• Published 1st Feb 2019
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The League of Sweetie Belles - GMBlackjack



A team of multiversal explorers comprised of alternate Sweetie Belles explore fanfic worlds and beyond!

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You Can Never Have too Many Wings! (Agrol/ForgaLorga Animations)

The making of a castle of cubes had been both easy and difficult. Easy because moving blocks was as easy as swinging a stick a few times and difficult because there wasn’t a way to cut certain blocks in half. Stone slabs, sure, but Cinder had wanted the top of their castle tower to be made out of pure logs so they could grow leaves on it.

In the end, they had managed to design a tower with the correct proportions for optimal tree trunk placement. Sure, it was a little large for their small, pony bodies, but hey, that meant they had a false forest on their roof!

Below the green shrubbery they had carefully constructed a multi-layered base, largely out of smooth stone bricks. There were three main levels, all united by dotted glass windows here and there. Farms sprawled around the castle with pens that held any number of animals. One of the villagers was walking by, no doubt looking for something to trade.

It wasn’t all that impressive of a construction, but that was the way Adder wanted it. The two of them had started by trying to build a ridiculous sky-island structure with tangled messes of all kinds of beautiful materials, gemstones, and shinies. Cinder’s intention was to live in it. Adder had put her hoof down—homes had to be practical. Farming up there would have been a nightmare, even if it was just plants!

Not that the previous construction didn’t have its uses. It provided a fair amount of shade from its position high in the sky. Adder wondered if its mutated squid appearance scared away predators.

“I still say it would be cooler to live in the sky.”

“We can build the back tower until we get that high,” Adder told her friend. “Until then, Ah think this is good.”

“Mmmm… needs more fancy decorations.”

“You already put those metal donuts from the last universe out on the porch just to mess with the pigs, we’ve got plenty.”

“The only way we can find out is by going into the multiverse searching for more!”

Adder facehooved. “Sometimes Ah wonder about you.”

“Good.” Cinder paused. “You should.”

“Ah didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

“...You still should.”

“Cinder, Ah’m your friend, Ah don’t have to be checkin’ twenty-four-seven to see if you’ve ‘found yourself’ or not.”

“Thanks for that. Still…” Cinder hoofed the ground. “We’ve been out here a while, and I’m not any closer to figuring things out.”

“Then we keep lookin’ until we do find somethin’.”

“Hmm…” Cinder looked up with a smile. “Right, right. Have to find something eventually, right?”

“Ah bet so!”

Cinder pulled out the dimensional device. “Let’s have a look see… random number generation thingy GO!” She pressed a button.

A portal opened, tearing a ring of energy through the otherwise cubic world. The other side was made almost entirely out of chrome with great, reflective spires reaching into an endless white sky.

After a quick hoofbump, the two mares jumped through the ring into another world. The ground had appeared slick, but in reality their hooves had excellent traction with the reflective ground. Aside from them, the world of chrome spires was completely motionless. There wasn’t even a sun, just a strange, ever-present light permeating everything.

Silence greeted them.

Adder whipped her lightsaber out and stuck it in the ground. The hole she made revealed more chrome underneath. “Huh. This is… a little borin’ for how cool it looks.”

“Something’s about to happen,” Cinder said. “And it’s going to be something big.” She squinted her eyes, scanning the horizon.

For an instant, she thought she saw a tall, pitch-black humanoid creature. But she couldn’t be sure.

And in a moment, she wouldn’t care one way or another.

She heard a train whistle.

“...Oh.”

Behind them, they heard the unmistakable chug chug chug of a train’s engine behind them. When they turned around they had no doubt of what they were looking at.

It was the Train, opening its doors to them once more. The plaque said ANSWERS on it once again.

“Guess we can get back on, then,” Adder said. “Might as well si—Cinder?”

Cinder tore out the dimensional device and dialed a random universe. “No.”

“Cinder, it’s just a train.”

“It’s going to make me give up my quest so I can ‘grow as a person’, I just know it. I’m not going to let it.” She gestured at a Ponyville that took shape on the other side of the portal.

“Ah mean, Ah liked what it taught me…”

“I’m not giving myself over to another Vision,” Cinder muttered, hopping through the portal. Adder didn’t object. With a pop, they had left the Train behind.

Here, the birds were singing, ponies were trotting down the street in friendship, and the skies were blue.

Adder didn’t feel comforted by the familiar sight. She may not have had Cinder’s intuition, but she knew they needed to be back there. With that Train.

“You’re letting it dictate your thoughts,” Cinder warned. “You want to follow the story.”

“Didn’t you say somethin’ about refusin’ the call always endin’ badly?”

“I… well, there is th—”

Suddenly, there was a Pinkie Pie pressing her snout into Cinder’s, shutting her up. The two held each other’s eyes for a solid minute in an unblinking battle of the wills. Adder watched in bafflement as neither budged or moved a muscle. It was a battle of the ages where nothing happened, but the tension was so palpable Adder could feel it in the air.

Cinder blinked.

With a giggle, Pinkie retracted herself from Cinder and gave her a boop on the nose. As she grinned, a comical ‘squee’ noise emanated from her.

“Are you a squeaky toy?” Cinder asked.

Pinkie gasped, staring at Cinder’s mouth in disbelief. She looked at nothing and then back to Cinder, surprise having shrunk her pupils to vibrating pinpricks at this point.

“Is… something wrong?”

Pinkie gasped again, pointing frantically at Cinder’s mouth. She put on a nurse’s cap and started checking Cinder’s heartbeat like she was a doctor.

Cinder just took it. It was best not to fight Pinkies; just let them do their thing, it would pass eventually.

The local Twilight—an alicorn—trotted up, fixing Pinkie with a quizzical and mildly disapproving expression. Pinkie gestured frantically at Cinder with mild panic. Twilight rolled her eyes. Pinkie gasped, sticking a thermometer in Cinder’s mouth.

Cinder spat it out. “Why aren’t you all talking?”

Twilight stared at her in shock.

Cinder blinked. “Oooooh. You can’t talk, can you?”

She only received blank stares.

“Can you understand what I’m saying?”

Twilight turned to Pinkie and nodded. Before Cinder knew what was happening, she’d been loaded into a wheelbarrow and was being carted to the hospital as if she had some kind of disease. She attempted to run, but Pinkie Pie had a firm grip on her. Not wanting to turn violent, Cinder called for Adder. “Help me!”

Adder smirked, refusing to say anything in order to add to her friend’s torment. She did, however, draw a circle in the air.

“I can’t make a dimensional portal, Pinkie confiscated it!”

Adder giggled, trotting up alongside the cart to give Cinder a wink.

“I am not going to the hospital that dumps ponies into the Stream of Silence!”

Adder rolled her eyes. She doubted very much that was what these two were going to do. They were probably just going to examine Cinder in their non-verbal way for a while, unable to understand or even begin to formulate a method of communication. It would drive Cinder up a wall, and that was probably just what she needed right now.

What she didn’t need right now was to see her friends from Swip turn the corner, trying to talk to a Rainbow Dash.

The moment she heard a sound effect from Burgerbelle, Cinder erupted in a burst of fire, consuming the carriage and starting the two ponies escorting her considerably. She bolted out from the flames, running past Adder. “Move it!”

“Ahm gittin’!” Adder said, moving into step with Cinder.

“I heard something!” the unmistakable voice of Burgerbelle reached their ears.

“Someone just burnt that cart!” a Sweetie called—it was impossible to tell which one. “Which way did she go?”

There was a moment of silence as Adder and Cinder ran behind a building.

The Sweetie was still talking. “Right, you guys can’t talk, and… hey! Get that stethoscope off me! Augh! Help, mad doctor!”

“I’ll find whoever did this,” another Sweetie said. Again, impossible to differentiate from a regular Sweetie.

Adder and Cinder kept running. They needed a way out, but without the dimensional device, what could they do? They had to depend on luck…

Both of them crashed into a woman sitting cross-legged on top of a wooden box. All three of them fell into a heap on the dirty ground, dazed.

