Songs of the Spheres

by GMBlackjack

140 - United We Stand

The ‘crew’ of the carrier stared at the receding image of Lord English displayed on the main screen. There were far too many people in the ship for everyone to get a good view, but that didn’t matter; somehow they could all see the red and green monstrosity marching away from them, dark scepter in his hand.

My last sentence had filled them with a deep, unnatural fear that most of them had not felt for decades. If ka had brought their minds one thing, it was a sure belief that no matter what happened, something truly evil could never absolutely triumph. There would always be hope for a victory, or a twist that would show the evil a lesson.

But if English was banking everything on twisting the story…

The safety net of ka was effectively gone. It could no longer guarantee his defeat.

I could not see his defeat. I could see… the Tower, a city, and a lot of pain in the future, but my visions still weren’t as definite as they once were. They would not reach a particularly useful level before English did whatever it is he had set out to do.

Nothing could be taken for granted…

No one knew what to do. All were silent, uncertain, terrified. What could be done?

Pinkie bounced to the front of the room, standing between the ‘crew’ and the screen with English on it. She held a hoof to her chest, holding both the Element of Laughter and her blindfold close. With a sharp ‘ahem’, she began talking. “So, we’ve got a new enemy, perhaps the biggest bad any of us have ever faced. A lot of the things we have taken for granted and counted on in the past can’t give us the confidence we need. We’re scared, trembling, and think we can do nothing against this monstrosity. And you know what? Maybe we can’t. Maybe Lord English is destined to complete his evil plan and we’re all just going to have to deal with it.

“BUT!” She shouted, holding up a hoof. “Who cares if it’s hopeless? Why not fight anyway? Why would we let him have what he wants? If he’s going to destroy everything we hold dear, at the very least we’re not going to make it easy for him!” She put on a playful smile. “We have a lot of powerful and narratively important people here – Saitama, Monika, Caliborn, Lightning, Twilence, Discord, Death. If we put our minds to it we could fight against an entire universe at once! That should give Lord English something to think about!”

“You’re assuming all those people you mentioned are willing to work with you,” Starbeat interjected.

Pinkie glared at Starbeat. “We worked together to defeat the Nihilists, we can do it again. You can’t stake the fate of everyone on a petty disagreement!”

“That’s why I won’t be,” Starbeat said, walking through the small crowd until she was inches from Pinkie’s face. “I’ll let this force have Saitama, Monika, Caliborn, and even provide military support from the Hub itself. But I have one condition. You, your team, and Twilence all come with me. You’re going to face justice, Pinkie, and no amount of being the hero against a new foe is going to save you.”

I blinked. “Starbeat, we all need to be here, to fight togeth-”

“You said it yourself, we can’t take ka for granted,” Starbeat interrupted. “It won’t matter if any of them are there or not. Monika can do most anything you can do, and Caliborn is a much better fit for ‘blast from the past’ than Vriska is.”

“Monika is not a Prophet,” I bristled.

“And you can use your Prophet Powers from a distance if we need it,” Starbeat responded, tossing her mane back.

“…Why are you doing this?” Flutterfree asked.

“Let me put it this way,” Starbeat said, knitting her brow. “If I don’t do anything now, you’ll be part of the effort to stop Lord English. Assuming we win, you’ll be heralded as heroes and all the heinous acts you have committed will be forgotten because suddenly you’re the heroes again.” She violently threw her hoof to the side, glaring at Pinkie. “I’m not going to let the story twist in that direction. So if you want a fighting chance to face Lord English, you’re going to have to turn yourselves in.”

Pinkie looked at Starbeat with sad eyes. Starbeat’s goggles kept her own expression obfuscated.

“…Okay,” Pinkie said. “I’ll turn myself in. Jotaro, Pidge, Vriska, I suggest you do the same. It’s not an order.”

Jotaro and Pidge didn’t hesitate, they stood next to Pinkie and put their hands behind their backs. Vriska, on the other hand…

“Are you serious!?” she blurted. “We have to be there!”

“Vriska, Starbeat’s right,” Pinkie said. “She may not be Aware, but she knows how this works. Our presence in this carrier won’t make a difference.” She glanced at Starbeat. “She’s also right that if we’re the heroes, we get off scot-free. Isn’t that right, Twilence?”

I gulped, but nodded. I would have preferred it was something I didn’t know, but the Eye of Rhyme apparently wanted to see this clearly.

Pinkie put on a smile. “Plus… I have this feeling we’ll find our own purpose back at the Hub.”

Vriska sagged. “Fine.” She pointed at Starbeat. “But you’re being a fucking bitch.”

Starbeat lost her calm demeanor in an instant. “Takes one to know one, traitor!”

Vriska’s hard exterior fell and she shrank back like a scared kitten. She submissively put her hands behind her back and bowed her head.

Starbeat put magical restraints on Jotaro, Pidge, and Vriska. She didn’t bother with Pinkie – the only way the pink pony was held anywhere was by her choice. Then she turned to me. “Just hold still…”

I stared at her with contempt. “No. You’ll have to catch me.” I teleported away before she could do anything.

