE A SOLUTION!” She threw a bottle of pills at Fluttershout’s face. “Just take them, see what happens! They’re completely temporary! You can decide if it’s better!”
“I don’t want it to be better!” Fluttershout screamed, every word pushing Rina back. “I won’t have the freedom to do whatever I want! I will have to care about what’s good and what’s evil and worry about what other people think about what I fucking do! Does that sound like a life to you!?”
“I have that life! It’s better!” Rina shouted.
“Of course you’d think that! You’ve already lost it! Insanity is a gift, Brutalight! It means we don’t have to be constrained by foolish mental inhibitions!”
“…My name is Rina!” She grabbed the pills in her telekinesis and removed them from the bottle. “And you’re going to take these.”
Fluttershout looked at the pills flying at her in fear. She unleashed a wave of sound to protect herself from them, but Rina pushed some extra magic into them. Fluttershout clenched her teeth – but she could not close her nose. The pills forced themselves in, making Fluttershout gag.
“There. Give it two hours,” Rina said, dusting off her hooves. “You’ll feel a lot b-”
Fluttershout started screeching again. Rina sighed. “Am I really going to have to keep you down for that long? Fluttershout, you lost, just give it up!”
Fluttershout didn’t stop screaming – but she didn’t focus another attack at Rina either. Is she just trying to annoy me?
The cliff face cracked, unleashing a rockslide.
Rina paled. “No…”
Fluttershout stopped screaming. “Bye, idiot.”
The largest boulder fell square onto Fluttershout, crushing her in an instant. The rest of the rockslide quickly buried it, leaving no doubt as to what had happened.
Rina stared blankly ahead. Then she took in a breath and screamed. “I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! I DIDN’T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN! I SHOULD HAVE ASKED, I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT, I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED. I...” She bowed her head to the ground and let out a scream. “I wanted to save her…”
She felt a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up to see Rev standing there, smiling warmly, a slight glow around her face keeping the dust out of her eyes.
Rina sniffed. “…She killed herself. She wanted to die instead of see what there was…”
“Fear makes people do desperate things,” Rev said, closing her eyes solemnly.
Rina nodded slowly. “…T… Take me back to the ship.”
Rev held Rina close. “They’ll be up there. Your friends.”
“…Not all of them…”
“No. No one gets to run the maze of life without a loss.” She placed a hoof over Rina and whispered a quick prayer before signaling for the ship to pick them up.
Rina was dusty, covered in mud, and scraped in multiple places. This, coupled with her haunted eyes, made her look like a wild animal ready to snap at anyone who dared try to touch her.
Pinkie didn’t care, she lifted her up in a big squeeze. “Rina… It’s your turn to be part of the sappy cry hug.”
Rina had no idea why this made her start laughing. Nor at what point the laughter turned to tears. Or the screams. Or the laughter again.
I’m not okay. I’ve never been okay. It’ll never be gone. The part of me that screams…
She opened her eyes and saw everyone standing there. This made her smile, then frown, then smile again. Then she decided she didn’t know what expression to make and just wanted to lie down. They let her.
They know. They know it’s here. They don’t care. Have they really been through so much that this is a cakewalk for them?
The day was a blur to her. People talked to her, she responded, but she didn’t remember what she said. Things were blurry. At some point Rev came in and made sure she was taking her pills. There was something about finding plenty more supplies in the medical bay?
What is insanity, anyway? Are we all insane, or is choosing to be sane the real insanity? Does it work both ways? Fluttershout thought so… But she wasn’t willing to test that.
Everything snapped into focus. She was sitting on a bed in the Jarn and staring at a screen. A documentary was on. Did I put that on?
“Guess I’m the lucky one to get you when you snap back,” Vriska said, drawing Rina’s attention to her. The troll was sitting in a chair, a handheld video game lying incomplete on her lap. “Sup?”
“I… What?”
“You sure you’re not still stuck in your own head?”
“Y-yeah, I’m sure. I was stuck in my head?”
“Two days, didn’t have that little spark in your eyes. Flutterfree was worried sick.”
Rina let out a soft laugh. “Of course she was… What else would she be?”
Vriska shrugged. “Well, I’m here, so I’ve got something to tell you. What you experienced? It’s rough. I’ve seen some rough things in my time, but not that. Definitely not that.” She put her hands together and frowned. “…I expected you to just blow it off like nothing. You didn’t. Maybe there really is something in you that’s different.”
Rina nodded. “I’m not Brutalight.”
“I think I believe that, now.” She stood up and stretched. “I’m sure everyone else wants to see you. Think you can walk?”
Rina nodded, getting out of the bed and testing out her hooves. “…Will there be a party?”