The woman got up first. She was a Rarity, clearly, though not a standard one by any means: her form had both human and equine features; including hands, pony ears, and a brilliant white horn. Her dress was best described as oriental with its flowing purple robes with gold flourishes that matched her earrings. Below the base of her horn there was a single red dot, signifying something the ponies didn’t have time to contemplate.

“Get us out of here! Please!” Cinder pleaded. “We’re being chased…”

“I heard a crash this way!” A Sweetie called.

The woman didn’t waste any time. She summoned a black scepter with an amethyst crystal out of the aether, casting a dimensional portal spell with it. Without flinching, she teleported the three of them to the other side, forcing the portal closed before the Sweetie even turned the corner.

They stood in the hall of a house with lavish, purple walls decorated with unusual pieces of abstract art.

“Well. That was a far more exciting meditation session than I’d originally planned…” the Rarity commented, dissipating her scepter with a flick of her wrist. “It appears that not even a world of mute ponies can escape the rowdy aspects of life.”

“Thanks,” Cinder said, wiping her brow. “We were in a pickle. The local Pinkie had confiscated my dimensional device.”

“Don’t they all?” the Rarity chuckled.

“Ah’m Adder,” Adder introduced. “This is Cinder. You?”

“Pulchri,” she introduced, curtsying gracefully. “And this is my home. You’re welcome to stay for dinner—mother always prepares enough for surprise guests.”

~~~

Blink poked at the remnants of a wooden crate. “Well. Whoever it was went through here.”

Squiddy raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“And I’ve lost track of where they went.” Blink frowned. “Probably somewhere that way, but we can’t exactly ask the locals, now can we?”

Squiddy glanced at a Lyra and Bon Bon staring at the two of them like they were aliens. Which, to be fair, Squiddy was, but it was somehow clear her squid-based biology wasn’t what had them staring. It was the words.

“How does a civilization form without language, anyway?” Squiddy shrugged, flopping a tentacle toward one of the ponies in what she hoped was a gesture of “leave us alone.”

Blink frowned. “I have no idea. Tower could have carried them, or they just have a complex series of nonverbals. Sign language exists, maybe it’s just the norm here.”

“But they have ears! And I’ve heard them gasp, those are vocal cords, they must be capable of speech.”

“So are ravens, they just usually don’t.”

“Normal ravens can’t talk.”

“Look it up,” Blink encouraged. “It’s actually a thing. On default Earths.”

“They’re not dumb like ravens.”

“Actually,” Seren said, appearing between them with an apple juice box in her hands, “raven intelligence is amazing! I used to have one when I was traveling the wilds of shade back home. Great guide. Tried to feed me to a dinosaur at the end, but that was just because of mind control.”

Squiddy shrugged. “Just like a raven.”

“Feeding you to dinosaurs against their will?”

“No, the crafty and deceitful part.”

“But—”

“Let’s not get stuck on technicalities!” Burgerbelle said, hopping out of the ground like a mole. “There’s an entire world of silly mute ponies to explore!”

The local Pinkie tackled her and placed a stethoscope to her Flat body. Burgerbelle let out a festive commercial jingle, prompting Pinkie to giggle.

“Silly mute ponies that tackle you,” Squiddy observed. “Really, aside from the lack of actual talking, which is just annoying, this place is exactly like Ponyville. Exactly.”

A Starlight walked up to Squiddy and stared at her.

Squiddy stared back, baffled as to why this Starlight was so fixated on her.

Then Starlight had wings. She hadn’t before. Squiddy was pretty sure.

Slowly, Starlight slunk away, not unlike some kind of large predatory cat.

“I… wh…”

Seren summoned her scepter and cast a scanning spell. “She’s got an alarming amount of magic broadcasting on a dimensional frequency. Not the usual alicornification process. I’m curious to learn the spell and… wait. That’s not the alicornification spell. That’s something else…”

A dimensional portal opened up in front of Seren, showing two Starlights inside a Friendship Castle. Both of them had wings.

One teleported Seren’s scepter across the portal.

The other closed the portal.

Seren stared in disbelief.

“Uh, Seren?” Squiddy waved her tentacle in front of the anthro child’s eyes. “They just stole your magic stick.”

Seren’s left eye twitched. “I will lay waste to them and their families.”

“Woah-kay there…” Squiddy backed away.

Without her scepter, Seren lacked the ability to finely control magic. However, she still had all of its power at her control. So when she tried to follow them with a dimensional trace spell, she ended up blowing out a wall in the building, exposing a family of four just trying to have dinner in peace.

Awkward staring occured.

Burgerbelle coughed, taking out her dimensional device and activating the trace function.

The portal opened right to the Friendship Castle they had seen previously. All the Sweeties jumped in, ready to take the scepter back.

Several dozen Starlights stared at the four of them in shock. Almost all of them had wings, though there were a few with magic projections, multiple sets of wings, or Starlights of different races. Not a single one said a word, they only stared at the Sweeties.

Seren pointed at the Starlight holding her scepter. “That’s mine!”

The Starlight opened a portal to some kind of blue starry void and tossed the scepter in. Her expression did not shift as she performed this action, remaining as an intent, soulless gaze.

Seren twitched. “You didn’t…”

Blink coughed. “They seem to be a multiversal entity, perhaps we should try the exact polar opposite of what you’re thinking?”

Seren ignored her. She pushed a torrent of magic into her hands and unleashed a burst of white whirlwinds, throwing several Starlights to the side. “Give. It. Back!”

They didn’t give the scepter back. They gave her the magical whirlwinds instead, each casting a copy of the spell directly into Seren’s face. She was thrown into the wall, denting it with several cracks.

“You all think you’re a bunch of wise ponies? Well… how about this!?” Seren clearly attempted to cast a more complicated spell, but without the benefit of her scepter… It was just a massive explosion.

To be fair to Seren, against most opponents ‘oversized magical explosion’ would generally do the trick, but she was going up against a bunch of Starlight Glimmer alicorns, quite possibly the best natural setup for magical power this side of the Q-Sphere. They deflected her explosions with shields. Those who were protected by others spent the time casting restraining spells on Seren, pinning her to the ground. She tried to cast more magic, but one of them slapped a limiter ring on her horn, choking her raw magic power significantly. She still had some power based in other magic sources, but at this point struggling was useless.

“I’m gonna rip you all to shreds when this is over!” Seren shouted, struggling against her restraints anyway. “Don’t think I won’t!”

“I’m glad they don’t understand her,” Blink commented.

“I don’t think you need words to get the jist of that message,” Squiddy countered.

“Sooo…” Burgerbelle said, sliding up to one of the Starlights. “How’s about we talk this out now?”

The Starlight generated a pair of hoofcuffs and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh come on!” Burgerbelle folded her arms. “What did we do to deserve this!?

The Starlight stared at her like she was an idiot. She jangled the hoofcuffs in her magic.

“Are all of you mute?” Blink asked. “How many mute universes are there?”

Growing tired of all the incomprehensible talking, the Starlights just started cuffing everyone. To their credit, no one but Seren really felt in the mood to resist an army of superpowered magical alicorns.

~~~

Squiddy, Blink, Burgerbelle, and Seren sat in a jail cell. It was a bit unusual, seeing a jail cell in a Castle of Friendship, but it wasn’t exactly unheard of. All of their magic was restricted with numerous spells, though once they realized they couldn’t lock Burgerbelle’s abilities, they just put a magic tracker alarm on her.

As usual, they had failed to limit Blink’s power, but Squiddy was pretty sure making Burgerbelle’s tracker ‘vanish’ would set off so many alarms. She may not have understood precisely how Blink’s powers worked, but going invisible only really worked when nobody was looking at you.

Which, aside from the tracker on Burgerbelle, a Starlight was. There was always one Starlight watching them, unblinking.

Burgerbelle had engaged the latest one in a staring contest. They had been at it for half an hour.