Starbeat let out an intense roar, a vein popping from her forehead. “ALL OF YOU, GET HER BACK HERE, NOW!”

~~~

I teleported numerous times across the surface of Nucleon until I decided I had used up as much of my reserves as was safe. I pressed myself between two very different peaks jutting from a toxic mire below. One was frigid and was made of ice, while the other was clearly volcanic and shimmering with a reddish glow and smoke. The two geological giants managed to be so close to each other that I could barely fit between their helix-like windings, the sharp difference in temperature taxing my defensive aura. But it was a good hiding spot with enough ambient magic that I could recharge so long as I was willing to feel a little discomfort from the environment.

This was the first point I wondered what I was doing. I was risking the aid of Starbeat’s people by running away. I was fairly sure she hadn’t gone so far off the deep end that she would refuse to help because of my personal decision, but I couldn’t be certain. Not quite yet, at least.

What could I even do on my own? I knew from experience that my usual advantages fell to pieces against any enemy with significant ka manipulation, and Lord English was the end-all of ka-manipulating enemies at the moment. He had an upgraded Black Thirteen. He could remove ka powers with the snap of his fingers… The rest of his outrageous abilities were nothing compared to that.

He was playing the story, and there was no way I could do anything about it. Not on my own.

So why was I out here? Why wasn’t I handing myself over so I could at least possibly be useful?

Really, just because I was angry at Starbeat for being so… So angry. It went both ways, when seen from a certain light. She was a masterful student of ka and fate, how could she not understand how and where things were going for her? That she was becoming an antagonistic presence?

…Maybe she did know, and like Lord English she was going to do whatever she could to make what she could from it. A defiance of the definition of ‘hero.’ Considering what she’d been through, it wasn’t all that surprising she was tired of ‘heroes’ and what they stood for.

It was at this point I sensed Monika appear neargy. She hovered in the air less than a hundred meters from my hiding place, scanning the area. If she’d had access to my powers, she would have found me instantly. As it was, she had to physically create a ka-following subroutine, which gave me some time.

…Though the moment I left the hiding place, teleport or otherwise, she would sense me immediately. I could probably take her in a fight, but she would call in reinforcements, and all of them together could definitely incapacitate me.

I needed to think of something. I took out my notebook and laid my pen to the paper.

A hand encased in a dark blue glove stopped the pen, another pressing a ‘shush’ finger to my mouth. I slowly directed my eyes upward to see Roxy standing inside a nearby wall, using Void to make herself intangible.

I felt her encase me in the similar Void energy, allowing us to shift away from reality. Soon, as far as existence was concerned, we didn’t exist.

This did not stop Monika from following the ka-trail to us. But when she arrived, she found nothing. She grimaced – thinking that I must have had time to adjust the ka-trail so she couldn’t follow it. I had plans to do that later, certainly, but I had foolishly spent the time I could have done that on the introspection a few paragraphs above.

Eventually, Monika decided to leave in a flash of glitchy energy. Roxy did not drop the Void shield – but she did allow herself to speak. “What can we do without them?”

“I’m not sure,” I admitted, looking down at the toxic swamp below us. “If I was smart, I would have handed myself in.”

“And it would be wrong,” Roxy said, shaking her head. “Pinkie was wrong too. Just handing yourselves in like that… It gives her power. You all should have called her bluff.”

“I don’t think she was bluffing.”

Roxy fell silent and shook her head. “We’re all royally fucked, aren’t we?”

A slight smile crawled up my features. “That’s one way of putting it.”

“Then un-fuck it,” Roxy said.

“How?”

“Write a story.”

“Lord En-”

“Who cares if he could negate it in an instant?” Roxy demanded. “Pinkie was right – we try anyway. We can’t go back to the carrier and follow him, so we have to do something else. What can you and I do? We can hide very well and we can understand ka.”

I blinked. “You’re right… I’ve been so busy dwelling I didn’t realize. You and I, we’re separated for a reason. The camera is on us – we must be doing something, or have some point that must be made.” I took out my notebook, scribbling a few things. “I may not be able to see what’s going on far beyond here… but I can prompt something to happen. Just need to…”

I trailed off as I began to scribble, recording the essence of the conversation Roxy and I had just had. I went on for a paragraph about the poignant silence before moving on and vaguely describing something heading right for us. I had no idea what it was – but by describing it, I knew I would prompt something to happen. Something that would further the story Roxy and I were now a part of. It would gift us a new stimulus.

I looked up. “We might want to watch the horizon,” I said. “Something’s coming.”

“What kind of something?”

I grinned. “That’s the fun part. I have no idea!”

~~~

Monika returned to the carrier. “She got away.”

“What do you mean she got away!?” Starbeat demanded.

“I mean I traced her signature and ran into a dead end. She had time to clean it. She’s gone.”

Starbeat twitched. “She… She…” She rammed her hoof into the floor. “That’s it, someone’s going to pay f-”

Gamzee put a hand on her shoulder. “I think we should motherfuckin’ chill a bit.” He gestured at Pinkie.

“Right, right…” Starbeat shook her head. “Gamzee, you’re with me to watch the prisoners. Rest of you, stay here and do whatever the others tell you to.”

She expected the usual griping complaint form Caliborn – but for once, he was completely silent. She knew he heard her because of the slight nod, but his focus was elsewhere.

Probably trying to come to terms with English. Starbeat turned away, not giving the cherub another thought.

Flutterfree walked up to her. “I’m coming with them.”

“Flutterfree, you’re not a tr-”

“The only reason I didn’t run away with Pinkie that day was because she told me to stay behind - which was the right thing to do,” Flutterfree smiled warmly. “I may not have committed any of your ‘crimes’, but I am going to stand by them.”

Starbeat looked her up and down. “…Fine. You can come along. Anyone else?”

“Me,” Lightning said. “I need to make sure you really will send us backup.”

“Understandable,” Starbeat admitted. “I have no problems with that.”

“Strange, Sherlock? I’m sure you can manage things here.”

The two men nodded.

Starbeat lit her horn. “We’ll take one of the pods. It’ll be cramped, but it’s not that far to the Hub.” She jabbed Pinkie with a magic shove. “Move it.”

“You aren’t painting yourself in a very favorable light,” Pinkie observed.

Starbeat created a seal around Pinkie’s mouth, making no further response. Pinkie shook it off her face but decided to keep quiet regardless. She looked closely at Gamzee with an unreadable expression.

“Like what you see?” Gamzee asked.

Pinkie turned tail and trotted toward one of the carrier’s pods. Soon, Pinkie’s Party, Lightning, Gamzee, and Starbeat were all gone.

“Now that that drama is out of the way, we can actually plan,” Sherlock said. He pointed at Monika. “You already have one.”

Monika nodded. “Saitama can defeat any enemy in one punch if he puts enough effort into it. Black Thirteen can remove this power, but I can keep giving it back to him by altering his file. The plan to deal with the Crimson King was to get him with one – or more – of those always-winning punches.”

“We can’t assume he’s susceptible to that now,” Strange pointed out.

“Then we just need to add some more elements,” Monika said. “We have Insipid, Death, Cosmo… Pinkie was right, we have a lot here. Ways to keep anyone from dying and to restore any lost powers.”

“And we have a few redundancies,” Sherlock added. “He’s just got the mother of all doomsday weapons in his hand, and we don’t know what it does.”

Death nodded. AND THE MOMENT WE TRY TO EXPERIMENT HE DESTROYS ME IN AN INSTANT – AND LIKELY ALL THE OTHERS.

“Limited information…” Cosmo rubbed her chin.

“Then act with what you have,” Rina said, taking a step forward. “Plan for every contingency. Every contingency. Don’t be afraid to sacrifice or destroy lives. Do what you have to do to maximize all chances of victory.”

“That would take a supercomputer,” Strange said. “Not even Cosmo’s AI has the capacity to run all those numbers. And we can’t factor ka into it…”

“I can do it,” Sherlock said, folding his hands together. “I already don’t like the odds of what I’m coming up with, though. It would be very beneficial if I knew what his goal was. I…” He blinked, turning to the crystal around Cosmo’s neck. “Starlight, correct?”

“Yes,” the Starlight AI beeped.

“Analyze English’s movement patterns up until this point. Where is he headed?”

