Songs of the Spheres

by GMBlackjack

098 - The Elements of Harmony

“How come I didn’t know you had a warehouse?” Rainbow Dash asked her daughter.

Prism was a slender, fit, white-coated pegasus mare; her rainbow mane had a gradient to it, rather than the distinct stripes of her mother’s. She wore large glasses with pointed edges. “Dunno. Guess it just never came up. But you’re here now.” She grinned stupidly. “I’ve got a machine in here that can fling you into orbit.”

“…I knew you wouldn’t let me down!” Rainbow laughed, tousling her daughter’s mane.

“Mom!” Prism laughed right back.

“What? Nobody’s watching. I can look a little soft.”

Prism rolled her eyes. “Right.” She pressed her hoof to the DNA scanner outside her warehouse, and it let her in. She led her mother into the expansive workshop of an engineer. “Behold. Things.”

There were, in fact, things in the warehouse. Tons of scrap metal from cars, planes, and other vehicles that had been cannibalized to create what appeared to be a fully functioning helicopter. There was a welding station, a set of three go-karts with a fourth partially assembled, a woodworking station, a truly absurd number of tools on the far side of the wall, a spellcasting computer, some exercise equipment, a large table covered with numerous interlocking magical crystals, and a huge number of books strewn about in a haphazard fashion.

There was also a giant cannon in the middle of the warehouse pointed straight up at a hatch in the roof.

“…Wow,” Rainbow said. “You should have brought me here sooner.”

“Yeah, probably,” Prism admitted. “But I get a little occupied with all the inventing sometimes. Aside from that space cannon I’ve got some other inventions here. That insignificant-looking black box there is the Zero-Point Driver, which is why I have enough money to have this place. There’s usually a couple assistants running around, but it’s the weekend and I don’t have brutal hours.”

“Fresh out of college and already running a laboratory. Wow. Did I ever tell you I was proud of you?”

“You tried not to. You kinda sorta failed later on,” Prism chuckled. “But hey, I don’t mind. You got me here and this is a great life. I would show you the muscle networking device I’m working on…”

“But it’ll go over my non-eggy-head. I know.”

“So let’s check out this cannon. It can shoot you to the moon.”

“Wow.”

“It has no practical purpose whatsoever,” Prism said, smirking. “It just does it safely without the use of magic.”

“…Can I ride?”

“Sure. I won’t be shooting you at the moon though. Luna’d be peeved.”

Rainbow laughed. “Yeah, she would. Spacesuit?”

“Bottom compartment.”

Rainbow popped the bottom compartment of the cannon open – and then her cutie mark started glowing. “Really?”

Prism chuckled. “Guess you’ll have to wait until you get back!”

“Aaaargh! Fine, fine, time for a Friendship Problem! At least it doesn’t take multiple days to travel around anymore.”

~~~

Applejack had four kids. Jona, Ginger, Cameo, and Corea. Jona was tall, red, and demanded attention with her presence. Ginger was the only stallion of the bunch and was a pony of few words, but also a genius. Cameo was a mare born with a horn thanks to latent genes within Barley’s lineage, whose special talent was mimicry magic. Corea was the Avatar, bender of five elements and spiritual leader of an entire world.

Jona and Ginger still worked on the family farm. Cameo had gone off to magic school to become a wizard, and while not the best was at least decent at it. Corea was still spending most her time on Elemental Four, keeping that world’s course steady.

All four of them were currently eating lunch with their mother at Sweet Apple Acres, in the kitchen all of them had grown up in – even Corea, though she had left relatively young. Out the kitchen window, they could see how much the farm had changed. They still grew apples and a handful of other things, yes, but the farms were much larger – and automated in many ways. There was still work the Apple family had to do, but Applejack knew there was less load on them than when she was younger.

At first she had worried technology would make her kids lazy, but that didn’t happen. All four of them were great workers, and she was proud of all of them in her own way.

That didn’t mean she didn’t get annoyed at Jona’s rambling sometimes.

“-and then Helm went all ‘grunt grunt’ and Empire thought it was the funniest thing ever, meanwhile I was over there waiting for him to hurry up and make dinner. So yeah – oh wait! That reminds me!”

“Do you ever stop talking?” Cameo asked.

“Hm? Nah. Or do I…? Eh, Sometimes. To let other ponies talk.”

Ginger grunted.

“What was that, dear brother?”

Ginger let out a soft chuckle. “Giving others a chance to speak to prove a point does not indicate evidence for any sort of average or behavioral pattern.”

Jona blinked. “…Right.”

“He’s discrediting you,” Cameo said. “Not his best work.”

“I thought it was okay,” Corea added.

“You didn’t fully understand it.”

Corea rolled her eyes. “Uh huh. Right. I didn’t understand that he was poking her for mixing up what she does on the spot for a temporary point?”

Cameo smirked. “Fair enough.”

Corea chuckled.

Applejack smiled contentedly. “Ah’m glad you’re all here.”

Corea smiled back. “Same. It’s nice to see everyone.”

Jona nodded slowly. “We are Apples after all. Even those of us who are quite pointy in parts.”

Cameo rolled her eyes. “I’m pointy in one part.”

“Oh? What about your words? Pretty sharp, hmm?”

Cameo blinked. She didn’t have a comeback for that one.

“How is the wizardin’ goin’?” Applejack asked.

Cameo shrugged. “Good enough. Created a spell for making the perfect pie based on your recipes. Don’t worry, nobody knows how it works yet.”

“Ah would hope not. …Corea?”

“Being the Avatar is difficult,” Corea admitted. “But I also get to see a lot of weird places. Lucky for me the world is at peace right now, and everyone seems to be getting along famously with each other. Tenzin’s even mellowed out and has his own family now!”

“Ah know that. Ah was sent the pictures.” Applejack smirked. “And Ah w-”

Her cutie mark started glowing.

“DUTY CALLS!” Corea blurted. “A quest calls your presence, mother! Fly!”

Jona sighed. “Aw… I was hoping this would last longer.”

Applejack rubbed the back of her head. “Well… Ah’m sorry but Ah have to take this. Y’all keep havin’ lunch. Ah might be gone a few days. So listen to your aunt and uncle. You know the drill.”

Her four children waved her off.

~~~

Renee couldn’t tell anyone why, but she loved cleaning up the castle. She didn’t spruce it up or decorate it anymore – it had already been mostly maximized in that department – but she still would go around and dust from time to time, even though there were janitors to do that sort of thing. It was just something she liked to do.

Even Daniel thought she was crazy. She didn’t mind, though, she just picked up a duster when she felt like it and began to move around. She could easily deal with her duties while dusting unless a crisis came up.

“Overhead! Team Zeta-Five has returned early!” a Ga reported.

“Put them on Earth Coffee, I’m sure they can find something constructive to do there. If not, I suppose I’ll offer them a vacation.”

“Of course.”

Most of her day-to-day decisions were like that anyway. Think for a moment and send ponies on one of many different missions. There were so many. Some required thought on her part to find the best fit or discover what exactly the expedition would be, but others were as simple as randomizing an unexplored world and sending someone there. Easy.

She entered the map room and started dusting the map itself.

Her cutie mark started glowing.

