• Published 29th Oct 2017
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Songs of the Spheres - GMBlackjack

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056 - The Pink Truth

O’Neill, despite being the Overhead of the Military Division of Merodi Universalis, still took the Enterprise out for exploration missions. The Enterprise was no longer the strongest ship in the fleet - there were now several others of similar power and design – but it was still more than enough to deal with most threats out in space.

The ship was staffed by Renee’s crew rather than a Military outfit, so technically it fell under the authority of Expeditions, but O’Neill was definitely the one in charge.

And since he didn’t like the title ‘Overhead’ or the alternative ‘Head’ because it sounded outright moronic at times, he still kept ‘General’ in front of his name. After all, he commanded the entire Merodi Universalis fleet, why wouldn’t he be the General? Even though there was a General rank within the Military Division…

Some of his soldiers had taken to calling him The General.

The Enterprise was still doing a partially military job – the universes it was exploring were along the border of the USM. The mission was, in many ways, a rush to grab interesting universes before the USM could get to them. Just drop a probe in and, by treaty, neither side could remain in a universe owned by the other for much longer.

O’Neill knew they were going to do almost nothing with many of these universes, especially the ones inhabited by more primitive people, but a beacon was a beacon. He often had to point out that the USM wouldn’t leave the people alone, like they were, so ‘taking ownership of their universe’ actually helped them. …You know, until they got really angry decades later once they figured out that they were inside someone else’s territory, but they’d cross that bridge when they came to it.

O’Neill watched another portal open. They passed through it, entering yet another field of stars.

The only thing different about this time was that they were getting shot at.

“RETURN FIRE!” O’Neill yelled before anyone gave him reports or even put the ship onscreen. The primary laser weapons activated, firing at a giant cube constructed of a mish-mash of metallic technology. The cube’s shields flashed green as the lasers hit, suffering minimal damages. The green laser that fired in return took a significant chunk out of the Enterprise’s shields.

“Drones and rod! Now!” O’Neill ordered. The lower bay of the Enterprise opened up, a stream of yellow drone weapons flying out, while the magical rod flashed with a rainbow of colors. The drones phased right through the cube’s limited shields, burrowing deep into the cube’s metallic structure, a few managing to survive all the way to the back of the ship for another pass through. The rod created a magical scythe construct and cut at the ship, shaving off a top section.

While heavily damaged, the ship still operated. To everyone’s surprise, the part that was cut off started moving independently.

“We’re basically fighting the Borg here,” O’Neill muttered. “Keep firing. Report!”

“Cube ship has suffered extreme losses to structural integrity and continues to do so. Attempts to disable certain systems have proved useless due to inner redundancies. Another ship has been identified of a different design. It has suffered minimal damage, presumably from the encounter with the cube.”

“Is it still attacking them?”

“Negative, it is focusing entirely on us.”

O’Neill nodded. “How’re we holding up?”

“Shields at 70%.”

“Can we use spatial distortion here?”

A scientific aide pressed a few buttons. “Readings suggest local physics can handle it.”

“Then do it.”

The Enterprise channeled the power of its dimensional drive into space in front of it, but it didn’t dial any particular location. Instead, the power of rippling space tore through the larger half of the cube ship, compromising the structural integrity of every inch of the technological conglomeration. Every single reactor within the ship exploded with the ripple in space, effectively vaporizing the ship.

The rod took hold of the smaller part of the ship, keeping it from moving while the drone weapons went at it like woodpeckers to a tree. The golden lights tore the structure apart bit by bit until nothing with a weapon remained.

O’Neill nodded. “Report?”

“Shields holding at 63%. We did blow a couple fuses, engineering teams have been dispatched.”

“Well, that certainly wasn’t easy…” O’Neill adjusted his uniform. “Show me the other ship and hail it.”

The other ship appeared on screen. It was a relatively flat ship, with a large disc section making up what would be considered the head. A small length of structure came out of the back, affixed to which were two raised ‘tails’ with red tips and bodies that glowed blue on the inside. Giant black text on top of the primary disc was readable: NCC 1701-E

Enterprise.

O’Neill’s mind froze inwardly for a moment as he tried to process this. If Captain Jean-Luc Picard shows up on that screen I’m going to go absolutely wacko.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard showed up on screen, standing on the bridge of his ship. His head was bald, his face serious, and his uniform a red color that O’Neill knew indicated command. “I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. I extend my gratitude and that of all of Starfleet for the aid you have rendered us.”

O’Neill couldn’t suppress all of his ‘wacko’ amusement – a slight chuckle escaped. He tried to cover it with a cough. “Ahem. I am General Jack O’Neill of the Enterprise. I extend greetings from the multiversal society Merodi Universalis. We should probably sit down and have a talk. Would you prefer it if we came over there?”

“That would be preferable.”

“Great! Mauve, prepare for a sudden transport. Hermirod, Lapis-Vee, you too. Let’s make an interesting first impression. Captain Picard, if you wouldn’t mind giving us coordinates to which room you would like us to teleport to?”

“Send him the location of the briefing room,” Picard ordered.

O’Neill nodded to one of the aides. “Teleport away.”

O’Neill, Mauve the unicorn, Hermirod the Asgard, and Lapis-Vee the blue Gem with very long hair appeared in a simple room with a single, long table. A window ran along one wall, displaying the stars and a bunch of debris from the cube ship – the Borg ship. O’Neill saw the Enterprise-E fire a few phaser blasts at larger chunks of the Borg remnants, his Enterprise following suit. Never could be too sure with the tenacious hive-mind zombies.

Just as the four of them sat down, four other people came in. O’Neill recognized them all – Captain Picard, Commander Riker the bearded, Commander Data the albino android, Counselor Troi the empath. He felt a little dirty knowing so much about them all… But he kept quiet for the moment.

Picard sat down across from O’Neill. “I have to admit, I am rather curious what constitutes a multiversal society. We’ve had run-ins with alternate universes before, but never more than one at once.” He glanced at the variety of beings in front of him. “What exactly is Merodi Universalis?”

O’Neill gestured toward Hermirod to explain. The Asgard nodded, producing a small data pad and handing it to the members of Starfleet. Data picked it up, examining it while Picard listened. “Merodi Universalis is a society built on the foundations of multiversal relations formed during the explorations of an individual known as Evening Sparkle. What started out as a simple mission to collect data and find new locations for adventure turned into a political alliance devoted to uncovering more about the multiverse and uniting all who wish in harmony.”

O’Neill continued for Hermirod. “We have a lot of differing worlds, some of which are alternate versions of other worlds. I’m just a human, but Mauve here is a unicorn with magical powers, Hermirod is an Asgard with impressive intelligence, and Lapis-Vee is of the race known as Gems, an artificial race with unusual control over various forces.”

Lapis-Vee took that as her cue to demonstrate. She held up the hand which contained her tear-shaped gemstone, drawing moisture from the air to it. She formed the collected water into a wrench and froze it solid, smiling.

“Impressive,” Picard admitted. “Data here is an android with amazing mental and physical faculties. Troi is of a race known as Betazoids who are empathic.”

O’Neill smirked. “I know.”

“Have you encountered a universe similar to ours in the past?”

“You could say that,” O’Neill said, leaning back in his chair. “Brace yourselves, this is going to not only sound weird, but I also won’t be able to explain it.”

Picard nodded. “Go on.”

“We named our ship the Enterprise because I asked for it. See, I watched a tv show that had a spaceship called Enterprise in it, and that show was something of a cultural icon. So I named my ship – and then today I find another Enterprise. An Enterprise crewed by people I recognize from that show, Star Trek.”

Data blinked. “Really?”

“Jean-Luc Picard, also known for a short time as Locutus of Borg.”

Picard paused for a moment, taken aback by the statement. O’Neill was impressed he was able to recover as quickly as he was - but that was Picard for you. The Captain’s face shifted to curiosity and deep thought. “While it is interesting that you know that, it does not serve as proof of this TV Show.”

“You spent an entire lifetime on a virtual world called Catan in the span of a few minutes,” O’Neill said. “I can send you the episode. I have all of them on my personal computer.”