“Processing… Prior to now, it appears he was moving in a semicircle designed to intersect with the Crimson King at a specific angle to produce the events we just witnessed. However, now that this is complete, he is traveling the same way the Crimson King was. A perfectly straight line along Nucleon’s surface.”

“Do we have any idea what’s in that direction?”

The Starlight AI processed this for a moment. It then projected a map of Nucleon and its single ‘orbiting’ planet. A blue light appeared at the point on Nucleon’s surface directly below the planet. “This is the only place of interest I found.”

Sherlock narrowed his eyes. “Do we know what’s there?”

Strange shook his head. “Scans were too sketchy when we came in. We would have investigated, but we’ve been busy.”

“Then that’s where we’re going,” Sherlock said. “He’s walking so slowly we should pass him easily. He wants us to pass him. To make it more difficult for himself…”

“We, like, can’t not fight,” Insipid reminded him.

Sherlock smirked. “Uncharacteristically wise words. Strange, shall we?”

Strange put his hands on the controls. “Setting a course…”

“I wonder what’s there…?” Discord wondered aloud.

“My bet is the Dark Tower,” Sherlock answered. “But it could be any number of other things… Or perhaps a combination.”

“There is only one way to find out,” Trixie said. “PUNCH IT!”

Strange didn’t punch it. He pressed a button and the carrier sailed off, leaving Lord English in the dust.

English’s methodical marching continued like clockwork.

~~~

Mattie, Nettle, and the Everykid were taking a Skiff down to the City, leaving the bulk of the fleet in favor of experiencing the city below.

The Everykid was driving, and driving well. Apparently she was exceptionally skilled in the art of spaceship piloting, which Mattie only found slightly unusual and Nettle didn’t think was something to even think about.

“I hope this gets to be a vacation,” Mattie said.

“A… vacation?” Nettle asked.

“You know, when you take a moment off your job and all the stress to just go somewhere fun and reeeeeelax? Where y-”

“I know what a vacation is. I’m asking why you think now is a good time to have one.”

“Well, let me put it this way. I was stuck on a ship without a stallion in sight for a whole month. Not to mention Swip didn’t really have any opportunities for privacy and believe it or not I have enough of a heart to restrain myself so people aren’t scarred for life. Much. And the icing on the cake is now that I am in a fleet, guess what? That’s right, I’m considered one of the ‘leaders’ and I have to keep myself prim and proper for the sake of society.” She said the last word with distaste. “I need a release. And the City better have some equivalent to Vegas.”

“…Vegas?”

“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Mattie quoted.

Nettle furrowed her brow, trying to understand.

“I feel like I should mention that I’m unusual, again, before you start trying to apply what you’ve learned from the manic masochist unicorn. Most normal people don’t get me. Perfectly fine in my book, but the rest of the ponies won’t like it if you threw a leash around them.”

Nettle smiled softly. “I get that.”

“Not sure you do,” Mattie said, pursing her lips. “Hey, at least you’re trying. I call it progress.”

“…You’re a good pony.”

Mattie smiled. “Thank you. Wasn’t always this way, y’know. Used to laugh at a lot of dark things. You could blame it on my universe, I suppose, but balls to that, even then…” She rolled her eyes. “As absurd as failing to hang yourself by a licorice rope is…”

Nettle cocked her head, confused at Mattie’s tangent.

“Yo! Kid! Can you take a turn explaining stuff to her? I’m making really bad impressions over here.”

“Nope!” the Everykid called back, pressing a few buttons on the console to adjust course.

“…Balls,” Mattie muttered. “Forgot you don’t really talk…”

The Everykid shrugged, adjusting her hat.

Mattie turned back to Nettle. “It’s… It’s like this. When you’re sitting in bed…”

“I think this is a bad metaphor,” Nettle interrupted her.

“In bed alone,” Mattie clarified, rolling her eyes. “I bet sometimes things come to your mind about the past. They come seemingly out of nowhere and latch themselves into your mind, holding very tight.”

Nettle blinked. “So, a normal night?”

Mattie facehooved. “Celestia on a bicycle we’re at an impasse… Look, sometimes things you regret come back to your mind in full force and demand their way in like an unwanted lover.”

Nettle’s blank look remained.

“Kid! Help!”

The Everykid just laughed.

“…Ask Servitude about it,” Mattie concluded.

“Sure,” Nettle said, tapping her fingers together. “You’re all so different. I don’t know why that surprises me.”

Mattie shrugged. “The moment you stop thinking about just yourself is the moment you start realizing how complex other people are.” A lightbulb went off in her head, prompting her to ram her head into the wall. “Uuuugh…”

“What?”

“Irony. Dripping, brutal irony. I’ve become the voice of wisdom.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes, but the damn irony is basically an anvil to the face. …Actually, never mind, that’s not bad. Being denied an anvil to the face. There we go.”

Nettle blinked.

Mattie put her hooves in her hands. “Kid, are we there yet?”

The Everykid shook her head. She pressed a few buttons – and then sat bolt upright. “That’s not good.”

When the Everykid spoke more than a couple words, everyone knew to pay rapt attention. Nettle and Mattie turned their chairs to look out the window.

In front of them was Flep the Celestialsapien.

“MOTION CARRIED.” He snapped his fingers and all the power in the Skiff went out.

“Shiiiii-” Flep tapped the Skiff with his finger, sending it into a meteor-like nosedive to the surface of Nucleon.

Nettle paled. “Wh-what do we do?”

Mattie looked to the Everykid. “I’ve got nothing on me but a couple o’ whips and an amazing fashion sense. You?”

The Everykid jumped out of the pilot’s chair, allowing Mattie to take over. She bounced to the back of the Skiff and pulled up a hatch in the floor, giving her access to the lifeless engine. With a quick flick of her head, she removed her hat and dug into it, pulling out a white hourglass of immense temporal power. After spending all of a second examining it, she shrugged, threw it into the engine, and closed the hatch.

Power was restored to the ship. Mattie pushed the thrusters as hard as they would let her, slowing their descent.

Nettle let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good… I was afraid for a second there…”

“That was a Celestialsapien,” Mattie reminded her. “If it wants us to crash…”

The engine exploded, removing the entire back half of the Skiff and ejecting the Everykid into the atmosphere of Nucleon.

“…then we’re gonna crash.”

“We’re going to crash!?”

“Yep.”

“DO SOMETHING!”

Mattie pointed at the hole in their Skiff. “And what in Celestia’s name would I be able to do about that?”

Nettle’s brain stopped working. She passed out.

“…Balls, I was hoping she’d activate her powers or something…” Mattie gulped. “Well, time to figure out how to survive this one.” She cracked one of her whips for dramatic effect.

~~~

Roxy and I teleported into Sunny and Daniel’s Skiff. “Hi.”

