Unnoticed Threats

by smirker

Alternate Self

Doctor Whooves sat in his office and heard kissing outside, he was curious and looks, he saw Twilight Sparkle with Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart, he looks around more and sees Big Macintosh with Sugar Belle, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were sharing a meal, Cranky and Matilda were hanging out with one another, and Maud Pie and Mudbriar were spending time together. Doctor Whooves then remembered that it was Hearts and Hooves Day, he looks around and sees a male earth pony walking to him, he had a black coat, a red mane and tail, purple eyes, and was wearing a light black blazer, white shirt, and black pants, which was rare in Equestria, and had black shoes on his hind hooves, he also had a red flower on the left pocket of his blazer, he walked over to Doctor Whooves,

"Are you the patient?" Doctor Whooves asked, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and Flurry Heart stop what they were doing and look,

"Yes." the pony replied,

"This way then." and they go into the house, the two sit,

"State your name and occupation." Doctor Whooves said,

"Gogh... widower." the pony said,

"What did you do before that?" Doctor Whooves asked,

"I was a painter, mainly, I was also a writer, a fashion designer, a musician, a poet, and a singer, but I was terrible at all of them except for painting." Gogh replied,

"I assume you're here to talk about your wedding day." Doctor Whooves said,

"Yes, it was five months ago, I'm still sad about it." Gogh replied,

"Well, go on." Doctor Whooves said, and Gogh begins to talk about his wedding day.

---

Gogh was living in a small village just west of the Crystal Empire, he was getting his groom's outfit ready for the wedding, he looked at his paintings and sees he had paintings of a winter landscape, a desert landscape, a forest landscape, a jungle landscape, a volcanic landscape, a water landscape, and an urban landscape, he also had a self-portrait of himself, he was wearing a black suit of armor, with only his head exposed, he had a spear in his front right hoof, and a sword on his left side that was sheathed, it was his village's military outfit, while Gogh was never in the military, he did like the outfit, so he painted himself by using a mirror and his memory, it took a while, and he got it done, he returned it shortly afterwards.

Gogh was marrying a mare named Eurydice, he was very happy and almost ready for the wedding tonight, but he hears growling coming from the painting of himself in the armor,

"I can't believe she would marry you and not me." his portrait said, Gogh exclaimed in shock,

"What? How?" Gogh asked in shock,

"You didn't know, every painting you make opens a portal to another world." Alternate Gogh replied,

"Who are you?" Gogh asked,

"I'm you, I was going to marry Eurydice in my world, but I didn't win her over, she went over to marry my world's version of Narcissus instead." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was a bit uneasy at hearing Narcissus' name, the one in his world wanted to marry Eurydice as well, he and Gogh got into a fight in public over who was going to marry Eurydice, neither won because the other ponies broke it up, Eurydice eventually chose Gogh, which made Narcissus very bitter.

Gogh comes back to the present and sees his alternate self was still looking at him,

"Were you created when I painted you?" Gogh asked,

"No, I existed the whole time, the painting you made only opened the portal between my world and your world." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was still agape at this.

Gogh's door bursts open and a unicorn comes in, he was wearing the black armor, he had a dark purple coat, long dark red mane and tail, and black eyes, he was also very muscular, it was Narcissus, he was angry and walked towards Gogh, he got ready to defend himself but Narcissus uses telekinesis to hold him up and proceeds to punch him several times with his front hooves, Gogh let out several exclaims of pain since his punches hurt a lot,

"This is insanity! She would choose you over me! You're not half the colt she needs!" Narcissus said angrily,

"Maybe she would have chosen you if you actually cared about her and not just her physical appearance." Gogh retorted, Narcissus kicked Gogh in his abdomen with his front left hoof,

"Fool! I am the most handsome colt in this village! Only the most beautiful mare is right for me!" Narcissus said angrily,

"What about her personality and interests?" Gogh asked,

"I don't care about her character or what she likes, all she has to do is clean the house, cook my meals, and bear my sons, nothing else matters about her." Narcissus said,

"No wonder why she didn't choose you." Gogh said, Narcissus growled,

"How can she not love me?! I am the most handsome colt in this village, I'm also a commander in the military, and I have the biggest muscles in the village! She is making a mistake to marry you when she hasn't seen the heaviest weight I can lift!" Narcissus said angrily,

"As I said, no wonder why she didn't choose you." Gogh said, Narcissus becomes enraged and stomps on Gogh's left jaw with his front left hoof,

"I'm going to try again, and if she doesn't change her mind, you will suffer." Narcissus said and he ran off.