“Pinkie’s on board. What do you expect?”
“Nothing less.”
~~~
The Emperor had an Imperial Warship under his command. All of its crew had been dusted. So he replaced it. The entire crew.
With Aradias.
Thousands of red-robed Maids of Time ran through the halls of the Emperor’s ship, a sea of red that kept the behemoth of technology operating at peak capacity every second of every day. They moved around the halls with waves of distorted time, talking cheerfully to each other at all times.
Mattie and Burgerbelle watched this from a high up balcony.
“…This is decidedly impressive,” Mattie admitted.
“Where did you get them all!?” Burgerbelle asked.
The Emperor chuckled, pressing his golden-armored hands on the railing. “Apparently, the Aradias realized what was happening slightly before most every other fuckwit in the multiverse. So this particular group of Aradias from both sides started time-duplicating themselves by the million in a universe with exceptionally slow time-progression. Metatime eventually caught up with them and dusted most, but at that point they could have populated an entire planet with ease. I found them, put them on my ship, and that’s that. I never have to worry about repairs being late again.”
“They can’t time travel, right?”
The Emperor shook his head. “Just distortion. Helps them get things done really quick though. Infinitely better than techpriests. Or marines. Or humans at all.”
Tzeentch made himself known. “I told you humans were worthless!” His actual form was roughly the size of the emperor and completely amorphous, a bit like a changeling. He currently occupied his preferred headless bony and toothy humanoid form that had two interweaving tentacles coming out of his back. “Took you eons to figure that one out!”
“And it took you eons to realize your plans aren’t fucking genius, foul beast.”
“I was under duress!”
“I know. Exactly. As. Planned.”
“GEIAOHVUOEWYAK.”
Burgerbelle spoke up. “This is a lot of Aradias. You could say this is an army of Aradias. An… Ararmy? Huh? Anyone?”
“…That’s absolutely fuck-tastically asininely brilliant,” the Emperor said. “Let me go put that on posters real quick. ‘Sign up for the Ararmy, it’s great, we like the color red and ghosts’.”
Burgerbelle pulled out a mechanical device that went ‘ding!’. “Wow. Your sarcasm levels are off the charts.”
“But are there really charts for things such as sarcasm, when you really can’t be sure if you’ve defined them at all? Such things are but words. You can always identify sarcasm with the inflection of a voice, but what if you were asked to define sarcasm through the way it sounds? You might get patronized instead.”
Burgerbelle rolled her eyes. “Grammar. Fun. Anyway the point of the Ararmy comment-”
“We are not calling them that,” the Emperor stated.
“-was to point out we have an army. Like, a pretty big army. We could do stuff with this army.”
“Like…?” Mattie asked.
Burgerbelle shrugged. “I don’t know. But we’re being given it, so I think we’re probably going to find some use for an army of time-bending ninjas.”
“Have any use for an army of arcane demons? Because I’ve got that!”
“…You do?” the Emperor asked.
“Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?”
“Then why did you not face me in direct combat!?”
“Because then we wouldn’t be working together! And let me tell you, these days it’s much more chaotic to bring foes together than to just keep having them bash at each others’ heads all day long. Plus, it’s not like I’m part of the war anymore, I can feel free to change and not care about change! I can become the metachanger of changing through the act of non-change!”
Everyone stared blankly at him.
“The point is this entire thing went Exactly. As. Planned.”
“Even the part where you said it didn’t?” Burgerbelle asked.
“…You need to teach your girls when to be quiet.”
“I prefer the loud screams,” Mattie answered.
The Emperor cocked his head. “You two are perfect for each other.”
“That’s it, we’re settling this little dispute wi-”
“A CHILDREN’S CARD GAME!” Burgerbelle shouted, pulling out a deck of cards and grinning wildly. “TZEENTCH, ex-Chaos god of change! I challenge you to a duel.”
“…This should be interesting. Challenge accepted, mortal.”
Tzeentch then proceeded to lose. Badly.
~~~
Roland, Jenny, Aradia, and Nanoha stood on at the observation window of their skyscraper once again. The City had expanded inward considerably – no longer was it mostly just a wall of defenses ringing the field of Can’-Ka No Rey, but a dense ring of buildings around a small section of rose garden surrounding the base of the Dark Tower.
Nanoha’s observation skyscraper was within the rose garden, but not much else was. They had decided to keep some of the field of Can’-Ka No Rey undeveloped so the power of the roses could remain pure. It didn’t look like much compared to the size of the city, but it was still several square kilometers of space.
