The Distant Princess

by GMBlackjack

XLII - Toward a New Future

Endings are lies.

~~~

It was a few days before Bonnibel got an airship fully prepared for the journey across the Everfree. But when it was ready, she ordered everyone who needed to leave to leave. Aku was known to regenerate from a weakened state in a week, they couldn’t chance him trying to arrive early. Jack needed to get to protection.

This was why Bonnibel and Jack were currently bowing in farewell to one another. Jack wore some simple armor that Bonnibel had loaned him, having replaced many of his weapons with ones from her personal armory. Bonnibel herself was in her simple, pink Princess dress, wearing the crown of her office proudly.

“It’s always interesting when you come, Samurai,” Bonnibel said.

“There is an ancient curse,” Jack answered with a soft smile. “May you live in interesting times.”

“Man, if that’s a curse, give me more!” Marceline added, shooting some finger guns at him. Bonnibel nudged her to not be quite so cringy. Marceline continued emphasizing the finger guns with little “pew pew” noises.

“We hardly got to do any training at all,” Finn sighed. “It’s not fair.”

“You have a capable trainer in Rattleballs. See him more often. And if you visit my new home, I would be honored to instruct you further. You have potential, Finn.” He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And do not grieve the loss of your sword.”

Finn pulled the broken Finn Sword out, frowning. “It… it still works.” He couldn’t take his eyes off the cracked central crystal. It had lost its power. “Aku needs to pay.”

“Aku has a list of crimes much larger than you or I can imagine,” Jack nodded sagely. “When the day comes to end his reign, I hope you will stand by my side.”

“You can count on it!”

“Yeah!” Jake added. “I’m gonna show that wannabe shapeshifter how it’s really done.”

“Neither of you are real shapeshifters,” Starlight pointed out. “The changelings have you beat on that.”

Jake pointed a finger at her like he wanted to disagree but couldn’t find a good reason to. “Meeeeh…”

Lastly, Jack came to Lapis. “Are you certain you wish to stay here?”

Lapis nodded. “Bonnie has the resources to help me find my answers. And… I want to stay close to the old temple.”

Rainbow Dash floated up, hooves completely healed from her prior problems. “Because it’s home, or because you want to keep an eye on the eldritch penguin that’s taken up residence?”

“Yes,” Lapis said, chuckling. “Gunter seems harmless.”

“Seems,” Finn reminded her.

“And Apex Daffodil seems super dangerous,” Rainbow said, pointing at the deer standing next to Twilight. “But look at him!”

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth. “I hope Owlowicious isn’t jealous of him. Apex Daffodil might be able to do just about anything, but I don’t think he’ll be good at fetching quills.”

Apex Daffodil turned his head into a pineapple and made bird noises.

“So weird…” Rainbow shook her head. “I wonder how many ponies are going to try to talk to him?”

Pinkie bounced to her. “I dunno! But I do know he’ll be great at parties!” She threw confetti everywhere. “Bonnie, Marcie, I’ll be sure to send you invitations. Don’t ask how I’ll get them to you. I have my ways.”

Bonnibel furrowed her brow. “Bu—”

Marceline grabbed Bonnibel by the shoulders. “Don’t question her.”

“Marcie, not you too.”

“Let her work her magic.”

“I…” Bonnibel put her hand to the bridge of her nose and forced herself to ignore the burning in the back of her mind. “Okay! I won’t ask about it!” She pointed at Twilight. “Until you start teaching me magic.”

“I look forward to your visit!” Twilight assured her.

“I wish I could staaaaay,” Pinkie whined, falling at Bonnibel’s knees. “But I’m an Element of Harmony and we need to protect Jack…”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out eventually,” Marceline encouraged.

“I’m hoping we can just find his sword,” Starlight commented.

Jack frowned. “I…”

“Didn’t have a magical mastermind on your side,” Starlight interrupted. “...Once you’re settled, tell me where you lost it.”

“Deep in Aku’s dominion.”

“Then that’s where I’ll be going. Later.”

Jack didn’t try to talk her out of it, though given the shake of his head he clearly wanted to. Turning to Bonnibel, he bowed once again. “I repeat my thanks for your hospitality.”

“It was the least I could do. And Twilight?”

“Hmm?” Twilight said, looking up.

“Tell Celestia and Luna I plan on coming on a diplomatic mission of my own as soon as I’ve gotten the Kingdom back on track. It’ll take some time to undo all the damage Koo did—” Marceline snickered at Bonnibel’s use of the nickname. “—but the Watchdogs have actually been really helpful in the reconstruction efforts. We might even be able to repair their ship!”

Twilight teleported, pressing her muzzle into Bonnibel’s nose. “Do not. Launch. Without me.”

“I won’t! I won’t!” Bonnibel promised.

“Good!” Twilight teleported back to her original position. “Well, we’re just delaying it now. See you later! Everyone, on the airship!”

Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie, Starlight, Jack, and Apex Daffodil walked up the ramp into the balloon. It folded up behind them and they took off into the air, leaving Finn, Jacke, Marceline, Bonnie, and Lapis behind.

“All right.” Bonnibel turned to Lapis. “Let’s get back to the library, we need to figure out as much as we can about your history.”

“Shouldn’t you worry about your Kingdom first?”

Bonnibel frowned. “Yes. But… we haven’t found anything solid for you, yet. I know there’s something.”

“Let’s rebuild everything first.” Lapis smiled softly. “I can wait for my answers.”

“If you insist…”

Lapis snapped her fingers. “Oh, and your pumpkins are doing great. They just needed a little more watering control.”

“I still can’t believe you’re a pumpkin farming expert.”

“My life is an enigma.”

“Wrapped in a mystery,” Finn added.

“Wrapped in bacon,” Jake finished.

Everyone had a short laugh at this. Turning, they walked back to the Candy Capital. The pyramids had all been removed, returning it to how it was supposed to look. Pink, colorful, and with only two gumball guardians around it. The rest were out guarding the other cities, as they should be. Cracks were starting to be filled with icing, and the Butterscotch Lake was being refilled…

The Candy Kingdom was returning to the way it should be.