Gogh gets up and sees Alternate Gogh was still watching him,

"Look at that, you can't even take blows like a colt." Alternate Gogh said,

"He snuck up on me." Gogh replied,

"You should've fought back." Alternate Gogh said,

"That would've made things worse." Gogh replied,

"What do you mean it would've made things worse?" Alternate Gogh asked,

"Eurydice is a pacifist, she despises fighters and violence, she wants us all to live peacefully and quietly." Gogh replied,

"I see, the Eurydice in my world loves fighting and is into independence, I love her, but she doesn't love me, and I don't like mares who are strong and violent, I like them weak and obedient." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh was uncomfortable,

"What is your job in that world?" Gogh asked,

"Blacksmith." Alternate Gogh replied, Gogh was very uncomfortable,

"What do you see in Eurydice? Why do you want to marry her?" Gogh asked,

"I see her as a testing bag, I want to marry her so I can test my toys on her." Alternate Gogh replied with an unnerving smile,

"Sorry, but the Eurydice in my world would never fall for you, she would never want to marry somepony who would do such a thing to her." Gogh said, Alternate Gogh glared at him and moved in the painting, he comes out of the painting and was in Gogh's room, Gogh screamed in shock,

"Relax, I'm not here to ask her out, I'm just curious about your world's village, I won't cause any trouble." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh partially believed him, but decided he should keep an eye on him,

"What caused you to fall in love with Eurydice anyway?" Alternate Gogh asked,

"Her singing, she has a beautiful voice." Gogh replied, Alternate Gogh chuckled,

"I need to hear this." Alternate Gogh said, and he ran out of the house, Gogh decided to follow him and watch him closely.

Gogh sneaks around and watches Alternate Gogh closely, the citizens look at Alternate Gogh and were confused, they thought he was Gogh, he follows Alternate Gogh and sees him going to Eurydice, she was a Pegasus, she had a light yellow coat, long straight pink mane and a long straight tail, her eyes were a sharp blue, her cutie mark was a black treble clef, she was speaking with Narcissus,

"I told you, Narcissus, the answer is no! No big muscles, fighting, or macho behavior will win my heart!" Eurydice said angrily,

"You are making a mistake!" Narcissus said angrily,

"No, I am not! I don't love you, and that's final!" Eurydice replied angrily, Narcissus walked away while grumbling.

Alternate Gogh goes to Eurydice and she looks at him with surprise,

"That is why you chose me, your loving husband after tonight." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh becomes angry and was about to go to him,

"Imagine me when I paint your portrait with only the color red." Alternate Gogh said,

"Who are you?" Eurydice asked,

"It's me, your fiancé, Gogh." Alternate Gogh replied,

"No, you're not, the Gogh I'm marrying is a kind and gentle colt, posing as him and passing off as him is not going to win my heart." Eurydice said,

"But my name really is Gogh." Alternate Gogh replied,

"Well, you're not the Gogh I'm marrying." Eurydice said,

"You sure about that? I know a few tricks on how to make you sing better." Alternate Gogh replied,

"My singing is fine, I do not need somepony giving me advice, now please, leave me alone." Eurydice said, and she closed the door.

Alternate Gogh walks away and was going to Gogh's house, Gogh becomes relieved and thought he has given up, he decides to go to him,

"Sorry, but she seems to be able to tell that you're not me." Gogh said,

"Yeah, I guess you win, congratulations." Alternate Gogh replied,

"Wow, you took rejection quite well, I would've broken down crying if that happened to me." Gogh said,

"I see, say, me, I like that outfit you're wearing, I want to buy one as a souvenir of this world, and then I'll leave, I promise you." Alternate Gogh said,

"Okay, just go north of here, and you'll be at the store, I have to go home and get ready for my wedding now." Gogh replied, and the two went their separate ways.