“Oh, well that’s a pleasant surprise.” She pulled out her phone. “Daniel dear, Friendship Problem, you’ll have to handle everything.” Corona’s already out today and shouldn’t need any assistance. We should be fine. “Love you~!”

~~~

“Alright team!” Pinkie said, looking seriously. “I’m about to comically setup the best pranking palooza ever!”

Nova, Vriska, and John Egbert glanced at each other. Nova raised a hoof. “What exactly is a palooza? I’ve been wondering for a while now.”

“Absolutely nothing!” Pinkie laughed. “Regardless, we are the best pranksters around. We should be able to fool the entire city of Ponyville!”

“Why don’t you guys change the name?” John asked. “It’s not a village. Also Ponyville just sounds kinda lame.”

“Ponies will just keep calling it Ponyville anyway,” Nova pointed out. “Plus whatever we did change it to would just become something even more stupid. Like Poneopolis or something.”

“Geez. That is bad.”

Pinkie clapped her hooves. “Prank, remember? We’re going to start by covering main street in an invisible sheet of adhesive, so everyone’s shoes and hooves and feet will be coated in it. A lot of people will notice this, but that’s not the main part of the prank. It’s a distraction!”

Vriska smirked. “A distraction prank for the real one?”

“Sorta. Their feet get sticky, then we introduce a ton of bugs into the system, a-”

Pinkie’s cutie mark started flashing.

Pinkie facehooved. “You guys asked too many questions! I was going to get to the end, say go team, and then get called away but noooo you guys had to ask questions. You ruined everything.”

Nova blinked. “S-sorry!”

John rolled his eyes. “And you’ve just fallen for it.”

“…What?”

“She was pranking us. There wasn’t any more plan to the prank.”

“…Fuck, she got me too,” Vriska said.

Pinkie bowed to John. “You are truly the prank master, John Egbert. This map summons is real though, so I do gotta go. See ya!”

~~~

“-Amen,” Rev said, wrapping up the service. The congregation made its way out of their seats and out the door for the most part, but a few came up to her and said hello or asked a question, which she answered diligently.

She eventually made her way to Flutterfree and Eve. “So, you’re back?” Rev asked Eve.

Eve gestured at Flutterfree. “She convinced me to come. Again.”

“You’re not feeling pressured, are you?” Rev asked.

“Eh… sometimes, though I feel like it’s more self-pressure than anything. She rarely asks and I figured I might as well drop by, learn a little more about this… place.”

Rev nodded. “So, what did you think?”

“Still hard to chew it with what I know about everything else.”

“Well, I can try to answer your questions.”

“Flutterfree does a pretty good job of that,” Eve said.

“I might not always get it right,” Flutterfree pointed out. “That whole thing about miracles a few months ago? Yeah, that was just me being silly.”

Eve chuckled. “I remember. …I guess I want to hear what you have to say about the existence of evil, Rev.”

“Right so, the general answer that ‘good cannot exist without evil’ is stupid,” Rev began. “Don’t believe it for a moment. Everything evil exists because it serves someone’s desires for something good. Pure ‘evil’ entities are a result of the Tower, which sought to produce something good: meaning. Clearly made by those who didn’t believe in a higher power, but that’s a rabbit trail we don’t need to get into right now.”

Eve nodded. “The Tower’s tunnels know no ends.”

Rev continued. “Regardless, the general answer for the existence of evil is because we conscious beings were given free will – a choice. We could choose to follow the good will of God, or we could choose to deny Him and do whatever we wanted, which meant an allowance of evil. Because if there was no evil, well, there wouldn’t be a choice there because we would be perfect beings already. There wouldn’t be an option for an actual relationship, we’d just be robots.”

“Some robots a-”

“You know what I mean, Eve,” Rev said with a smirk. “There are some programmed machines that have no will of their own, even if they may think they do. We were given a choice, and thus, evil exists. That’s a distilled-down version, and there’s a lot of people who question if free will is worth the existence of evil, not to mention the prevalence of ‘grimdark’ in the multiverse, but we’d need to sit down for a longer discussion to get into that. Lunch, maybe.”

“We’re open, right?” Flutterfree asked Eve.

“Sure,” Eve said. “I suppose it’s about time I see what Nova likes so much about arguing with you.”

“I don’t see you arguing as vehemently as Nova,” Rev said with a laugh. “That mare is really stubborn.”

“Don’t I know i-” Eve and Flutterfree’s cutie marks started flashing. Eve chuckled. “Well, guess I won’t be getting to that.”

Rev shrugged. “It probably won’t be as good as the deep conversations I know you have with Flutterfree about it, to be honest. I still hope you’ll think about it.”

“We will have that lunch at some point,” Eve said. “You can count on it.”

