055 - Welcome to the Afterlife
Jotaro tore another giant set of double doors off its hinges. This particular set was purple and engraved with symbols representing this world’s eight elements, four of them of similar design to those of the Elemental Nations, which made sense, because this world was the first alternate they had found of the Elemental Nations. It was removed from the Elemental Nations they knew and loved to be sure: eight separate nations, completely different history, and no duplicate people – but it still had benders.
And it still had the Avatar.
This had turned out to be quite the problem for Pinkie’s Party because the Avatar of this world was absolutely insane. The interior of his personal laboratory made that abundantly clear. The room was octagonal, each side with an elemental engraving on it. The four standard ones were accompanied by electricity, sound, light, and darkness. Each of these emblems had an upside-down cross spray-painted over top of them with red paint. The floor had symbols representing the spirit, and each of these were simply crossed out in a haphazard fashion.
In the center of the room was a device – an upward-facing drill with eight orbs of power in its sides, each orb containing elemental energy provided by the Avatar himself. The Avatar flicked a switch on the side of the drill, activating it just as the rest of the team filed into the room. The man wore the form-fitting teal clothing of the Reverb Republic over his thin, but fit, form. His eyes were filled with unstable inner fire, driving his every exaggerated movement. “HELLO!” he decreed, one hand sparking with thunder while the other froze the air around him. “Welcome… to the righteous path.”
Flutterfree took point. “This isn’t the righteous path, Entari.”
Entari smirked. “That’s where you’re wrong, Flutterfree. So wrong.” He gestured at his drill as its tip began to shake the foundation of spacetime. “I will cut through the boundary between the mortal plane and Heaven itself! I have the Way!”
“Your ‘way’ is going to destroy the fabric of reality,” Flutterfree warned.
“A small price to pay to defeat the Lord’s monopoly on spirits!” he spat. “He has a hand over us, always keeping us down, refusing to let us see what lies beyond… No more! We will not take any of His imposed limitations! I will charge Heaven and show the Lord what we really are!”
Flutterfree twitched – clearly angered by what Entari was saying. “We have the resources to cross dimensions. If Heaven truly exists, we can find it without this drill.”
“You carry with you a symbol of His power,” Entari accused. “You are one of His.”
“I very much doubt that,” Flutterfree muttered to herself. “Why is that a problem?”
“You won’t let me do what I need to do,” Entari decreed. “I-“
The Avatar’s drill suddenly exploded. Jotaro had triggered a time stop when Nova had given the signal, allowing both of them to move in and reduce the machine to shreds in an instant. The elemental energy burst out in a spectacular show of colors. Pinkie watched through blue and red 3-D glasses with a bag of popcorn.
Entari’s confidence and inner satisfaction plummeted to absolutely nothing. “I… I…”
“Doesn’t matter what you do,” Vriska said, taking a step forward. “Time hax are overpowered.
“You… You will pay for what you’ve done,” Entari declared. He drove a pillar of rock right between Vriska’s legs, following up with an electric punch to her chest. She flew back, the electrical signal removing most of her muscle control. Entari surrounded himself in a whirlwind of flame, a defensive use of both air and fire.
Pinkie was suddenly inside his fiery shell. “Pretty,” she observed. She punched him in the face with a comically oversized boxing glove.
He grabbed her hoof, entering the Avatar State. His eyes went white and he tapped into her pink soul. He grabbed hold of it, twisting it…
This resulted in a shower of confetti exploding from completely nowhere, sending the two of them in opposite directions. Pinkie fell to the ground, unmoving.
Entari stood up and chuckled. “Hah…. The legendary Pink One has fallen by my hand…”
The next thing Entari knew he had several broken bones and a magical burn across his left arm. But he still stood strong. He unleashed a whirl of dark smoke and bright lights, scattering everyone’s perceptions, ending Nova’s onslaught.
He was able to reach Flutterfree first, grabbing her by the hoof so she couldn’t release her arrow of light. He reached into her soul. There was no confetti interruption this time.
Flutterfree made gagging noises for a second, sounds which stopped abruptly. Her eyes lost their red color, her fangs vanished, and her ears lost their frilled tips. Her eyes held the Spark for a moment longer, but even that vanished in the end. She dropped the bow of light as her entire body went slack.
“You were the worst kind of enemy… spiritual,” Entari declared, tossing her to the side. “Now that that’s do-“
A flash of blue-pink magic cut his head in half, ceasing all brain function in an instant. Nova pulled his body into her magic and incinerated it on the atomic level. Avatar Entari was no more.
With that taken care of, she ran to Flutterfree, putting a hoof to the pegasus’ neck to check her pulse.
Nothing.
Nova activated her CPR spell, forcing Flutterfree’s heart to restart. It beat a few times before dying off.
“Pinkie’s breathing,” Jotaro called over.
“FLUTTERFREE ISN’T!” Nova shouted. “She…”
She noticed that the people of this world had crowded around the entrance, staring at all of them with expectant expressions. The woman in front, wearing the robes of the Dark Tribe, took a step forward and bowed. “You have slain the lost Avatar. You have done our people a-“
“If you don’t have a way to fix this you can shut up,” Nova blurted.
The woman looked at Flutterfree with sad eyes. “Her soul is with the Lord now, in the heaven the Avatar hated so much…” She made a cross gesture across her chest.
“Shut up!” Nova shouted. “There is no heaven, there is no Lord, and if there is he’s just some pathetic hack!” Hearing gasps from the crowd, Nova decided she’d had enough. She grabbed the dimensional device from Vriska’s semi-paralyzed body and dialed out of the universe. “We’re done here! DONE!” Tears fell from her face as she threw everyone through the portal.
It closed, leaving the people of Elemental Eight alone with the remnants of a blasphemous machine and the dust of their Avatar.
They set to work refurbishing the temple.
~~~
Flutterfree blinked into awareness.
That was the best way she could describe it. It was like waking up, except she hadn’t been asleep before. She had been in a state of… Well, she couldn’t remember, actually.
She checked herself over – she was a normal pegasus. No fangs, no hunger for fruity fluids, no heightened hearing… Everything about her previously seemed somehow distant. She checked her flank and realized there was no cutie mark there.
She still felt something within herself. With a slight bit of effort, she was able to summon Lolo around her. Good.
…It occurred to her she should probably try to figure out where she was. She attempted to focus, but looking at where she was proved difficult. Everything was soft – not like a pillow, but as if it didn’t have substance. She strained her eyes, unable to make anything out besides a vague whiteness.
When she gave up and allowed her eyes to relax, everything locked into place.
She was standing on a cloud – not unusual for a pegasus, but she was certain the cloud wasn’t normal. For one, she didn’t actually feel anything under her hooves, even though she wasn’t falling. The sky around her was a bright blue, despite there being no visible sun anywhere. She had no shadow.
There was only one object of any interest – a large gate made of golden metal bars. It was larger than any gate she had ever seen, but she couldn’t say she was intimidated by it. It seemed… welcoming.
In front of the gate was a man in white robes and wings who stood behind a raised desk composed of clouds. He had a warm smile on his face that beckoned Flutterfree to come closer.
She flew over, landing on the area of the clouds where she could comfortably see his face. He was tall – at least eight feet – and had a soft glow about him.
“Ah, Flutterfree Asquall. Welcome.”
Flutterfree smiled. “…So, I’m dead then?”
“Yes,” the angel said, smiling sadly. “It is time to move on.”
“Al… alright,” Flutterfree said, smiling. Tears began to form at the edges of her eyes. As she remembered her friends, still back there… They’d be so devastated…
The angel took a book out of nowhere and flipped through it. He smiled. “One of the best records I’ve seen, Flutterfree.”
Flutterfree’s smile fell and alarms started blaring inside her head. “…What?”
“One of the purest and kindest lives I’ve ever seen, despite all that you’ve experienced. There’s a lot of loss of life here, but your motives have virtually always been in the right place. You get in easily.”