Gogh was in front of the door and ready, he looks at his paintings and admired them, his alternate self was not home yet,

"Well, he sure is taking a while." Gogh said to himself, knocking is heard at the door and he opens it, he sees Alternate Gogh was wearing the exact same outfit as him, including the red flower, it was impossible to tell the difference between the two now since they looked exactly the same and had the exact same voice, he also had a piece of dark purple cloth with him,

"Sorry I'm late, the outfit was expensive, and getting this cloth was also hard, it was expensive at another store." Alternate Gogh said,

"Well, you were starting to worry me, come on in, I think it's time for you to go back to your world." Gogh replied, and Alternate Gogh walked in while Gogh closed the door, he then turned around and walked forward a little.

Alternate Gogh tackled him onto the floor and Gogh grunted,

"Sorry, but Eurydice is mine." Alternate Gogh said, and Gogh rolled over and was now on top of Alternate Gogh, Alternate Gogh kicks Gogh in his flank with his right back hoof and Gogh flies off, he screams and goes into the painting of his self-portrait, he gets up and runs to the portal, Alternate Gogh quickly covers the painting with the cloth, closing the portal,

"NO!!" Gogh yelled, Alternate Gogh laughs on the other side,

"Personal beating and hitting bag, here I come." Alternate Gogh said and laughed,

"The fourth step of the plan is complete, let's go." Gogh overheard Alternate Gogh say, and it was silent afterwards.

Gogh tries to jump through where the cloth was at but he bounced back and fell, he gets up and sees Alternate Gogh's world, the village was mostly the same, but the people were very different, the merchants from his world were thieves in this world, the regular citizens and police were criminals, with the mayor of his world being the leader of the criminals in the alternate world, and vice versa with the criminals of his world, Gogh was a bit dumbfounded, but he decided to look for somepony for help.

Gogh walks around trying to get help, he was also wondering what Alternate Gogh was doing, since he said trapping him in this world was the fourth step of his plan, he looks around and sees Narcissus and Eurydice walking around, he was surprised to see this world's version of Narcissus was a painter, since he had painting supplies, he looks and sees Alternate Eurydice was wearing battle armor, she slapped the painting supplies out of Alternate Narcissus' hoof with her right front hoof,

"What are you doing?! I said no painting!" Alternate Eurydice said angrily,

"I'm sorry, I'm very sorry." Alternate Narcissus replied tearfully,

"You better be! Remember your place, or I'm going to put you in it next time!" Alternate Eurydice said, Alternate Narcissus was in tears and Alternate Eurydice walked away.

Gogh ran to him and was going to try to ask for help,

"Excuse me." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus looked at him,

"Be gone, Gogh, Eurydice chose me, you lost." Alternate Narcissus said, the words did sting Gogh a bit,

"No, no, no, I'm Gogh from another world, the Gogh from this world threw me in here." Gogh replied, Alternate Narcissus was a bit speechless,

"Well, that explains why you're not wearing your armor, we may be criminals, but we still have rules to follow." Alternate Narcissus said,

"Please, I need help getting back to my world, he's going to marry my world's version of Eurydice." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus' attention was caught,

"What's your world's version of Eurydice like?" Alternate Narcissus asked,

"She's a pacifist, she doesn't like fighting, but on the negative side, she can't defend herself very well, and she's a singer." Gogh said, Alternate Narcissus becomes shocked,

"Come on, we have to go, she's not going to live very long if she marries him." Alternate Narcissus said, and he and Gogh run to his home.

Gogh and Alternate Narcissus run to Alternate Narcissus' house and he knocks on the door rapidly with his front right hoof, Alternate Eurydice opens it with an angry face,

"What are you doing?!" Alternate Eurydice asked angrily,

"Please, Eurydice, this is an emergency." Alternate Narcissus replied quickly and frantically,

"No, I am not helping you, Gogh, you're a sick pony." Alternate Eurydice said,

"No, no, no, no, no, Eurydice, this Gogh is from another world, he was thrown in here by our world's Gogh." Alternate Narcissus replied,

"Oh, well, that would explain why you're not wearing your armor, but I'm not fully convinced." Alternate Eurydice said,

"Please, I need help, the Gogh from this world is going to steal my bride." Gogh replied, Alternate Eurydice becomes shocked,

"Did you say he's going to marry your bride?!" Alternate Eurydice asked, Gogh nodded frantically,

"Come with me." Alternate Eurydice said in a calm tone and Gogh follows her.