“I look forward to it.”

~~~

The six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony stood together in the map room of Renee’s crystal castle.

“So, where are we going?” Rainbow asked.

“If it’s all six of us it must be something big,” Flutterfree pointed out.

“We’re not going offworld,” Renee observed. “That’s still on the map.”

“Other side of the world though,” Applejack commented. “Any idea where that is?”

“Yep!” Pinkie said.

“Tauryl,” Eve said, closing an atlas. “That’s in Tauryl.”

“Tauryl!?” Flutterfree blurted. “I’ve… I’ve never been there.”

“The last independent nation on this planet,” Eve continued. “The centaurs and gargoyles. They only started talking to us at all because of Xeelee interference. Currently, they don’t like anything from outside, but they realize they can’t do anything to us. Their leaders are gruff and decidedly xenophobic, but they’re good enough to their own people. …The last team that was sent there was the ‘Mean Six’ and they did… fine, I suppose, but didn’t exactly leave a good impression.” She furrowed her brow. “We’re being sent to one of their islands, far from their seat of power. So what little I do know about Tauryl culture may not apply there.”

“Heh. Into the unknown again.” Rainbow smirked. “Just like old times?”

“It has been a while since we were all sent on a mission together,” Flutterfree said.

“Then let’s make this the best mission ever!” Pinkie shouted. “We are going to blow the socks off the Tree of Harmony with how well we do this one!”

Renee grinned. “You bet we will. We’ve grown so much since the last time.”

“And we’re still the best of friends!” Pinkie blurted. “Woo!”

“Shame Nova isn’t comin’ too,” Applejack said. “Even if she’s not an Element, she still feels like part of us.”

Eve nodded. “Yeah, I know. But the map chose us, so we are going.” She pulled out her phone. “O’Neill! Think you can teleport the six of us to… this location? Surface-to-ship-to-surface teleportation. All right, tha-”

The teleporter locked onto them, teleported all six of them to the teleporter room of whatever ship O’Neill happened to be on, then down to the island the map had indicated. They appeared on a beach with a sparse dotting of palm trees. There was a tall, black tower of metal that rose to a three-tipped claw far above them. It was the middle of the night since they were on the other side of the planet, revealing a slight red glow from the tower.

“Woah…” Rainbow said.

“One of their defense towers,” Eve said. “They used to destroy any ship, vehicle, or entity they saw coming with these. Now it’s just a dormant memory of what Tauryl used to be.” She glanced around, taking in more of the scenery. She saw a path leading up out of the beach. “This way.”

The six of them trotted along, surprised with how normal everything seemed for the other side of Equis Vitis.

“Maybe we’ve just been exploring too much,” Flutterfree said. “But this doesn’t look very exotic.”

“It’s not that,” Applejack said. “Trust me, Ah’d know. This just seems like a regular beach besides the imposin’ tower.”

They walked along the path out of the beach, soon able to see a town in the distance. Eve executed a teleport to take them right to the edge of it. The buildings were noticeably taller than any pony or human construction, likely because centaurs weren’t exactly short creatures. The buildings were largely made of stone with little decoration on them. Nobody was out and about – but that was to be expected. It was night.

“We need to wait until morning before we start rummaging around,” Renee said. “But it’s chilly out and I’d rather not sit here until dawn.”

Pinkie pointed at a nearby building that had an Inn sign on it. “Bada-boom.”

“What would we do without you?” Flutterfree asked.

“Flounder around. Badly,” Pinkie said with a giggle.

They walked in the front door of the inn. The interior was warmly lit by gas lamps, showing a small lobby with a couple chairs. The stone material of the building gave it a strong, if slightly oppressive, atmosphere. A female centaur sat behind the counter, black and blue fur covering most of her body. Her two horns were thin and slender. She stared at them with a blank expression. “Do you want a room?” she said with a level, disinterested tone.

“Yes,” Eve said, unable to hear her voice inflection, picking up nothing from the centaur due to the aforementioned blank expression. “How much?”

“Thirty crielar per room. It looks like you’ll need two, so sixty.”

“Drat,” Rainbow muttered. “Forgot money existed.”

“I didn’t,” Eve said, unrolling a roll of Tauryl coins – presumably crielar. “Will this work?”

“Thank you for your business,” she said, taking the coins and giving them a pair of keys. “Rooms three and four. They’re adjoined.”

“Thanks,” Eve said, walking down the hall to door three and four, using her magic to unlock both at once. She stepped into room three, taking in the two beds and a recliner that doubled as another bed. There was a large window, a single gas lamp, and a simple table in the room, but there was little in the way of decoration or comfort. Tauryl was not known to be accepting of leisure or technology, so this wasn’t exactly unexpected.

Eve unlocked the adjoining set of doors between the rooms, finding the other one to be nearly identical.

“I call a bed!” Pinkie declared.

“I’ll take a recliner,” Flutterfree said.

“Wait, we’re actually sleeping?” Renee said. “It’s still midday for me! I’m not tired at all!”

“…Oh, right,” Rainbow said, deciding to stop guarding a bed like it was her closest held treasure in the entire world. “…So what do we do, then?”

“Wait,” Applejack said. “Y’know, that thing you do when something’s going to happen in a while?”

Rainbow dash snorted. “Funny.”

“Hey, Eve,” Renee asked. “I didn’t see you grab any coins.”

“I conjured them,” Eve said. “Not that the centaur has to know that.”

“Did the centaur seem odd to anyone else?” Flutterfree asked. “Like she wasn’t all there.”

“It is the middle of the night,” Applejack pointed out. “Ah mean, Ah thought she was odd too, but she might just be tired.”

“Maybe,” Flutterfree said.

“I was expecting a lot more hostility,” Eve admitted. “This far from the center of Tauryl, they probably barely know that the xenophobic practices have changed. Sure, they had one of the towers, and it was disabled, but that wouldn’t mean much to the actual people. They’d still be aggressive… Or they should have been.”

“Maybe because it’s far from the capital they’re nicer?” Renee suggested.

“Or maybe they’ve just run into ponies before and they were nice!” Pinkie said. Then she gasped. “Maybe those ponies were us and we’re about to go back in time!”

Eve rolled her eyes. “I’ve got no plans for that. All I’ve got plans for is to talk with all of you for a while then solve a Friendship Problem.” She smiled. “How have you all been?”

“GREAT!” Pinkie blurted. “But you know that.”

“The tales of your exploits across the multiverse are a highlight of most of my days,” Eve said with a smirk. “Though reading your reports and hearing it from you are different things.”

Pinkie shrugged. “But we don’t have all that much time.”

“I would love personalized reports in person,” Renee said. “But we deal with so much that’s just not possible and only done with pressing matters. My life consists of reading reports, sending people on missions, and dusting.”

“…Dusting?” Applejack said, cocking her head.

“Dusting. I like dusting. It’s a hobby of mine.”

“Did Aradia get to you or something?” Pinkie asked with a chuckle.

“What? No. Why would you a-” Renee blinked. “Oh, right, the whole ‘Handmaid’ thing.”

“It is a little weird if you know her,” Pinkie said.

Eve chuckled. “When I first saw her doing it back before the bowling ball, I was enthralled. Now when I see her in the halls of Canterlot I just give her this look.” She put on a grumpy glare mixed with an eyebrow raise. “And then she laughs and disappears.”

“You spend a lot of time in Canterlot, huh?” Applejack asked.

Eve nodded. “Yep. It’s my home now, though I do spend a significant amount of time in other universes. Political discussions, establishing relations. I talk to a lot of people every day. Good thing I learned to do that a long time ago, isn’t it?”

“Oh yes,” Renee said. “Can you imagine still being your bookworm antisocial self and being Overhead of Relations?”

“I’d be Overhead of Research then and you know it.”

“Not Oversight?” Rainbow asked.

“Oversight is too legalistic.”

“Egghead Twi would not have had a problem with that,” Rainbow said, “Like, at all.”

Eve rolled her eyes with a smirk. “Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Applejack, how’s the farm?” Flutterfree asked.