Picard sat back and furrowed his brow, clearly convinced at this point. “…And you have no idea what this means?”

“I can’t think of anything like this happening before,” O’Neill said. “…Actually, we did run into Sherlock Holmes once, but he wasn’t like the one you read about in the books I’m told. He could be explained away as just a fluke of chance. But you… Everything about this is too specific. You recently fought a war against a race of shapeshifters called the Changelings, or Founders, right?”

Picard nodded. “That is peculiarly specific.”

“I wasn’t kidding when I said I wouldn’t be able to explain it. Even given the size of the multiverse… Hermirod, what are the chances?”

“Of this particular interaction of physics and history, accounting for alternates? Trillions of trillions to one. Since I have not seen this show I cannot give a more specific estimate.”

“The natural assumption is that something caused this,” Data said. “Some entity recorded our lives and missions and decided they could be used for entertainment, perhaps?”

“I wouldn’t put it above Q…” Riker said.

“Oh, Q,” O’Neill laughed. “What a riot.”

Everyone fixed him with blank looks.

“…Hey, if you watched your adventures with Q on a TV screen from the outside, you’d find them funny as well.”

“Well I’m glad someone appreciates me.” In a flash of white light, a man in a red Starfleet uniform appeared. He had a very amused expression on his face.

“Q, this is none of your business!” Riker blurted.

“Actually, believe it or not, it is,” Q said, turning to O’Neill. “I extend all the official greetings from the Q Continuum, multiversal traveler. I also request every episode of that show you’re talking about. I want to see my… performance.”

“Sure thing,” O’Neill agreed. “Don’t suppose you have any idea what’s going on?”

“Delightfully not,” Q admitted, chuckling. “But I find myself wondering if it would be poetic that we had a fictional version of you somewhere.”

“Q admitting he doesn’t know something…” Riker shook his head.

Data went rigid for a moment and began scanning his databanks. “I have found dozens of Jack O’Neill’s in the records, none of which match your description.”

“You wouldn’t have access to all fictional records,” Hermirod pointed out. “For all we know it could be there.”

“Then it looks as if we’ll need to return to Earth to get to the bottom of this mystery,” Picard said. “And to initiate more official talks between our peoples.”

“Bleh. Politics,” Q said distastefully. “I’ll pass. We will meet again, O’Neill. Something tells me you and I will have a lot of fun.”

“Sisko punched you in the face and you never returned to Deep Space Nine,” O’Neill quipped.

Q blinked. Then he grinned, vanishing in a flash of light.

“He even sounds like Discord,” Mauve commented.

“He also wasn’t very good at being an official ambassador,” Hermirod said.

Picard turned to O’Neill. “We are several weeks from Earth at maximum Warp.”

O’Neill smirked. “We can get you there in a couple days, if you don’t mind being towed.”

“We would not,” Riker said.

O’Neill ordered the Enterprise to tow them to Earth. Then they continued talking about their future of relations. In the end, they would form a positive rapport with each other despite the oddity of one side being the subject of a popular TV show.

But the mere fact that they existed raised a few questions for people elsewhere…

~~~

Sombra read the report on her screen.

Star Trek existed.

She knew she was holding a key piece to one of the largest puzzles of the multiverse the instant she saw it. This was big. It… It could explain so much. She just had to figure out how it fit in…

She pulled up two other files – the files on Sherlock Holmes and Heaven Eight. She placed the new report – that she tentatively titled Earth Starfleet – alongside them. Sherlock and Heaven Eight had not given her much to go off of – they seemed similar to fictional things, the Sherlock Holmes mystery and the popular culture’s perception of Heaven respectively. But Starfleet… It was identical.

She performed some searches through Starfleet’s public records, not worrying about hacking into anything classified yet. Just public records. James T Kirk. Benjamin Sisko. Kathryn Janeway. Spock. All of them existed and their personnel files were essentially expanded versions of the fandom wiki articles! Virtually every detail she could easily find was the same! Did this mean that, in their future, Spock would travel to the past and rewrite history? She wondered if O’Neill had thought of that… Probably. Knowing him, he’d try to stop that from happening.

She sat back, a hand to her chin. O’Neill’s crew currently thought some being, possibly a Q, had taken the adventures of the various Enterprises and told stories about them. But that wasn’t it, Sombra was sure of it. It was too detailed… and it told of future events and alternate timelines. Not even the Ascended Ancients had that kind of predictive fortitude, so that ruled the Q as the responsible parties. She supposed there could have been a god of some sort…

Fingers flew across her screens as she performed searches across Earth Starfleet’s databases. She searched for anything, anything at all. She didn’t find any references to a stargate or the Asgard in the records of the Internet… She searched for Stands… She searched for her own world, finding nothing about Overwatch…

And then she found something.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. An old cartoon geared towards young girls that had gained a massive cult following in the twenty-first century on Earth Starfleet. It was virtually unknown in modern times, but its impact on the old Internet still remained.

That was it.

She watched a few clips and decided she had enough. Her fingers flew wildly, bringing up her ‘conspiracy wall’ file. She placed Earth Starfleet, Sherlock Holmes, Heaven Eight, and My Little Pony onto the board. She circled them in red, drawing a connection to the symbol she used for the Beat, and a line to Pinkie. She placed several more images on the file from seemingly random locations, tying them all together with a crazed motion of her hand.

She placed transcripts of several things Pinkie had said over the years. Things that didn’t make any sense… but that were suddenly clear to her. “That was for everyone watching at home!” “It has to be this way.” “Oh look, it’s a MacGuffin!” Sombra grabbed quotes from Starbeat about how the Beat worked. “Things have to happen in a certain way.” “It’s tied to events and people.” “All we can do is wait for the moment to be ‘right’ for her to come out of it.” She pulled an image of Monika out as well, slapping it onto the increasingly messy collage.

Sombra stood back, looking at her work. She started to laugh to herself.

She’d figured it out!

She scrawled something on the image in the corner.

Beat. Fate. Thread.

Then, in much bigger letters:

Narrative.

“It’s driven by stories…” she said, still laughing softly. “How… how silly is that?” She pulled her head back and laughed. It was so absurd, but she had finally solved one of the greatest mysteries of existence.

But wait… What caused that to be the case? Was there some singular author-god writing everything? It seemed a little too inconsistent for that… While this theory of Narrative explained a lot about things, it didn’t explain everything…

She pulled up another file with an artist’s rendition of the Dark Tower. Next to it, she pulled up the report on Randall Flagg and Black Thirteen. She narrowed her eyes.

“There’s more here,” she said. “It’s stories, yes… But there’s something else to it. Something bigger…”

She placed the Dark Tower in the center of her original collage, circling it and surrounding it in question marks.

Sombra stared at it, pondering deeply. She was close, she knew it. But she also knew she wasn’t going to solve everything today. The true answers would remain hidden for just a while longer…

~~~

Eve smiled as her meeting wrapped up – two types of angels had just come to an agreement. Servitude of the League of Sweetie Belles and Usiel of Heaven Eight were respectfully shaking hands, understanding each other to be different beings.

Eve supposed they weren’t really shaking hands – it was just how her mind chose to perceive it. They were currently in a D-Sphere universe known as Magenta Nocturne, a ‘dreamscape’ type world that was shaped by the minds of those present within it. Besides a general aura of magenta clouds, the universe was defined completely by the three entities within.

Usiel turned to Eve and nodded. “Thank you for mediating between us.”

“It was no problem,” Eve said. “I would have done it regardless.”

“But you did not act wholly out of political interests, you truly wished to see us understand each other,” Usiel decreed. “And for that, I thank you.”

Servitude bowed to Eve. “It was an interesting experience to see and understand a being of pure spirit. I shall return to the League and recommend excursions into the D-Sphere for further expanding of our knowledge.”

“Remember to be careful with the translation procedures,” Eve called. “Jumping right into a D-Sphere universe before scanning its physics could be disastrous. Jumping back into a universe you didn’t come from could be just as problematic.”