“Just give up,” Squiddy muttered. “You can’t beat her.”

“Watch me,” Burgerbelle said.

Squiddy shrugged, turning to the others. “Sooo… escape plan?”

“You don’t talk about escape plans in front of the jailer,” Blink said.

“Pretty sure she has no idea what we’re saying.” Squiddy turned to the Starlight and shouted. “Hey! You’re a big, fat, ugly sack of trash and I’m going to slap you!”

The Starlight didn’t flinch.

Squiddy smirked. To complete the test, she stuck her tentacle through the bars and slapped the Starlight across the face. This got her a magical shock that knocked her to the ground. Squiddy lifted up a hand, giving everyone a thumbs up. “I’m okay…”

“Okay, fine, they have no idea what we’re saying,” Blink admitted. “They confiscated our dimensional device, so the simple way out is toast. Do you want me to jump out and take her?”

“There’s a chance she’ll be able to raise an alarm,” Burgerbelle said, refusing to take her gaze off the Starlight even for the conversation. “Imagine, a million sirens going off… and then one of them runs into a ghost! They don’t need to call anyone, they are the Ghostbusters.”

“...I think you’re stretching.”

“I’m trying to win here, give me a break.” Burgerbelle produced a hamburger from her hair and menacingly bit down, making sure to spray some sesame seeds into the Starlight’s face. A sesame seed smacked her in the eye and slid down until it fell off. The alicorn didn’t blink. “Nerves of steel, I see…”

“Creepy…” Squiddy shuddered.

“Sesame seeds will be the least of her worries when I’m done…” Seren growled.

“Seren, chill a bit?” Blink suggested.

“They stole my scepter!”

“I know that’s important to you, but we can’t just go around blowing everything up. We are supposed to be, you know, paragons of… peace?”

“You know what that scepter means to me.”

Squiddy blinked. “Wait, it’s not just some boring magic scepter?”

Blink facehooved. “Oh boy…”

“What? She never really talks about the scepter! It’s just this… thing she has!”

“My scepter…” Seren looked at the ground. “It is a consolidation of magical conduit energies focused through family bonds of my homeworld. It’s literally a physical manifestation of my family bonds. Without it, I’m just… a kid with a big brain. They took away who I was!”

“Then we’ll politely explain to them why you need it back,” Blink said. “...Or I can just steal it back, fair’s fair, after all.”

Seren frowned. “...Can I still want to blow them up?”

“Oh, definitely, I think that all the time,” Squiddy waved a tentacle dismissively.

“That can’t be healthy,” Blink commented.

“We’re out in the multiverse, we’re lucky to keep our sanity in tact.”

“Blink’s the only one who really has sanity left,” Burgerbelle added. “And I never had any to begin with!” She pulled a striped, brown ferret creature out of her hair and gave it to the Starlight through the bars.

Without flinching, the Starlight turned it into a pile of dust and collected it in a glass vial.

“Heartless!” Burgerbelle huffed.

“Anyway, back to the plan,” Blink said. “If my sneaking is out, what do we have? Wait for backup?” She pulled out her phone just to check—no service. “Seren’s magic is limited, Burgerbelle’s tracked, and Squiddy…”

“I have ink,” Squiddy said, hefting the gun the Starlights hadn’t bothered to confiscate. They likely knew it was harmless.

“Yep. We kinda got nothing here but wait for something to happen. Unless you’re in the mood for Blink-originated chaos! Which I am always in the mood for.”

“No one:” Burgerbelle said, blinking. “Wait, DAMMIT.”

The Starlight seemed smug at Burgerbelle’s loss of the staring contest.

“That’s a face even a mother could punch.”

Starlight was, unfortunately, immune to insults.

They were saved from having to deal with further Burgerbelle rage by the sound of a voice coming from down the hall.

“What? Why are you dragging me here? Help! Augh, somepony do something! Why am I being arrested!?” Three Starlights walked into the room, levitating a fourth in their magic. The fourth was talking a mile a minute in mild panic, right up to the moment they slammed her on the ground in front of the Sweeties’ cell. “Why are you locking me up with these bozos? I’ve never seen them before! Never!

The three Starlights walked away, leaving only the talker and the stare-eyes Starlight behind. The talker was not locked in the cell.

“What…?”

“I think they realized you can talk, and we can talk,” Blink said. “Hi. I’m Blink.”

The talker blinked in surprise. “...You can talk.”

“Uh, yeah?”

I haven’t heard another pony’s voice in years,” the Starlight giggled. “I, wow, you have no idea how much I’ve wanted to talk to somepony, it’s almost unbelievable how long it’s been, Celestia’s rings, the silence was driving me crazy.”

“Clearly,” Squiddy deadpanned.

“Can you tell us what this place is all about?” Blink asked.

“Uh…” the Starlight blanked. “No. Not really. I don’t exactly speak ‘subtle gesture’ even after being here for so long. They just showed up one day, gestured for me to come through the portal, and now I have no idea how to get home. I see them using spells to open portals but I don’t know how to make a portal to go home and I’ve never been able to ask any of them and…” She shivered. “There’s only so many games of charades you can take!”

“You have no idea why they’re gathering everyone?”

Starlight shook her head. “I’m not even sure of the criteria! Almost all of us have wings, but a few don’t, some have extra horns, and… I don’t know, maybe the point is to just grab ‘advanced’ or ‘enhanced’ Starlights for… something involving gathering magic artifacts.”

“You gather them?”

Starlight nodded. “Yep. It seems to be the main thing ‘we’ do. Besides stare blankly at things a lot, scrunch faces while wearing silly hats, and gather artifacts…” She shook her head. “We’ve been collecting them for a long time. Some Starlights seem to study them, but I’m not sure what they find, if anything.”

Burgerbelle shrugged. “And we don’t need to know. We just need to get our scepter and our dimensional device back.”

“Uh, not entirely sure how I can do that…”

“And once we do that, we can take you home.”

“You… can?”

“We know how to operate dimensional devices. Duh.”

Seren coughed. “We don’t know her home universe.”

“We can trace it. Definitely. Probably. Maybe.” Burgerbelle grinned nervously. “At the very least we can get you to a place where ponies talk again.”

Starlight blinked. “Alright, I’m in, I’ll help however I can. Just get me out of this place as soon as possible.”

“Great! First thing you need to do—knock the guard out.”

The Starlight glanced to her counterpart who was still staring at them like a guard dog. “I had forgotten she was here.”

Burgerbelle shrugged, pulling some forget-me-nots out of her hair. “I’ll leave this with her to… compensate.”

The talking Starlight shrugged, blasting her counterpart’s horn with a burst of magic. The surge knocked her target to the ground, easily knocking her out. “All right, now what?”

Blink stepped out of the cage, phasing through the bars. “You take me to the artifacts. I’ll get ours back.”

“That’ll trip the alarms.”

“Probably, but once I have my hooves on a dimensional device, it won’t really matter, now will it?”

Starlight scratched her chin. “All right. But how are we going to do this without them seeing you?”

Blink turned invisible.

“...Huh. Why didn’t you do this before?”

“The guard. Also, I didn’t have any idea where I was going.”

“I know the feeling,” Starlight laughed. “We’ll be back for the rest of you!”

Burgerbelle created a cotton dummy in the shape of Blink.

“...Nobody is going to buy that,” Squiddy said.