“WAUGH!” Sunny blurted, flipping out of the chair she was in. Daniel took us in stride and nodded to let us know he had registered our presence.

Sunny stood up and shook her head. “I would say ‘don’t do that!’ but I get the impression you already know.”

I nodded. “Yes. Yes I do.”

“So… Are you here to take my ship?”

I blinked. “What? No. I mean, I’d like to use your ship, but I don’t really need it and I’m not going to take it from you.”

Sunny’s demeanor loosened considerably. “It’s good to see you have at least some sense. You’d be surprised how many people want to keep fighting.”

“I wouldn’t,” I said with a sigh. “I had to run from a bunch of our old friends because Starbeat demanded I turn myself in as a prisoner.”

Sunny blinked. “Ah. I take back what I just said.” She turned to Roxy. “What about you?”

“Helped her escape,” Roxy answered. “I… didn’t want to see her taken in when she could be a great help.”

“Help in what?”

Roxy folded her hands together. “Lord English and the Crimson King were both released when the collapse happened. Lord English just used Siron’s staff to defeat the Crimson King and take Black Thirteen, combining all the related powers into one. And now he’s marching toward… Something.”

I furrowed my brow. “Yes, something…” I scratched my chin. “We’re trying to figure out what we can do without running into everyone else and getting captured.”

Sunny turned to Daniel. “Well… We’re just getting away from the Hub to see if we can complete Daniel’s… I’m going to call it a mission.”

I turned to Daniel. “I was wondering how you could be up and about in… your condition.”

“Something’s unfinished,” Daniel said, his voice so raspy it was painful to hear. “I need to finish it.”

“And you have no idea what it is?” Roxy asked.

Daniel shook his head, falling silent.

“Whatever it is, it’s keeping him going,” Sunny added. Even if he shouldn’t be standing anymore.

I furrowed my brow. “What could have been left unfinished for you…?” I looked deeply into him, focusing my powers onto his essence to see where his story might lead. He was supposed to lose all will to live and waste away, but something contradictory and powerful was demanding he keep moving, no matter how much it hurt. It flew in the face of what his story was supposed to be. But why would he be suffering like this, and not anyone else? What could it be?

A lightbulb went off in my head. “The… Emissary of Ka.”

“What?” Sunny asked.

“Well…” I looked closely at Daniel. And suddenly I knew I couldn’t reveal the identity of the Emissary to him. “Information is spotty, but the Flowers have created a voice to speak the ‘will of the Tower’. This entity would be able to twist ka in exactly this way. It has the connections, the reason…”

“So I need to find the Emissary…” Daniel blinked. “Doesn’t sound quite right…”

Because it’s much more personal than that.

“It’s something to go after,” I said. “A lead, if nothing else.”

“How could we find h- it?” Roxy asked, catching herself.

Sunny looked to me. “I have detailed navigation systems and you have the Eye of Rhyme. Surely something as important as this Emissary would be traceable.”

“If it wanted to be,” I mused. “Worth a shot. I’m plugging myself into the Skiff’s systems. Prepare for a flood of information…”

“Cross-referencing,” Sunny said, pressing several buttons with her magic.

Within a few minutes, we had a pointer. A little arrow telling us which direction the Emissary – Renee - was in.

Roxy cracked her knuckles. “And now we punch it.” She literally punched the throttle, forcing the Skiff forward at a rapid pace. “Do we know how far away it is?”

“Not really,” Sunny said, examining the arrow. “It’s just a directional. No magnitude.”

“We’ll know when we’ve passed it at least,” I said, ruffling my wings. “Now how about w-” I saw something out of the corner of my perceptions. “Look to the sky. Now.”

Roxy pulled up slightly. We saw it instantly – a heavily-damaged Skiff missing its entire back half, spiraling down through the air in an uncontrolled fall.

Roxy didn’t need to be told. She pushed the Skiff toward the falling wreckage. “Twilence, get ready to catch that…”

I lit my horn and spread my wings. “Ready.”

It would have been a routine fly-by grab were we overtop of a normal part of Nucleon. As I should have expected, we were not on top of a normal area, we were flying over a large landscape of ancient technological circles, glowing circuitry, and ancient power.

Below the crashing Skiff the ground opened up. A series of metallic rings engraved to look like they were made from black bricks flew out of the ground like a hungry snake ready to devour the smoking disaster.

Meanwhile, we had our own problems to deal with – around the line of rings, dozens of smaller brick-like chunks orbited around in chaotic patterns, a bit like a whirlwind. Roxy was able to pilot through them, but it made it difficult for us to get a lock on the falling Skiff.

“Executing teleport, prepare yourselves…” Sunny said, focusing. A second later we were inside the rings, finding the eye-of-the-storm equivalent had no swirling stones in it. Roxy was able to shoot towards our goal at a rapid pace.

All the while, the outside whirlwind of bricks started to build a structure around us as we flew, glowing with an ancient radiant energy I didn’t recognize at first since I was too focused on the falling Skiff.

I almost had it. I almost had it in my telekinesis. But I hesitated, not willing to take the risk. My only opportunity fell away.

The Everykid landed on our windshield at high speed, using her complex platforming skills to keep herself from injury, but she was completely unable to keep our Skiff from spinning out into a wall. One of our wings was completely flattened by the impact and we began to fall to the ground.