“I’m aware,” Servitude said.

That was a significant problem that had cropped up when exploring the D-Sphere. Virtually none of the universes within operated on anything similar to standard physics, making it truly alien territory. Translating into most D-Sphere universes just resulted in a slow conversion of a physical body into a spiritual force or mental image, but a few had such jarring changes that it could shatter an individual’s psyche or even kill them. The Research Division was pouring everything it had into creating ships that could force their own laws of physics on any universe they entered, but they weren’t there yet. For now, Eve had to deal with her body converting every time she moved – much like how the Flats changed when they left their own universe. It worked both ways. She had used Seraphim a few times to keep her form, but keeping focus on physics alteration using her Stand was impractical if she wanted to do things for an extended period of time.

The three of them left Magenta Nocturne, Servitude her own way, Usiel and Eve to Heaven Eight. The two of them appeared right outside the grinder device the Expeditions Division had installed with authorization from the local angels. Eve understood that it had been hard to create a grinder device that functioned in the ‘spiritual’ physics of Heaven Eight, which may have had some bearing on why it took the form of a whirlwind instead of a physical machine.

“Have your new researchers figured anything else out?” Eve asked Usiel.

“I do not keep up with the ‘spiritual sciences’,” Usiel said. “You’d have to ask them.”

“Ah, well, maybe later. I’m getting a little tired and I’d like to have a physical body before I turn in. You understand.”

Usiel nodded. “I do. Enjoy your rest, Evening.”

Evening smiled, opening a portal to Elemental Eight. She took a few moments to allow her body to adjust to the change before returning to Equis Vitis. She yawned, trotting up to her room. She would have to lower the sun soon. Sure, Luna could do it easily, but she really ought stay up long enough to take care of it herself.

She pulled up to her computer just to pass the time until she could go to sleep. She checked her messages…

One from Sombra?

Sombra never messaged her. It was always through Giorno. What reason would she have for messaging her?

She opened the message. The subject was Watch these. The message was blank, except for two video attachments, a little over twenty minutes each.

Eve shrugged – she had time to kill anyway. She made sure her computer wasn’t hooked up to any information Sombra wouldn’t already have and opened a video file. She turned the volume down and turned on her ears - it wasn’t too bad if she could control it like this.

“Once upon a time in the magical land of Equestria…”

A documentary of Equis Vitis Equestria? Eve wondered. It was told in the style of a storybook, animated with a stylistic touch similar to the books she had read so long ago in the Canterlot library. It talked about Celestia and Luna, and the rebellion of Nightmare Moon. She found herself enjoying the retelling of the story. They even got Celestia’s pink hair right.

Then the scene switched as they reached the end of the opening narration. Eve saw Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn, sitting under a tree and reading out of a book. “…and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since.”

Eve smiled. Ah, this was probably a retelling of the first adventure with the Elements of Harmony. Someone in some universe had probably decided to animate it. It would be a good story, she considered, especially for those who wanted to learn about friendship and history. She found herself wondering how much they got right. She was prepared to record every little inconsistency.

The theme song started playing. Wasn’t bad – a little repetitive for her tastes, not as creative as it could be, but it served the purpose. Clearly geared towards a younger audience, which Eve didn’t find insulting. After all, everyone should have access to most of her stories. Back in those days there was rarely much in the way of ‘adult’ adventures, though some of the later stuff would be questionable.

They’d found a really good voice actor for Twilight, sounded just like her. Eve wondered what universe made this, but came up with no answers quickly.

So Eve watched. She watched as Twilight Sparkle received the letter from Celestia sending her to Ponyville. She watched Twilight avoid the party, having not learned anything about friendship yet. She watched Spike get abused, as he often did back then...

It was at this point Eve started to notice something odd.

This was scarily accurate. It had everything perfect – right down to details Eve herself wouldn’t have been able to remember, or describe accurately. The face Pinkie made when Twilight met her… The way Rarity arranged the gems… The exact tone of voice with which Fluttershy spoke… It was all perfect. It was slightly stylized for the animated feel, but ponies had always been smooth and came in bright colors…

The first ‘episode’ ended with the appearance of Nightmare Moon, just as Eve remembered. Eve took a moment to lower the sun – about a minute late – and think a bit. The animators and this… Lauren Faust must have observed one of the universes in the past, watching the events unfold. But how did they manage to do that without interfering with anything?

Why did the name Faust sound familiar…?

She decided to just watch the next video. A smile came to her face as she watched the six ponies adventure and start a long-lasting friendship. The defeat of Nightmare Moon, the reunion of Luna and Celestia. Even the lack of magic in Luna’s mane was right. Eve sensed the episode was ending around the time Twilight said “Oh thank you, Princess Celestia! I’ll study harder than ever before!”

Eve began to let her mind drift form the show, wondering how she was going to look into this. Of course, she’d ask Sombra for the rest of the show (if it existed) and where she got it. She’d look up this Lauren Faust, and all the other names in the credits…

And then Pinkie popped up on the screen, looking right at Eve as the closing animation started to blacken the video. “Isn’t this exciting? Are you excited ‘cause I'm excited I've never been so excited, well, except for the time that I went-” Pinkie gasped deeply. “But I mean really~!”

Eve stared at her computer screen.

Her mind put two and two together.

“This is the truth, isn’t it Pinkie?” Eve asked.

“Yeah,” Pinkie said, standing behind her. “It is.”

“…How does it work?”

“Think of it like… Breaking the fourth wall. I knew we were in a show back then, so I addressed the audience I knew was there. I had no idea you would be one of the people in the audience, I just knew there was one. And other things, you know, but that’s a little more complicated. I had fun with it. I made jokes only they would understand, I messed with elements of the cartoon we were in, and I even summarized the plot a few times just to save everyone a little time.” She giggled. “My… abilities go a bit beyond just knowing, though. I was pretty good at messing with everything. Let’s see… Do you remember when we were in Nova’s village and she was trying to brainwash us? I kept lighting up in laughter even though I wasn’t supposed to be able to. I was pushing against what was supposed to be, bending the rules as much as I could.”

“So… we were in a cartoon. What are we in now?”

“A book. Or a series of books, depending on how you look at it. Chapter fifty-six, The Pink Truth. It’s called Songs of the Spheres, written by G. M. Blackjack, according to Scooter anyway.”

“Does this… GM control everything?”

Pinkie furrowed her brow. “I used to think that was how it worked. That the creators – whoever they were – just controlled everything with their whims of creation. That we were nothing more than a pattern of thought. I don’t think that’s it anymore. I’ve seen too much out here. It has something to do with the Dark Tower and the Beat.”

“The Beat… It’s the force of the story, isn’t it?”

“Yep! A more descriptive term would be Narrative. The correct term would be ka.”

“Ka?”

“Ka,” Pinkie confirmed. “I’m not entirely sure where it comes from, but it is related to the Tower.”

Eve sat in her chair, taking a few slow breaths. “…I see why you couldn’t just tell us this. It’s… It makes you wonder what’s even real. It makes you wonder about free will. Are we just the machinations of some person scrawling things on a page?”

“I can’t answer those questions,” Pinkie said, sadly. “All of us who are Aware – that’s what we call ourselves to not be that obvious – have different ways of coping with it. I just decide it doesn’t matter if I have free will or not, I’ll be the best I can be and help everypony laugh and smile. Scooter talks about more philosophical things like ‘offscreen time’ and ‘dynamic characters’ and the like. Mattie... I’m not sure what she does, actually. Monika treats it like a blunt truth, but a truth that can be manipulated for her own benefit.”

Eve frowned. “Where does your power come from?”

“I don’t know. It was just there, no explanation,” Pinkie said. “Some Pinkies can trace their Awareness back to a certain event – Scooter saw a rainbow explosion – but not me. I just… knew. Only explanation I can give is because I was written that way.”

“This makes so much sense…” Eve said. “Why are there so many similar versions of a world that have wildly different history? So the same story can take place with minor variations. Why do most worlds of a similar type exist within the same timeframe? Because it makes a better story. Why do similar events have similar Beat – or ka – patterns? Because similar events are similar stories!” She laughed slightly. “Melinda is just written to be unbeatable… Blackjack is written in a specific way that breaks the normal flow… And we… are the heroes?”