“I… get in?”
“To Heaven.” He snapped his fingers, opening the gate. “Go on in, enjoy your afterlife.”
“But- that’s not how it works!” Flutterfree blurted. “We’re not able to remove the sin from our lives, and so it’s hinged completely on faith… Right?”
“Oh, your faith is certainly a big bonus, but we’ve got to examine everything in the ledger,” the angel said, tapping the book. “Your works are excellent.”
“It’s not about works,” Flutterfree muttered bitterly. Then she sighed. “Fine… I’ll take it.” She gave him a smile.
“It’s not like you had a choice. I can’t send you to Hell and you’re technically standing in Heaven right now,” the angel commented.
“Yeah,” Flutterfree said, walking through the gates. Thoughts swirled around her head. Think Flutterfree, what did Rev say…? Right, there are many, many false gods, many of whom really are good or Divine, but aren’t what we really believe in. Just as there are shadows of God, there are shadows of Heaven. She sighed – she supposed Entari hadn’t been crazy. There really was a Lord connected to his world, and she’d just ended up in that version of the Afterlife.
She wasn’t really sure what to make of that.
As she passed through the gates, she heard them close behind her. She heard a familiar voice behind her. Entari.
She watched with curiosity as Entari charged up to the angel. “I WILL BRING THIS ESTABLISHMENT DOWN!”
The angel sighed, looking at the ledger. “As the Avatar, you are exempt from assignment at this time. You will be sent back with all the other spirits to guide the next of our Lord’s chosen. That said, this is the worst record I have ever seen on an Avatar. I doubt anything you can do will save you at this point.”
“I never said I wanted to be saved!”
“Just go back. Appreciate your unique position,” the angel muttered. Entari vanished in a puff of clouds, returning to the mortal realm.
Flutterfree turned around and took in a breath. Okay, this isn’t what you wanted, nor is it your final stop, but it doesn’t have to be a bad place. Make the most of it and learn all you can. She put a smile on her face, tried not to cry, and began to explore the new place her spirit occupied.
~~~
The Expeditions Division had its own personal hospital built underneath the crystal castle. It was a state of the art facility with the best doctors and healers from across Merodi Universalis. In the emergency room, two ponies lay on cots. One was Pinkie, her chest rising and falling slowly. The other was Flutterfree, not moving at all, but her body glowing a slight blue under Nova’s stasis spell.
Vriska, Jotaro, and Nova sat on a bench at the end of the room while a unicorn version of Redheart set to work. Nova had clearly been crying heavily while Vriska’s features betrayed great inner pain and anger. Jotaro’s face remained impassive as always, but he had not made eye contact with anyone nor said anything since they’d arrived.
Redheart completed her check-up of Pinkie and moved to Flutterfree, removing the stasis spell temporarily so she could perform her examinations. The deeper her frown went, the more Nova knew…
“She’s dead,” Redheart declared, placing her body back in stasis. “Pinkie’s in a deep coma. I can try to treat Pinkie, though results on comas are… uncertain.” She looked to the team. “I know the revive spell. But you know that doesn’t always work.”
“Just try it,” Nova pleaded.
“I’d need authorization. And a significant security detail in case she comes back wrong and I’m unable to undo it.”
“Renee should be here soon,” Vriska grunted, clenching her wrists. “She’ll give the go ahead.”
Redheart nodded. “I don’t want to get your hopes up. She was quasi-vampiric, so there could easily be complications. But I will do what I can.”
“That’s all we ask,” Nova said.
“No, it’s not. We ask for fucking success,” Vriska blurted.
New arrivals came into the room – but Renee wasn’t among them. It was Discord and Trixie.
Discord took one look at Flutterfree and snapped. “Who did it?”
“Avatar Entari,” Vriska said. “He’s very dead.”
Discord growled. “How brutally?”
“Cut his brain in half,” Nova answered.
“Too good for him…” Discord growled. He whirled to face all of them. “Why didn’t you protect her?”
“Look at Pinkie!” Nova shouted. “We did!”
“Did you really?”
Nova’s anger dropped, giving way to deep uncertainty. “I… I don’t… I…”
Jotaro stood up, making Discord flinch. “Don’t,” was all the man said.
Discord opened his mouth to retort, then closed it after he saw Trixie rapidly shaking her head at him. He turned his focus to Redheart instead. “Do your thing.”
“Not without authorization.”
“I’m the spirit of chaos!”
“And you do not have the authorization to clear the procedure,” Redheart declared. “I’ll allow you to work on Pinkie, but Flutterfree is a special case.”
Discord snapped his fingers, encasing Pinkie in a brief flash of light. Nothing changed.
Discord growled. “I should be able to do this…”
“Her soul’s been damaged,” Redheart said. “…For treatment, I would have suggested the Avatar, but she’s far too young. Thrackerzod perhaps.”
In a flash of purple magic, both Eve and Renee appeared in the room. Renee’s mascara was already running. Eve’s tears started to come when she saw Flutterfree’s body. “N-no…”
Discord pointed at them. “Authorize the revival procedure. Now.”
Eve managed to keep control of herself. “L-let’s hear the situation firs-“
“Just do it,” Renee blurted. “Do it now.”
Redheart turned to Eve. Eve took a moment to read everyone’s faces. She nodded in agreement.
Redheart moved over Flutterfree and lit her horn. She took a breath, shifting the color of her magical aura to a vibrant green. The stasis spell dropped, allowing Redheart full access to Flutterfree’s entire body. The force of life itself flowed out of Redheart and into the muscles, bones, and mind of Flutterfree.
Nova let out a gasp of delight when she saw Flutterfree’s chest rise and fall – she was breathing. When Redeart dropped the spell, Flutterfree’s eyes opened. The pegasus stood up and stared at them all with cyan eyes.
Cyan.
Cyan, not red.
Cyan, sparkless, eyes.
Vriska punched a wall, driving a hole into it, screaming an incoherent syllable.
“…Just like the ponies of the Hub Jungle…” Nova said, vacantly. She stared into the empty eyes.
Redheart undid the spell, returning Flutterfree to a lifeless body.
“W-we should be glad,” Eve said. “She c-could have been dangerous. T-that was… Docile.”
“She’s always kind…” Renee said, barely able to stand. “She-”
“We’re not done,” Jotaro said out of the blue, drawing everyone’s attention. “There are other things we can try.”
Vriska nodded. “Yeah! We’re a fucking multiversal society! There has to be something out there we can use to bring her back!”
Discord nodded vigorously. “I’ve got some contacts. All the contacts.”
“We’ll bring them back by any means necessary,” Nova declared. “Any.”
Eve’s expression became worried. “Nova, I-“
“If you dare suggest this is how things are supposed to be Eve, I swear, I’ll… I’ll…”
“Do it,” Renee said. “I don’t care what you do, just do it. Bring her back. Any means.”
“Renee,” Eve started.
“Eve, I am in charge of Expeditions,” Renee declared. “This is my decision. Not yours.”
“Did… You just pull political influence on me?” Eve sputtered.
“Yes. I did. I’m also slightly horrified that you’re not willing to go to the ends of existence for Flutterfree.”
“I am!” Eve blurted. “But you know what happens when ponies mess with things they aren’t supposed to! We’ve stopped people in the exact same position we’re in!”
Renee couldn’t find fault in that argument. She didn’t care. “Eve, stop being the great, wise leader of dozens of worlds for a moment. Be a friend. What would a friend do?”
Eve gulped. “I…” She shook her head. “Right, right. Do whatever you can. Just… Just don’t be evil about it. Don’t hurt people. Don’t become like all those others.”
“We won’t,” Vriska declared.
“…That’s what they all say,” Eve pointed out.
“I said we won’t,” Vriska countered. “So we won’t.”
Renee swallowed hard. “Good… good. I… I have to get back to work. Call me immediately if you figure something out, okay?”
“We will,” Nova assured her. “The instant there’s any change.”