The structure built itself around us, blocking out the twilight glow of Nucleon before we completed the crash. We were cut off inside an alien structure that hadn’t existed mere seconds ago.

~~~

A pod descended into the hangar of the Merodi Universalis Hub, landing neatly in a parking spot that had once held a visiting Skiff.

Starbeat kicked the door of the pod open and jumped out. She let out a sharp breath to calm herself and pulled her mane back into a more organized arrangement. “Okay, everyone out, this road trip from hell is finally over.” As the mostly-prisoner crew filed out, Starbeat turned to see who was greeting them. She was not surprised to see Azula and Storm standing there.

She was surprised to see Charter-Overhead Evening Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Magic standing there with a very displeased expression.

Starbeat grimaced – she knew full well what Eve probably thought of the Hub she had created. “Eve, I know you’re upset, bu-”

“You’re right I’m upset! I-” all the anger melted from Eve’s face when she saw a particular face crawl out of the pod. A regal yellow pegasus with a faintly sparkling pink mane.

“…Eve…?” Flutterfree said, eyes widening.

“F… Fl… Fluh…” Eve didn’t have enough syllables. She rushed Flutterfree and pulled her into a tear-filled hug with a ferocity that Flutterfree matched. Despite the pain such force caused, the two wrapped their wings around each other, simply happy to be in each other’s presence.

To know the other was alive and well.

“E-eve…” Flutterfree said, noticing the way her ears were twitching. “You… You can hear again!”

“Y-yeah,” Eve said, smiling. “I… I decided it was time for a change. There’s a New World and… all. You look like a Princess.”

“I think you’re rubbing off on me.”

Eve giggled. “That probably has something to do with it.” She held Flutterfree close. “…I have so much to tell you.”

“Same. …It has to wait, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Eve looked up. The first thing she noticed was Vriska and Starbeat refusing to look at her or Flutterfree. Vriska had an arm to her eyes – while Starbeat was just standing angry with Gamzee at her side.

The next thing Eve noticed was Pinkie.

Pinkie with eyes.

Her heart shot into her throat and tears started falling down her face. Flutterfree graciously let her go to walk to Pinkie.

“Yeah!” Pinkie said, a stupid smile on her face alongside the tears she was letting flow freely. “I’m back. Curses aren’t permanent anymore. Can’t be.” She and Twilight shared a hug – nothing compared to the one that had happened a few seconds prior, but still a sight to behold.

A few seconds passed – and Eve backed away and sighed. “You’re her prisoners, aren’t you?”

“Yep,” Pidge said, gesturing at the restraints on her hands. “Well, Flutterfree and Lightning aren’t. I think. Flutterfree got her powers locked, regardless.”

Eve took turns hugging Pidge and Jotaro. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.” Lastly, she turned to Vriska. “…Especially you.”

Vriska was trying really hard to hide the fact she had been crying. “…Yeah… This fucking sucks.”

“Well, I’m going to see what I can do to fix that.” Eve turned rapidly to face Starbeat – the tear stains somehow making the alicorn significantly more menacing. “Starbeat, I’ve seen this place, I’ve seen what you’ve done to this place out of anger. This isn’t going to fly. I’m going t-”

“We’ve got other motherfuckin’ stuff to deal with,” Gamzee said. Eve felt something hit her and make her words stop instantly. “Need to organize some help. Evil stuff around.”

Eve looked to him. “You… What did you…?”

“He’s right,” Lightning said, keeping Eve from getting any further. “The Crimson King and Lord English have fused. They need to be stopped before they can threaten this New World. I’m here to secure military assistance. We are lacking in large forces.”

Starbeat turned to Storm. “Get her whatever she needs.”

Storm nodded. “Right this way.”

“Lord English? The Crimson King!?” Eve said, her minor suspicions blown out of the water by this new revelation. “What’s going on!?”

“There’s a lot going on you don’t understand,” Starbeat said. “This New World is in the hands of th-”

Pinkie cleared her throat. “I’m going to stop you there before you start repeating things AGAIN. Eve, long story short, Siron’s staff was a ploy by English all along. If he was ever freed, he would use the Juju to absorb the Crimson King and become more powerful. He has, and he’s got meta control, and he’s making it extra-difficult for himself so the story can be ‘satisfying’ with his victory. It won’t be good. So, in order to get Starbeat to behave and work together, I offered my team up as prisoners.”

“She’s going to execute you,” Eve stated flatly. “Phage and Rosalina have already fallen. Corona’s sitting in a cell, waiting for the same fate.”

“CORONA!?” Starbeat shouted, veins pulsing.

“Yes. Corona. Our friend,” Eve said, poking Starbeat with a wingtip. “She and I traveled here together. And she was thrown in jail by Storm. Seeing you now, he was certainly right that was what you wanted.”

Starbeat’s expression clouded. “Eve… I can see we’re going to need to have a conversation.”

“Actually, we don’t. I outrank you by far and since all members of the collapse technically rescinded their Merodi citizenship, it falls under my jurisdiction to work with them however I see fit. They are to be pardoned pending further review at a later date.”

“Azula, take Pinkie, Jotaro, Pidge, and… Vriska to a holding cell.”

Eve let a spark fly off her horn, letting Azula know now was not the time to take a stand. Azula nodded and escorted the four prisoners away, leaving only Eve and Flutterfree with Starbeat.

“I could call this treason. But I won’t.” Eve ruffled her feathers. “I’ll give you the same pardon I’m giving them after this is over. You’re technically outside my jurisdiction, but as the only Overhead here right now I-”

“Storm is acting Overhead.”

“Daniel was here yesterday,” Eve said with a smirk. “Alive. With enough of his wits about him t-”

“You don’t get it do you?” Starbeat asked. “The Merodi Universalis you built is gone. There’s nothing left for you to rule over.”

Eve nodded. “In that case, all Merodi laws are void and Corona and I are not subject to y-”

“I make the laws here,” Starbeat interrupted. “And those laws say that everyone involved in the collapse will face justice. Corona most of all. She needs a fate worse than death.”

“She already has it,” Eve said, anger draining from her face. “She never wanted to survive.”

“Tough luck, it can still be worse.” Starbeat turned tail. “I’ve got stuff to do.”

“You are not going anywhere until we resolve this,” Eve demanded.

“Fine,” Starbeat said, not turning around. “Let’s go to my office. Gamzee, tag along will you? I don’t want this to get… messy.”

~~~

The carrier and the handful of accompanying ships flew in formation to the Dark Tower. They had expected roses and high amounts of ka upon arrival. What they had not expected was a fully-armed city ready to shoot them out of the sky at the first sign of trouble.

Insipid had been the first one to point it out. “Like, I think they’re pointing weapons at us.” She pointed at hoof at the triple-pronged house-sized turrets that lined the wall, all of them turning to point at the incoming ships.

Strange reacted first. “Don’t fire! We come in peace! This is Doctor Strange of Earth MC, do not fire, I repeat, do not fire!”

The turrets all pointed directly at them – but they did not fire. The carrier and associated ships stopped moving to look as non-threatening as possible.

“Why aren’t they responding?”

“Because they want to give us a show,” Sherlock said, pointing up at a descending ship. To their awe, the streamlined form of the Austraeoh descended from the sky, placing itself between them and the City. Then a communication line was established, placing O’Neill and Minna on screen, standing together.

“Welcome to the City in Earth’s Shadow,” O’Neill said with a smirk. “Sorry about all this, but we’ve got to make sure we know who’s coming in and out of the city. High alert right now.”

“Considering what’s charging toward your city right now, I can’t say I blame you,” Sherlock said.

“Charging toward our city?” Minna asked.

“Lord English has absorbed the power of the Crimson King and is heading this way.”

Minna nodded. “And now we know the identity of the threat…”

“We’ll need everything you know and everything you have,” O’Neill continued. “We need to make a plan.”

Sherlock let out an amused grunt. “I think you’ll like our selection.” He gestured at Saitama and Monika. “I also think you’ll be glad the angry people aren’t here. She would have balked at working with Minna.”

“Who?” Minna asked.