“Of our story, yeah,” Pinkie admitted.

“What about the ‘curses’? Like Starbeat?”

“Sometimes those are just ‘things that have to happen’, like my coma. Others, like Starbeat’s… I think that happens when a story written contradicts too heavily with the way things actually are. It has to force it to create the desired story.”

“So… Some psycho wanted a world of endless romance?”

“You should check the Internet of Earth Vitis before we started intervening. Humans were lonely. It was an escape.”

“But… …They have no idea what they’re doing, do they?”

Pinkie shook her head. “None at all. They’re just writing a story they think is interesting or worthwhile.”

“That’s… That’s stupid!” Eve blurted. “Why do we have to be held to the whims of the imaginations of random people?”

“I don’t know,” Pinkie admitted. “I don’t know everything, Eve. I know a lot. I see things happening in other locations because of the ‘scene’ transitions, but not always. I can predict what will happen based on what I know of other stories. I can detect the nature of ponies, I can interfere with the medium.” She grinned sheepishly. “I could demonstrate, but besides the carry-overs from my cartoon days, most of my medium alteration is subtle. Mattie’s is a bit easier to see, taking the form of instant cuts and repetition.”

“That’s why you have all your powers? You…”

“Are a cartoon, basically. I can be hit with anvils, pull things out of nowhere, and change my consistency like a noodle because that was my original medium. It doesn’t translate perfectly into book-form, but it works well enough. Like how you keep magic in another universe even though the form of the magic has changed. I’m a pink ball of everything!”

Eve nodded. “And this explains why you can pull out several dozen coats at virtually any time you want, but the moment we’re in a blizzard you can’t. It’d cut the tension too much. Be too ‘convenient’. Those are the ‘rules’ you talk about, aren’t they?”

Pinkie nodded. “It’s a complex set of rules. If I don’t inhibit myself, something will happen to remove me, or change me into something else that fits the story. Think… Pinkie-X.”

“…Right.” Eve turned to look at the night sky. “What am I supposed to think, Pinkie?”

“Everyone thinks about it differently,” Pinkie said. “You’re actually handling it very well. Better than you would have if I told you when you first asked.”

Eve laughed bitterly. “I would have gone insane back then.”

“I waited for you to discover it on your own. Once you figure it out on your own time… Well, I figured you’d be as ready as you’d ever be to hear the rest of it.”

“…What are we going to tell everyone?” Eve asked.

I’m going to go tell all my close friends now that you know. You should join me.”

“I mean everyone,” Eve said. “The multiverse we find ourselves in. This isn’t something we’re going to be able to keep secret – eventually someone’s going to find this show and find it a little too curious and accurate. Then they’ll find other shows that represent other things.”

“Yeah. O’Neill already found Star Trek. It’s why you got that email, that’s what tipped Sombra off.”

Eve nodded, biting her lip. “Merodi Universalis doesn’t keep secrets unless it has to. I’m going to have to tell them.”

“That’s probably best. The reactions will be the focus for the rest of this chapter, I think. I could ask Scooter. She can read the entire script. She likes to be surprised, so she rarely does, but y’know.”

“I don’t know,” Eve said with a small smile. “What I do know… Is that this must have been a huge burden on you Pinkie. I know you’ve had other Pinkies to talk to recently… But you had to carry it alone all this time. A curse of your own.” She put a wing over Pinkie. “It’s amazing how you kept your cheery, bubbly laughter this whole time.”

Pinkie smiled at Eve, tears in her eyes. “It was hard.” She completed the hug. “But I did it. And now I no longer have to hide. I… I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time.”

“I know.”

“There will still be times I can’t tell you specifics. When I know things I can’t act on,” Pinkie admitted.

“We’ll still be here for you, even during those times.”

“Eve… You’re one of the best friends a pony could have.”

Eve chuckled. “Pinkie… You are the best friend of every pony in existence. You did that all while knowing the truth. You should take some pride in yourself. I think most others would have broken.”