Alternate Eurydice leads Gogh to where his house was at and sees a gravestone,

"This is what happened to the last pony who dated Gogh." Alternate Eurydice said,

"Who is it?" Gogh asked,

"Rose, she and Gogh dated when they were younger, Gogh was already a blacksmith, and whenever he made new weapons for the military, he would test them by using them on her. Rose was a mare who worked with roses, she loved the flowers, and Gogh seduced her." Alternate Eurydice said,

"The Rose in my world was also my first love interest, but she rejected me, and she also liked roses, but she was more interested in the thorns, she was also into fighting other colts to prove to them that mares can be just as dangerous in fighting." Gogh replied,

"I see, this Rose didn't like fighting, and she obeyed everything Gogh said, that is why I married Narcissus, because he is too weak to stand up for himself, and as you can see, he's frail, I know he's a trophy husband for me, but it was also for my protection." Alternate Eurydice said,

"Okay, that's nice and all, but I have to hurry, I need to get back to my world before this world's version of myself marries my bride." Gogh replied,

"I see, there's another portal to your world in the forest, this way." Alternate Eurydice said, and they run to it.

Gogh and Alternate Eurydice run through the forest together to get to the portal,

"How many portals are in this world?" Gogh asked,

"I don't know, but several of them opened in this world." Alternate Eurydice replied, the two keep running and were just going straight for the time,

"What's the Narcissus in your world like?" Alternate Eurydice asked,

"Big, muscular, still a unicorn, full of himself, commander in the military, he just wants to marry my bride based off her physical beauty." Gogh replied,

"I still say that's a better alternative than this world's Gogh." Alternate Eurydice said,

"I still have to deal with him, he's very bitter he didn't win my bride's heart, he actually broke into my house and physically attacked me earlier today." Gogh replied,

"Yup, that sounds just like this world's Gogh. That's the portal right there." Alternate Eurydice said, Gogh looks and sees it, Gogh gets ready to go through,

"Wait, one question." Alternate Eurydice said, and Gogh looks at her,

"What am I like in your world?" Alternate Eurydice asked,

"Pacifist, and a singer, she flies a lot too, and believe it or not, she's my bride." Gogh replied,

"Oh, so you're marrying me in your world, I don't fly unless I have to, I like running better, well, good luck on your quest." Alternate Eurydice said, and she ran back home, Gogh runs and jumps into the portal.

Gogh goes through the portal and comes out of a painting, he gets up and sees he was in somepony else's house instead of his own, he looks around and sees another painting of a forest landscape, he jumps into it and runs around and looks for a portal, he sees another one and goes into it, he was in another pony's house again, he looks and sees a winter landscape, he goes into it and runs quickly while enduring the cold, he sees a portal close by and runs into it, he arrives into another pony's house once again, he sees a jungle landscape in it and goes into it.

Gogh runs through the jungle and hears growling, he sees wildlife watching him and stalking him, he keeps running but runs face first into a spider web, he wipes it off and keeps running on the uneven ground. Gogh starts to go downhill and could not stop, he looks and sees another portal in front of the waterfall in front of him, he takes a deep breath and leaps, he closed his eyes in case he misses the portal and falls to the bottom, but he goes into the portal, and arrives into a stranger's house again, Gogh growled and looked for another painting, he saw one of a volcanic landscape, he sighs and goes into it.

Gogh pants heavily while enduring the heat from the erupting volcanoes, he was careful not to get close by and saw another portal just up ahead, he sighed in relief and ran into it only to arrive into another stranger's house, he looks around and sees a painting of a desert landscape, Gogh groaned silently in disappointment, he hears running and quickly goes into the painting before the pony living in the house could spot him.

Gogh was sweating heavily as he ran through the desert and saw everything looked the same, he can also see the sun's waves in the air, he keeps looking and sees a portal far away, he runs to it while panting heavily and goes into it, he pants heavily he catches his breath, he looks and sees he was still not in his house yet, he looks around and sees a painting of a mountain landscape, Gogh did not like mountains, so he did not paint them, but he goes into it nonetheless.