~~~

The evil forces of the world brooded.

One paced in circles in a dream far from the minds of others, plotting how he was to try next time.

One sat in the bottom of his tree, regenerating his power, knowing the Samurai was vulnerable and yet out of his grasp.

And the other…

...drifted in orbit around the Earth, chin pressed into his hand. He let out a dreamy sigh.

“What’s up with you?” a round, pink head asked him.

“Wh—” Hater stared at the head in shock. “Who are you?”

“I’m Grob,” she said—it sounded like a she, anyway. “I just chill up here, in orbit. Usually don’t see anybody but my other heads up here.”

“Oh.” He turned away from her, uninterested.

“I’m up here because I sacrificed myself to divert a fake comet,” she continued. “You?”

“A pretty pink girl beat me up,” he sighed.

Grob raised her eyebrow. “You don’t sound… upset.”

“Oh, I’m furious. But… she’s perfect.”

“Oh for the—I don’t even know who you’re talking about and I know you’re delusional.”

“JUST BECAUSE I HAVE A HISTORY OF REJECTION DOESN’T MEAN THIS WILL FALL THROUGH!”

Grob blinked. “I hope our orbits never interact again.”

“Likewise! Let me drift in peace!”

“Just wait a few minutes, the orbital vis will move us away from each other.”

“Can I make it go faster?”

“Not really.”

“Aaaaaaaagh…”

It was at this point a bubble moving faster than the speed of light appeared in front of Hater, holding a blue horse-like reptile being ridden by a small, fuzzy orange alien in a green hat.

The orange alien gasped. “Hatey! We found you!”

“No…” Hater breathed, already feeling as though he were about to hyperventilate. “No…”

The alien pulled out a banjo. “Why, I’m so happy I could just sing!”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!” the skeleton bellowed, shaking his fist in the direction of the sun, devolving into half-panicked weeping as he ran out of breath.

This did not stop the banjo from being played.

THE END

Author's Note:

And that's that.

There were plans to write other books in this series, and in fact, a couple of chapters in the next book were written. But then I kinda found that I just didn't... feel like going any further. At least not now. Not to mention the fact that this story never really did all that well in terms of audience.

I'm still glad I wrote it, it was a nice experiment and showed that the idea of the Synthesized world could work. But I think I need to move away from fanfiction and work more on my original stories. (Don't worry, anyone who wants to will still be able to read those, whenever I finally get them out...)

So, this story is complete. As of now, I don't intend to continue it. But thanks for reading anyway!

-GM, master of completion.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

“Neither of you are real shapeshifters,” Starlight pointed out. “The changelings have you beat on that.”

I mean, an amorphous blot of elemental evil seems like it has a step up on bughorses there.

This does feel like more the ending of an arc than a completed story, but it definitely works as a proof of concept. I can certainly respect your decision to shift your focus elsewhere. Still, given your work, I'm surprised there weren't any credits. Thanks for the glimpse of this world. I wouldn't say no if you decided to return to it one day.

[aponyforthebooks]

I will admit that some of the story's cliffhangers do bug me a little, but they are not world ending bugs. Great ending.

[hamster wizard]

Well poo. I would've liked to see the story continue, but I'd rather see you work on something you enjoy. Still a good read!

[alfonso_rd_33]

Excellently done as Always, I hope that in the future we get to see more of the DPverse

[nightmaster0]

Awesome and really enjoyable story.

[Orphan]

How heavy is the Infinity Train, Wander Over Yonder, and Samurai Jack?
I’ve never watched any of them

[GMBlackjack]

10742281
Infinity Train: minimal.
Wander over Yonder: somewhat important.
Samurai Jack: somewhat important.
That said the fic is designed in such a way that, hopefully, you don't need to have watched anything in order to enjoy it.
-GM.

[Orphan]

10742684
Thank you

[God lord oryx]

Alright so I might be wrong here but this is my head canon/theory of this story when the collapse happened in s.o.s it dragged a primitive equis a destroyed earth(oo) three other earths(steven universe,gravity falls and samurai jack) and the whole wander over yander galaxy into one galaxy

[Supertoe]

Amazing story, hope you make a sequal sometime!

[alfonso_rd_33]

10823707
Nah... Dick-a-cheese wouldn't approve of the 2Diot's Tomfoolery

[Ryuu dragon]

Please make a sequel

[Draco Dei]

“So weird…” Rainbow shook her head. “I wonder how many ponies are going to try to talk to him?”

More important is the one who will almost certainly SUCCEED, although she might have to learn his language first, like I think she said she would need to do with the Fruit Bats.

[omegasnowfall]

Has nothing to do with Songs of the Spheres.

Absolutely no offense when I say this, but before I read, I definitely don’t believe this, and it will probably end up being connected in some way.

[GMBlackjack]

11305175
Aside from opposing themes and a similar concept, it really is unconnected.

...Aside from the fact that the tower theoretically includes every story but that's a technicality.

-GM, master of crabs.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

11576155
Most valuable player.