Burgerbelle only snickered.

~~~

Blink and the talking Starlight moved through the Castle without raising suspicion. Along the way they passed many, many odd sights. Starlights trying on hats of varying kinds. Starlights playing rock-paper-scissors with nothing more than hooves. Starlights vibrating so quickly they sounded like they were a phone set to silent mode. There were more than a few scrunch-face competitions as well, not to mention a Starlight that seemed to be teaching some of the others… with pictographs and gestures.

Not a single word was spoken. It was clear the Starlights had conversations given the looks they gave each other, many of which were more expressive than that of a talking pony. And yet, their default expression was one of distant, somewhat unpleasant thought. It was as though most Starlights were staring into the Void, begging it to stare back at them.

For a moment, Blink found it hard to believe there could be this many universes with mute-ponies so close to each other, but she remembered a few instances of self-replicating universes that could explain a density of similarity close to this. Still, how had none of them even thought of talking? They had to find more than just the talking Starlight around. Were they incapable of understanding speech was a method of communication? Were they just that arrogant?

The talking Starlight led Blink down some stairs to a much more factory-esque area of the castle, filled with conveyor belts moving artifacts along to be examined by Starlights. Some were taking artifacts apart, though those only seemed to be artifacts with similar, simple structures. More elaborate ones were just examined by a committee of Starlights who were writing things down on clipboards. Not words, as far as Blink could tell, just pictures, though she supposed it could be a pictographic language the translation spell was struggling with.

When they passed the conveyors, they came to a door that resembled a broom closet. When they passed through it, they saw not a condensed closet, but an expanse of blue stars and magical breezes that seemed to go on for infinity in every direction. Shelves occupied a relatively small section of the realm, though altogether it was still more storage space than a large library. Boxes upon boxes lined the shelves alongside large artifacts of every shape and size.

“Where is it?” Blink asked.

“Shhh!” Starlight hissed.

“I’m shrouding our sound too! Geez, if I wasn’t, the alarms would have gone off a looong time ago.”

“O-oh.” Starlight blinked. “You’re a master spy, aren’t you?”

“Could be, if I wanted. Or had the patience.” Blink smirked mischievously. “So, where would it be?”

“Let’s check the recent section…” Starlight trotted over to a shelf nearest the door, taking a box off and opening it. There was nothing inside. “Odd. Every box is supposed to have an artifact. When the others remove them they always carry the box with them, or stick it in their pocket dimension.”

Blink shrugged. “Don’t particularly care unless our stuff was in there.”

Starlight shrugged, opening a few more boxes, most with artifacts that didn’t seem to matter. Amazingly, it didn’t take long at all to find the scepter and the dimensional device.

“All right!” Blink said, taking the device out. “Let’s get out of here and loop ba—”

A dozen Starlights entered the storage area through the door, marching right to the new artifacts shelf. They started looking around, horns alight, for something.

They must know we’re in here, Blink thought, standing perfectly still as their magic swept over Blink’s Voided presence. They probably can’t sense me, but… they might, if one of them gets lucky, or they tap into some freaky artifact.

“I am going to open a portal,” Blink whispered.

“Why are you whispering? They can’t hear us.”

“Psychological habit,” Blink hissed. “Just, I’ll open it, and I’m jumping through. You’re going to jump through with me. We only have one second to do this. This many Starlights can just take us out if they want, and there’s no way I can Void a dimensional vortex inside a place like this quickly.”

“One second. Got it. I’ll teleport through.”

“If that’s fastest.” Blink held out the dimensional device. “Three… Two… One…” She pressed a button and jumped forward at the same time, twisting through the air and landing in a world covered in snow.

The talking Starlight executed her teleport… but she didn’t appear on the other side. She appeared in front of the portal, confused. “What? They redirected me!?”

Several Starlights tackled her at once, pinning her to the ground. Blink couldn’t risk it—she closed the portal, leaving her ally behind.

~~~

The Starlight guarding the prison cell had woken up, apparently without any memory of getting blasted in the skull. She had resumed her quiet, staring vigil on the Sweeties without any hesitation.

She still hadn’t noticed that the plushie sitting in the corner of the cell wasn't Blink. Even when one of the button eyes fell off.

“Does she… does she really not know?” Squiddy asked.

“She’s checking me out,” Burgerbelle snarked. With a rapid flutter of her eyelashes, she leaned in toward the Starlight and took on a vaguely alluring pose—or a pose that would have been such had Burgerbelle not been stiff as a board in both a figurative and literal sense. “Like what you see?”

Unblinking, unconcerned study.

“Geez, that’s creepy,” Squiddy shuddered.

“I think it’s cute,” Burgerbelle countered.

“Oh, so the kissy-lips weren't just for show?”

Burgerbelle slapped a pair of wax lips on Squiddy. The inkling spat them out, growling at her leader.

Blink opened a portal above the Starlight and dropped a small boulder on her head. Once again, she was on the ground, out cold.

“Seven out of ten,” Burgerbelle said. “Needed an anvil.”

Blink jumped into the cell and tossed Seren her scepter. “They probably know I’m coming down here so we need to move.”

“Where’s the Starlight who helped us?” Squiddy asked.

“They captured her in the escape attempt.” Blink tossed Burgerbelle the dimensional device. “Couldn’t risk them following me.”

Seren stood up, tapping her restraints with her scepter to remove them. “Then we’re going to go rescue her.”

Blink nodded. “Obviously. ...Wait, Seren, no, we don’t need a rampa—”

Seren blew the bars out of the cell with ease. For good measure, she transformed the remnants into cheese just because she could. “I’m not going to kill anyone… just… break a few bones.”

“Seren, calm down.”

Seren saw a Starlight coming down the stairs and froze her solid. “How about… no?”

Burgerbelle coughed. “It’s a bad idea to start an extended wide-scale conflict with what is clearly a multiversal power.”

Everyone stared at Burgerbelle’s sudden eloquence.

“We’re going to bust our Starlight out while damaging as little of this place as possible, and then we’re going to leave.” She pulled out a kazoo and tooted it like she was an army instructor on the horn. “So MOVE IT! Stealthily.

Seren frowned. “Fine. But if there’s anything to blow up, I’m blowing it up. Not any of you.”

“Who else could?” Burgerbelle said, hiding a cartoonish bomb behind her back.