“Heh… Maybe,” Pinkie mused. “Maybe…”

~~~

“…And that’s how Equestria was made!” Pinkie concluded.

She was standing on top of the map in the crystal castle, surrounded by her friends. Her team was there, along with many others: the core four of the League of Sweetie Belles, Eve, Renee, her Rainbow Dash and Applejack, Starbeat, Rev, Alushy, Toph and her team (including Corona, but not including Vivian), Rohan, Daniel, O’Neill, Iroh, Aradia, Discord, Trixie, and Maud. Mattie and Scooter were there to provide backup. Human Pinkie was busy on Earth Vitis, telling her friends there what was going on.

Eve had already briefed the world leaders and Heads in a short, official report, so some of those present had known what this was going to be about before it happened. Even with that preparation, they were not prepared for the long speech from Pinkie. Most of their jaws were hanging open while they processed.

“This explains so much about my life,” O’Neill muttered.

Sweetie Bot raised her hoof to ask a question. “Yes, Bot!” Pinkie called.

“How does that have anything to do with how Equestria was made?”

Pinkie chuckled. “Oh, a bit. It was a joke for the audience’s benefit though.”

Allure’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Wait, when you told us your cutie mark story… I am never going to be able to look at anything you’ve done in the same way again.”

Pinkie winked. “It’s okay. That’s a healthy reaction. So, show of hands and hooves, who already had this figured out before today?”

Vriska’s hand was the only one to shoot up instantly. Aradia’s came shortly thereafter. Rev sighed and held her hoof up as well. Rohan started to raise his hand, realized he hadn’t fully put it together, and put it back down.

Starbeat glared at Vriska, Aradia, and Rev. “You knew!? You don’t have the same signature as Pinkie, you don’t have to adhere to her… stupid rules! You could have told me! Especially you, Vriska! When we were talking to Monika? That would have been a great time to explain!”

“Ay, I don’t like messing with the stuff. At all,” Vriska said. “When I do, I create things like Monika. Ka is not a force to be messed with physically, ever.”

“Oh, so I’m just damned to suffer for eternity!?”

“…Look, I don’t know. All I know is that I’m not going to mess with the stuff. If you can convince Monika or someone else to help you, by all means, I won’t stop you. I’d just rather not touch the stuff with a ten foot outhouse ladle.”

“Oooh, nice metaphor,” Mattie chipped in.

Alushy glanced at the Aware Rarity. “Good taste.”

“Aw, thank you dearie. Say… Would a mare like you be interested in something… dangerous?

“Enough of that,” Renee interjected. “Mattie, your world and Scooter’s. They’re active in ka manipulation, aren’t they?”

Scooter nodded. “Yep! It’s called the Fourth in mine, and in Mattie’s… Let’s just say the barrier to access ka is very weak. Virtually everyone there has some sort of Awareness that comes and goes, Mattie’s is just a bit more permanent.”

“And useful,” Mattie chimed in.

“Yep,” Scooter confirmed. “I’m also more aware than Pinkie here.”

“How so?” Toph asked, almost as a challenge.

“Say something random,” Scooter encouraged.

“By Celestia’s left nostril I demand time stop this instant,” Toph and Scooter said at the same time.

Toph shook her head. “Woah…”

“It’s called the Script. You can actually talk to the Editor in our world as well, if he’s in the mood.”

“…Did he write your world?” Daniel asked.

“Part of it?” Scooter said, shrugging. “Scootertrix the Abridged had a lot of people working on it, it’s hard to tell who was the primary.”

“They’re called Prophets,” Vriska said. “The correct term for a person who is able to manipulate the force of ka through what they write is a Prophet.”

Rohan wrote this down.

“What else do you know?” Starbeat asked, recording notes of her own.

“Not much,” Vriska admitted. “I know not everyone who writes a story is a Prophet, there’s only one individual in the multiverse who can truly alter a particular story; the rest are just copies. I know there’s an interdimensional race called the Flowers who have built almost their entire society on the manipulation of ka. Word of advice – don’t steal things from them. They know how to weaponize Karmic Retribution.”

“They could fix me?” Starbeat asked.

“Maybe? Not sure if they would or not. They’re… pretty high up the pecking order if I recall.” She turned to Eve. “I know you won’t follow this advice, but I really think you shouldn’t research applications of ka. Bad things happen when you do. You think you’ve managed to cheat death so many times because you’re lucky? No, it’s because you’re heroes. If you mess with ka you could remove that armor you have.”

Pinkie nodded. “Vriska’s right. But I believe we have to research anyway. I think we all know at this point we’re not going to live forever. We’ve all accepted that before, why should we let this change anything?”

Vriska pointed at her, and then frowned. “…That is a good point. I’m just not going to be part of any of those experiments.”

“That’s fine,” Pinkie said. “We’re just an exploration team anyway. It’s not like we’ll be trying to create stories of our own.”

“You’d be surprised,” Vriska said, shaking her head. “For all we know one of us is a Prophet, and then everything will start getting weird.”

“You’ve known Prophets?” Rohan asked.

“Yeah. My Twilight, Twilence, was one. We didn’t know at first, we just thought she was very Aware. Turns out it was more than that.”

Eve’s expression darkened slightly, but she said nothing.

“The other Prophet was the one who actually wrote my original story. The orange fucktard known as Andrew Hussie. I hate him.”

“Vriska!” Renee gasped.

“I can say whatever word I want, Renee. That fucktard created a multiversal catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. And he knew what he was doing. So don’t even try to defend him.”

There was silence for a few moments. Eve cleared her throat. “Everyone… Now that you’ve processed this for a few minutes, are you all doing okay?”

Corona sighed. “And everyone looks to me, of course.” She adjusted her sunglasses. “It explains why existence has so much darkness. If we’re the ones defining it, the messed up and flawed people we are, of course it’ll end up like this. What were we expecting?”

Lady Rarity looked to her, frowning. “It also means we can change it, does it not?”

“Do we know any Prophets?” Corona asked. “Thought not. And even if we find any… I don’t think they could just write ‘every problem is solved’. Pinkie would have done that if she could.”

Pinkie shook her head. “No… The world needs struggle. But there are a lot of needless things I would have fixed if I could have. You’re right on that count.”

Corona nodded. “Thought so.”

Eve sent a telepathic message to Lady Rarity. You need to watch her for the next little while.

I caught that, Corona sent back, glaring at Eve.

You can’t say we’re in the wrong, Eve pointed out.

No. But I don’t have to feel happy about it, now do I?

Renee spoke up. “I, for one, don’t think this is a bad thing. We’re interesting and good enough to be the focus of a story. People hang onto our every action. It fills me with a sense of… well that we have a purpose of sorts. There’s something to build towards.”

Flutterfree smiled. “Glad you found something, Renee.”

Daniel nervously tapped his hands. “But what about… private matters?”

Renee flushed. “Oh my…”

“The story keeps itself to a teen rating,” Pinkie explained. “You’re safe. Starbeat, that does mean a large portion of your world remained unseen, leaving much of it implied.”

“Ah…” Starbeat said.

Renee let out a breath of relief. “Oh, that’s good.”

“Though they do see us crying and shouting at each other a lot,” Pinkie said. “Aside from the epic adventures and battles, that’s basically what they’re reading for. We’re half adventure, half drama.”

Everyone looked to Renee.

“I am not pulling the drama couch out for a gag.”

“That’s what it is, though,” Pinkie said.

“…Stars, I’m really going to have to reexamine my life.”

“Uh… Why?” Applejack asked. “Does this really change much of anythin’? If this is the way the world has always worked, why not treat it the same way? So what if the world’s in some book somewhere? We still live our lives the same way. All Ah feel is ‘well that’s interestin’, Ah guess’, and then Ah’ll get back to work. It’s like discoverin’ the sky wasn’t flat, or that the Stars were actually intelligent beings. It’s interestin’, alright, but what does it really change?”

“I envy you,” Starbeat muttered. “All I can feel is that there’s someone responsible for what’s happening to me, and they don’t even know it’s a problem! What kind of creation is that screwed up?”

“One created by us,” Rohan said. “Humans, ponies… We all have faults. If we’re all defined by this ka – these stories – then even the Prophets themselves are trapped within its grasp.”

“And that creates the next question,” Flutterfree interjected. “Why is ka what it is? Why does it exist?”

Vriska shrugged. Rev sighed. “I… don’t know much, and what I do know is based on rumors. But during my time in the Nexus, I learned of the Tower. I had to find it to get out, after all. It… It might be the center of the entire multiverse, the anchor on which every universe is affixed. I can’t tell you if it’s the source of ka or a product of it, but if there are answers, they will be around the Tower.”

Everyone turned to Lieshy.

“All I saw was a bunch of symbols and a clock.” Lieshy said. “And then I was in the donuts.”

“A taste to get us to keep looking,” Pinkie muttered.

“The entire course of our history is built on this force,” Eve said. “I, for one, am compelled to trust it. It may have given us difficulty and destruction, but it has also given us great friendships and unimaginable luck. Think about it. It only took fourteen years to unite eight universes together. We encounter evil powers at roughly the same time we can actually take them on. Our neighbors are fortunately not militaristic. Everything lined up just perfect for us. It may not stay that way, but for now I think that ka is a force for good.”

“At least for you,” Vriska pointed out. “You haven’t seen many grimdark universes, have you? You always jump in to help. Think about what would have happened if we couldn’t do anything.”

Eve nodded. “I… am aware. But that changes nothing. I am still going to give the speech and tell everyone about what we’ve discovered. After I do that, over the next few days, I want everyone to watch out for each other. This is a lot to take in, and some of us are probably going to have breakdowns a few hours from now or a few days from now. We need to stand with each other. That’s something we tend to always do, but I feel like it needs to be said. Everyone’s going to struggle with this in their own way, and we can’t predict what the reactions are going to be. It’s too… different.” She smiled, glancing at Pinkie.

“I’ll be here for all of you,” Pinkie said. “I’ll answer your questions, give you support, and even tell you how I deal with things. Mattie and Scooter are available as well. You could even talk to Scooter’s Twilight, Twix, if you wanted to understand how someone who’s not Aware deals with it.”

Everyone nodded, and sensing that the speech was over, they started talking amongst themselves.

Starbeat left first, alone.

Vriska sighed. “Excuse me a moment,” she told Flutterfree. “Have to go do something.”

~~~

Evening gave the speech within the hour. The multiverse heard it, and there were many responses – but to those who knew Evening and Pinkie, those responses meant little. They had already heard it all from the horse’s mouth, as it were, and now had to deal with it on their own. The speech? The speech was background. The world’s reaction was secondary. They were in their own worlds.

Starbeat most of all.

She stared at her computer screen, eyes filling up with tears of rage.

It hadn’t been hard to hook up to Earth Starfleet’s Internet, once she knew it was the one she needed. The public Internet was public, and she had access to devices that could transmit over light years in an instant, and across dimensions. She hitched onto one of Cosmo’s ships in the area and did her work. She found My Little Pony easily. She read up on the fandom it used to have. The bronies.

She knew what she’d find. She still hated it when she found it.

The shipping.

They reminded her of her Twilight! No… no, they were worse. Much worse. Twilight was roped in by the rules of her own world and studied them. These people rejected the rules of their world and substituted their own. Ones where romance came at a snap of a finger. One where the only point was to fall into a story where two or more connected. The situations were contrived, the emotions far too hot most of the time, and… and…

She drove her hoof through the computer screen, screaming. “So. Damn. Needy!” She smashed the screen against the ground, shattering it into a dozen pieces.

Starbeat noticed Vriska standing in the shadow of a doorway. Starbeat huffed. “What do you want?”

“So you found someone to blame,” Vriska said. “What are you going to do about it?”

Starbeat growned. “None of your business.”

“You could go try to punish them. But, chances are, the Prophets involved were just lonely, clueless people who didn’t really understand.”

“It’s all written badly!” Starbeat blurted.