“Goin’ good,” Applejack said. “Not as much profit from just growin’ apples anymore, but we’ve got some great processing of zap apples and cider now. Ponyville’s large enough that we stay busy with just those. Gotta say, didn’t think magitech would help much back in the day, but year-round cider has been good for everyone.”

“Thank Celestia, the Tower, and all the gods who listen!” Rainbow said, throwing her hooves up. “The cider never runs dry!”

“The family’s getting’ real big too. Like, real big.” Applejack chuckled to herself. “Ah think Ah know what Granny Smith felt like when she was young.”

“We aren’t exactly young anymore,” Renee pointed out. “Late sixties, all of us. If we weren’t immortal we’d be halfway to the finish line.”

“Thank goodness for golden shiny blood!” Rainbow said with a laugh. “Works wonders!”

Flutterfree nodded. “Sure does.”

“Oh, guys, guys,” Rainbow smirked. “Prism invented a cannon that can shoot you to the moon.”

“While impressive, I question why,” Eve said.

“Because it’s awesome, that’s why!”

“In the future, she shall be known as the inventor of awesome!” Pinkie giggled.

“Oh yeah!”

“How are the Wonderbolts these days?” Eve asked.

“We bounce between Renee and O’Neill for special missions,” Rainbow said. “It’s a little tiring to be in charge all the time - but it’s so worth it. I’ve whipped us into shape for stopping baddies, villains, and other things.” Rainbow smirked. “It’s a little interesting, being the special task force rather than a bunch of explorers. But we still get to do the stunt shows. …Basically my life is packed and it’s awesome.”

“Hard to imagine you used to spend all your time sleeping on clouds,” Flutterfree said.

“Heh. Right back at you. Hard to imagine you as the same pony, given everything.”

Flutterfree summoned Lolo, planning to use the Stand as a way to further the conversation. But the moment she fully activated it, the entire hotel vanished and they fell to the dirt ground. It was still night – but the entire town was gone. Instead there was a jungle filled with alien plant shapes, mysterious flashing lights that appeared and disappeared through the trees, and a mysterious eerie wind.

“This is more like it!” Pinkie cheered.

“…I liked that bed,” Renee pouted.

“Right, so, I guess the entire town wasn’t real,” Eve said, clicking her tongue absentmindedly. “Huh. Flutterfree?”

“Alien forest is real,” Flutterfree said, spreading Lolo out far. “Not finding much else. Still expanding Lolo though.”

Eve put her hoof to her eyes, lighting her left eye up with the power of Light. “The tower is still there, so we are on the island we teleported to. I can tell that this forest is what naturally grows here. And aside from a few interesting facts about the plants – the three-pronged one is deadly poisonous – I’m not seeing much to go off of.” She set her eye back to normal, scanning for magic sources. “Large ambient magic. I suspect a signal masking spell is in place. Anyone else got anything?”

They shook their heads.

“Right. Pinkie, Awareness telling you anything?”

“Adventure, single chapter,” Pinkie said. “We’re the only ones being focused on, so it’s a story about the six of us. Chapter title is ‘The Elements of Harmony’ so that makes sense. We’ve spent the rest of our time here re-establishing ourselves and our lives. So I’d guess the actual adventure is about to start.” She licked the roof of her mouth. “Existence tastes like raspberries today…”

“Any indication what this adventure is going to be?”

Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno. I’m not Starbeat, I can’t give you ‘levels of importance’ or ‘the flow of ka’, all I’ve got for you is little inklings.” She thought for a while. “Hrm… I’m getting a sense that something’s about to go wrong.”

“No surprise there,” Renee said.

“Yeah, it’s n-” Pinkie’s pupils dilated and her cheerful smile fell. “Uh oh.”

“That’s a bad ‘uh oh’,” Rainbow said.

“Yeeeeah this is going to be a brutal o-” A collection of bones held together by dark fire appeared from nowhere, grabbed Pinkie, and pulled her into the forest.

The five mares wasted no time at all, charging after their friend. They may not have been able to see Pinkie or the thing that had taken her, but Lolo could. Everyone followed Flutterfree, dashing through the woods without care for all the scrapes and bruises they were receiving from stumbling through unknown terrain.

“Flutterfree!” Eve called, running up to be alongside her. “How far ahead?”

“Thirty meters.”

“Straight?”

“Straight.”

“Prepare for teleport!” Eve shouted, lighting her horn. In a flash of purple magic they were precisely thirty meters ahead, right next to the creature of bones and shadow. It was exceptionally hard to see in the dark, but Eve was able to get a general idea with her special eye. It was a blob of burning black sludge with the skeleton of a creature inside, but all the bones were in the wrong places. Hands were next to legs, the skull was near the pelvis, and the horns were on opposite sides of the sludge.

Pinkie was held within the sludge, the shape of her mane indicating it was very wet in there, and not as scalding as the black flames on the outside suggested.

Eve summoned Seraphim. Gravity next to the sludge increased tenfold – enough to force the amorphous sludge to the ground in a flat puddle barely cohesive enough to keep the bones in check.

Rainbow Dash flew in next, the winds of Breath swirling a tornado pattern around Pinkie, tearing her out of the blackness. Flutterfree shot the darkness with her bow of light for good measure. It writhed in pain – and fled, leaving the six of them alone.

“What on Equis was that!?” Renee blurted.

“Something undead,” Eve said, moving to go check on Pinkie. Rainbow was currently blowing the rest of the black sludge off her using the winds of Breath.

Eve noticed Pinkie’s mane wasn’t poofing back up.

“Pinks?” Rainbow asked. “You okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be, Dashie?” Pinkie said, twitching. “I’ve just about been eaten by an undead sludge monster!”

“Pinkie, calm down,” Rainbow said, putting her hooves on her shoulders. “I don’t know what happened to you in there, but it clearly wasn’t good. You’re fine now, okay?”

“Oh, I’m better than fine!” Pinkie pulled a knife out of her mane.

“P-”

She drove it right into Rainbow’s neck, sending blood flying over her own pink face. “See? Totally fine.”

Rainbow’s pink eyes locked on Pinkie’s own blue irises. She extended a wing – and then fell over.

Flutterfree screamed, backing away. Deep within her, the Rage rose… but she couldn’t bring herself to use it against Pinkie.

Pinkie turned to the rest of them, juggling the knife. “So, who’s next? This doesn’t end without me killing you all, y’know. I suppose there’s a chance you can stop me, but…”

Eve activated Seraphim despite her shock, forcing gravity to increase dramatically next to Pinkie. First ten times, then a hundred, than a thousand. The ground literally crumbled away beneath her – but the pink party pony remained standing.

“Reality is just a suggestion!” Pinkie chuckled. She rushed Eve. Eve raised a shield, but Pinkie appeared behind her, knife raised.

Lolo wrapped around Pinkie’s knife, tearing it from her hoof. Pinkie was in the air, holding another knife aimed at Flutterfree’s neck. Applejack opted to just buck Pinkie in the side to protect Flutterfree. The pink pony went flying, but she didn’t care. She just bounced back to her hooves and laughed.

“Stop,” Renee ordered, her eyes glowing a slight teal shade. The Sylph of Mind lit her horn, worming her way into Pinkie’s own consciousness. It was a terrifying place, but Renee wasn’t a god-tier player of Mind, so she couldn’t read – she could only heal. She put her own mental energy into Pinkie.

Pinkie froze in place, her face twitching. “I… Er… I… Ahahahaha!” She pulled another knife out of her mane, but then dropped it, looking at her hoof in horror. Then she picked it back up and readied to throw it, but her other hoof knocked it out of her grip.

“What’s goin’ on!?” Applejack blurted.

“I don’t know!” Renee said. “She’s got something altering her mind continually! All I can do is keep her conflicted! Everything I do is undone a second later!”

Eve lit her horn. “Keep it up for just a little longer.” She lit her eye up. “I’ll find a way to contain her.”

Pinkie tried to get off a quip, but with Renee’s influence the sentence came out as a series of gurgles and panicked breaths.