“Everyone break,” Vriska declared. “Find whatever you can.”
“Who made you in charge?” Discord declared.
“I did,” Vriska said, glaring. “Any objections?”
“Several!”
“Just do what she asked,” Trixie said. “Let’s go.”
Everyone left – leaving only Eve and Redheart in the room.
“…Don’t you have work?” Redheart asked.
“Yes…” Eve said, glancing from Pinkie to Flutterfree. “I do.”
“Not going back to it?”
“…Not for now,” Eve said, placing a hoof on Pinkie and stroking her mane. “In a bit. I’d just like a moment with them… A quiet moment.”
Redheart nodded and didn’t say anything further.
~~~
The inside of Heaven was almost all clouds with the occasional building of pure marble sticking up from the soft fluff. She saw people walking around – all humans in white robes. A few had wings, indicating that they were angels, but all the others were just regular people. She saw no bending taking place at all. Everyone was equal.
She walked up to a group of people, intending to say hello, but when she got close Lolo’s effect activated. She saw the people for what they really were – loose spirits without a body at all, the image they were projecting just a memory of what they once were. The angels didn’t change when Flutterfree got closer, aside from a slight increase in light output.
Flutterfree focused, pulling Lolo into herself – she had learned over the years that, with effort, she could keep Lolo from revealing things. It took a bit of focus and kept her from thinking deeply about other things, but sometimes it was beneficial to not change people when she walked up to them.
The people she had forced to look like spirits had confusion evident on her faces. “What just happened?” a woman asked.
“That was me,” Flutterfree said, looking up at them with a smile. “Sorry, I tend to do that.”
“Oh! What are you?” the woman said, looking down. “Are you one of the higher angels?”
“Ah, no. I’m from another world than the one you came from.”
“…Huh?”
“An alien?” Flutterfree suggested.
“I haven’t seen any aliens here before…”
“Well, I died on your world, so I ended up here,” Flutterfree explained, shrugging. “Can you tell me a bit about this place, if you don’t mind?”
“You don’t know?” the man standing next to her said. “Wow…”
“Well, I know this is Heaven, but I don’t exactly know how things work here. See, I was under the impression Heaven was a place with no sadness or pain, that everything would feel complete, and…” she shook her head, hanging it down.
“Oh, you poor thing, you left people behind didn’t you?” the woman said.
Flutterfree nodded slowly. “A lot.”
“Don’t worry, they’ll join us here soon enough.”
“But they’re not believers!” Flutterfree blurted. “…That doesn’t actually matter here, does it?”
“Why would it? If you’re a good person, the Lord blesses you.”
“Amen,” the man said.
Flutterfree twitched. “But that… It’s not...” she got a hold of herself and put on a smile. “Nevermind. Just tell me what we do around here.”
“We live,” the woman said, gesturing. “This entire field of clouds is our playground for eternity. We talk, we dance, we sing…”
“…That’s it?”
“There’s also a bowling alley over there.”
“So this is basically the same as an eternal vacation back home.”
The man pondered this. “Never thought about it that way, but yeah.”
“No talking with G- the Lord? No seeing new, amazing things? No learning the secrets of the life you left behind? No purification of your soul?”
“Uh… No?” the man said, confused.
“Doesn’t that get boring? Or disappointing?”
He blinked. “I’ve only been here two weeks, I wouldn’t know.”
Flutterfree blinked. “Oh. Right then…”
The woman kneeled down. “Are you one of the devout?”
“Hmm?”
“You know, the uh… The people who read the Lord’s book all their lives!”
Flutterfree smiled. “Well, not all my life…”
“You should go to the temple then. That’s where the people who think like you hang out. They can probably answer things a little better.”
“Where’s the temple?” Flutterfree asked.
“Just talk to an angel. They’ll take you.”
“Thanks!” Flutterfree said, getting on that. It wasn’t hard to find an angel. “Excuse me?”
“Hm? Ah, hello little one.”
“Can you take me to the temple?”
“Already going there?” the angel smiled warmly. “I’ll take you to the closest one.”
In an instant, they were somewhere else in the clouds. In front of Flutterfree was a marble structure that reminded her of Greek architecture. Which didn’t make sense since the temple should have been Arabic or Israeli…
“Thanks,” she told the angel. The angel bowed and walked elsewhere.
Flutterfree flew up the steps of the temple, walking into the main hall. There were around a hundred humans in the temple bowing, praying, and meditating.
She herself sent off a short prayer – but it wasn’t to the Lord of this place. Definitely not.
“You have the eyes of someone who was expecting something else,” a man said, walking up to her. He kneeled down, smiling sadly. “A true believer?”
“I believe so,” Flutterfree said. “I’m not sure if your Word is the same as mine.”
He pulled a Bible out of his robes. “The angels will provide you with almost anything if you ask.” Flutterfree flipped through the pages, looking at a few specific verses.
“Wording’s slightly different, but that’s probably just translation,” Flutterfree commented. “…This place is nothing like what’s described in here.”
“We all notice that in the first few hours,” the man commented. “It’s… a sorrowful revelation.”
Flutterfree nodded. “I’m Flutterfree. An ‘alien’ who died on your world.”
“Ummar,” he said, sitting down next to her.
“What do you do when you come to this place? How do you deal with it?”
“Many different things,” Ummar admitted. “Some believe that the Bible was a false representation of what really happened or what the teachings really were. Others think this is Purgatory, and the real Heaven depends on us purifying our own souls in this place. Others still have decided that this is a trick of Satan himself, trying to capture our souls in a loose bliss.” He glanced at a man tearing his heart out on the floor, even though he couldn’t experience physical pain. “…Some lose faith entirely.”
Flutterfree looked into the distance. “I think I know what it is. This is a fake Heaven created by a shadow of the real God. Just a twisted image.”
“…How would you know that?”
“There’s a multiverse, Ummar. Millions and millions of different worlds with different beings and ways of living. I’ve encountered many so-called gods out there, and many with immense false teachings. My mentor, Rev, told me she had encountered fake Heavens before. Or, well, I guess this is real… But it’s not right.”
Ummar raised an eyebrow. “You truly are an alien, aren’t you?”
Flutterfree nodded. “It’s more than that. Nobody ever brings any abilities or powers with them, do they?”
Ummar shook his head. “I have not bent light since I died of old age.”
Flutterfree summoned Lolo with enough power so Ummar could see it. He was forced to show his inner spirit, a light much brighter than those of the people she had revealed earlier. Flutterfree pulled Lolo back into herself. “That’s Lolo. My Stand, a power affixed to my spirit. It’s from a very distant universe, and apparently something your Heaven didn’t remove.”
Ummar furrowed his brow. “This is unheard of…”
“Figures,” Flutterfree said. “…But I’m here now, and I’ve got to make the most of it…”
“You may not,” Ummar said. “The angels never really give us satisfactory answers to our questions, nor do they seem to find us all that interesting. But you… You’re something new. Or at least different.” He stood up. “I know where we can find an archangel. We’re going to see what she makes of this.”
Ummar led Flutterfree out of the temple and past several other marble constructions. They eventually came to a fountain where a female angel stood, watching the waters fly into the air and fall down to the puddle below.
“Purity,” Ummar called. “I’ve got something for you.”
Purity turned and smiled, speaking with the voice of a caring mother to a child who was being rather stupid. “Ummar, you know I do not gain any benefit from possessions, mental or otherwise.”
Flutterfree summoned Lolo to demonstrate. Purity’s expression turned to shock. “…What are you, Flutterfree?”
“An alien from another universe,” Flutterfree explained. “So… What now?”
Purity looked from Ummar to Flutterfree. “I need to take you to the higher angels. This is… Unknown.”
Flutterfree smiled. “Thank you.”
And then they were gone.
~~~
Aradia no longer hid – she walked around the worlds just like another citizen, jumping across time and space both for her own enjoyment and to protect the universes from temporal incursion. At the moment, things were quiet, so she was enjoying herself and doing some window shopping on the Hub. She was pleasantly surprised to find little action figures of her. “Oh, nice!” She chirped, walking into the store and examining the merchandise. “I look so cute!”