“Starbeat. Of course, she’s under the influence of some kind of psychoactive ability, but I am uncertain if that absolves her of blame or not.” He shrugged. “Point is, she’s not here, we can get to work without her interfering and possibly still get the aid of the military she is sending.”

“The more help the better. We can’t let t-”

Nanoha entered the call. “Strange, I’m afraid I don’t know you that well, but I am glad you made it through.”

Strange nodded. “Thank you, High Sovereign.”

Nanoha rolled her eyes. “Everyone still calls me that. Really, I’m just the mayor here. Building a fortress.”

“Saw the evil coming and decided you needed to put an end to it?”

“…You could say that.” Nanoha looked into the distance. “I’ll need all of your leaders to attend a meeting so we can explain what’s happened and plan. Even with all these defenses, ships, and deity-level beings on our side, I don’t like our odds.”

“The final boss,” Discord mused.

“Maybe,” Nanoha admitted. “We’ve got Randall Flagg in custody. And… the Emissary of ka.”

Monika’s eyes widened. “She really exists?”

Nanoha nodded. “Renee’s body is being used as a puppet by a… thing that ‘speaks’ for the Tower. She will no doubt be in the meeting. Such things amuse her.”

Sherlock leaned forward, folding his hands together. “I’d very much like to meet this… Emissary.”

“You won’t have to wait very long. O’Neill, take them in, record everyone they have on board, then send whoever’s prudent directly to the private lobby.”

“Yes ma’am,” O’Neill said, saluting. “Sherlock, how long do we have?”

“If English doesn’t speed up? A little over a day. Rest assured he’ll slow or speed himself up to whatever speed he wants. Whatever he believes will make the maximum amount of drama.”

“…So how long do we actually have?”

“As long as we need to throw our absolute best at him. He’s purposefully trying to make it difficult for himself.”

Minna’s eyes got the far-off look indicative of looking into the future. She didn’t comment on what she saw, but O’Neill knew from her expression they should work quickly regardless.

“Push the Canadian-Mongol-communist immigrants back in processing, deal with the political fallout later,” O’Neill ordered. “These ships are first priority…”

~~~

“Hello and welcome to Dracogen Enterprises, how may I help you today?”

Aradia raised an eyebrow. “Jenny, it’s us.”

Jenny picked a data pad off the receptionist desk she was currently occupying for reasons unknown to all present, including her employees. The hall was that of Dracogen Enterprises’ Public Relations department, where all official meetings took place. …Which was to say all two that had taken place since the revival of the technology-hoarding company. It may no longer have been a quasi-criminal organization but it was just as relaxed in terms of policy.

Jenny put the data pad down. “I don’t see an ‘Us’ on the list of clients.”

Aradia facepalmed. “Jenny…”

“That’s ma’ name~!” Jenny trilled.

Roland pushed Aradia aside and laid his hand on the table. “Roland of Gilead. Gunslinger.”

“Why do you have to take the fun out of everything…?” Jenny muttered, pursing her lips. “Fiiine, I’ll talk to you, geez. What’s up?”

“We were going to ask you out to a team lunch,” Aradia said, tapping her fingers together. “But you were being rather annoying…”

Jenny smirked. “Trying to play an angle on me? Cute. Very cute.”

Aradia held up a mirror and raised her eyebrow.

“Funny,” Jenny deadpanned, leaning on her shoulder. “Fine, I’ll pay for the lunch, I can even take you to a Dracogen experimental locale. You’d be surprised how much people want bizarre, exotic, risky food when there’s a looming threat dangling over their heads.”

“It helps a man cope,” Roland said with a curt nod. “Such sensation…”

Aradia clapped her hands. “It just reminds you that you’re alive!”

“What reminds you if you’re dead?” Jenny asked.

“Dead inside? Bones and darkness. Actually dead? Usually the blood dripping down your ghostly body, but that’s not so much a thing anymore. …I wish it was, though, it was always so fascinating to watch them realize how dead they are…”

“Haven’t seen morbid Aradia in a while.”

Aradia nodded. “It’s helped that the war’s over, and that I’ve reconnected with the Ararmy.”

Roland sighed ever so slightly at the absurd name that had never gone away.

“You ever going to choose a new name?” Jenny asked. “Now that there’s about a million distinct Aradias?”

Aradia shrugged. “I guess so?”

“Should do it before all the good ones get taken. Ari might work, or something similar…”

“I’m going to survive the next few weeks before I go through the trouble of getting a new name,” Aradia said with a smile. “But I’ll be thinking about it.”

Jenny saluted. Then she hopped over the receptionist booth and landed between her two teammates. “Let’s-a go!”

Roland snapped his fingers. “Mario.”

Jenny’s face broke out into a gaping smile. “You… you’re learning about references!” She let out an adorable squee. “I never thought I’d see the day! Okay, we need to get you caught up on so much culture now that you’re out of your little old man bubble. I’m thinking we start with something like Star Trek, or ma-”

Roland pointed outside at a Mario walking along a sidewalk, slowing down to look at the brilliant roses outside.

Aradia chuckled. “He absorbs culture by observing what it’s created.”

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get to the place.” She charged out the revolving doors with a proud, confident smirk on her face. Such a powerful pose looked out of place on such a diminutive individual, but that was at least part of the reason she liked it.

They walked through the City. For Roland, it was no more unusual than an Earth city since it was so far removed from his general experiences. But for Jenny and Aradia, seasoned travelers, they knew the urban sprawl they were marching through was highly unusual.

It wasn’t just the eternal twilight – several worlds had sported a similar color scheme in the past. The conglomeration aspect wasn’t what was different either – after all, Merodi cities could be recognized by the way they seemed to be cobbled together from numerous different designs without rhyme or reason.

What mattered here was that everything was new. Not one month ago, none of these buildings had been around. All had been a field of brilliant, lively roses. Virtually every street corner had a section of untouched earth where a few roses grew, to remind everyone of where they came from, but everything else was almost too perfect because of how new it was. Buildings showed no sign of wear, there had not been enough time for slums or even heavy amounts of litter to develop in public view, and virtually everything was clean. It didn’t necessarily run smoothly from a statistical standpoint, but it sure looked like it did.

“Take several godlike beings and give them a goal,” Jenny said, holding out her hands. “What do you get?”

“Overpopulation,” Roland answered.

Jenny rolled her eyes. “There’s more than enough space on Nucleon for everyone, this is just the defensible place with the most magic resources. And ka resources.”

“Not physical resources.”

“Sure, right, like that’s important when the Tower literally leaks magic for everyone to use.” She waved a hand around as if illustrating a point. “We’ve got everything we need right here, and what we don’t have Dracogen Enterprises can g-” She walked face-first into a blue stop sign. “…What the heck?”

Burgerbelle poked her head around the blue stop sign. “Have I got your attention?”

“Why is it blue!?”

“Yep, I have your attention.” She removed the stop sign and sidestepped, allowing Thrackerzod to walk up.

Thrackerzod cleared her throat. “I have a complaint to file against the C.E.O. of Dracogen Enterprises.”

Jenny groaned. “All complaints must go through th-”

“It’s important.” Thrackerzod muttered. “Let me put it this way – your little corporation was selling misinformation.” Thrackerzod held up a little booklet entitled The Emissary and What She Means for You.

Jenny blinked. “I’ve never seen this book…” She swiped it out of Thrackerzod’s magic and scanned it with her eyes. “Geez… ‘she comes to save you all’? What a load of crap. Someone’s getting fired…”

“Told you it wasn’t her,” Burgerbelle said, a first place trophy appearing in her hand.

Thrackerzod rolled her eyes. “Yes, I admit, you were right. But here’s the important question – what are you going to do about it?”

“I am going to have lunch first,” Jenny said. “Then, I am going to find out whoever did this and fire them. Then, I’m going to recall every last one of these books and burn them. And then I’ll probably author a book of my own about ‘How the Emissary is a Sadist’ and mass-produce it.”

“Oh! You could join us for lunch!” Aradia said, clapping her hands together. “Come on, it’ll be fun! We can even talk about the little book!”

Burgerbelle grinned. “That sounds GRRRRREAT!” As she spoke the last word she gained tiger-like characteristics for a moment.

“Sure, fine, whatever,” Jenny said, waving them along. “Guess we’re a group now, or something.”

Roland shrugged. “Ka-tet.”

“I am not using that word. Ever. We’re a group. Not a ka-tet. Groups are groups. Ka is ka.”

“Kaka,” Burgerbelle said.

Roland stared at her in disbelief.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the rare Dark Tower meme has been unleashed,” Burgerbelle giggled. “Onward, before his mind explodes!”