“Not all of it.”

“The stuff my world was based on! I read stuff I recognized. That I’d studied back there! It comes from nowhere, a contrived event happens, and then all the tension explodes in an instant. I’ve studied real romance! That’s not it! That’s just… wild desires!” She pulled a folder out of a nearby shelf. “Real romance. All of it’s here. It’s not based on a single event that culminates in extreme passion over a few seconds. It is a long process!”

Vriska shrugged. “Yeah, I hear ya there. Hastur and I are still in the ‘going out’ phase. Probably because we’re both unimaginably old more than anything, but eh, still the same thing.”

“Exactly! And then there’s… There’s… These Prophets writing things that make it ‘true love in an instant.’ You know what I see?” She pulled out more folders. “All of these. This is ‘happily ever afters’ this is ‘romance in a minute’. I see romances that don’t mean anything everywhere. The people who are in prominent places in their ‘story’? The ‘heroes’? They’re susceptible to it as well! Everywhere! Not to the extent of my curse but ‘love at first sight’, which really shouldn’t exist, does! But in the same world the people who live in the background go through it the normal way. The ‘take it slow, move, and go’ way. These Prophets are ruining love for all these people because they don’t understand it!”

“Maybe they want love to be a free thing?”

“That’s stupid! You’re stupid! That lessens what it means!” Starbeat blurted. “If love really was about the ‘first sight’ or ‘the one’ or ‘clicking’ then… Then it wouldn’t be as beautiful. It’d just be a thing. I don’t want it to just be a thing! I want to cure myself and go through it normally. Everyone should have that right. To have a real relationship…” She laid her head on a desk. “…They’re ruining it…”

“Yep,” Vriska said.

“Wh- why aren’t you arguing?”

“Cause you’re right. Lemme tell you what the fucktard did when he came up with the ideas for trolls. He didn’t make love distilled down and meaningless – he expanded it out like some obsessed cat that loved to see suffering. You know we have four kinds of romance. Two of which I’ve come to think are pretty unnecessary. And yet, my race has a drive for all four of them, a deep drive, and we also had a social pressure. Let’s just say I understand the anger.”

Starbeat glared at her. “So what did you do?”

“I beat him up,” Vriska said offhandedly. “For all I know it’s why I’m stuck out here instead of being able to go home. It didn’t solve anything. It’s still a fucking part of me.”

“…Is it bad enough to want removed?”

Vriska shook her head. “No.”

“Then it’s still different,” Starbeat affirmed. “…But you are right about one thing. Beating them up won’t change anything. It’s a target without a reason. UGH.” She looked at her bookshelf filled with research. “I know so much Vriska. Knowing what Pinkie has said, I know I can analyze the flow of ka through the world. I can predict things that the oculi and sapphires never could. And yet… I… can’t… fix myself…”

Vriska sighed. “Shiiiit…”

“Hm?”

“You’re making me want to go against my rule. My one rule. Don’t fuck with the narrative.”

Starbeat blinked. “Could… could you do something?”

“I don’t think the Flowers will be dumb enough to let me steal their stuff again, so no. I’m just… Dammit, I want to encourage you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You know what, fuck it, do your research Starbeat. You will be able to find something. There are ways to control ka and twist the narrative. Figure it out. Try not to kill yourself in the process.”

Starbeat’s bracelet started beeping. She flushed. “I… Thank you, Vriska.”

Vriska winked. “Don’t mention it.” She leaned in. “Please don’t kiss me.”

“Trying… Not to…”

“Did I ever explain to you the concept of moirails?” Vriska asked.

“I… Yes? Having trouble processing right now…”

“Trolls call it a form of romance. Having been out here for a while, that’s not really what it is.” She pulled a card out of her robes with a red diamond on it. “It’s when two trolls become true soul-bound best friends. There are no secrets between them, but there’s also no romantic tension. They’re just there for… each other. And feelings jams.”

“Feelings jams?”

“Long, intense discussions about the nature of feelings and emotions,” Vriska smirked. “Usually, in a moirallegiance, one troll keeps the other under control, while the other benefits from the others’ strength. I don’t think we’d work quite like that, but…”

“…We?”

Vriska handed the card to Starbeat. “Will you be my moirail, Starbeat?”

Starbeat’s flushed expression vanished. She felt her intense attraction drop from her like a stone – as if cancelled out by something that was opposite. She allowed herself to smile, tears forming in her eyes. “Vriska… What did you do?”

“I gambled,” she said, smirking.

Starbeat pulled Vriska into a hug. “T-thank you.”

“Hey, this relationship is going to be two-way you know!”

“Shhh… Let me just savor the moment of something strong that isn’t a click.”

Vriska chuckled.

~~~

Rohan Kishibe looked at the manga he had drawn. He was done. The deadline wasn’t even for another two days.

He thought about what he had heard from Pinkie and Eve yesterday…

He was going to try a little experiment.

Rohan pulled out a few sheets of blank paper, sketching the panels with alarming speed and precision. Part of this ability of his came from Heaven’s Door’s enhanced perceptions and control of motion, but part of it was also his natural talent and creativity. He spent the next few hours filling in four pages of manga.

A short story, but it would get what he wanted across.

It was simple: Josuke was out walking alone in Morioh. He encountered a Stand-wielding ferret with three heads. The battle was short, but intense, seeing as the three-headed ferret had a vendetta against Josuke for disturbing its slumber a short time prior. Josuke, as the hero, emerged victorious, but his arm suffered some serious lacerations.

After he completed the panels, Rohan went to his phone and called Josuke.

“Hey, Josuke, are you in town?”

“Uh… Yeah, visiting my mom. Why?”

“Tell me, have you encountered a three-headed ferret recently?”

“…No? Rohan what i-”

“Call me if you do,” Rohan said, hanging up.

Rohan sat back and waited. If he’d read it right, that call would prompt Josuke to pay him a visit. Prompting him to ‘walk alone in Morioh.’ So… If he was right…

Ten minutes later Rohan heard pounding on the door. Sure enough, Josuke was standing there, looking mildly irked. “You better tell me what that was all about!”

“Just an experiment,” Rohan said. “It failed. Sorry to bother you.”

“Rohan don’t yo-”

Rohan closed the door in Josuke’s face and returned to his thoughts. So, he wasn’t one of those Prophets. But he felt that he was particularly suited for studying the flow of this ka, having been saturated in the idea of exciting and popular plotlines for his entire professional career. Now that he knew life really did function like one of his stories, he could make the appropriate connections…

He knew that the original work he was from had to be a manga as well. The idea of Stands themselves were extremely action-oriented and lent themselves to creative fights that were visually appealing, but difficult to render in animation. The fact that the ponies were a cartoon made sense. For the others… He’d pin the Elemental Nations as an anime for the way they oriented themselves and the simple ideas taken to an extreme. The Gems… It was difficult to say, he was fairly sure they weren’t the heroes of their story. They could serve as the villains, perhaps, had they not been changed? Hrm… And he bet that Earth Tau’ri was an American Space Opera. That was easy. The only one he couldn’t place for sure was Lai… A derivative of the ponies perhaps? But what kind…?

He was shocked out of his thoughts by another knock at the door.

Rohan opened the door to find Josuke, standing there, one of his arms bleeding heavily. “What the hell did you do!?” Josuke blurted.

Rohan grinned. “The experiment was a success!”

“Rohan, stop being so enigmatic!”

Rohan leaned against a wall. “I am a Prophet.”

“A what?”

“Remember Eve’s speech, I assume?”

“I…” Josuke blinked. “You can’t be serious. Your manga actually exists?”

“Somewhere, I have no doubt,” Rohan declared. “I shall send you a print of your story. But right now, I believe I should inform Eve and the others.”

“Rohan why did it have to be this way!?” He gestured at his arm.

“Because that’s what made it interesting.”

~~~

“I wonder how many stories I’ve read that actually exist somewhere?” Eve wondered.

“A lot of them,” Pinkie said. “Probably guaranteed to exist if it’s popular across multiple universes.”