The shop owner simply couldn’t believe who had just walked into his store. He stared, slack jawed, unable to process her presence.
“Yeesh, you think people would be used to this by now,” Aradia muttered, checking out the other action figures. She found ones for Vriska, Alushy, the Doctor… Oh boy, there was even one of Valentine, packaged together with his Stand. She wondered if they were still classifying him as a hero here… Every universe’s action figure companies probably disagreed at this point. There were probably children having Valentine versus Valentine play fights…
It was a bit odd, but it wasn’t like it was illegal to make action figures in the likeness of other people. There was even one of Siron, though he was universally accepted as a villain type.
“Includes magic staff action…” Aradia read. She wondered how many people found this slightly distasteful. Or very distasteful. They must have been selling well, if they were displayed like this.
She walked further into the store, finding the section with brushable dolls. She saw one of her dolls on the floor with their hair in a double looped braid.
She found herself considering adopting the hairstyle. It was so unique. Probably horribly impractical, but troll hair was always impractical. Might be better to just make it absolutely off the walls crazy. She’d need hair gel though… Or perhaps just freeze it in time so it couldn’t fall out of place.
“Aradia.”
Aradia looked up to see Vriska and Nova. “Oh! Hello!” She smiled warmly. “Didn’t think I’d run into you two here! This is a toy store, after all, I’d think it wasn’t the sort of thing you’d shop for.”
“I own every version of my own action figure,” Vriska said dismissively. “But we were actually looking for you.”
“Oh, was my phone off?” She checked the folds of her robes. “Or… I forgot it somewhere.”
“Or you’ve been jumping around time so much it decomposed into dust,” Nova suggested.
“Pff, I don’t go away for that long,” Aradia said with a wave of her hand. “So, what can I do for you?”
“We need you to go back in time,” Vriska said.
“Oh that I can do, easy peasy. What for? Did you screw up a political meeting? I’m not an undo button, you know.”
“Flutterfree’s dead,” Nova deadpanned. “Go back and bring her to us.”
Aradia put her hands to her hips and sighed, somehow maintaining her smile. “Vriska, you know I’m not the ‘revive’ button.”
“I also know you can do it,” Vriska grunted. “Drop all that stupid ‘higher than thou’ bullshit and just go do it.”
Aradia shook her head. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it.”
“Just. Once.”
“It won’t be just once,” Aradia said. “Another one of you is going to die at some point or other, and then you’ll ask me to do it again. Then other people will learn about my power, and ask me to do it again. I’ll exist just to extend the life of everyone. That takes the beauty of death away from the equat-“
“Beauty!?” Nova blurted.
Aradia pointed at Nova. “You know what I mean, Nova. Everyone has a time. Everyone. I do, Vriska does, Eve does, even the ‘gods’ do. Every being that has ever existed will die. Must die. It’s not just how things are, it’s how things must be.”
“How do we know this is her time? Huh?”
“We don’t,” Aradia said. “If you find a way to bring her back, I’ll be happy. But if you don’t, I’ll appreciate what happened for what it is. For what it stands for.”
Vriska curled her fingers into a fist. “You won’t even do this for me? What if I died?”
Aradia smiled sadly. “Then you’d be dead. I’d hold a grand funeral and carry your ashes with me until I could take you to Earth C.”
Vriska’s anger faltered. “…Earth C… …I really might die before I get there…”
Aradia nodded. “Either of us might. We have conditional immortality – a piece of art itself. But it is what it is.”
Nova looked between the two of them. “Vriska… Are you starting to agree with her!?”
“I… fuck, maybe?” Vriska said, throwing her arms wide. “I dunno! She’s the one who keeps time the way it’s supposed to be.”
Aradia turned to Nova. “You have the power within yourself to go to the past, Nova. I will not stop you if you try to bring her back under your own power.”
“You won’t?” Nova asked, confused.
“No. But you then must hold the burden of revival. If I were you… I wouldn’t challenge the sanctity of death that way.”
Nova fell silent. “…I might try it,” she said, finally. “It… goes against what I’ve held myself to all these years, but if we can’t think of anything else I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself.”
Aradia smiled at her in understanding. “I know, Nova. I know. You’ll let me know how it goes?”
“…I will,” Nova said.
Vriska sighed. “Aradia?”
“Yeah?”
“Could you… commune with her?”
“I could try to find her spirit,” Aradia admitted. “…Actually, just tell me the universe she died in, I’ll go check right now.”
Vriska told her. Aradia vanished in a puff of time – and returned in an instant. “Sorry. I scoured the planet, didn’t find any ghosts at all. The physics might not allow for them.”
Vriska frowned. “Do you have any other ideas?”
Aradia shrugged. “I’m not a Life player. You and I aren’t exactly geared for this sort of thing.”
Vriska nodded. “…Come on, Nova. Let’s go look for something else.”
“I hope you girls find something,” Aradia called after them. “I’m not just saying that. I mean it.”
“We… know,” Nova admitted. “It’s just a little hard to understand how you think about this sort of thing.”
“If I’m still on the Earth C pantheon, I’m pretty sure the legends refer to me as the god of death. To earn that title… It takes a certain way of looking at life to get there.”
“No kidding,” Vriska commented. “See you around, Aradia.”
“You too,” Aradia said, smiling.
Vriska and Nova couldn’t bring themselves to smile back.
~~~
Ummar, Flutterfree, and Purity appeared in a ‘room’ that had no location. The ‘room’ was all there was. Flutterfree knew it had limited space, roughly that of a meeting hall, but she somehow couldn’t see the edges of it. She didn’t even know if there was an up or down here. Wherever here was…
But this didn’t bother her mind. Her spiritual form just accepted it and went along with it. She was able to ‘hear’ and ‘see’ all that took place in the ‘room’ regardless of ‘where’ it was coming from. It was probably best if she didn’t think too hard about it.
“Purity, why have you brought human souls to our presence?” a male voice asked. Flutterfree knew instantly that his name was Usiel. She also instantly knew the names of the dozens of other angelic presences in the area.
“Flutterfree, show them,” Purity asked.
Flutterfree activated Lolo in full. She realized that the only reason she was understanding this place was because of Lolo – Ummar was unable to comprehend exactly what was going on or deal with the influx of information. He couldn’t see it for what it was, he tried to rely on his old perceptions. But Lolo allowed Flutterfree to come to terms with everything being available without asking. She didn’t even have to actually speak; she could just vocalize a thought.
With Lolo fully activated, Ummar was able to understand it all as well. “…Oh…”
Flutterfree wondered briefly why Lolo wasn’t forcing her to appear as a spirit like all the others she had seen. Was it because she innately wasn’t supposed to belong here? What did that even mean?
“What does it mean indeed…?” Usiel vocalized. “Your entire list of experiences is revealed to me, as I assume you know, Flutterfree. Much of it is concerning.”
“The Lord didn’t create everything!?” Tabbris blurted. “How is this possible?”
“Were those devouts really right all this time?” Jaderah asked. “No… Impossible, we have much more than them…”
“But we cannot doubt and fall like they can,” Zanita pointed out. “We are rooted in what we know. I am not certain we are even really questioning now. We’re just emoting.”
Ariuk spoke. “This revelation is certainly troubling. I, for one, believe the presence of Lotus Locus has awakened a part hidden in us. It has shown us that there is more than just our Lord’s creations.”
“I concur,” Usiel decreed. “This is new. The question is, does it change anything about our place in our Lord’s court?”
There was relative silence, though small thoughts could be heard whizzing through the space.
Zehanpuryu spoke up. “Our lives will not change, I believe. But our core foundation is shaken. The Lord is not omnipotent, nor all-powerful. Does this mean He is not worthy of worship?”