Seren giggled at the Flat’s antics.

~~~

She was Starlight. It had never occurred to her to take another name, simply because she was the only one who had a name, as far as she knew. The others occupied her mind as “other Starlights”, but they didn’t exactly think in words, so as far as Starlight knew they didn’t actually have names.

Oh, how she wished she could go back home, back to the streets of Ponyville where her friends and so many other poneis lived. But she was stuck here, trapped against her will. The worst part? They weren’t even imprisoning her! She was completely certain Starlights had the freedom to come and go as they pleased. If only she’d known how to ask them about going home.

But no, she was here, the weird one who made sounds with her mouth and couldn't understand basic pantomimes. What did the boops even mean!?

Now it was even worse. Now she was a criminal who couldn’t explain anything. Was there some kind of trial in store for her? Would she be expected to defend herself? Could she with a bunch of panicked screams and begging wails? Probably not…

Did they have the death penalty? Or, worse, did they have a CHEESE penalty? Maybe they somehow knew her worst fears of cheese baths somehow through osmosis, despite not understanding her…

She should have been faster. Shouldn’t have even tried a teleport, a simple jump would have done it. But no, she had to be fancy, and the others intercepted her. Blink was free, as were the other Sweeties, most likely. They wouldn’t risk the wrath of the Starlights to save her.

She covered her eyes with her hooves, trying to pretend like three dozen sets of her own eyes weren’t staring at her. This attempt failed spectacularly, but at least it allowed her to hide her expression from her captors.

“We’re going to get you out of here, be ready.”

It was Blink’s voice. Upon hearing it, Starlight froze solid, keeping her hooves pressed over her eyes.

“I’m invisible, and right in your ear. Don’t let them think you have hope. You’re going to feel a massive spark of agonizing pain in your horn. All the other Starlights will too. Try to stay calm.”

That’s the opposite way to make me feel calm! I feel like screaming! I feel like you’re being an idiot and you should just le—

Blink had not been exaggerating when she said agonizing pain. There was a buzz of electricity, a warlike shout from a child, and then her skull was on fire. With a scream, Starlight kicked back and started rolling over, trying to pat her horn out—but there was no fire, just pain. Every starlight around her was suffering much the same, horns all connected by a thin pink thread that tied back to a particular scepter in the hands of a child.

Seren sneered. “This is better than a ‘rampage’ anyway. Defeated because they all have the same magic signature…”

A Twilight with a Starlight manestyle jumped out of the group and shot a beam at Seren. She deflected it with ease.

“Okay, most of them all have the same magic signature. Doesn’t matter.”

Blink dropped her cloak next to Starlight. “Hey, I’ve gotcha.”

“THE PAIN!” Starlight screeched.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Blink activated a portal and threw Starlight into it, unceremoniously depositing her onto a snow bank. In addition to the burning of her horn, she now felt like her tail was about to freeze off. “That’s it!” Blink called.

Seren teleported herself, Blink, Squiddy, and Burgerbelle to the snowy world. With a twirl of her scepter, she ended the horn-burn spell and closed the portal.

They were alone on a snowy mountain.

“I’m… I’m free…” Starlight laughed. “I’m FREE! FREE FREE FREE!”

Burgerbelle echoed her in monotone. “Free free free free free free free free free free…” Squiddy slapped her.

“Thank you, thank you!” Starlight pulled Seren into a hug. “I’m… I’m finally going to be able to talk again. And… and maybe I can go home!”

“I shall begin examination of your dimensional signature,” Seren said. “With luck, Swip will already be connected and we can get you there in under an hour.”

“...And if she can’t?”

“Then we keep trying. It’s what we do.” Blink smiled. “Now, who wants to get out of this cold?”

“You don’t even feel cold if you don’t want to,” Squiddy deadpanned.

Blink winked. “That’s right! But you all look about ready to free—”

A large portal opened up in the sky above them. Instead of a horde of winged Starlights, like Starlight herself was expecting, only one came through. A tall, graceful mare on par with Celestia’s size. Eyes of wisdom dominated her features, and her horn glowed white.

Seren unleashed a torrent of electricity. It bounced right off the goddess of an alicorn. A pulse of pink left the massive alicorn’s horn and encased Seren in a spherical wad of bubblegum that locked her magical potential. “Wh… hey!”

Starlight whimpered, wishing she could hide in the snow.

The massive alicorn pointed at Starlight and cocked her head.

“I… I don’t know what you mean! Just… leave me alone!” Starlight threw her hooves around frantically.

The graceful mare took a step closer… only for Burgerbelle to appear between the two, arms outstretched.

The goddess raised a hoof and cocked an eyebrow.

Burgerbelle made a series of complex hand gestures and rolled back on her heels, letting out a sharp breath of air.

The goddess nodded, booping herself on the nose and spreading her wings wide.

Burgerbelle shrugged, followed by a shake of her head. She pretended to march up a staircase and look around.

The goddess blinked, furrowing her brow. Then, after a moment’s deliberation, she nodded with a smile. Her horn flashed, creating a portal to a normal looking Ponyville.

Where ponies were talking.

Starlight gasped. “Wh… wh…”

“Why didn’t you do that EARLIER!?” Squiddy shouted at Burgerbelle. “If you could have communicated with them this whole time…”

“I hadn’t figured it out yet,” Burgerbelle shrugged. “Needed time to grind up my language XP to gain the ‘pantomime’ skill.”

Squiddy, despite having worked with Burgerbelle for multiple years, wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“She’s just… letting me go?” Starlight asked, staring at her home.

“She had no idea you wanted to go,” Burgerbelle said.

“I mean, yeah, I expected, but didn’t I…”

“Oh, you have been kicked out of the group for what you did. This is basically banishment. Enjoy!”

“Oh.” Starlight looked up at her larger counterpart. “Thanks, I guess?”

Burgerbelle turned to the goddess and smiled with a strange shrug.

The goddess nodded in understanding, returning to her realm. However, before she completely crossed to the other side, she held up a sign for them to see.

“Some of us do know how to write in the spoken tongues.”

The portal to her realm closed with a pop.

Starlight twitched. “I’m going home. I’m going to spend time with my friends I haven't seen in years. And then I am going to forget everything about this.”

“...Probably wise,” Blink admitted.

“Do you think we should send diplomats?” Squiddy asked.

Silence fell over the group.

“Well, that’s up to Evening,” Blink said. “I can’t see it going anywhere if she does decide to, though…”

~~~

Some time previously...

As Pulchri led her two guests through her home, Adder looked around at the ornate designs all over with awe, how all the many-limbed beings tangled with each other among carefully placed geometry. “Wow… this is impressive!”

“Well, I am a Rarity, I wouldn’t be caught dead living in a place without the proper amount of visual care, no matter what father has to say on the matter of aesthetics.” A warm smile came to her face. “Even with the renovation, he still thinks it’s quite superfluous.”

“Ah think it’s amazin’.”

Pulchri chuckled. “Thank you! I’d love to go on about what the symbolic meaning of everything is, but mother would throw a fit if I denied her even one minute to dote over visitors.”

“Quite the place to escape to, huh, Cinder?” Adder asked.

“Yeah…” Cinder said, mind clearly elsewhere.

Adder turned to Pulchri. “Forgive her, she gets like this sometimes. She’s probably thinking about some ka mumbo-jumbo right now.”

“Is she one with the winds of fate?” Pulchri asked.

“Nah, just a, uh… ‘student’ of it. She’s got a good knack but she’s been wrong. A lot.”

Cinder snapped out of it. “Hey, that was one time!”

“You didn’t sense nothin’ about those explodin’ bugs, and you can’t tell me that’s the only one.”

“I… Erm… Yeah, I can’t.” Cinder rubbed the back of her head.

Pulchri smiled with an almost motherly warmth. “It’s good to see two great friends out and exploring existence. I’ve seen too many who shirk bonds for the sake of personal adventure.”

Adder noted Cinder’s faltering smile. She really didn’t mean it like that… Adder knew Cinder was aware of this, but that wasn’t going to stop her from stewing on it.

Pulchri opened a set of double doors that led to a dining room. The plates were out—set for four, while the table could easily hold sixteen—but no food had arrived yet. A single man sat near the head of the table, a muscular unicorn smoking a massive pipe that smelled like some sort of rare flower. He wore a black suit with white diamonds printed on it at seemingly random locations, aside from one underneath a brilliant diamond necklace.

“Father!” Pulchri called, waving toward him. “I have guests!”

“Wh-huh?” He looked away from the hypnotic smoke of his pipe to his daughter’s guests. “A couple of fillies, huh? Well, the more the merrier! COOKIE! PULCHRI’S BROUGHT GUESTS!”

A pinkish woman with a sharp horn poked her head out from a very steamy kitchen, a carrot peel stuck in her hair. “Finally, we won’t have leftovers!”

“It’s only two, Cookie.”

“I will stuff them,” she said, almost menacingly. She levitated the carrot peel out of her hair and munched on it before returning to the kitchen.

“...Should we be concerned?” Adder asked.

Pulchri chuckled. “Absolutely. That was my mother, and she will stuff you as full as she possibly can. By force, if I don’t stop her. Which… hmm, father, do you think I should?”

“They’re all skin and bones for horses,” he commented. “I say stuff ‘em.”

“I’ll devour all the food you place before me,” Cinder said, ominously. “It shall be a simple matter.”

Pulchri blinked. “Did you feel that, father?”

“By this table’s fifth leg, I think I did.”

“It was like the universe shuddered at her daring to challenge mother…”

“Or it was my stomach rumbling. I’m starved. Beating the criminals into the ground really works up your appetite!”

Pulchri chuckled. “Adder, Cinder, this is my family. I’m afraid they don’t get around the multiverse that much, so their names are still Cookie and Hondo.”

“Not a problem,” Cinder said.

“Y’all got a Sweetie?” Adder asked, gesturing at the fourth plate.

“Ah, not at the moment,” Hondo said, smoking his pipe. “She’s out doin’ what all you Sweeties do, apparently.”

“Get into tons of trouble?” Pulchri suggested.

“Hah!” Hondo found this hilarious enough to slam his hoof into the table. “She doesn’t need any help with that! And neither do you!”