How to contain Pinkie Pie… Eve thought to herself, scrolling through her knowledge of spells and dimensions. She operates even in standard physics, so that won’t work… Magical chains will keep her for a limited time, but that might not be enough… She can break any rule… So a self-perpetuating sealant spell affixed to her soul might do it. Might. She’ll be able to get out if she seriously wants… But it’s all I’ve got right now.

Eve cast her spell. Magical cuffs and chains appeared around Pinkie’s neck, midsection, and all four legs. She was tied up and turned upside-down, legs in the air. For good measure Eve enchanted her to be stuck to a boulder.

Pinkie growled. “You think this can hold me!?”

“For a while,” Eve said. “That’s all we need.”

Pinkie struggled, but she remained fixed to the boulder and tied in all the chains. “MMMF!”

“Rainbow!” Flutterfree shouted. Now that the fight was over she ran over to the blue pegasus. She pressed a wing to the side of her neck that wasn’t just a huge gash. “There’s no pulse!”

Applejack walked over and gulped. “She’s… She’s dead.”

Everyone except Pinkie turned to Eve.

Eve nodded slowly. “I’ll try it. Renee, be ready if she… if she…”

“Comes Back Wrong?”

Eve gulped, the slightest motion of her head telling Renee yes. She stood over Rainbow’s body and spread her wings, the magic sparkles in her mane flashing. She surrounded herself in a white aura, coalescing the energy into her horn. The white beam surrounded Rainbow’s body, filling her with the revive spell.

Eve had never learned much in the way of healing or holy magic, like Corona had. But she had made sure she knew the revive spell in case of a situation like this.

The gash in Rainbow’s neck sealed up awkwardly, but enough to be stable. The life slowly seeped back into Rainbow’s eyes.

The pegasus coughed up some blood and groaned.

There was a series of relieved sighs. Flutterfree closed her eyes and murmured “thank you.”

“Oh look at that, you brought her back!” Pinkie jeered. “Lucky you!”

Rainbow stood up and coughed, dusting herself off. She turned to Pinkie with sad eyes.

“That’s right! I killed you! Cause I’m craaaaazy!” She laughed.

Rainbow walked up to her, expression unreadable, one side of her body still covered in the red stains of her own blood. She stopped just short of the boulder.

“Come to get your revenge? C’mon, it’ll feel great.”

Rainbow put a wing around Pinkie. “We’re gonna fix you, Pinks. Don’t you worry.”

“W-WHAT!? I… Gah, you’re all missing the point! I’m crazy murderpony!”

“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow said. “So? You’re still our friend. We’re going to help you through this no matter how dangerous you are. Right girls?”

“Right,” the other four said without hesitation.

Rainbow coughed again. “Aw man, Eve, I don’t think you healed that up very well…”

“I’m not a healer!” Eve blurted. “I… I did what I could.”

“Yeah. Thanks, by the way. Still feel like crud.”

“...Your ability to recover from the situation so quickly astounds me,” Renee admitted.

“I didn’t spend however long staring at my dead body, so… I might have an advantage here?” She rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry if I seem to be brushing this off. …Anyway, Pinkie. How do we help her? Renee?”

“I already tried. Something’s actively tormenting her mind.”

“Maybe I’ve just found my true self!” Pinkie blurted.

“Yeah, no, if that were the case you wouldn’t have been so conflicted when I was healing you. Something’s influencing you.”

“And just her,” Eve said, looking around with her eye. “None of us are affected.”

“We need to get her to some other Pinkies,” Flutterfree said. “So she doesn’t slip out when we’re all blinking simultaneously.”

Eve nodded, pulling out her phone. She tried to dial O’Neill – but got no service. She narrowed her eyes. “…This entire universe should have service…”

“Wasn’t Seraphim working?” Renee asked.

Eve created a portal using Seraphim and poked her head through. She passed through the portal like it didn’t exist, remaining on the island. She tried to teleport away next, but just appeared elsewhere on the island. She teleported back, shaking her head. “We’re stuck.”

“Isn’t that always how it goes?” Pinkie pointed out. “You get stuck by some mysterious force! Who knows, maybe it’s me this time? Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Right, so we can’t leave,” Eve said. “Can’t heal Pinkie here… So we have to find the undead sludge monster and figure out what it’s doing. Flutterfree?”

Flutterfree closed her eyes, tapping into Lolo. “I don’t have much on it.”

“I can try to track it magically, but everything’s scrambled here,” Eve admitted. “My eye will probably help. Bring information to Light, as it were. Renee, is your telekinesis strong enough to lift that boulder?”

Renee looked at the boulder and bit her lip. “…Yes, but it will be a significant strain.”

“We have to take her with us and I don’t want to detach her.”

“I’ll do it Eve, don’t worry. Just don’t expect me to be doing much in the way of fighting.”

Eve nodded. “Rainbow?”

“I’m not leaving Pinkie’s side,” Rainbow said, saluting with a wing. “I’ll watch ‘em both.”

Eve forced a smile. “Good. Follow me. Tap me if you need my attention – I’ll be fixated on the path ahead of us.” She scanned the area ahead of her as the Witch of Light, following the black creature’s escape trail. The rest followed behind her, their faces set and determined. The smiles that had been present prior had mostly fallen, replaced not with despondence but with a feeling of urgency and importance.

This mission was just getting started, and all of them knew it.

Pinkie kept laughing. “Hey giiiiirls! What’s walking into a death trap? That’s right, all of us! It’s gonna be great! There won’t be any balloons, but pff, not all parties need balloons!”

Rainbow fixed Pinkie with an intense stare. “Hey, Pinkie, I know the good you is in there somewhere. We’re not going to hold any of this against you, k? So if you’re beating yourself up in there, don’t.”

“I’m going to kill you all.”

“Well I’ve already been killed!” Rainbow smirked. “So guess I’m safe!”

Pinkie twitched. “What’s wrong with you?”

“I’m awesome.”

“And there it is,” Renee said, grunting because of her exertion on the boulder. “The ego that never goes away, even post-traumatic experience.”

Applejack chuckled. “Heh. That’s our Rainbow. Smart-mouthin’ even after the end.”

“I am now best zombie, no contest,” Rainbow said with an exaggerated bow.

Flutterfree walked back to the group around the floating boulder. “Hey, Applejack, Eve wants you to be on Pinkie for a minute while Rainbow gets an bird’s eye view of everything. That good?”

Applejack nodded. “Fine by me. Rainbow?”

“On it!” Rainbow said, flying into the sky with a burst of wind.

Pinkie chuckled. “Hey Aaaaaaaplejaaaaaaack…” she whispered. “Got somethin’ to tell you…”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, putting her face closer to Pinkie. “Ah’m listening, though Ah’m also expectin’ this to either be a trap or some cruel joke o’ yours.”

“Oh, it might be both. See, I’m going to tell you something completely one hundred percent true, no bamboozle. And you’re going to hate it.” She giggled. “The only way to stop me from killing another one of you is to kill me. If you don’t, I will kill one of you again. It is certain.”

“Mhm,” Applejack said, grunting. “Great talk.”

“What are you gonna do, huh? Kill me? Or are you going to pretend like I didn’t say anything?”

Applejack blinked. “Ah’m gonna talk to Eve about it and see what she thinks. Ah’m not makin’ that decision alone.”

Pinkie blinked.

“Waitin’ for Rainbow to come back though, y’know, since Ah’m supposed to be watchin’ you.”

Pinkie’s left eye twitched. “Not even fazed…”

Rainbow returned, tapping Eve to get her attention.. “Yeah, there’s nothing on this entire island besides that tower. Not even sure who could build it, or why. There’s nothing for Tauryl to defend here!”

“Lighthouse principle, maybe?” Eve asked. “Destroy the ships coming to the mainland from a distance?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “Dunno. All I know is that this island is abandoned, dark, has a creepy glowing tower, and is very hard to see through. That canopy is thick.”

“Got it. How are you feeling, after that fly?”

“Eh, I still feel like puking my guts out, but nothing too bad. I probably shouldn’t be using my neck too much. How about you?”

“Still following the trail,” Eve reported.

“Keep it up.” She flew back to Pinkie. “You’re free, AJ. What’d you get up to?”

Applejack nodded. “A lot of creepy talkin’.”

“Oh yeah, figures.”

Pinkie groaned. “Why are you so amiable!? Be freaked out!”