~~~

At the very top of Nanoha’s skyscraper there was a room with windows on all sides, giving a view of the City, the Dark Tower, and everything in between. The room was filled with more people than Nanoha could easily count – leaders from all sides of the previous war, together to face a crisis. Ponies, humans, military, civilians… She had missed the sight of different people coming together as one, to be united. Ever since the war had started divisions had just kept getting worse and worse…

But today, they were all here. The start of the meeting had already concluded. Nala the Xeelee had offered to use all the processing power and knowledge it had at its disposal in the fleet and Celestia City to come up with a proposed plan to defeat Lord English. That had been about twenty minutes ago, and Nala had not said anything since.

So all the leaders were talking in smaller groups about ways to keep the City running during an attack from a single being of English’s caliber. The only notable absence in the meeting was Jenny herself, apparently she was busy enough with something else that she had sent generic Dracogen representatives.

Or maybe she just didn’t feel like attending a boring meeting.

Renee was there as well, and for once had decided not to make a large-scale disruption and instead just mess with Sherlock while the other leaders discussed among themselves.

“Care to make some de-duc-tions?” Renee asked in a condescending tone, as if talking to a child.

“From watching you I have only determined one thing,” Sherlock said. “You could adjust your behavior in any minute detail you wished to adjust my deduction result. You are an enigma by your own design.”

“What we have here is a case of a self-demonstrating sentence.”

“Indubitably.”

Renee smirked. “Always Sherlock, no matter what…” She chuckled. “Now, I will not do anything to hinder the ‘subconscious’ of my body here when I say the next sentence.” She narrowed her eyes. “You might want to get your eyes off me.”

“Ah, Nala’s almost done then, is she?”

As if on cue – actually, it wasn’t ‘as if’, it was on cue. Nala’s text appeared in the middle of the room.

|> Analysis complete.

“What do you have for us?” Nanoha asked, serving as the voice for all the others.

|> A plan. Given the nature of ka, I have analyzed the various scenarios and determined which one is most likely to produce a victory. I then disregarded that one and went with the second best since optimization is rarely allowed without a tradeoff. If you are curious, the first plan was to overlay several artificial Deus Ex Machina type events to end English. Instead, we will not engage in direct ka manipulation beyond the personal scale – such as Monika.

“Get on with it already!” Hale shouted, grinning. “What’s the play?”

|> We will wait for English to come to us. At the beginning, the defenses will just be the standard turrets at the wall and orbital bombardment. When this inevitably fails to destroy him, he will make it to the wall and breach it. We proceed to bombard him with everything we have – an optimal arrangement of troops, ships, and powering resources has been sent to all of your personal computers. This, still, will not be enough; his unconditional immortality ensures that even if we have enough energy output to kill him, he will resurrect himself.

|> It is at this point we will send in the ‘heroes’; specifically those who have a deep ka connection with him. The most important of these are Roland, Caliborn, Spades, and Mlinx.
Roland covers the base of multiversal-spanning hero with ka on his side. Caliborn is the villain turned to our side because of circumstance, not to mention the fact that Lord English originates from Caliborn. Spades has a deep need for vengeance and revenge against English running through him, and Mlinx’s entire society of demons was shaped by Lord English’s staff Juju. Normally, I would suggest gathering every hero English ever faced, getting all the Homestuck-based characters, and risking a diplomatic incident to get Vriska back. However, projections agree: these heroes of might will not be enough to bring him down. Simply having the defeat be appropriate is not enough to ensure he will die permanently, since he himself has power over ka.

|> This is where the original plan comes in. While he is distracted facing off against the heroes important to him, Monika and Saitama will be waiting along the side. Monika will alter Saitama’s character file to fight at 100% regardless of casualties, even if that requires multiple punches directed into Nucleon itself.

There were numerous gasps and murmurs around the meeting room.

|> I am well aware this could easily destroy all of Nucleon. I am also well aware even this is not enough.

“There’s more!?” O’Neill said in disbelief.

|> Even an unstoppable fist is likely to fall short. There is a chance it can overcome the unconditional immortality, but this is low. Instead, we will use it as a tool. We will need to separate Lord English from Black Thirteen and then move Lord English into the Dark Tower. He will become trapped within now that there are no universes to escape to.

“…What about when the Dark Tower finally falls?” the Emperor asked.

|> Then his power over ka will be no more and we can use brute force. Without the Tower’s presence, there will be no more magic in the City than any other part of this universe. It could be drained and conventional weaponry will do the rest.

There was silence in the room.