They could see the recently-completed teleportation center from their vantage point, a large cylindrical building constantly glowing with white energy. People came and went from this portal all the time, going to other settlements like the Sparkle Census. The buildings around the teleportation center were mostly Sparkle Census in design (which meant a lot of libraries) since they were the first settlement outside the City to connect to it.
Many others had connected since then. A Paratimer city, a lost TSAB colony, a Void seclusion, even a Starcross Society fortress. They had also found civilizations Nanoha had never even known existed in the multiverse. Everyone was hurt by the dusting and was looking for something to be part of again.
“The irony is the Crimson King is the reason we’re working together,” Aradia observed. “If we didn’t decide to build this city, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“And it’s not stable,” Nanoha said, frowning. “It grows and grows and grows – and when the Crimson King is defeated, the destruction he has left will ignite the explosives barely buried beneath everyone’s exterior self.” She sighed. “I just fear the devastation that will come after.”
“Maybe he won’t attack for a long time?” Jenny suggested. “He has to find what he needs. Could be anywhere in the universe.”
“He knows where it is,” Roland said, twirling his gun.
“How do you know?” Jenny demanded.
“The Emissary smirked when you said those words.”
Jenny whirled around and pointed an accusing finger at Renee. “Stop being so coy!”
“If you insist. He knows exactly what he needs, where it is, and he is close to it right now.” Renee shrugged. “You don’t have much time left. Hope you feel you’re prepared!”
“You know I don’t,” Nanoha said, her grip on Raising Heart tightening. “I know he won’t win. But I fear what comes after.”
“As you should,” Renee said. “Oh, and in the words of a little gremlin Aradia should know about, there’s a few ‘shitty twists’ along the way.”
Aradia groaned. “How bad?”
“If you gave me a list of options to choose from I’d say ‘all of the above’.”
“In other words, every kind of twist,” Roland said, not taking his gaze off the window.
“Smart gunslinger.”
Roland had little to no desire to continue the conversation.
Renee pouted. “Spoilsport.”
“Are you feeling generous enough to give us some advice?” Aradia asked.
“I suppose. I am the Element of Generosity after all! Oh wait, that broke,” she cackled. “Let me put it this way. Everyone’s going to start arriving on Nucleon soon. Everything that you’ve experienced over the course of the last month is going to come to a head in more ways than you realize. Ka will explode around this City, this Tower, the center of Everything. The last battle will take place under the Shadow of the Earth.” Renee held her hooves up high. “And it will test everything.”
Jenny cocked her head. “That’s not very helpful.”
“Dear, I know that. Screw that head of yours on better next time, hmm? You’ll need it.”
~~~
The Crimson King waited on the surface of Nucleon, far from the base of the Dark Tower. He stood in the shadow of a tree larger than many moons. It currently thought it was autumn on Nucleon, so the leaves the size of lakes were drifting to the ground.
Any time one got close to the Crimson King he would unceremoniously reduce it to dead black dust. Around him, the ant-creatures who occupied this part of Nucleon screamed as their life-giving leaves were taken from them, dooming them to starve over the course of the next few days.
Normally, he would be taking sadistic pleasure in the suffering of the creatures. Today, however, he wasn’t even aware they were screaming – the bulk of his concentration was elsewhere. For there was a small group of heroes traveling toward Nucleon…
And they had what he needed.
Any number of the individuals within the group should have noticed the Eye of the Crimson King watching them, no matter how much his impossible eldritch nature struggled to keep it hidden. However, he had a ‘servant’ within the group, one who could obfuscate the senses of the others with them none the wiser. Randall Flagg, Legion, assisted the Crimson King in his observations, playing them all like little strung-up bells.
He could see them all. Their leader, the Rogue of Void, a pathetic girl who thought her nature was to be unseen. She knew nothing of Unseen, she was just a pale reflection of what Unseen truly meant. She had confidence and intelligence, but would easily bow to him.
There was a slightly larger concern in the artist. His power to turn others into books would be useless against the Crimson King, but his other power, that of the Prophet, could prove to be difficult. The Crimson King had tried many times to kill Stephen King, and all had failed. He considered himself lucky that the primary Prophet of this story was already long dead… But he would not be fooled into underestimating a secondary Prophet again. He had been nearly completely erased from existence last time.
The yellow pegasus and the machine were of almost no concern to him. She was but a political figure with minor importance, and the machine was a philosopher. If they were approaching an area of Nucleon with technology, the intelligence would have been a concern, but there was nothing the Crimson King needed to be worried about there.
The girl of ka… She was the biggest direct problem. The Crimson King’s character file would be inaccessible, but she could access those of her allies and of everything in the scenery. She could create. But she couldn’t create eldritch – she was bound by the rules of the New Word – so he had an edge. The only issue was he doubted he could kill her easily as he was. But that could be remedied at a later time if she survived the encounter.