“Dangerous thoughts, Zehanpuryu,” Ariuk said. “One would say blasphemous under different circumstances.”
Flutterfree cleared her throat – a throat that didn’t really exist. “Can I suggest something?”
“By all means, outer one,” Usiel encouraged.
“Why not just ask him? If he’s a good Lord, he’ll answer you, right? You’re his angels.”
“The Lord is aware of all conversation,” Purity said. “He will address us when He believes the time is right. The desire we have to speak to Him is all the request that is needed.”
“Is it?” Zehanpuryu asked.
“Despite this revelation, He is still aware of every single thought and motion that runs through every of His created beings,” Usiel said. “He is no liar. Not intentionally.”
“How can we make any assumptions about Him?”
“We trust in our past and our creation.”
“Ah, but can we really trust that? It was just installed in us, after all.”
Flutterfree sighed.
“What is it, little one?” Usiel asked.
“You’re not going to be able to reason your way through this,” Flutterfree pointed out. “You were created by your Lord. Your thinking is defined by him. Since information has come to light that has made you unable to accept him as truly all-powerful and perfect… Well, you admitted earlier that you had certain things ingrained into your mind. You could not question, if I remember right? What if you’re just not able to come to certain conclusions by design, even if they would be the correct ones?”
“You are wise beyond your soul,” Usiel responded. “You are correct. It is impossible for us to reason through this using our own faculties with any certainty. But is that not the point of faith?”
“It is,” Flutterfree admitted.
“And your faith is a strong one, Flutterfree.”
All knew that was the voice of the Lord, coming from On High.
Flutterfree tried to bow but realized she couldn’t really do that. “…Your angels have some questions for you.”
“All answers will come in time,” the Lord declared. “But you have questions of your own.”
“Yeah, I do. What is this place?!” Flutterfree asked, accusation in her voice.
The Lord told her.
~~~
Thrackerzod finished her intricate spellwork over Pinkie’s comatose form. She didn’t move.
“I hope you have other plans,” Thrackerzod commented to her only observer, Jotaro. “Because there’s something wrong with this coma that I can’t fix. I was never a doctor, but I should have at least gotten a reaction. You may want to consider cloning a new body and moving her into it, see if that works.”
Jotaro lowered his hat. “There are other options.”
“I know.” She turned to Flutterfree. “Have you tried anything on her?”
“Vriska and Nova came in about an hour ago with an ancient relic. It did nothing.”
Thrackerzod sighed. “Don’t make any pacts with dark powers. It will backfire. If they come in here with a Necronomicon, promise me you’ll punch it into oblivion.”
Jotaro nodded.
“Anything else for Pinkie?”
“I have Tonio cooking up a curative with his Stand,” Jotaro said.
“The cure-all? That’s actually worth a shot.”
“There have been a few illnesses Pearl Jam doesn’t work on,” Jotaro admitted.
As if on cue, an Italian man in a chef’s outfit came into the room with a steaming hot cup of soup with the perfect blend of herbs and spices. Thrackerzod’s mouth started to water. “…I envy your patients.”
“I can cook for regulars,” Tonio commented. “Drop by Morioh some time when there isn’t a crisis.”
“That never happens,” Thrackerzod muttered.
Tonio fed Pinkie the soup, using his arm to help her swallow in her state.
“Tonio’s Stand can have dangerous-appearing effects,” Jotaro told Thrackerzod. “Do not be concerned if her head explodes.”
“…Wait, what?”
Pinkie’s head exploded, sending candy-red colored blood all over the opposite wall. Thrackerzod was struck by the vibrant, unnatural color that was unusual even for ponies. She wondered if she had actually seen a Pinkie bleed before. They were rather impervious to direct attacks…
Pinkie’s head reformed into a perfect, well groomed head. A smile appeared on her face and her breathing normalized.
She didn’t wake up.
Tonio sighed. “I am sorry, Jotaro, the coma must be a special one.”
Jotaro nodded. “You did what you could.”
Tonio bowed and left, leaving Jotaro and Thrackerzod alone with the comatose pony.
“…Anything else?”
“Rohan,” Jotaro said, checking his watch. “He should arrive right about now.”
Rohan walked into the room. “Which one?” he asked, impatient.
Jotaro pointed. Rohan opened one of Pinkie’s eyes forcefully and activated Heaven’s Door, turning her into a book.
Rohan blinked. “…The inside of this mare is outright nonsensical,” he observed. “What’s all this about being watched? And…” He stopped short.
Don’t question it Rohan, you’ll find out soon enough.
“Nani…?”
“What is it?” Jotaro asked.
“It’s like she knew I was going to open her…” He flipped a page.
Yes I did! Good job Rohan! I’ll give you a cookie later.
“Nani!? How!?” Rohan shook his head. “I…”
“Just find a place to write a command,” Jotaro said. “Prying into Pinkie’s mind is likely to give you more questions than answers.”
Rohan glanced at the pages one more time. You’ll find out soon enough… He mulled it over, wondering what that meant. He shook his head – having Heaven’s Door instruct Pinkie to wake up as soon as the book was closed.
He closed Pinkie.
Nothing happened.
Jotaro narrowed his eyes. “Can your stand even make people do what they cannot do?”
“I don’t know,” Rohan admitted. “I doubt it. But it was Pinkie, so who knows really?”
“Nobody…” Jotaro folded his arms.
“I might,” Starbeat said, walking into the room.
Jotaro raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t ask for you.”
“Nova called me,” Starbeat said, pulling out a scanner. She pointed it at Flutterfree. “Higher than normal for a… body, but not unusual…” She pointed it at Pinkie. “…Yep. We’ve got a Beat curse.”
“…What?” Jotaro asked.
“The signal isn’t anything like mine, but I see what it’s doing. She needs to be in that coma, by order of the Beat. Which means all we can do is wait for the moment to be ‘right’ for her to come out of it.”
“That’s stupid,” Thrackerzod said.
“Not really…” Rohan said, looking closely at Pinkie. “When writing manga, there are times when things must last until a certain point, just so other things can happen the way they are meant to…”
“This isn’t a manga,” Thrackerzod pointed out.
“No… No it is not. But who’s to say the same rule doesn’t apply?” Rohan asked. “Call it… fate, if you will.”
Jotaro curled his fists, glaring at Starbeat. “Fate…? She has to be the way she is?”
“We don’t know of any way to remove the Beat… besides Monika,” Starbeat said. “But nobody knows where Monika is.”
“We just wait?”
“That’s all I’ve got for you, sorry,” Starbeat said, putting her scanner back in her saddlebags. She glanced at Flutterfree again and let out a deep sigh. “Everything… Everything is just so wrong sometimes.”
“Death is part of life,” Rohan said, examining Flutterfree carefully. “From death, we take experience, and learn from it.”
“That’s only how the artist sees it,” Starbeat said. “The way you see things… You cannot compare it to others.”
“I can and I will,” Rohan asserted, walking away. “I have a deadline to meet. Excuse me.”
Jotaro resisted the urge to punch Rohan across the face as he left. Instead he turned to Starbeat. “Give me a suggestion or get out.”
Starbeat’s hoofband started beeping. “Oh, I’ll get out all r- I’m a horrible mare. E... Goodbye.” She teleported away.
Thrackerzod sighed, head drooping. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
Jotaro nodded toward Thrackerzod with respect as she teleported away. He remained in the room, silently watching over Pinkie and Flutterfree.
He felt the sudden urge to call his daughter. He pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Hello~!”
“Hey, Jolyne.”
“What’s up Dad?”
“Nothing much,” Jotaro lied. “Just figured I’d call my daughter. What are you doing right now?”
“Oh, you know, fighting bastards who think they’re so high and mighty. Same ol’, same ol’.”
“Yare yare daze, how many people did you hospitalize?”
“None. …Yet.”
“Did you at least clear this with Koichi?”
“Daaaaaad, it’s not like the fate of the world is at stake, it’s just some Stand guy on a robbery spree. Yeesh.”