“I’m holding out for Star Wars,” O’Neill said. “Teal’c will love that.”

“I’m just waiting until we have a more applicable scientific theory as to how this ka works,” the orange Overhead of the Research Division, a Morganite that went by the moniker Sciganite, observed. “Giorno?”

The secretive Overhead of Intelligence barely moved. “I’m just glad I actually get to have a chair this time.”

Eve smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… Can’t exactly have thirteen seats in the meeting if there’s only twelve who are are supposed to show up.”

“But since it’s just us, you’re okay!” Pinkie cheered.

Giorno said nothing, returning to his observing silence.

“So, Pinkie,” Eve said. “Do you think Rohan’s actually one of them?”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “I’m not a ‘free answers’ machine, Eve. Pff. Let him do his thing. I’ll give my input later. I could be wrong, you know.”

Giorno nodded in approval. Sciganite just looked impatient.

Rohan walked into the meeting with style, dropping the manuscript he had just written on the table. “After I wrote this, it happened to Josuke. He was attacked by a three-headed weasel and suffered injuries to his arm.”

“So… You’re a Prophet then?” O’Neill asked.

“It would seem so. This story was written because I wanted to see if I was a Prophet, and there would not be an alternate version of Rohan Kishibe who would write the same story, because there is not another version of Rohan Kishibe in Merodi Universalis.”

“It’s not impossible,” Eve pointed out.

“But the chances of a multidimensional society that is identical to us in every way existing is absurdly small,” Sciganite said. “Unless ka wanted it to be that way.”

“If it is ka, then Rohan’s stories might as well be that of a Prophet,” Giorno pointed out. “If there is an identical one elsewhere, they still think and write the same things.”

Eve nodded. “It seems as if we will have to treat you as a Prophet, Rohan. This… could be immensely useful.”

“I would like to begin experiments as soon as possible,” Sciganite said.

“It won’t work correctly in a lab setting,” Rohan declared. “It’s based off creativity and story. I can’t just write whatever you want and make it happen.”

“I think he’s right,” Pinkie said. “If he could do whatever, it would be a bit ridiculous for us. Nobody can just write a victory.”

Sciganite narrowed her eyes. “But we will not stop observing you.”

“Of course. Feel free to examine all of my past manga as well,” Rohan bowed.

Giorno spoke up. “We’ll need to keep your power a secret. There are enough people who hate the idea of Prophets enough that they would try to kill you.”

“I am aware, Giorno.”

Eve nodded. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Rohan, continue to hone your abilities, but do so in secret. Giorno, ensure that happens. Sciganite, try to be subtle in your observations.”

“I will remind you that you aren’t in charge of us,” Giorno stated. “But I happen to agree with what you are saying.”

“Apologies,” Eve admitted, backing off. “Handle it as you see fit. Rohan, try not to mess this up.”

Rohan smirked. “I won’t. I will continue writing as I always have. Except perhaps with a little more weight to it.”

“Good.”

~~~

Corona opened the door of her house to see Lady Rarity, Lieshy, and Sugarcoat. “You know, people seem to be showing up a lot more lately. It’s not just because of Pinkie, you were doing this before.”

Lady Rarity smiled awkwardly. “Well, Corona, I…”

“It’s been two years and you’re not getting much better,” Sugarcoat said, strolling into the house. “So they grabbed your friends.”

Corona sighed. “Hello, Sugarcoat. They didn’t have to rope you into this.”

“Yes they did.”

Corona pointed at Sugarcoat, ready to object – but then realized she really couldn’t.

Lady Rarity glanced at Lieshy. “…Are you sure this is good for her?”

“As sure as bell peppers.”

“And bell peppers are green and green means good,” Lady Rarity translated aloud. “I’m jus-”

“She needs some bluntness,” Sugarcoat said, helping herself to some juice in the fridge. “Don’t you Corona?”

“Uh…”

“Tired of people walking around your feelings like they’re some delicate, fragile construct?”

Corona blinked. “Yeah. Yeah that’s right!”

“Thought so. You need someone to tell it to you like it is.” Sugarcoat tore the sunglasses off Corona’s face and raised an eyebrow. “You. Are. Depressed.”

“No, really?” Corona said, raising an eyebrow. “Nice deduction, Sherlock.”

“You don’t want to deal with it though,” Sugarcoat said. “You want to stay stuck in your little hole because you think you can’t be happy while the rest of existence suffers. The current fixation on the ‘story’ in everything is just something you’re focusing on to distract you from that thought.”

“I… what?”

“And you haven’t really thought about it like that before.”

“…No I haven’t.”

“Thought so,” Sugarcoat said, sitting down on the couch. “Want to play some video games?”

Corona glanced at Lieshy and Lady Rarity, finding their expressions to be just as dumbfounded. “Uh…”

“Look, Corona, depression can’t be solved in a day, nor can I actually do anything to it. I got you to think about something you needed to think about, and that’s good enough for now. Do you want to play games or not?”

“…Sure,” Corona said, chuckling slightly. She grabbed a controller in her magic.

Lieshy and Lady Rarity started to show themselves out.

“Hey, where are you two going?” Corona called. “It’s best with four!”

“I can’t hold a controller,” Lieshy muttered.

“Who cares? Come on, have some fun.”

Lieshy saw Lady Rarity walking to the couch with her many legs.

“…Fine,” Lieshy said.

~~~

Nova and Flutterfree looked at Rev expectantly from across the table. They had opted for Iroh’s Teashop rather than a bar, to Rev’s protests, but she was eventually convinced it’d be better to talk in a calmer, more homey environment

Rev looked at her tea in mild disappointment. “...I never was a tea drinker.”

“Neither was I,” Nova said. “Imagine that. But look where I am now. I love this place.”

Rev took a sip and pondered. “It’s not… bad…”

Flutterfree smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Why does that make me scared?”

The three of them chuckled softly.

“So…” Rev said, sighing. “What do you want to know?”

“How do you deal with it?” Flutterfree asked. “As a Reverend. Knowing that you’re part of a story?”

Rev looked into the distance. “The issue is I can’t give any single answer to that question. Every time I learn a little more, or realize that something I thought I knew was wrong, I adjust it slightly. Currently, I turn to the passages that refer to ‘the world’ or ‘the way of the world.’ This existence is one driven by broken human beings, making this life inherently flawed. Creation has always been tainted by the creations with free will. Original Sin… And our current era, where some of us are allowed to define the world the way we think it should be.” She looked into her tea, introspective. “None of us, not even the deities nor those with the faculties of the great Azathoth and his ilk, can get it right. This entire world is defined by us, and because of that it’s wrong. The hope I hold onto is that He is outside this creation of ours. That He guides it to where it needs to be.”

Flutterfree frowned. “But… Why would He allow this?”

“Think of any work of fiction you’ve read,” Rev said. “Think about the reasons much of fiction exists. Why did He allow this? Because we wanted it.” She shook her head. “People… They wanted fantasies. They wanted grand adventures. They wanted heroes. They wanted stories. So we got what we wanted.”

“Careful what you wish for,” Nova commented, frowning. “Well, it looks like you two have a solution to this. But what am I gonna do?”

Rev shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve studied up on how certain people deal with it. Most just ignore it and stop thinking, or accept it as a fact of life and become content. Then there’s the last third who just get depressed. But you’re too much of a thinker to just go there.”

Nova furrowed her brow. “Mhm… Some people attach to ‘ka’ like a religion, don’t they?”

“It is the force of Fate,” Rev said. “At least, the fate that we defined ourselves.”

Nova pondered this, thinking deeply. “Is it possible to rise above it? Like… To know what’s supposed to happen and go against it?”

“Sometimes that’s part of the Fate,” Rev said. “Ka is a cruel force. Going against it is actually doing what it wants. Going with it is also doing what it wants. What you do… it wants. There… are devices that manipulate it. So maybe there’s a way around it…? I never heard about them from more than rumors. I wasn’t entirely sure it was possible until Vriska admitted she’d used one. I’m not sure what to make of it.”

“You and me both,” Nova said, scratching. “So… Here’s what I’m going to do.”