“I’m barely holding onto my sanity,” Rainbow admitted. “But hey, why would I make it worse by freaking out?”

Pinkie said nothing.

Applejack took the opportunity to trot up to Flutterfree and Eve. “Uh, hey Eve?”

“She’s, uh, not looking right now,” Flutterfree said. “Tracking.”

“Well Ah just heard somethin’ from Pinkie she’s gotta hear.”

Flutterfree noticed the urgency in Applejack’s voice and nodded. She tapped Eve’s shoulder with her wing and then gestured toward Applejack.

“Hm?” Eve said.

“Pinkie’s just told me that, unless we kill her, she’s gonna kill one of us. Ah believe her when she said it was a certainty. Figured you’d need to know.”

“…Ah…” Eve bit her lip.

“Ah suggest we keep doin’ what we’ve been doin’. I ain’t gonna kill her unless she asks me to in her right mind. Ah can’t be sure it was really necessary otherwise.”

“That’s true,” Eve said. “Difficult situation… I’ll make sure everyone knows. Ahem. Everpony!?”

Everypony turned to her, stopping their motions.

“So, Pinkie’s probably going to get out and kill one of us,” Eve said. “We know that the only way to prevent this is to kill her. AJ and I agree that we shouldn’t do that. I presume you all agree, but you needed to be made aware.”

Renee sighed. “It’s difficult, but it’s the only real decision.”

Rainbow nodded. “Not her fault, she doesn’t deserve to be offed for it. Even if she does go after one of us.”

Flutterfree smiled. “Looks like it’s unanimous.”

“That’s a small comfort, at least,” Applejack said.

“GAH!” Pinkie shouted. “That’s it, you’re all going to pay for your stupid, stupid friendship. Now.”

“Incoming!” Eve shouted, preparing a complex series of spells. The shadowy creature flew at them, burning through the air like it was nothing. Eve shot at it and tapped into Seraphim to induce a point of Absolute Zero within the creature. Parts of it froze – but other parts of it lashed out at Pinkie, tearing her free from the boulder.

This time the creature didn’t run – it just teleported away in a flash of darkness. When the darkness had cleared, Pinkie was already free with a knife in her hoof.

She whirled onto Renee, driving the knife into her shoulder. “Gotch-”

Renee pulled her into a hug. The motion made Applejack, Rainbow, Flutterfree, and Eve freeze.

Pinkie stabbed Renee again. She let out a cry of pain, but refused to let go of Pinkie.

Pinkie stabbed her again. This time there was no cry, just a whimper, her hooves still hung around Pinkie’s neck.

“Jus… Jus…” There were tears peeking out the corners of Pinkie’s eyes, despite her enraged face. “What is… wrong with you ponies!?”

“W-whatever you are… you aren’t… Pinkie…” Renee gasped. “Pinkie… it’s okay. Just…” Renee got a surge of strength to pull Pinkie closer. “Just take this. It’s all I can do.”

Pinkie drove the knife into one of Renee’s eyes. The white hooves stayed around Pinkie’s neck much longer than they should have.

Pinkie let out a laugh. “I… I’ve got one! I… I…” She curled into a ball and started rocking back and forth, giggling to herself. “I, no you, no me, no them, I… Heheheheheheheh….”

Eve had the imprisonment spell ready, but she knew from a glance at Pinkie it was no longer necessary. She wasn’t going to be doing anything for a while. She lowered her horn.

Rainbow ran to Pinkie, putting a wing around her. Pinkie didn’t respond to the touch – she just kept laughing. Laughing while crying, not realizing the world was around her.

Eve sighed. “Flutterfree, I’m sorry, you’re going to have to do it this time.”

Flutterfree gulped. She drew the bow of light and pointed it right at Renee’s head. “R-ready.”

Eve removed the knife from Renee’s eye and disintegrated the offending weapon. Only then did she tap into the revive spell, flooding Renee’s body with holy magic. The knife wounds sealed up, and the area that had once been her eye caked over. She took in a sharp breath.

Then she let out a scream.

Eve took a few steps back. “N-no…”

Flutterfree bit back, tears pouring out of her eyes. “Don’t make me do this Renee… Don’t…”

The screaming stopped, replaced by hurried breathing. She slowly stood up and gulped. She picked up her hat, dusted it of, and put it on her head. “I… guess I’m back.”

Flutterfree rushed her into a hug. “Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you.”

“Ahah…” Renee said, shaking her head. “...B-back off.” She tore Flutterfree off of her.

Flutterfree stared at her in betrayal. “W-what?”

“You… you always say there’s something after. Always. There… There was nothing Flutterfree! Absolutely nothing!”

“…How exactly do you remember nothing?” Rainbow asked.

“SHUT UP!” Renee shouted, pointing a hoof at Flutterfree. “Have you been lying to us? You’ve been dead before! How could you do that to us?”

Flutterfree wiped the tears off her face. “Renee, I understand you’re upset…”

“Upset!? Upset!? That’s the understatement of the century! There was nothing there Flutterfree! Not even fire! Just emptiness!”

Flutterfree forced herself to keep a calm gaze with Renee. “Renee, you’re worrying everyone.”

“Worrying? Who the hell cares?! I’m talking to you. There’s something wrong with you!”

“I’m sorry you believe that.”

Renee twitched. “Maybe you just think I went to the ‘bad place’? Maybe your Hell is just expansive nothingness, is that it?”

“…No.”

“Then what!?”

Flutterfree gulped. “I think you weren’t destined to die today, so you didn’t go anywhere.”

“That’s not what it felt like.”

Flutterfree struggled to keep her features calm, though the tears hadn’t stopped. “Renee… You’re stressed. You just experienced something horrible. I’ve experienced it too. It’s never pleasant. But please, just stop.”

“No! You know what, here it goes. Your beliefs are outrageous! You believe in some human savior that may or may not have existed in a first universe, and that there is a God out there who loves every little creation in this screwed up existence! That’s absurd! There it is! Always thought so, always have, always will! Stop being so goddamned comforted by it!”

Flutterfree winced. “I… If… If that’s what you think. I’m not going to stop you. Or judge you. But I’ll do what I want. …And I’ll still be your friend, despite that.”

“What the hell is wrong with you!?”

Flutterfree blinked. “You’re not Renee.”

Rainbow facehooved. “Looks like it’s out of Pinkie and in her now, great.”

“Ha-HA!” Pinkie blurted, sitting straight up. “I see the upper echelons! Today is a portent! Oh would you look at that! Please forget please forget please forget…” She fell back into Rainbow’s lap, shuddering.

Renee glanced at all the suddenly understanding faces. None of them were truly upset or angry anymore. She saw Eve creating the imprisonment spell for her.

“Screw this,” Renee muttered. She passed out onto the ground.

Flutterfree walked up to her, placing a hoof to her neck. “…I have a pulse.”

“Was that… ‘Coming Back Wrong’?” Rainbow asked.

“Not of the sort we usually talk about,” Eve said, furrowing her brow. “I think whatever this thing tormenting us is, it intercepted the revival. Somehow.”

Renee opened her eye. She laughed for a moment, but her eye flashed the teal of Mind, bringing her expression to a more reasonable one of confusion. “Wh-what happened?”

“The thing that got Pinkie got to you,” Flutterfree said. “You said some… really offensive things to me.”

Renee looked away guiltily.

“…You actually do think it’s silly, don’t you?”

“I, well…”

Flutterfree hugged her. “It’s okay. You can think what you want.”

Renee gulped. “I... You still have my support, Flutterfree. Always. I don’t care if you believed we were all secretly banana slugs in a paradise world living other lives.” She pulled her closer. “It’s not silly.”

Flutterfree nodded. “Thank you for saying so.”

“WOOHOO! Driving up the anger meter!” Pinkie shouted, ruining the moment. “What will we think of next? Destruction? Desolation?”

Renee sighed, pulling herself back from Flutterfree. She adjusted her hat. “Well, I’m down an eye. Quite painful, actually.”

“You did get it worse than I did,” Rainbow admitted. “But hey, at least we’re all back now. …Even if Pinkie has lost it.”

Renee walked over to Pinkie. “…Maybe now…?”

“You can try,” Applejack said.

Renee walked up to Pinkie. Her remaining eye flashed teal again, and she caressed Pinkie’s head. “There there… You can come back to us.”

Pinkie’s laughing died down. Her psychotic smile was replaced with a warm one, and her mane poofed up slightly – not back to full, but not fully straight. “Huh. Guess you got me back.” She hugged Renee. “Thanks!”