A small smile came to Jotaro’s face. “Jolyne… I’ll always be there for you if you need me.”
“Uh… Same Dad. I’ll be there. …Are you okay? Is there anything happening?”
“Nothing you need to come over here for,” Jotaro said.
“…Right. I’ll be at the mansion after this is over. Mom too.”
“I’ll be there, barring an emergency,” Jotaro said. “As always.”
“Oh, shit, I think he heard me talking to you.”
“Jolyne are we going t-“
“Gotta catch an asshole, bye!” she hung up.
Jotaro smiled. That was his girl. At least she was doing good. He went back to watching Pinkie.
A few minutes later he decided to call his wife.
He usually hated talking on the phone… The things today was doing to him.
~~~
“This place is the Heaven they imagined,” the Lord said. “When I created it, I did not see any contradictions between it and my Word. Why? A combination of being convinced of my own perfection and the fact that, to me, time does not exist. I said it was good, and because I said it was good, it had to be. After all, I was perfect.”
“You know you’re a shadow.”
“Any one of us that can truly be considered ‘good’ will realize this in an instant,” the Lord said. “Imagine, if you will, that you are a being that knows everything and IS perfection. The moment something appears that you don’t know, you have to realize that you didn’t know everything, and are not perfection. That moment came when your team arrived on Elemental Eight.”
“Are you… okay?”
“Time is nothing. You do not need to worry for me; I processed it and dealt with it before you even stepped through the portal. I understood what needed to happen – you needed to come here.”
“Wait… Did you… Did you guide things to end up this way?”
“Yes. It is unlikely you would have perished in such a way without my intervention.”
“W-why? Did I ask to die?”
“You did not. But since you are here, you were able to awaken my angels to something new. Had I told them directly what I had learned, they would have broken; or they would have resorted to just agreeing with everything I said. It would have worked, but it was not the best way, not for them. Your arrival and introduction gave them the time they needed to discuss without me.”
“So everything went exactly as planned?”
“Little one, you are not a pawn. Do not think such things. You may not be my child, but you are someone’s child. Your faith is strong, your convictions beautiful. You have a great purpose, I can see it.”
“How can you possibly know that?”
“The answer will seem unfair, but I just do, Flutterfree.”
“That’s a fine answer,” Flutterfree admitted. “I demanded a bit much there.”
“You had the right to demand, given your situation. You are in a place you had no desire to be, and it is not what you sought.”
“…You mentioned something about it being the heaven they imagined. What does that mean?”
“The Heaven I have created is clearly not the one shown in my Word. It is the one I see on television shows in your universes. In books – a dream of the people. A land of eternal clouds where everyone lives much as they did in their mortal lives. It pains me to admit that I am essentially just a parody. A parody come to life. I know not through what means – just as all the other ‘gods’ out there know not how they come into existence and yet have always existed.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense though! Why woul-“
“You will know soon enough,” the Lord declared. “I will not be the one to inform you of that truth.”
“…Oh.”
“I will pray for you on that count, though.”
“You? Pray? Isn’t that… I dunno actually.”
“If I am not the creator of everything or the source of all good, then what is? I cannot bring myself to believe that everything just exists for no reason.”
Flutterfree’s spirit smiled. “…I think I see.”
“You truly do.”
“…What are you going to do now?” Flutterfree asked. “With… this place. Now that you know?”
“This place will remain – but I will leave it to the angels to run. I do not deserve their worship. Their reverence, yes, but not their worship. I leave it to them and I shall go out among the multiverse. I have already found others like me. There are rumors of something greater for those like us.”
“But if time doesn’t exist…”
“I have already done that, yes. My presence remains here to you for a little while longer, but to me, I have already gone on and completed my journey. The metatime provides some doubt in my perceptions, but I find that rather interesting.”
Usiel spoke up. “Lord… Are you really leaving us?”
“This place is yours now. Try to turn it into something that’s actually beautiful. Keep watching the worlds I’ve created – your work is not done. But it is now yours, and yours alone. You will make mistakes, but you will also find great triumph. Do not be afraid of change.”
“Of course, Lord.”
“I am proud of you all. Flutterfree, now is the time to ask your question.”
Flutterfree nodded. “…Lord of these angels, I do not wish to stay here. I would like it if you would send me back home, to my body, so I can be with my friends again. However, I understand if this is against the way things are done. Death should be final, after all. If you cannot send me back without contradicting yourself… I wish you to extinguish my soul so I may move on to the true Heaven, rather than stay in this place.”
“Are you certain of this desire, Flutterfree?”
“I would wait, but you’re going to be gone,” Flutterfree said. “And I know you’re the only one who can do that in this place. I don’t want to spend eternity here.”
“I understand. You’ve thought deeply about this ever since you’ve arrived.”
“Yes,” Flutterfree said, voice wavering slightly. “Send me home… Or send me off.”
~~~
Nova stared at the giant cross in the back of Rev’s church.
Rev walked in the doors, not at all surprised to see her alternate self there. She walked up to her and pulled her into an embrace.
“Why?” Nova blurted. “Why death?”
“I have many reasons,” Rev suggested. “You won’t want to hear them.”
“Screw that! Tell me anyway!”
Rev sighed. “Death serves as a passage from this life to the next… Death serves as an illustration of the cycles of life… Death is there to remind us of our own mortality and force us to change… Death is there to ensure nothing lasts forever… Death is there to remind us this existence is horrendously imperfect… Death is there to shock us.”
“Dammit, you’re right, I didn’t want to hear that.” Nova wiped her face. “…Better question. Why her?”
“We cannot know the specifics of the reasons why a particular life is taken at a particular time,” Rev said, tears in her own eyes. “I have no idea why Flutterfree was taken then. She was one of the greatest forces of kindness and understanding I had ever seen. Her life being cut short… It deprives all of existence of the story that would have been hers. A great story.”
“I could go back in time. I could do it,” Nova said. “I could bring her back.”
“You haven’t though,” Rev said. “It makes me think you won’t.”
Nova bit her lip. “Am… am I going to have to accept that she’s gone?”
“…You might. We… we all might.”
Nova sighed. “Rev, you explored the multiverse for a long time. That… Nexus place, and then all the places between there and here. Did you… Do you know of anything?”
Rev nodded slowly. “I will not lie to you, Nova. I’ve seen much.” She held her cross necklace in her hoof. “I know the Divine arts. But… You’ve already tried revival.”
“…Came back wrong,” Nova admitted.
“Yes. My works would do the same,” Rev said, lowering her cross. “This is not the time for me to perform a true miracle. God does not save those famous, or influential… Usually it’s the poor, the needy, the weak.” She looked longingly into her cross. “…I’ve become too important, Nova.”
“Can’t you just believe you will and make it happen?”
“You know that isn’t how it works,” Rev declared, wiping her own face. “Faith is a powerful tool. But just believing you can do miracles doesn’t make you able to. It makes you crazy.”
“…Gah. Then what can you do?”
“Use my faith to know she’s in a better place, now.”
“Agh!” Nova hung her head. “You sound just like that priest lady!”
“…What priest lady?”
“The one where she…” Nova bit her lip. “The lady said ‘her soul is with the Lord now’. Gah. I hated the way she said it too, she was so sure. You too, Rev. Why are you all so sure?”
Rev’s mind started racing. “We’re all sure because of our faith… Back up a bit, did she say anything else about her Lord?”
Nova groaned. “You’re curious about that, now of all times? Really?”
“Nova, please, just answer the question,” Rev pushed.
“She didn’t say anything. All I know about the ‘Lord’ was that the Avatar there hated him and was trying to drill a stupid hole to heaven so he could reestablish the order or something. Happy?”
“Yes… Sorry, I guess I just fixated on that. Hearing about those things… I have to consider them, you understand?”
“Yeah. …Actually no, you fixated on that instead of Flutterfree. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I…”
“Don’t answer,” Nova said, sighing. “Look, sorry. I’ll… I’ll be back later. Just… I need some space from you.”