Lastly, there was me. Twilence. The one he only looked at out of the corner of his eye, because even with Flagg I had a sense. I would know. My magic was not on the level of Monika’s, and I was currently imprisoned so I had no way to effectively use my Prophet powers, but I could still know if he examined me closely. So he didn’t, taking only aside glances and moving away before I could catch on.
I knew something was looming. I told them as much – that I had a bad feeling. They said they all did. After all, we were about to land on Nucleon and see what was there.
Flagg laughed ominously. I dismissed it as nothing more than him being just as creepy as he always was.
I should not have dismissed it. I should have taken heed of my unease and insisted we be on better guard.
But I didn’t. I calmly watched from my position within the cage to see what the world of Nucleon would bring. I was busy thinking of what it would be like if the Tower was ever truly removed from existence… What would be the first thing I did?
Because of this, we fell right into the Crimson King’s trap.
The Eye of Rhyme has a way of showing you everything, and yet nothing at the same time.
The same can be said of Black Thirteen.
Stats
Page generated in 0.073 seconds
Total duration
1,008 users online
2,032,377 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The most important thing from this chapter we could find is that in the last battle all the characters will fight under the shadow of the earth.
Is all this going to happen under the shadow of the original earth? We will see it again.
Hope so.
In any case, we also understand that Rina is a healthy version of Brutalight, which, by the way, is excellent.
After all, now she will become a useful ally against the great Scarlet King.
So, what about morality?
The moral of this chapter is that we should not only forget about our past sins but also try to overcome these feelings.
For example, how madness.
Indeed, without madness, there will be a normal order of things.
And the last thing to say is that...
Even some details with Rhyme's eye will not be fully displayed?
But what about knowledge?
And there isn’t even a roof above the source room?
What is above all this...
We had no choice at all?
At this point, I should just expect at least one early character show up every chapter.
I definitely suspected this might be the case, but it seemed low on the list of possibilities.
Okay, so some kind of cyclopean, writhing horror.
... Yup. Pretty clear based on the context, especially when one considers that the Eldritch is no longer a valid concept.
Ugh, it's like Slaanesh never left! And even they didn't do the thing with the weather vane.
Bizarre fun house reflection of Eve and Flutterfree's struggles between Rina and Fluttershout. Though this almost definitely won't end in a much stronger friendship.
After decades of work in the League, she might have simply grown inured to it.
Best-guess translation: "I have it worse than Nettle. My current mind can't begin to comprehend what it was like as the Everyman; I only have the vaguest memories of the actual experience."
I'd have gone with Aradiarmy. Aradial Guard? Adeptus Temporus?
I approve of any and all card game-based shenanigans.
"All the twists?"
"All of them."
Speaking of which, that's definitely an ominous note to end on...
This is one heck of a wind-up. The pitch threatens to break the universe all over again. Looking forward to seeing it.
And the 19 is finally fulfilled.
I think the biggest takeaway that concerns me most, because I'm absolutely shallow, is the fact that Emps is alone and the crew of the ship was dusted. Which... likely includes the Custodians and the Loyalist Primarchs. Damn Revelation, lost absolutely everything in the Dusting, didn't you?
10019401
Isn't there a time-travel section of the Inquisition? Ordo Chronologis, I think? That could work.
Yay, I was right about that, and fairly early on I think?
You say that but there's a new set of rules now, no guarantee anything that was impossible before still is.
Anyways, it just occurred to me that it doesn't look like there is going to be a chapter for snippets from other authors in this arc, which makes a lot of sense actually. Before, different universes could allow for narrative inconsistencies in the overall story, with just one universe now and with a less well understood set of rules for authors, it's easier to just not have such a chapter here.
Aaaaaand I’ve finally caught up. I’ve been reading this for a while now and I honestly didn’t think I’d manage to catch up before it ended. I’ve loved almost every second of it, though the whole war for existence plotline was a little sketchy and dull. Can’t wait to see where we go from here.
Fluttershout's back, eh? I thought she was dead, but apparently not. And Vriska's comment about since when is Rina afraid reminds me, she wasn't around any of the times Brutalight was. I do wonder if Rev or Flutterfree knew already. I think they both knew, just gauging their reactions, but I'm not sure.
P.S. Apparently yes, they both knew.
Also, I enjoyed the whole scene where they found Tzeentch. Very funny, from Everykid's antics down to Burgerbelle's sign-off. And also the scene on the Empperor's ship. A spot of lighthearted comedy to help with the serious darker times.