“Pinkie, hate to interrupt you now that you’ve just gotten back,” Applejack said, “but do you know anything new?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yeah… I forgot a lot of it. But I’m not going to get a chance to tell you all of it.” She turned to Eve with sad eyes. “I’m so sorry. I can’t do anything to stop what’s coming next.”

Eve gulped. “…Yeah… Each of you have had a struggle. It’s my turn, isn’t it?”

Pinkie smiled at her. “Just be strong, Eve. Whatever you do, I believe in you.”

“We all do,” Flutterfree said, putting a wing around her.

Eve nodded. She felt the warmth of the sun behind her – it had finally started to rise.

Then she wasn’t in the jungle anymore. She was on the beach they had first arrived in. Out on the ocean, the sun was rising, casting a beautiful pattern of light on the water.

Between her and the sun was the black creature – but it wasn’t a formless blob anymore. It had taken the form of a dragon-sized centaur skeleton held together by the black, burning sludge. In front of it were five bubbles, each one containing one of her friends.

Eve blinked. Déjà vu.

The creature spoke with a surprisingly normal sounding, but deep, voice. “There is something very wrong with all of you,” the creature growled.

Eve glared at it. “Let my friends go. I may not be able to escape this island, but I can give you a taste of a particularly nasty reality somewhat easily.”

“Threats. You think they’re valid. They probably are, though know you are only able to do that by a loophole I did not forsee. Regardless, here is a choice, Eve.”

“What, going to make me give you my magic in exchange for them?”

“I have no use for your magic. You simply have to choose – one of your friends is going to die, and they will be taken so you may not attempt to revive them. Take your pick. Also, try to move against me and they all die, just in case you had some sort of plan there.”

Eve stared right into the empty eye-sockets of the centaur’s skull. “Me.”

Rainbow gasped. “Eve! You can’t!”

“She can’t choose any of us either,” Applejack said.

“You can’t offer yourself,” the creature said, leaning it. “That would ruin the purpose of this exercise.”

“Then select at random,” Eve said.

“Also against the purpose. You have to choose a friend, Eve. Who do you think needs to die?”

Eve glared at the skeletal centaur, tears rolling down her eyes. “Why?”

“Maybe I’ll answer that after you make your choice.”

“Do I have your word that all the rest of us will survive?”

The creature leaned in. “You have my word, pony. Now choose! Who will it be? The pink murderer? The boring apple pony? The egotistical hotshot? The special buttery vampire? The seamstress turned politician? Which one is your least favorite? Choose, and let everyone else know.”

Eve looked at her friends, spending the longest time gazing at Flutterfree. She shifted her sights to the monster tormenting them. “I have decided.”

The beast chuckled. “Yes…?”

“If I have to make this decision, in order to be as fair as possible to all the others… I have to choose the pony whose loss will hurt me the most.” She gulped. “Flutterfree? I-”

“I know,” Flutterfree said, putting a hoof up to the edge of her bubble. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be somewhere better.”

The other four ponies couldn’t say anything. All but Applejack were crying profusely.

Eve choked. “…Take Flutterfree. Take Flutterfree you bastard!”

Flutterfree’s sphere was dunked into the ocean, out of sight of any of her friends. The other four bubbles popped, dropping Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack on the sands of the beach.

They all rushed Twilight into a hug. There were no dry eyes – but Eve was suffering a pain deeper than any of the others. Her weeping sounded more like gasps of pain and agony. It was a bitter, deep sadness that tore at her core.

And all four of them were there through it all.

“What… the hell… is wrong with you!?” the centaur monster shouted. “What the… why won’t you break!?”

Since Eve was in no condition to speak, Pinkie took point. “BECAUSE FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC YOU IDIOT! GET IT IN YOUR THICK, SHADOWY SKULL! NO BAD GUY IS GOING TO TEAR US APART NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO! OUR BOND IS TOO STRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME? DO YOU HEAR ME!?”

The centaur skeleton stared at her.

He lifted his hand, raising Flutterfree’s bubble out of the ocean. She was still inside it, a confused expression on her face.

“FLUTTERS!” Eve shouted, her mood turning a complete one-eighty. She teleported herself to the bubble and tore it open, squeezing Flutterfree like a plush toy. “Never… I never…”

Flutterfree hugged her back. Renee had to drag the two of them back to shore with her magic they were so engrossed in each other’s presence.

The smiles returned to all six of them while the creature just watched them. Unmoving.

Eventually, Eve let go of Flutterfree and wiped her eyes. “There’s more to do.”

Flutterfree nodded, taking a few steps back.

Her five friends behind her, Eve turned to glare at the creature. “What is your deal!? Why did you do this!? What was the point!?!”

“I was supposed to show you how worthless friendship was. I was supposed to prove to myself that it was worthless.”

“Yeah, well that didn’t happen!” Eve shouted.

“Clearly.”

“Now why did you want to do that!? The explanation better be good! Actually, screw it, no matter what the explanation is I’m still going to be livid.”

The undead centaur folded his arms. “I lived in Tauryl until a few years ago. When the borders opened, and ponies started coming in with all their wares, their culture, and their friendship. It sickened me how much it was a perversion of reality. Of the strong. Of the…” He paused and shook his head. “I couldn’t stand it. I found this empty island and decided I would spend the rest of my undeath alone, in a world that I created. I was happy here, where everything was the way it was supposed to be.”

“And then we showed up.”

“AND THEN YOU SHOWED UP!” he shouted. “I knew from the moment you arrived who you were. Those SIX. Those SIX I had heard so much about. Those paragons of friendship and harmony. I almost killed you then and there, wiping you out of existence without a thought. But then I figured I would enjoy turning your own friendship against you much more. I would drive every one of you past your limit! I would break you apart and then kill you! BUT… But…”

“But our friendship was stronger than you thought,” Eve said, expression softening slightly.

“YES! Laughter just kept laughing, even after she went mad! Loyalty was exceedingly loyal even to the one who killed her! Honesty didn’t even hesitate when given delicate information! Generosity gave even to the brink of death! Kindness couldn’t bring herself to even shout back at the person she knew so well! And freaking Magic somehow managed to make a correct decision in the impossible game!” He grabbed his head. “HOW!?”

“Friendship is magic,” Eve said. “Actually… no. That’s not the answer. The answer is just friendship. There doesn’t even have to be magic. We’re just six friends who would do almost anything for each other. I know there are things that would tax – and possibly ruin – our friendship, but a series of trials is not one of them. We stand together even when it gets difficult. That’s what you need to understand. Maybe something is wrong with us. It could be a weakness in many situations. But it didn’t break. You can’t break it by trying to tear us apart.”

The centaur skeleton stared at them. “I admit my defeat. Your friendship is strong. There may be something to it after all. …You have my respect.”

And then he vanished.

The flanks of all six of them started glowing, signifying a job well done.

“YES!” Rainbow shouted. “Holy Celestia am I glad that one’s over.”

Flutterfree let out a sigh of relief. “You can say that again.”

Renee looked at the blood all over her white coat. “…I think we’ve probably been traumatized again.”

Eve nodded slowly. “Yeah… Yeah we have. But at least this time, we stayed together until the bitter end.”

“It’s what needed to happen,” Applejack said. “That’s why we were sent here. To be driven through Tartarus and prove to him he was wrong.”

“Didn’t even get to know his name…” Pinkie said, furrowing her brow.

“Think he’ll try to go and make some friends now?” Flutterfree asked.

“I don’t know,” Eve said. “I don’t know if I want him to. The Tree of Harmony wanted him to see… but I’m not sure I can forgive him for what he’s done to us.”

“It’s a good thing he decided to just leave, then,” Applejack commented.

“…Let’s go home,” Renee said. “…I’d like to go home.”