Gogh enters onto the side of one of the mountains and begins to slide down, but he manages to get a grip and looks for a portal, he sees one at the end, he just decided to slide down on the snow and go to the portal and entered it, he looks and sees he was in another pony's home, he soon sees a painting of a water landscape with a ship in it, Gogh runs into it.

Gogh lands in the water and swims around, his clothes get wet and soggy, he made sure the flower did not come loose, Gogh swims around and sees another portal far away, it was in front of another ship, he swims to it and enters it after a while and was tired, Gogh was in somepony's house again, he sighs and sees an urban landscape painting nearby, he goes into it.

Gogh walks around while panting and sees a portal nearby with the cities and buildings hurting his eyes, he keeps walking and sees a portal nearby, but his attention is caught, it was the buildings from his painting of an urban landscape, Gogh runs into the portal and comes back into his own house,

"Okay, time to go to the wedding." Gogh said to himself, and he leaves his house and runs to where the wedding takes place.

Alternate Gogh stood in front of a crowd of very few ponies, there was only about ten ponies attending, Gogh did not have many friends in the village, but Narcissus had many friends, and was loved by many, they thought he would have been a better decision as a groom.

Eurydice walks down the grass to Alternate Gogh, she was wearing a white and gold dress, her mane was tied in a bun with yellow flowers in it, and had a veil behind her head, she walks forward while Alternate Gogh smiled evilly at the mare who was about to become his bride.

Gogh runs to where his wedding was going to take place and sees her walking, she stood next to Alternate Gogh's right and they looked at the marriage officiant,

"WAIT!!" Gogh yelled, the others looked at him, the ponies gasp at seeing him,

"Eurydice, that pony is a fake, I'm the real Gogh!" Gogh said, the others were confused, Alternate Gogh smirked at him,

"Why don't you prove it?" Alternate Gogh asked,

"How?" Gogh asked,

"Come, fight me." Alternate Gogh replied,

"No." Gogh said,

"Why?" Alternate Gogh asked,

"Because she would never love somepony who fights or hurts others just to win her love." Gogh replied,

"Oh, Gogh, you're pathetic, you can't even stand up for yourself." Eurydice said,

"She's right, you know, you're a weak, pathetic, sniveling loser, she only married you out of pity of the loser you are, you're just going to be a trophy husband." Alternate Gogh said, Gogh becomes enraged and runs to up to him and jumps onto him.

Gogh begins punching Alternate Gogh in the face while the ponies present gasp, Alternate Gogh had a small bruise on his left cheek, Eurydice just stood and watched,

"Eurydice, please, I'm the Gogh you love, I'm the one who promised to paint our wedding portrait after we got married." Gogh said,

"Oh, Gogh, you're such an idiot." Eurydice replied,

"What?" Gogh asked in confusion, and a purple aura appears around Eurydice and she changes to Narcissus, shocking Gogh into standing still, Alternate Gogh stood up and looked at him,

"It was me the whole time." Narcissus said,

"Wait, my bride, WHERE'S MY BRIDE?!" Gogh asked angrily, Narcissus uses telekinesis while smiling with a purple aura on his horn, it goes into the forest close to the village and Gogh hears the ground burst open, Narcissus pulls Eurydice's body forward and lays her on the ground in front of Gogh, in her wedding wear.

Gogh checks Eurydice and sees her neck was broken, he screams in agony and grief while he cradled his bride's lifeless body,

"This was the plan, trapping you was the fourth step, the first step was disguising myself as you, the second step was convincing Narcissus to help me, and the third step was to kill the bride and have Narcissus to disguise himself as her, to show the world just how mentally weak you truly are, and Eurydice's punishment for choosing you over me and Narcissus." Alternate Gogh said,

"Why didn't you two just take my life?" Gogh asked while looking at Alternate Gogh and Narcissus,

"That would've been too easy." Narcissus replied while smiling,

"I find dealing with enemies directly boring, I prefer to break them and make them suffer." Alternate Gogh said while smiling with his teeth exposed, Gogh still had tears in his eyes,

"You lost before you even started." Alternate Gogh said while smiling, Narcissus was smiling as well.

Gogh screams in rage and tries to run to attack Alternate Gogh, but Narcissus shoots him back with a zap from his horn and knocks him back, the two jump up and Narcissus uses a spell to make him and Alternate Gogh disappear and they were gone in a flash while their laughs echoed, the other ponies left shortly afterwards and Gogh cradled Eurydice even more and cried while he buried his face into her abdomen while holding her back and the back of her hind knees with his front hooves.