Pulchri feigned offense. “Me!? Why, I never!”

“You were just out on one of your meditations when you met these two, weren't you?”

“I wouldn’t consider that trouble.”

“We ran into her at high speed while being chased by other ponies,” Adder deadpanned.

If there was a sport for “extreme laughing” Hondo would be in the running for the top ten, given how his guffaw shook the entire room. “I always like the guests you bring back! Always so treacherous!”

Pulchri took her seat next to her father with a smug grin. “I wonder how long it will be before I get someone who can beat you at arm wrestling.”

“They don’t have arms!”

“I know.” She raised her eyebrows repeatedly.

Cinder fashioned an arm out of paper. “Arms?”

Hondo leaped out of his chair and grabbed the paper arm in his hand, smashing it into the ground with enough force to dent the floor. “Hah! Easy!”

“...Geez…” Cinder said, eyes wide.

With a roll of her eyes, Pulchri summoned her staff and used her magic to repair the floor. “Really, father, what was the point of making everything look nice if you’re just going to break it?”

“Gives you experience with restoration spells, which you need.”

“And you don’t?”

Hondo opened his mouth to reply, but then he realized he didn’t have anything to say.

“And dinner is served!” Cookie shouted, running out of the kitchen levitating over a dozen plates. Two of them were empty and set next to where Cinder and Adder were standing—an action they were soon relieved of, since Cookie lifted them up and sat them down in the chairs before they knew what was happening. All the other plates were filled with steaming food: mounds of seasoned rice, soups with unusually colored leeks, a tortilla wrap alit with a soft blue flame, fried apples, hayfries, and numerous other dishes. Only one of the dishes had meat: a cut of what looked to be fish seasoned with a myriad of herbs from plants Adder had no hope of recognizing.

Hondo eyed the fish hungrily.

“Hondo, do my eyes deceive me?” Cookie gasped. “Do you want the, oh, what was it? ‘Filthy, unnatural, forsaken, disgusting, test-tube fish’?”

Hondo’s stomach grumbled loud enough to answer for him.

Cookie winked. “I’ve got you covered.” She pulled out a second plate of the fish and set it in front of him. “Now…” She glanced at the empty plate. “It appears we’re missing someone…”

“Is Gran out?” Pulchri asked.

“Yes, she’s planning the monthly reunion, which means… SCOOTALOO!”

There was a sound of panic down one of the halls. Frantically, an orange girl scrambled to the table, falling into the one empty seat. Unlike all the others at the table, who had unicorn features, she had those of a pegasus: small, orange wings poking out of her back. She was wearing a bright red outfit with black boots and gloves.

Adder noted that she had the same dot Pulchri had on her forehead. Cookie and Hondo didn’t. She wondered what that meant.

“Scoot...” Pulchri raised an eyebrow.

“W-what? I’m here!” Scootaloo was sweating. “Nobody’s started eating yet, we haven’t even offered the food, a-and I’m dressed this time!”

“In boots.”

“Yeah! In boots!”

“Scoot, you were just in the shrine room.”

“Yeah, so I w—” she looked down at her boots. “Uh… Ohmygosh I’m so sorry I wasn’t thinking I just went in a—”

Pulchri sighed and shook her head. “It’s okay, we’re all still learning. Though… we have hooves, dear, not feet. I’m not sure we even need boots or shoes at all.”

“Yeah! Good idea!” Scootaloo laughed nervously. “I’ll just never wear them again! A—” Scootaloo blinked. “Wait a minute, you designed these for me last week.”

Pulchri smirked. “I suppose I am partially to blame as well…”

“Can we get to eatin’?” Hondo asked. “The food’s gettin’ cold!”

“Dear, I have a warmth enchantment enabled,” Cookie said.

“...I’m hungry.”

Pulchri nodded to everyone and pressed her hands together, offering a short blessing Adder couldn't quite parse in her head—something about the One. Then she looked up, smiling. “Do dig in, mother won’t be satisfied until this is all used well.”

“Preach it!” Cookie laughed before digging into her own mound of rice.

Hondo ate both of the synthetic fish fillets before anyone could blink.

Adder was about to dig into a bunch of seasoned hay fries, when she noticed that Pulchri and Scootaloo were tracing something around the edges of their plates before eating.

“Cinder, what do y—” Adder noticed her friend staring off into space. “Cinder? Hello?”

Cinder blinked, focusing back on Adder. “Hmm?”

“You okay?”

“Yes, I—”

“So, why don’t you tell us about yourselves!” Cookie said. “I heard your names from the kitchen, but I don’t think Scootaloo has any idea!”

“It’s Sweetie and Apple Bloom,” Scootaloo recited, seeming proud of herself.

“Those are our old names,” Adder said. “Ah’m Adder, this is Cinder.”

“Oh, so you did what Pulchri did? Cool!” Scootaloo smirked. “I’m never doing that. Scootaloo’s my name and I’m stickin’ with it!”

“Everybody calls you Scoot except mother,” Pulchri pointed out.

“I, well, uh…” Scootaloo shifted uncomfortably. “I’m still Scootaloo. Yep.”

“If you don’t mind me askin’, how’d you end up in this family?” Adder asked. “Scootaloos usually have their own.”

“Oh, I was taken in as a baby! Don’t remember anything about before besides creepy fire stuff that…” she caught a glance from Cookie. “...Definitely isn’t appropriate dinner table conversation! But I ended up here and it’s been, well, the best thing ever!” She lifted her hand into the air, summoning a boomerang studded with two magic gemstones. “This family is the best! Do you know we beat up criminals all the time!? And we get to do it in multiple universes now, too!”

“Bah, our world has enough problems as it is,” Hondo huffed, downing an entire plate of rainbow leek soup. “Just one villain after the ne—”

The side wall exploded in a brilliant flash of amber light. Pulchri reacted faster than any of them, raising a wall of magic around not only them, but the entire table, protecting the food from the debris.

“BUTLER FAMILY!” a psychotic, masculine voice declared, “I have come to AVENGE the TRUE MASTER of ALL WORLDS!” A red and black man covered in tattoos that glowed like runes walked through the hole he had just blasted. “You will pay for what you’ve damned us to!”

Cookie and Hondo were up in an instant. Hondo’s pendant glowed brilliantly, creating four fists around his head, while Cookie levitated a dozen frying pans in her magic, each one alit with a different elemental fire. Adder activated her lightsaber and Cinder inflamed her horn.

Scootaloo looked uncertain.

Pulchri, on the other hand, did not. She raised a hand to her parents. “No,” she said.

“But h—” Hondo began.

“I said no,” Pulchri emphasized, taking a few steps towards the man.

“The butcher herself…” He grinned. “You’ve changed since I saw you on that day. Yes, I was there. So bloody you weren’t even white anymore. Do you think a change of clothes changes what you are?”

“No… but there are other things that do.”

“Yes! DEATH!” He pointed a hand at her, unleashing a series of dark rings of energy, each one more than enough to kill a pony.

Pulchri raised a magic shield, blocking all of them with ease. She took another step forward, wordless.

“That should have… NEVER MIND! You killed the True Master, I shouldn’t expect this to be EASY! But with this forbidden power from another world, you will FALL!” He thrust his fist forward, going for her horn. He impacted her shield again with a force that should have cracked his fingers.

Adder didn’t hear a crunch. In fact, it seemed like the shield had purposefully softened the impact so he wouldn’t hurt himself. “What…”

“A pacifist…” Cinder muttered to her side.

“What is the meaning of this!?” the man demanded from Pulchri.

“The authorities have already been called,” Pulchri said. “You should run. I can stop my family, I can’t stop them.”

The man hissed, throwing spinning sawblades of magic at her. She deflected them with a series of wrist flicks, careful none of them flew back to him.

“I’m not going anywhere until you’re dead…” the man growled.

“Then explain… why?”

“Why? WHY!? You killed the one true master with your bare hands! Empowered by your family! You laid waste to my world!” He screamed, throwing his entire body at her, only to bounce off like a cube of jello.