~~~

A few days later…

Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched their kids talk to each other from across the room.

“Y’know, Ah thought about them a lot,” Applejack said. “Thought about what they’d do if we didn’t make it off that island.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to offer her usual egotistical comment – but she stopped herself. She shook her head slowly. “When I died there… I thought about something really, really stupid.”

“Oh?”

“It was how I’d never get to ride Prism’s rocket to the moon. I’d never get to experience the thing she’d built. I felt like a terrible mother for some reason. I woke up, alive again, and forgot completely about it thanks to the literal pain in the neck – but that’s the last thing I remember thinking.”

“Huh. That’s not stupid, Rainbow.”

“Feels oddly selfish, but not at the same time. I dunno.” Rainbow shrugged.

“Ah wonder what my last thoughts will be…”

“Not something you know until it happens. At this point I’m wondering if mine are just going to be ‘here I go again’.”

“…Was Renee right about the nothingness?”

Rainbow shook her head. “I think that was just flaming, black, and ugly messing with hear head. I don’t remember anything like that. I’ve passed out from blood loss before. It felt almost exactly like that.”

“Like sleepin’?”

“Like sleeping after getting hit in the head with an anvil. So not exactly pleasant.”

“Hm,” Applejack said, looking down. “Are we really as strong as we think we are?”

“Of course we are, AJ, we wouldn’t be this far if we weren’t!” Rainbow nudged Applejack with her hoof, prompting a slight chuckle. The two hoofbumped and kept watching their children.

~~~

Renee knocked on Flutterfree’s cottage door.

Flutterfree opened it with a smile. “Oh, Renee! I wasn’t expecting you!”

“…Are you free for a… talk?” Renee asked.

Flutterfree glanced over her shoulder at Discord. “Discord, do you mind?”

Discord shrugged, teleporting away with a snap of his fingers.

“Yes, I’m free.”

“Good,” Renee said, breathing deeply. She sat herself on one of the couches while Flutterfree took one opposite. There was already warm tea on the table.

Renee lifted one to her face. She had gotten a replacement eye after the incident. It functioned exactly like her old eye, but it was a slightly off color and just slightly too reflective for an actual eyeball. People had already looked at her face feeling unnerved and unable to tell her why they did. So she had taken to wearing glasses that purposefully reflected a minor glare to anyone looking directly at her, blurring the image of her eyes just enough so nobody could tell the difference. The only downside was that the glasses needed to be larger than she was used to when sewing, but she was Renee. She had crafted the lenses into sideways teardrop shapes with a dulled ruby-red frame. Reminiscent of her old sewing glasses.

“So… What did you want to talk about?”

“I… Yes, I’ve always thought what you did was a little silly – but it’s harmless, and in fact might do some good from what I’ve seen. I want to make that clear.”

Flutterfree nodded. “You want me to explain it to you, don’t you? So you can understand?”

Renee smiled warmly. “Yes. Yes, please do.”

“Don’t feel pressured by any of this, okay?”

“Oh, trust me, I won’t.”

Flutterfree sipped her tea. “In that case, it’s best we start from the beginning…”

~~~

Pinkie and Eve were watching the sun set on an alien world with seventeen moons of different colors.

“…Pinkie, that was it, wasn’t it?”

Pinkie nodded. “I… I think so.”

Eve sighed. “Everything’s going to change. And we don’t know how long we have.”

“A month? Years? Yeah, I have no idea,” Pinkie shook her head. “All I know is that I’ve had an immense sense of foreboding since that island. A horrendous, deep, burning sensation. Different than the Pinkie Sense.”

Eve gulped. “I… I’ve had that feeling too. I’ve heard some things from Twilence… It’s sooner than we’d like. Our friendship is going to be taxed, Pinkie. It’s going to be taxed harder than that island.”

Pinkie furrowed her brow. Then she pulled Eve into a hug. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

Eve reciprocated the gesture of affection. A tear rolled down her cheek onto Pinkie’s back.

The two stayed until the sun completely set and the world dropped into darkness.

Comments

[Amusementist]

Well. Well, well, well, well...

[GMBlackjack]

9625849

-GM, master of wells

[Amusementist]

9625852
Something bad this way comes.

[alfonso_rd_33]

9625849
Timmy fell down where...?

[Eclipse_Nova]

Welp, you managed to make me cry with that ending

Again!

Good Job, GM

[GMBlackjack]

9625987
Just wait until we get to Chapter 102.

-GM, master of ominous comments.

[Blaze rod]

Every time Rev is on the screen I want to punch something. Jesus Christ that preachy "I actually know how everything works without any evidence" crap is pissing me off.

[Killer20]

Great Chapter !!! In Fact the last 2 chapters were really good ! This one better than the last but that one was still pretty good!
But sadly i really didnt care for the 3rd chapter before this. It was just : meh guess this isnt bad but also not really good.
I guess thats my problem with this story, the differing quality of the chapters , some are REALLY GREAT, and some are just meh and that just annoys me. I get that partially is a subjective thing but still wanted to say it.

[GMBlackjack]

9627519
Would it help to think of it like a serialized TV show?

You have good episodes, you have bad episodes. You can not like some and love the others, and a bad episode or two does not ruin a show. Just keep coming back knowing that, more likely than not, the next chapter will be something worthwhile.

-GM, master of times.

[Icy Creation]

Eve gulped. “…Yeah… Each of you have had a struggle. It’s my turn, isn’t it?”

I think it's time. Will she be revealed?

Edit: Nope, not yet.

[RoboRed]

Why must you play with my feelings like this? Not one, not two, but three gut punches(Renee got a bit of a pass because she's still in LSB though). If things had ended there with Flutterfree going I thought I would have teared up.

Ka has let everyone live this day but things are never certain in the future, especially with that foreboding sense of dread. The Elements have just been put through the wringer hard this time and come out alive, but not intact.

Someone is going to fall.

9626010
waitwhat

Applejack had four kids. Jona, Ginger, Cameo, and Corea. Jona was tall, red, and demanded attention with her presence. Ginger was the only stallion of the bunch and was a pony of few words, but also a genius. Cameo was a mare born with a horn thanks to latent genes within Barley’s lineage, whose special talent was mimicry magic. Corea was the Avatar, bender of five elements and spiritual leader of an entire world.

Coincidental side note: I was just wondering about Corea earlier this morning had how she hadn't been seen in a while. I guess to be honest it seems there's not that much of a reason to have her have a major appearance in the story right now. That could likely change but there's only so many characters to use and not everyone needs a reason to be brought back after they've played a major part in chapter/arc.