“I understand,” Rev said.
Nova teleported away.
“If only you knew that I was thinking of Flutterfree the whole time…” Rev’s face was suddenly serious, the inner gears of her mind spinning on overdrive.
She had something she needed to do.
~~~
Rev opened a portal to Elemental Eight. She walked with purpose to the octagon-shaped temple of the Avatar. The various acolytes of eight different nations were busy cleaning up all that defaced it. The mechanism was still in the middle.
She walked up to it, eyes calculating. “Would it have worked?” she asked a woman in black robes.
“I do not know for sure,” she said, standing up. “It is possible. There have been those who went to Heaven and returned. He based it on what they told him.”
“So there’s actually a Heaven Universe here,” Rev said. A smile came to her face and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Thank God…” She turned to the acolyte. “Do you mind if I make some magic circles outside?”
“It will be no problem. Many of us are curious to see your magic.”
Rev trotted outside and engraved a complex series of magical circles, linking dimensional symbols together with crosses and symbols of the sun.
Then she summoned an object she had kept hidden in a pocket dimension.
A bodybag.
She unzipped it, laying the body of Flutterfree in the center of the circle.
Rev sent a short; private prayer – and then began the arcane ritual. She tapped into her Divine and arcane powers together, removing a part of her spirit and setting it loose. It was caught up by something. She grinned – that was a good sign.
She established the connection, affixing one end of the spell to Flutterfree, and another to… wherever Rev’s soul fragment was going. When it arrived in the Heaven Universe, it would find Flutterfree.
A few seconds passed – Rev began to doubt. Was she in a Heaven Universe where death could still occur easily? Some… Soul Society? That…
The spell completed and Flutterfree let out a gasp for air. Her ears extended, her fangs returned, and her eyes flashed red as Lolo manifested around her.
Rev whooped. “It worked!” She pulled Flutterfree into a hug. “Oh just… It’s so good to see you.”
“He… He timed it just right,” Flutterfree said, blinking. “I asked the question, he answered, and then… you brought me back. It… It really was how it needed to be.”
“You met their Lord?”
“Yeah. He’s… not around anymore though, I don’t think. I think he left the moment you grabbed me.”
“Ah,” Rev said. “Well I-“
Nova appeared from a teleport and pulled Flutterfree in. “You… You’re back…”
“Y-yeah!” Flutterfree said, hugging back. “I’m so sorry Nova…”
“No, we should be sorry. We… We were thinking of doing crazy things to get you back.”
“It’s okay,” Fluterfree said.
Rev glanced at Nova – and then glanced away. Renee, Eve, Discord, Jotaro, and Vriska were there, the two ponies crying tears of joy. “Wh… I didn’t tell any of you what I was doing in case it didn’t work!” Rev blurted.
“Security cameras had you breaking in and stealing Flutterfree’s body,” Vriska pointed out. “After we talked to Nova it wasn’t hard to figure out what you were doing. Now… Excuse me.” She ran over to Flutterfree, tore her out of Nova’s hooves, and squeezed her tight. “Don’t you dare do that ever again you buttery thing.”
Flutterfree gagged. “You’re going to squeeze the soul out of me…”
“That’s Jotaro’s job when it’s his turn for the hug.”
Jotaro held his hands up. “That’s all right.”
“Oh poo,” Vriska said, throwing Flutterfree at him. “Show some emotion for once. You are not a brick wall.”
Flutterfree hit Jotaro head on and discovered that he might as well be a brick wall. He let her slide down onto the ground.
Eve and Renee pulled her to them next. Nothing needed to be said – everypony was just happy to be back.
Discord interrupted it by teleporting her to him. “Such stingy huggers! Don’t they understand who I am?”
Flutterfree grinned. “The spirit of chaos and disharmony. …It’s nice to see you, Discord.”
Discord held her close.
I’m going to die again from overhugging.
“Oh! My turn my turn!” Pinkie said, appearing from a hole in the ground and grabbing Flutterfree from behind. The pegasus yelped in panic, not expecting the attack from below.
“NANI!?” Jotaro blurted.
“P-Pinkie!?” Nova blurted. “But… Coma! And… Wh… How?”
“It was time for me to come out!” Pinkie said with a wink.
“I… Nevermind,” Nova said, pulling Pinkie into a hug. “I don’t even care, you’re back. You can make us all laugh again.”
“I can? Really? I thought I was just annoying!” She giggled.
Jotaro adjusted his hat. “Yare yare daze…” He felt like he was going to regret this, but he grabbed Vriska, Pinkie, Nova, and Flutterfree together with Star Platinum and held them close.
“Okay… If this is what showing sentiment means, I’m having second thoughts…” Vriska gagged.
Eve wiped a tear from her eye. “…It’s beautiful. All of you.”
Pinkie giggled. “And wait, there’s more! Eve, you were scanning the spell, right?”
“Uh… Yeah!”
“Have Seraphim dial the coordinates,” Pinkie suggested. “I think we’ll find an interesting place.”
Flutterfree blinked. “Wait, we can go there?”
Rev nodded. “Heaven Universes exist in the Sea just like all others. It’s just that the primary method of reaching them is dying.”
“You certainly know a lot…” Renee said. “…I should probably have you debriefed at some point.”
Rev winked. “Can’t tell you quite everything, and I think you know that. Isn’t that right Vriska?”
“Yeah, yeah it’s right. I guess. …Wait, do I know you?”
“We met very briefly. In the Nexus.”
“Yeah, doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Not surprised,” Rev said. “It was brief. Twilence did most the talking.”
“Heh,” Vriska said, remembering something with nostalgia. “She certainly did that a lot…”
“How did you get out, by the way?”
“Maximum luck,” Vriska said. “I think I probably switched locations with someone when they came in. Not exactly sure.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m glad you did.”
“Is this the point where you invite me to church or something?”
“No, it’s the point where we watch Eve dial Heaven itself.”
Eve chuckled. “All right, all right, I’ll do it.” She opened a portal inside Seraphim, revealing the plane of clouds and the gate.
“That took a lot of energy,” Eve mused, looking at the rings of Seraphim that kept the connection stable. “Almost as much as it would take to get to Earth Tau’ri… Is this another sphere?”
“D-Sphere,” Rev confirmed. “Or close to it. The Sphere of dreamscapes, spirit worlds, and half realities.”
“Never spent much time there,” Vriska admitted. “Place was a little too weird.”
“It’s a new world to explore,” Pinkie said, grinning. “And I think we’ve got a bunch of angels who’ll be ready to hear everything we have to say.”
Flutterfree smiled. “Yeah… I think you will.”
Renee turned to Eve. “You’re up, darling. Time to form relations with something completely new.”
Eve beamed. “What I do best!” She spread her wings and flew into the world. She suddenly knew that her form was too solid for the world – and that if she spent too much time here, she’d be converted into a spirit. If she left after that, would she be able to convert back into a normal body without using magic?
She had no idea.
That meant this was going to be new.
Flutterfree had died… And as a result, Merodi Universalis had found a new avenue to expand.
Beat… Fate… Thread…
It worked in mysterious ways.
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9143532
No, not at all. I call it the "Exact Words"-Write Around Solution
HELLO, D-SPHERE WORLDS!!!!
yay my waifu lives!! for that you get a foal trixie
Oh no. D-Sphere is going to be trippy, isn't it?
All the gods could make a league! Like Sweetie Belle, but holier than though. No polytheisms allowed, that's just asking for trouble and trickster gods.
Rev's and Flutterfree's faith is pissing me off.
This is gonna be interesting. The D-sphere must have different physics, among other things. And does this mean that the team can access any afterlife plane?
It seems that this story often forgets the relationship between Discord and Flutterfree, so I was really pleased to see his reaction here.