Flutterfree and Rev leaned in.

“I’m going to accept it as a thing that exists, as a force of reality. I won’t ignore it. And I’m going to make my own decision if it’s a force for good - or evil. I won’t let anyone else tell me. Otherwise, I’ll just live my life as I normally would.” Nova smiled sadly. “Even if it is evil… Well, I won’t be able to do much as I am now. But maybe eventually. That said, I tend towards believing that the force of what every being wants and thinks is right… It should average out. The existence of these ‘beat curses’ suggests there are ‘correct’ manifestations and ‘incorrect’ ones. Maybe the true enemy of the multiverse is the glitches, the curses.”

“We’re inherently flawed and destructive,” Rev said. “I cannot see ka as anything but a manifestation of our inner brokenness.”

“I think it’s neutral,” Flutterfree popped up. “It’s just a force. It’s not a mind. We define it, and since we’re so different… It just does what it does. Like gravity.”

“The legendary three-way-split,” Nova chuckled. “I feel like I’m listening to Thrackerzod describe the Eldritch again.”

Rev laughed and finished the rest of her tea. She blinked. “You know, I guess I liked this more than I thought…”

They all chuckled again.

~~~

The core four of the League of Sweetie Belles were walking down the path of one of the Hub’s interior gardens. Fluttershys loved to create these things and fill them with exotic and peaceful plants. It was nice for a walk.

“So… None of you are bothered?” Allure said, turning to the other three. “Really?”

“My entire life is defined by an essence from another being,” Thrackerzod said. “The fact that Azathoth may also be defined by such a being changes nothing about my inheritance of self.”

“We are the heroes!” Bot chirped innocently.

Squeaky smiled at Allure. “I get where you’re coming from Allure, I do. But to be honest this gives me a sense of relief. I have a purpose, I no longer have to wonder if this is where I’m supposed to be. I grew up with the explicit purpose of being a General. I’m not that anymore so… Well, I’d been a bit lost. But now? I’m part of something larger. Who cares if I know what it is?”

“Wow,” Allure said. “I envy you girls. I’m sitting here wondering if anything I do means anything or if I even have free will. Can I not be a hero?”

“Do you want to not be a hero?” Squeaky asked.

“Uh… no?”

“Then why ask the question? You’re doing what you love!” Squeaky smiled warmly.

“But I like to ask questions!”

“Questions are the path to the Dark Side,” Thrackerzod said. “...Huh, I wonder if Star Wars exists…”

“I’m going to say ‘probably’,” Allure responded. “Questions are also the path to answers though, Zod.”

“Answers you don’t always want,” Thrackerzod pointed out. “I could tell you any number of stories about how the Embodiment does things and you would decide later you would have rather not known. This has already happened numerous times.”

“Re-re-re-erasing databanks,” Bot muttered.

“I envy you most of all, Bot,” Allure muttered. “Well… Erasing one’s memory is a dangerous power, isn’t it?”

“Also useful,” Thrackerzod noted.

“I dunno…” Allure said. “I really don’t know what to make of all this.”

“Don’t think you have to,” Squeaky suggested. “You can listen to Pinkie, or Scooter, or one of the others and just trust them. Or just decide it doesn’t really matter.”

“It does though!”

“Probably,” Squeaky admitted. “Doesn’t mean you have to stress about it.”

“I am not one of those ponies that can just turn off stress.”

Squeaky chuckled to herself. “Yep.”

They walked quietly through the park for a few minutes. Allure was about to bring up another observation - but then she noticed something. Jotaro was sitting alone, on a bench, staring at nothing. Absolutely nothing.

She gestured for the three Sweeties to stay back. She trotted up to the bench and looked up at Jotaro. “Can I sit with you?”

Jotaro saw her, and he made no response. Allure knew that was his ‘I’m not in the mood’ response, but it wasn’t a no so she sat herself on the empty spot on the bench next to him. She looked him over - he was in his normal dolphin-loving outfit, but on his lap was a book. Shonen Jump. Comics. Or manga, Allure remembered from one of Rohan’s little lectures.

She waited a few minutes before speaking. “What’s that book?”

“My world,” Jotaro said, slowly. “Where it would have been published when written. By whoever did it.”

“Oh…”

“I was created to be an action hero.” He looked at his fist in confusion. “Built to punch things.”

“I was created to be cute,” Allure said. “I’m all grown up now. Still small, still cute. But I’m more than that. You’re more than punching things.”

Jotaro looked at her.

“You’re also dolphins!”

Jotaro couldn’t help but let a slight smile crawl up his face. “Yare yare daze…”

Allure smiled. “I mean… Marine biologist. That’s not something that’d happen in an action hero story, would it? You go on scientific expeditions and run experiments! Who’d want to see that in a punching-fest?”

“Nobody,” Jotaro admitted.

“Then there you go. You may be designed for punching things, and I may be designed to be cute. But we can do so much more.” She smiled. “We’re more than what we were written to be.”

“You came up with that just now.”

“Yes. Yes I did. And it’s beautiful.” Allure folded her front hooves

Jotaro couldn’t find a way to argue with that. So he just nodded ever so slightly. Allure chuckled.

~~~

And so Merodi Universalis and the other nations learned about the nature of ka and the multiverse.

For the most part? People didn’t care. Either they took Applejack’s method and decided it really didn’t matter, or they just didn’t think about it. It wasn’t like many of them did more than just live their lives anyway, who cared about some overarching story that didn’t really affect them? The process seemed so distant and foreign it just didn’t matter.

That said, the majority opinion is never the only one.

Suicide rates, after hitting record lows, increased by a factor of ten after the announcement. So many just couldn’t handle the idea that their lives were probably defined by some author somewhere else in the multiverse. That they were a fiction. It was too much.

Cases of depression, which had also been at record lows, surged forward again. The thought that one was part of a fiction, possibly not even real, was very easy for people to latch onto and unhealthily dwell on.

There were also the crazies: conspiracy theories and religions cropped up around the idea. The possibility that all events were controlled by a single Prophet somewhere fueled those who yelled about the world being controlled by secret organizations. People began to think of worshipping the flow of ka itself, as an energy of collective consciousness. Rev tried her best to combat this with her teachings, but her words rarely left the ears of her denomination, and it didn’t always work even on them. Ka-ism began to pop up everywhere, even though no two flavors of the religion were the same.

An anti-Pinkie society formed in the shadows, devoted to defaming and destroying everything the Pinkies did, even the non-Aware ones. Some of the members of this society believed Pinkies to be demons of unholy knowledge, while others simply cursed Pinkies for revealing things that weren't ready to be known.

Sales of fiction increased dramatically: it became less about reading for pleasure, and more trying to think of the possible worlds that could exist within the pages of a book. Popular works were brought to scientific teams to predict the possible ways the known laws of the multiverse would apply to said works. Many tried their hands at writing to see if they could change their own lives with the power of a Prophet, but none surfaced. Many claimed they could, but Trixie of all ponies had made it her mission to keep people from lying on the Internet. Likely for more selfish reasons than altruistic ones. …Definitely for more selfish reasons.

The show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic went viral. The culture of Earth Starfleet (known as ‘Galaxa Quadrants’ when politically correct) became immensely important to Merodi Universalis, and Starfleet benefited greatly because of it. Now every world that was even vaguely important was hunting through their archives for fiction that related to worlds that existed. It was a rush to find information about the various worlds. It was a time when uncovering the deepest secrets was a matter of finding the right book.

There was no way to protect against this. The privacy of certain individuals would, over time, become nothing. Their inner thoughts exposed to the world… For now, the effect of that was limited. But it would not take long for it to boil over.

It was a new world, in many ways, and yet the exact same.

Sombra took pride when she looked at what she’d done. She’d changed the world by solving a puzzle. She’d found the Truth behind something. Could the collective force of creativity really be the one in charge of everything? The actual force of power?

No… There was more. Everyone knew there was more. The Tower… The stories…

It was all building up to something. Something likely distant. But something nonetheless.

She planned to be here when that something happened.

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