Pulchri nodded. “You… are completely correct. I did all of those things. I am sorry.”

“You little w—wait, what?”

“I am sorry. My actions were inexcusable. I did such… terrible, terrible things for the sake of what was ‘right’. It took falling to that low to understand that the ends… can never justify the means.” She glanced to Cinder for some reason Adder couldn’t fathom.

“Guilt isn’t enough!” He charged her again, flying his fists as quickly as he could. “You must suffer as he suffered! You. Must. DIE!”

Pulchri let him punch for a while longer. Let him continue his relentless, wild, exaggerated attacks… until he began to tire.

With a snap of her fingers, he was asleep on the ground.

“May you rest well,” Pulchri said with a sigh.

Hondo walked up and tapped the man with his hoof. “Huh. You really got him. That was impressive, Pulchri! Maybe that cute shrine of yours is finally paying off!”

“Heheh…” Adder could tell that Pulchri’s smile was a forced one. “Yeah…”

Hondo seemed to sense it too, frowning. “I’m… Pulchri, I’m sorry, I didn’t…”

“No, no, I need to be more understanding. And… I need to fix this wall, we have guests…”

“MY STARS!” Cookie shouted, turning to the two fillies who had just witnessed all that. “I’m so sorry about this, please, this is unforgivable…”

“No prob,” Adder said, winking. “We’ve had our own fair share of villains bursting in at inopportune times.”

“Still, this is not how you treat guests!” Cookie declared. “I’ll have to cook something to compensate!”

“Uh, all the food’s still fine, we don’t need any more.”

“NONSENSE!”

“Cinder, back me up h—” Adder noted that Cinder wasn’t next to her anymore. “Cinder…?”

~~~

Cinder stood in front of the shrine.

It was tucked in the back of a small, square room, large enough for five people to sit on the floor, but just barely. In the back was a structure of gold and precious stones that all directed the gaze toward a central statue of a humanoid figure with many sets of arms and faces branching off the head.

The central face looked… at peace.

“Do you recognize him?” Pulchri asked, leaning against the doorway behind Cinder.

Cinder wasn’t surprised by her presence. “No.”

“He’s Vishnu, the aspect of Brahma for Preservation—the Present. He is the part of the Om that holds the world up and keeps it going for all… Like the Tower, but… more fundamental. Beyond.”

Cinder nodded. “...You’re Seren’s sister.”

“And you’re her runaway friend.”

Cinder shuffled her hooves.

“We’re family in a world where the power of family is literally magic, what did you expect, that she wouldn’t tell me every little detail about you?” Pulchri chuckled. “I knew who you were from the moment you ran into me.”

“You were there to meet Seren.”

“Yep.”

“Why’d you let us…?”

“Well the intent was that this would result in less drama and we could have a nice conversation, but then we were all attacked and… well, the dining room’s covered in rubble, you’re wistful, and mother is ramming a pie down Adder’s face.” She glanced back into the hall, as if to check on this particular factoid’s accuracy.

“Must be nice, to know you belong.”

Pulchri shook her head. “Seren and I do, but Scoot? She’s not related by blood. The world gives her some magic, but not as much as the rest of us. She has to live with a tangible reminder of her disconnect. Seren chose to leave, and while she’s still one with us, she’s gone over more to your League than us, lately.”

“Do you resent them for that?”

Pulchri frowned. “...You don’t identify them as your League?”

Cinder shrugged. “They’re my friends.”

With a sigh, Pulchri focused on the serene face of the shrine. “I do resent the Sweeties, in a way. They’ve given her something I never could, and I don’t know what that is.”

Cinder looked to her, eyes wide and attentive—an invitation to keep going.

“Our family—our extended family, numbering in the dozens—fought a terrible enemy who, annoyingly, didn’t have a name. Just a monster who wanted to eat everything. We banded together to defend the world, as the Butlers always did. I… I took charge, toward the end. Staff in one hand and a blade in another, I cut through his minions like butter.” She looked at her hand. Cinder had no doubts she could still see the blood on it. “I was the heroine, the bringer of justice… the spearhead. I became red, vicious, and bloodthirsty. I fed off it. I lived for the thrill of the kill.”

She lifted her hand and thrust forward, sparks of red magic puffing off in the dust. A memory of where she had once been. “And then I killed him. Saved the day. Was the hero. A witch who paved the way to victory through blood and destruction.” She folded her arms, sighing. “A week later I almost drove my hand into Scoot’s neck because I had gotten so twitchy. That was when I realized something had gone wrong with me.”

“...I’m sorry,” Cinder said. “I… I wish I could say I can’t imagine that, but I can.”

“Seren should never have been in that city,” Pulchri hissed. Not to Cinder. Cinder wasn’t sure who she was talking to, if anyone. “Every one she sees sends her further down the…” Pulchri got ahold of herself, looping her hands behind her back and sighing. “...After the incident, I thought I just needed to go out and adventure. That the civilian life wasn’t for me.”

“It wasn’t,” Cinder said.

“True, but the bloody charge I wanted wasn’t for me either. Using the leftovers from our old enemy’s experiments, we were able to develop dimensional spells. I took Scoot and Seren out, sometimes with our cousins, parents, uncles… but usually just Scoot, Seren, and me. We were sisters, and our bond was stronger than ever.”

“Until you entered a world without magic, huh?”

Pulchri chuckled. “We didn’t have the Merodi’s infrastructure. We just… poof, no longer had magic or a way to get home, far as we knew. And it was an Earth we were stuck on, one of those with the… over-eager government scientists. A priest took us in and helped get us out of the country. He was killed for what he did.” She fished a small, silver cross out of her dress, smiling at it. “Sometimes I wish I could have followed his way. But… he fought for us. He fought tooth and nail.”

“And the others didn’t?”

“Not in the same way. They did something… I had never seen before. When the gurus took us in and hid us in their enclave, it was more of the same. Until they were attacked by agents looking for us. There were no fights, no shouts… just warm welcome for the agents and polite refusals. Not a single one of them did anything. Some were killed. The agents never found us.” She looked into Cinder’s eyes. “Seren was too young to remember it well, and Scoot was completely terrified. But I… I remember plotting how to gut every last one of their necks with the knife I had fashioned out of the silverware. And I could have done it. Magic or not, I was ready. But they…” She had to stop for a moment and wipe her face. “It had never occurred to me that there was bravery without blood. It was hard-wired into our world.”

Cinder nodded. “I’ve… I’ve seen it in Seren.”

“I gave myself to them right then and there. I had no idea what they believed, why they did the things they did, or what the rites even meant… but I knew.” She let out a chuckle. “They almost refused me, can you believe it? A religion that isn’t looking for converts. The idea almost baffled them.”

Cinder shrugged. “I mean, technically I’m Harmonist, I don’t think we look for converts either…”

“It’s inherent in the ideals of friendship,” Pulchri said. “You convert others to Harmonism by just getting them to believe friendship and connections bring with them a tangible force.”

“Oh. I… guess I don’t really think about it that much.”

“And that’s fine. I surely wasn’t thinking when I decided to go this route.” She chuckled. “Seren and Scoot weren’t either when they decided to follow in my footsteps.”

“Wait, Seren!?”

“Surprised the child genius has a bit of spiritualism to her?”

“You… you think there would have been some sign!”

“She used to wear the dot.” Pulchri pointed to her forehead. “It’s called a bindi, by the way. It’s just an outward expression of who we are; not that all sects agree on that, though. But then she just… stopped. I don’t know why. She claims she’s still with me and Scoot in this endeavor, but I’m not sure.” Pulchri tapped the doorframe nervously. “I think she only wants to understand the world with her mind.”

“She still goes on about family. She really does—”

“That was burned into her from a young age. Just like the child soldiering.” Pulchri shook her head. “I don’t need her to be in it with me, I just want to know, to know how I should talk to her, to…”

Cinder sighed. “I think she might be a little young to give you what you want. And that’s coming from me, I’m basically a kid myself!”

“I… yes, you are probably right.”

“And your parents…?”

“Are the most loving, understanding, and supportive people in the face of existence. And they think… this is cute.” Pulchri pressed her lips together, fighting a grimace. “When I brought up redesigning the house, they were more for it than I was. I knew they didn’t understand, and they knew they didn’t, they just wanted to give us something. A place where our faith would matter in the home and we could stay with our family. It…” Pulchri laughed, joy mixed with sadness. “It’s beautiful, it’s so beautiful, how understanding they are, I’ve seen so many broken, torn apart families out there in the multiverse it seems like the norm and I’m just sitting here as a grown woman about to cry because my parents think I’m cute. They could hate me, they could disown me, but no, just… cute, and…”

Cinder put a hoof on Pulchri’s side. “Hey, Pulchri? Snap out of it, it’s fine. They love you and you love them and you know it. It’s okay to be upset with your family.”

Pulchri stared at her.

“I’m going to bet that the magic of family gets stronger after a disagreement, hmm? Doesn't get weaker?”

“I… I have long ago supplemented my powers with o—”

“Does it?”

Pulchri snorted in a decidedly unladylike fashion. “No, no it does not get weaker. The strongest surges come… when those who have had a fight still embrace one another despite it all.” Her features slowed. “I fought with father the day I killed our enemy.”

Cinder frowned. “You all fought him together.”

“Did we need to?”

“Probably? Super dark villains of the biggest story need to be taken down.”

“Maybe,” Pulchri said, staring into nothing. “Maybe I had to. Maybe, if given the choice again, I’d still do it despite it all. I like to think not. But no matter what… we didn’t have to kill all those on the way to him. So many innocents that didn’t know any better.”

“That’s… just how the cookie crumbles, sometimes.”

“I refuse to believe that. We are all part of the same divine presence that pervades all life. When we harm others we only harm ourselves—even ignoring the idea of karma entirely. It’s ultimately self-destructive. All of it.”

“Even the Tower?”

“The Tower is another expression of Brahma just like the rest of us. As it drives people to fight, it only harms itself as well. If the Tower were ever to die I pray whatever spirit inhabits it will become swamp moss and understand what it means to be tread upon.”

“Geez. I like to think it provides… meaning?”

“What is meaningful in always eating yourself from the inside out?” Pulchri asked.

Cinder shrugged. “I… don’t know. I don’t really think about it. I kinda just… know.”

“What do your instincts tell you now?”

“...That the Tower’s not done with you. Not by a long shot.”

Pulchri’s lover lip quivered.

“I’m sorry.”

“...I will not shy away from it,” she said, shaking slightly. “I… will face it head on. If it brings more monsters from my past, if it threatens my family, if it seeks to denounce my faith, I will stand before it. And I may break. But I will not retaliate. Never, ever, again. I am no coward, I do not run. I am no mongrel, I do not fight.”

Cinder looked at her, blinking rapidly. A short while later, she burst into laughter.

“Epiphany?” Pulchri asked.

“I suppose you could say that. A moment of clarity, maybe. About me and running away.”

“Do you wish to return to them?”

“...Probably soon, but not now,” Cinder admitted. “I’m going to wait for the Train to show up again.”

“I won’t tell them where you are,” Pulchri promised. “...Though I will probably tell them I saw you. Not that you were here. They won’t trace you.”

“Thanks, but… why?”

Pulchri smiled warmly. “Because you have more yet to learn, out there. I would be self-destructive to keep you from it.”

“...Seren’s lucky to have you.”

“And you’re lucky to have Xenium.”

Cinder chuckled. “You’re still really close to Seren. Don’t worry about her.”

“Easier said than done. I may seem old and wise at times… but I am young. I have only been doing this for a few years. I’m lost, confused, and am basically charged with representing everything about a faith I haven’t been walking in long. Take everything I say with a grain of salt.”

Cinder folded her up a paper salt shaker and handed it to her.

“There are no grains in this,” Pulchri observed.

“Just take it, appreciate the joke.”

Pulchri giggled. “All right.” She glanced down the hallway. “Do you think we should save Adder from the pie now?”

“...Yeah, we’ve been talking for long enough.”