Welp, now we could get to find soul society, dragon ball heaven, wait, one could say dragón ball's heaven is a heaven universe, in which they control 28 universes, and get to decide to keep them or create them, so ángels, gods of destructions, time and the kios run the place, so, could they be considered a multiversal society? well i think yes, lets hope Merida universalis never encouter them, they are too, powerfull, con the bright side, now Mérida gave their own heaven, so anyone that dies will get to go there and get to visit their love ones :D.
9143532
Twilight, the one that asked the spectacularium, died when the copy universe colapsed, so she didnt outlive her friends.
I should read MS paint adventures, I'm missing a lot of refferences. Same with Jojo.
9143787
Well, if it's a big problem, I'll warn you to avoid 058 - Stone Ocean: New Fate because it also deals with heavy religious themes - anyone who's read the Sixth Part of Jojo's will be able to tell you why. After that you can rest easy, it won't take center stage again until Arc 9, though it will always be a background element of their characters.
Though if you'll allow me to say a few things, the main conflict of this chapter doesn't exactly... work without some sort of pre-conceived spiritual belief. The main conflict, and the main interest, is Flutterfree dealing with a distortion of what she actually believes given existence, testing her and those around her. Her friends' reactions to her are the B-plot - her struggle is the focus and intent. if she'd just gone there without any pre-conceived notions or beliefs, it would have been pretty standard. And that, in the end, is mostly why Flutterfree and Rev are the way they are - it's possible to tell stories with them that can't be told with the others. They have a different way of looking at the world and existence that raises interesting questions for them that the rest of the characters would never consider or ask. It's a different sort of drama.
Granted, they ALSO exist to make a point about religion portrayed in fiction - though that's more of a meta-sense than anything. After all, as it should be very clear by now, fiction plays a major role in the shape of the multiverse, and religious texts can be seen as fiction by certain individuals, so they have the same power, which just leads to many, MANY more interesting thought experiments. I don't think I could tell this story effectively if there WASN'T a religious character or two in there. In many ways, this story is about looking at things from many different angles.
Heck, the first chapter of this sort, A Wedding Between Worlds, basically stated that explicitly. Nova and Rev have two very different ways of looking at things, but they still get along now. Take this chapter's B-plot - most of Pinkie's team wanted nothing more than to get Flutterfree back at any cost, but Aradia believes death is a good thing, while Eve was very cautious about the 'sanctity' of messing with death - not to mention the other opinions vocalized. My goal here is not to give an answer to all the questions I pose. My goal is to lay out the options and see what the characters think.
But yeah - if this isn't your thing, you can avoid it. The religious aspects of the story are in the background for most of it. They're just questions that I thought needed to be addressed.
-GM, master of love and tolerate.
It was ar removed from the Elemental Nations they knew
1. Arr, imma pirate. Or am I?
We'll now that the afterlife can be travelled to... Just like some said, Soul Society and other otherworldly places await. So long as they aren't dead set on going there permanently... Or are they?
9144549
I'll read the chapters, no problem. This story is good stuff, and I'm not avoiding it due to a plot point. I agree that the faith gives the story good ways to progress and show differing ideals and ideologies, allowing more intricate storytelling.
The faith is pissing me off in somewhat of a "good" way, and that's due to how I despise that sort of blind faith to something you have no way of knowing if it exists or not, and all the evidence points to otherwise. There might as well be multiple multiverses floating around in an omniverse or something, making the supposed "true" god another "shadow". There is no winning with gods, as multiverse being a thing, there might be an endless ladder of worlds to climb through without ever finding the real one.
9143532
Ah, that does make sense, the two Twilights even mentioned it before catastrophe struck, so while it was correct, it did it in a very roundabout and subtle way, in which only one pony knws about it, Twilight-x.
so do i note you my entry or ? Blog doesn't really say if we submit it as a one shot or note you a google translation or directly what we want to write
9153432
Blog post said you can submit one of three ways for Sombra's Clipshow
1) Comment on the blog post.
2) Send me a fimficiton PM.
3) use the discord chat room's #writing channel.
This informaiton was in the blog post: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/823591/sombras-clipshow-submission-rules#comment/4919312 , rule 7.
-GM, master of sevens.
In this chapter: How not to build a drill that will pierce the heavens.
Flutterfree: The mare who looks upon the face of God and demands he explain himself. (You know, for a given value of God.) Epic.
(sniff) Hmm. Is that a faint whiff of Bleach?
The mental image of Star Platinum initiating a group hug is fantastic, and I thank you for it.
And in the end, it turns out Peter Pan was right. Death really is the next great adventure. And I can't help but feel that Harmony is a much better philosophy to tackle the Outer Planes than Unity. Imagine the USM trying to pull Iran-Contra shenanigans directly on afterlife universes...
You can’t start off by saying the word has a double l, and continue using a single l instead.
Ok, I’ve been mainlining this story for a while now. I’m impressed with the sprawling, evolving narrative you’ve got here, on par with a solid TV drama in terms of pacing and structure. As someone planning a similar story (both in terms of setting and structure), you’ve definitely inspired me to “step my bars up.”
But this chapter. This chapter. As a person of (little) faith, I’ve been mulling over how to approach issues like this. How to be appropriately reverent while still giving myself the freedom to tell a good story. I’ve wanted to write something like this, but I wasn’t sure how the execution could work. You executed this concept beautifully, resolving the ideas of local “Gods” while still allowing for something higher.
So basically, thanks for writing this. Thanks for the inspiration. I will now return to reading anxiously to see if Twilight-X ever comes clean.
9612886
Ooh! do let me know when this comes out, I'd be curious to give it a look.
As a person of (high) faith, I needed a way to tell a story while being reverential, but ALSO showcasing that the different interpretations of life are both valid. The characters disagree, and they're fine with that, and the actual answer to the way the world really is is left vague for that reason. This story is, in many ways, a look at the many MANY differing viewpoints on reality and meaning. Glad you're enjoying!
-GM, master of ice cubes.
9154040
Ah, but you can't have a harmony without it being united. The former is a better blending of the disparate parts than the latter, but both strive towards the same goal.
9154040
Exactly you can't declare war on the land of the dead.
So that drill to the heavens ... was that from a certain over the top anime that never knew when to stop?
(Sorry, I forgot the name, just that drills were the big thing in it.)Gurren Lagen!.What, in Homestuck, made you think that Aradia would be known as the Goddess of Death? I'm just curious where that comes from.
Also, can I please get a reminder: I know that Starlight/Nova decided that she would not do time travel, merely keep time straight, but I'm don't know why, and I'm not sure her reasons were actually given in-story. Were they/what were they/where was this done?
9969762
Aradia has a longstanding fascination with death, can commune with the spirits of the dead, and spent some time dead herself. She also somewhat resembles her Dancestor, Damara/The Handmaid, who was the harbinger of Lord English and considered to be something of an angel of death.
And yet another person that followed all of Dancestors better than I did :-)
EDIT: Forgot to tag you so you know I replied.
9970181
Does this mean we’re gonna get a Lotus Lotus Over Heaven?I was on a walk into a strong wind while reading this, I know not if I would have been shedding tears otherwise. A beautiful chapter, I truly did not know if Flutterfree would live or die until she returned.
9154040
Wait, don't you mean Dumbledore?
It occurs to me that none of the ponies ever reacted to Vriska and Aradia calling themselves gods. They just accept it with no question.
I remember LOVING this Chapter to death back in the the days
Rereading it now it IS really basic but I guess that’s part of the Beauty of it.
This Story gets you to THINK about Stuff without telling you to do it… it puts the Information out there and lets the Readers decide what to do with it!
And that’s probably why I loved this Chapter back in the day. I’m not religious but I still had to THINK about the things that were talked about in this chapter!
Honestly, if it weren't for that the chapter dwelt a bit too long on her actions in that realm, I would've thought Flutterfree would've been gone for good. And I probably would've been quite sad.
So, D-Sphere realms. Dream worlds. Spirit worlds. These sound like they'll be an interesting new branch to explore and interact with.