---

Doctor Whooves sat there in a little surprise at what Gogh said,

"Great whickering stallions." Doctor Whooves said,

"You actually don't sound that surprised." Gogh said,

"That's because I've had a similar experience myself, several versions of me from an alternate worlds tried to replace me in this world once too, that is why there are almost no painters in Equestria, painting a picture means opening a portal to another world." Doctor Whooves replied, Gogh was a bit unnerved by this information,

"Did your alternate self go back to his world?" Doctor Whooves asked,

"I don't know, he wasn't in the picture the last time I checked it, Narcissus wasn't there either, nopony knows where they disappeared to." Gogh replied,

"What happened to Eurydice?" Doctor Whooves asked,

"I buried her the next morning, after that, I cleaned my groom outfit, which I'm wearing right now." Gogh replied,

"Have things been rough for you ever since?" Doctor Whooves asked,

"No, about a week after the incident, word about it got out to the nearby areas, I've been receiving gift cards from the Crystal Empire recently, they were all mad, but for some strange reason, Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence were especially angry, I don't know why, though." Gogh replied,

"I guess what happened at your wedding hit them close to home." Doctor Whooves replied,

"I wouldn't know about that, but the two have been sending me money monthly, fifty bits every time, they have also sent their condolences to me, and have promised that they will find my alternate self and Narcissus." Gogh said,

"Are you leaving after this meeting?" Doctor Whooves asked,

"No, I'm moving into this town, I'm going to continue being a painter." Gogh replied,

"Very well, and remember, I'm here if you want to talk about more things on your mind." Doctor Whooves said,

"Thank you, doctor." Gogh replied, and he paid Doctor Whooves ten bits and went out.

Gogh heads over to his new home and saw it was dark and everypony has left, he just slept, the next day comes and Gogh goes outside and looks for something to paint, he decided to paint Fluttershy's cottage, he kept his other paintings out on display in case anypony was interested,

"My, what beauty." a mare said, Gogh looks and saw Rarity was looking at them,

"Interested?" Gogh asked,

"Why, yes, what good craftsmanship, and what a lovely outfit you're wearing." Rarity replied,

"Thank you, I'm Gogh, I'm a painter." Gogh said,

"Oh, where are my manners, my name is Rarity, I'm this town's fashion designer." Rarity replied, Gogh smiled,

"If it's okay with you, I'd like to use your paintings as inspiration for my next set of fashion designs." Rarity said,

"Sure." Gogh replied,

"This way then, darling." Rarity said as she used telekinesis to carry the paintings,

"Hey!" they heard Pinkie Pie say as she ran to Gogh,

"I've never seen you around here before." Pinkie Pie said,

"Yeah, I moved here last night." Gogh replied,

"Oh, no wonder why, I'm Pinkie Pie, this town's party planner, I'm going to need to prepare your welcoming party." Pinkie Pie said,

"Thank you, but I have things to do first." Gogh replied,

"Don't worry, I'll be waiting." Pinkie Pie said and she went to Sugarcube Corner.

Gogh follows Rarity to her home and she begins using Gogh's paintings as inspiration for her next outfits, Gogh thought about the place and thought that maybe Ponyville was not so bad after all, and decided that he would stay and let Shining Armor and Cadence look for Alternate Gogh and Narcissus and bring them to justice.

Comments

[Raccoon Writer]

....wat

[Fredrik709]

I'm honestly quite puzzled by the phrase "every chapter is a new story"
Although the concept is interesting, but here are these open endings with the cultists, and here with the alternative “I” from the picture. The idea with the “picture with a portal” is good, the outcome is unexpected, but 1 story has an open ending, it directly asks for a continuation and then they are broken off, even though the continuation would already contradict the very idea of the story. In general, it’s very strange, I caught a glimpse of a chapter of about 60 thousand words, a couple of drops of sweat have already begun to trickle down my temple, some stories don’t take as many words as this chapter alone, although remembering the idea in the story everything falls into place, chapter 1 is the whole story.
In general, it’s quite interesting for this genre of history, let’s check out what’s next.