“…It sounds like it might work,” Nanoha said. “That’s enough for me to be willing to prepare for it until we get a better option.”

|> There is one issue I have not yet mentioned. The camera is currently on. Any plan that the audience is aware of prior to execution will usually go wrong. It doesn’t mean it will fail – but it does mean we can expect major hindrances to our efforts. The full plan contains backup contingencies I have not mentioned – including having Death and similar beings on standby to make sure no heroes perish just before they can perform a paramount action – but no doubt the complication will be something I have not foreseen.

“You’ve foreseen it,” Renee said, looking at the text with intense eyes. “That doesn’t mean it won’t throw a wrench into your plans anyway.”

|> Are you not going to trap him within your structure?

“If you can get him in there without Black Thirteen, I’ll keep him,” Renee said with a smirk. “Of that, I promise. Please, darling, that’d be a bit too obvious.”

|> I will send out a list of potential complications for everyone to review. Until a major flaw in the plan is brought up, am I cleared to begin city-wide preparations?

Nanoha looked at the gathered leaders behind her. “We can discuss the finer details later, but we need to get started now in case English jumps us by surprise. Everyone who thinks this is good enough, say aye.” She paused for a moment. “Aye.”

Raising Heart calculated the total of people who had responded favorably: ninety-two percent. Good enough.

“You have permission, Nala,” Nanoha said. “Do everything you can.”

|> I already am.

~~~

Rev and Rina were trotting down the streets of the City in Earth’s Shadow. Rina actually had a smile on her face, enjoying the sight of something similar to the Ponyville she had come to know during her stay at Rev’s church.

Rev didn’t have anywhere near as amiable an expression. Her face was buried in a small booklet titled The Emissary and What She Means For You. The content within was making her frown deeper and deeper.

“Why would Dracogen Enterprises allow this trash to be published?” she wondered.

“You just answered your own question,” Rina said. “They are trash.”

“Jenny does have standards…” Rev furrowed her brow. “Listen to this. ‘The Emissary has come so that you might believe in the will of the Tower, and the truth of the story. The war was nothing more than the movement from one Testament to another, allowing existence to change so all could hear the Emissary’s message’…”

“Sounds like you.”

Rev rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I suppose. Except the actual message isn’t something Renee’s ever said, and it’s actually dangerous.” She held up the booklet to Rina.

“…Shit,” Rina said, taking it in her magic. “’The City is a blasphemy to the Tower’s purity?’ There’s no way anybody here is taking this seriously, this is their home.”

“It doesn’t take a majority to destroy something,” Rev said, shaking her head. “Just enough. Enough who think the Tower is worthy of worship. That ancient structure that defines everything in their lives and is easily visible every day of their lives.” She turned to the looming form of the Tower, grimacing. “The Tower always terrified me. The few times I’d seen it… I always trembled. It was so… wrong. I can’t really describe it. It was as if it made me face a part of myself I can’t understand. And now that I’m here, walking in its City…” She gulped. “You feel it, don’t you? When you try to look at it.”

“I don’t try to look at it,” Rina breathed. “I feel like I’d lose myself in it.”

“And yet all these people here live around it like nothing’s wrong… Like the very air they’re breathing isn’t infused with a Dark essence.” She shook her head. “Of course they’d want to worship the thing. It basically is God to them. And that’s… not only wrong, but dangerous.” She looked at the booklet again. “They start assigning whatever they feel they can to the Tower in the name of making their worldview make sense. Self-justification, you could say.”

“Like the Flowers creating the Emissary in the first place?”

Rev nodded. “They wanted the Tower to have a will. So they made one. You could call the Great Will this as well – it wanted to be God, so it tried.”

Rina put a hoof to her forehead. “Ugh…”

“…Sorry. I shouldn’t be loading all this heavy stuff on you. You haven’t been walking very long.”

“It’s okay. I know Flutterfree’s gone and I’m the only one around. Just… it’s fucking hard to think about, you know?”

“Sometimes intelligence is a hindrance to greater understanding,” Rev said with a chuckle. “It’s so hard for us to admit that not everything has to make sense… But that’s neither here nor th-”

The two of them were suddenly teleported away into an attic lit only by a tiny lightbulb in the roof. Rev immediately tried to raise a shield but she found that all the magic in the attic had been drained, leaving her helpless.

She looked around for a way out. There were no windows, but there were boxes – lots and lots of boxes with hundreds of books in them. All of them were copies of The Emissary and What She Means For You.

Rev and Rina looked at each other.

“Trap,” they said at the same time.

Great deduction, a voice said in their minds. They saw no one nearby who could be the source of the messages – nor did they detect any use of magic to send the message. You two will be perfect… A great speaker, and a great destroyer.

“What do you want?” Rev demanded.

Your help.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oh, Starbeat. It's honestly kind of tragic. She fought so hard not to be manipulated by love, and now she's getting jerked around by hate.

Gamzee put a hand on her shoulder. “I think we should motherfuckin’ chill a bit.” He gestured at Pinkie.

... Huh. I'm really not sure what to think of this. Is Gamzee keeping his pet unicorn focused exactly where she shouldn't be to ensure the triumph of the Mirthful Messiah, or is she getting so angry, it's threatening even his control over her?

Gamzee can counter friendship speeches. This will not end well. Especially given the next chapter's title.

“Push the Canadian-Mongol-communist immigrants back in processing, deal with the political fallout later,” O’Neill ordered. “These ships are first priority…”

I see at least one world based on the Civilization games survived.

Yeah, next chapter won't be pretty by any stretch of the imagination. We'll see who and what comes out of it at least moderately intact.

[zeusdemigod131]

“Actually, we don’t. I outrank you by far and since all members of the collapse technically rescinded their Merodi citizenship, it falls under my jurisdiction to work with them however I see fit. They are to be pardoned pending further review at a later date.”

Okay. Either the old world rules matter, or they don't. You don't get to quote both sides of the debate just to try and make everyone elses argument invalid.

[guldringr]

To Echo what other people have said, Starbeat is quite the tragic figure at the moment. Also might I say that Gamzee becomes more and more disturbing every time I read something involving him

[Speckle]

10047974
I agree with FOME. Doesn't everyone know what Gamzee's capable of? They've encountered other Classpects, right?

[theunbalancedone]

Yeah, gamzee is nothing but trouble and somehow he keeps worming his way into the good graces of political figures and causes endless problems.

Speaking of, I still don't really feel like flutterfree really understands the aspect of rage, or that each aspect is also an aspect of Ka, or storytelling elements. Not sure how popular the opinion is but I believe Rage can most accurately said to be the aspect of contrivance, it can do or be anything it's user thinks it should be so long as it moves the plot in the desired direction with no explanations required.

Side note that really doesn't matter at all, but I like to imagine this stories version of a character of mine made it to the new world, figured out enough of the patterns of worlds to know there's something important towards the center and decided he'd rather explore outward instead of inward like the contrarian he is.