~~~

Pulchri walked up to the doors of Rev’s church as the last of the audience was leaving. Rev herself was on the way out when Pulchri caught her.

“Oh, Pulchri! Haven’t seen you in a while!”

Pulchri nodded. “Just here to remind you that Sainna is still on for lunch tomorrow.”

“That crafty old guru can count on me being there! Barring, you know, meteor strikes.” Rev laughed. “Will you be there?”

“Probably not. I have… other things to do. A certain filly has given me a lot to think about.”

Pulchri couldn't tell if Rev caught the subtext. “Good luck, then!” Rev trotted off, leaving Pulchri to enter the Church.

It was so odd for her, to enter one of these. It reminded her of her first few weeks lost on that Earth, in the care of the burly human. Such a paradox, he was. A good man… if violent.

“Suzie?” she called.

Suzie looked up from the book she was reading. “Hmm? ...Pulchri?”

“Hi.”

Suzie sighed. “I’m not in charge anymore, I can’t corrupt Seren—”

“That has never been my worry and frankly I’m mildly offended about your insinuations,” Pulchri said. “...I was always more worried about your anger than your faith.”

“Well…” Suzie looked at the ground. “That’s not a problem anymore.”

Pulchri nodded. After letting there be silence for a few seconds, she spoke again. “I ran into Cinder while I was out on one of my meditating pilgrimages.”

“R-really? Is she…?”

“No, I let her go afterward. She’s doing fine. She’s trying to find herself. Like you.”

Suzie looked up at the cross dominating the church podium. “Yeah…”

“She also gave me a lot to think about.”

“She does that,” Suzie said with a bitter chuckle. “Something about her…”

“She’ll come back eventually.” Pulchri set a hand on Suzie’s shoulder. “She won’t stay away from her friends forever.”

Suzie nodded, saying nothing, but Pulchri knew she was grateful.

“Now, dear, get yourself pulled together because we’re about to be overrun.”

“Overrun…?”

The doors to the church slammed open and Seren ran through them. “Pulchri!”

“My little Serendipity!”

“My big Pulchritude!”

The sisters laughed and hugged. Then, once the immediate pleasantries were out of the way, Seren looked at her with confusion. “Why are you hanging out with Suzie?”

“Interfaith conversation,” Pluchri explained, leaving out the important bits. “And waiting to see you.”

“I call you and Scoot and mom and dad all the time!”

“I know, there’s just something different about a real physical HUG!” She lifted her little sister in the air and swung her around.

“Wheeeeee!”

Setting her down, Pulchri fixed Seren with a warm, understanding gaze. “Seren… I want you to know that, no matter what you do or what you think, everything’s going to be alright. Especially between you and me. Nothing can change that. Not even the Tower.”

“...Not even… Om?” Seren asked.

“Seren, if Om didn’t want you to be my sister, it’s not what I believe in.” She kissed her at the base of the ear.

“Okay.” Seren smiled.

“Now if only you could stop blowing up everything…”

“It’s effective!”

Pulchri had to force a smile at that. “Yes… I suppose it is.”

What did we do to you by making you fight with us?

Author's Note:

Agrol and ForgaLorga are the same person. Both channels have animations with mute ponies doing silly cartoonish things. They're good for a quick laugh and an interesting look into the ways the ponies work. It's also freaking adorable.

Of note, the second half of this chapter has nothing to do with Agrol. It started out as a short scene and grew way, way too big for its own right.

Next time on LSB:
I don't know. I'm writing something else and it's pushed LSB to the side, not to mention the chaos of the coronavirus. As of now LSB is on hiatus - I do have plans and ideas for future chapters and a few authors contacted here and there, but let's just wait a bit, okay?

In other news Songs of the Spheres will be ending on April 19.

((LSB Status Post.)) Come suggest and upvote fics!

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