Author's Note

screams in may or may not have the beginnings of carpal tunnel according to my doctor

Woo! Zoey/Gadget getting a peaceful moment in her life for once? Now that's rare. Added a whole lotta new content alongside rewriting much of what was previously written for PE#10. Definitely happy with how this turned out given the feedback and questions I've received on PE#10.

post-mortem existential dread leading to 4th wall-shattering ramifications but it actually breaks the 4th wall and Gadget gets a hug? (PE#10.5)

Zoey swung her legs over the edge of the makeshift porch, her plushie sitting in her lap after finally being mended. “Thanks for letting me hang around here all the time, by the way. It’s nice being able to travel back to someplace where I can actually be myself, y’know?” She lowered her gaze to the yellow mane draping over the stuffed animal.

“Ah, don’t sweat it. I’ll be here for a long, long time,” Gadget’s face peeked out from above the overhang. A flicker ran across her face. “Maybe even forever, for all I know.”

She slipped back from the edge, metallic thumps ringing out as she climbed down from her perch. “You ever wonder why we’re the only ones here? Like—” she stepped out from the inside of her little scrap hut, dusting off her hands. “If I’m here ‘cause I’m… well, dead, and you’re here because of a similar freak accident, then how come there aren’t more of us constantly popping up in here?”

“Hm?” Zoey glanced over her shoulder, her plushie tumbling to the deck with a dull thud. “Oh. Well…” her eyes fell to her little shard of sky resting beside her. She pulled it out from beneath her discarded toy, turning the ethereal blade in her hands. Glints of speckled light reflected off of its translucent surface as she held it up above her. “Sometimes. Sorta been busy with spellcasting and whatever from the place me and Lisa are stuck in.”

She set the blade down again. “Is something up? You usually don’t ask stuff like that.”

“Just wondering, I guess.” Gadget sat down beside her counterpart, tucking her legs in her arms. “It does get lonely in here when you’re gone. I know it probably wasn’t the case for you, but I was so happy when you first dropped into here. Like, sure, I can pop into all those different worlds and stuff if I want to, but I think you already know well what it’s like for me when I do.”

Zoey nodded along. “Like a ghost.”

“I am a ghost,” Gadget flattened her lips. “In every sense of the word. I float around, nobody sees or hears me, I can even go through walls if I want to…” she buried her face in her arms. “You’re the only one I can talk to. Even if you’re just a version of me that made it out alive.”

“I…” Zoey reached out a hand.

Gadget brushed it off. “No, i-it’s alright. It’s not like there’s much I can do about it. Instantly incinerated when this ol’ wreck of mine went boom while I was hurtling through here, remember?” She forced a laugh, knocking the back of her hand against the gnarled metal paneling beneath them. “In here’s the one place where I still have a body at all.”

Her form flickered again, hints of yellow blinking in and out before settling on the familiar brown locks.

“Mostly, at least.”

Zoey fidgeted with her plushie’s legs, her eyes still locked on her counterpart.

“If this place really is a space between worlds—” Gadget’s voice rose from her curled from. “—then shouldn’t there be other versions of us also stuck in here?” She lifted her head a little, her unkempt hair still masking her face. “I know this isn’t something I should be saying, but there should be more dead versions of us out there somewhere, right? It’s that whole thing about ‘anything being possible in an infinite universe’. And here, we have an infinite number of universes.”

Another flicker. “The same goes for you, too. Just because I got this nickname from some labcoats in my timeline before I went boom doesn’t mean that being six feet under is the only way to go. You remember how you got in, don’tcha? The whole universe you and Lisa have been living in started tearing apart at the seams.”

Zoey’s gaze drifted back to the plushie in her lap. “Yeah.”

“Shouldn’t there be other Zoeys that’ve also fallen into here? That have also forced their way into another Zoey’s universe in search of home?” Gadget picked up the shard sitting beside Zoey. “That also somehow broke a chunk off of the very boundary of existence itself? Do you know how long it’s been between when I entered this place and I finally met you? No versions of us—not even the singular one I saw that also passed through here—I…” her voice cracked as she continued. “I saw a version of me that survived the rocket breakup shoot past, a long time ago. I saw her come up from behind me. From that very same laboratory that I’d launched from myself. I-I just don’t know how she split off from me. Like, what the heck caused us to split like that? For one version of me to sail off into the proverbial sunset to who-knows-where, while I’m…”

She leant her head back, her eyes shut as she sucked in a breath. A faint buzz rose from her as flickers of fuzzy blue danced across her form. “That was the only other version of me that I saw for ages. Eventually, I realized that I could just, like, pick out one of these little lights floating around us. Kinda stretch it open in a sense, and just walk in. I was so excited to finally be somewhere again!”

Her grip tightened around the blade. “But then, when I did step out into a world, nobody ever noticed me. Nobody could touch me, or hear me.”

She lowered her head again, letting the sky shard clatter back down beside her. “Sometimes, I wonder if the reason why there’s only the two of us is because this place in and of itself is yet another plane of existence just like all the others. That maybe this is a place that was somehow purpose-made for us. A made-up limbo that exists just so that we can sit here and talk to each other.”

She returned her face to her arms.

“Hey.”

“Mm?” Zoey turned her head.

“How far back can you remember in your life?”

“I…” Zoey furrowed her brows. There was of course the whole thing about the portal and falling through the cracks and stuff. That was still very fresh on her mind. Before that, being babysat by Lisa even though she was very definitely a big girl who could look after herself, though that wasn’t a very big deal anyway ‘cause Lisa let her help with her cool robot stuff. And before that…

“Can’t think of anything past when you met Lisa, can you?” Gadget leaned back, propping herself up on one arm. “I’d even bet that you can’t remember a thing past the day you and her got dumped into this mess!”

“What.”

“It’s the same for me. I can only remember as far back as when I got a tablet that I used to use as a sort of digital diary. I was eleven at the time, but I only know that ‘cause I was told so. Before that? Nothing. Heck, the time I do remember from when I had that tablet hardly even stretched a hundred days!”

“You were eleven back then?” Zoey lifted a brow. “When was ‘back then’? How long has it been since then?”

Gadget shrugged. “It’s hard to keep track of time in a timeless place. Going by watching how time passes in other planes of existence around here, I’d say maybe seven? Eight years?” She blinked. “Holy crap I’m an adult now, aren’t I? Zoey, how old are you?”

“…Ten?”

Gadget ran her hands through her hair, staring wide-eyed at the milky-black plane beneath them. “Man. I…” she flickered again as she stood up, wobbling on her feet for a moment before steadying herself against a scrappy wall. She stepped back into the hut. “Gimme a moment. I need to think about this some more.”

Zoey turned her attention back to the plushie in her lap. She got it during her birthday party… one of them, three years ago. At least, she was pretty sure that was the one. That was when she had the stuffing put into it… and… and then before that…

That was it.

That was it.

What about two years ago?

Nothing. Even things that happened just a year ago…

No, there had to be more.

There had to be more, right? She wasn’t like Gadget, who’d been stuck in this place for a loooooooooooong time. Maybe she was just forgetting her old life after spending so long in here! But then…

Think, Zoey repeated to herself. There had to be something else she remembered. Anything. Her mom… yes, she could remember her. The way she spoke, how she stood at the edge of that pit when… she shook her head. She needed to think further back. Something that didn’t happen within the past few weeks. Maybe something like when… when her mom dropped her off at school?

Her eyes searched for an indication that never came. Not that she was expecting one, staring at the featureless floor beneath her. Even for something that should’ve happened almost daily for years on end, she was drawing a blank.

What if it was the void itself that was making them forget? Maybe her memories were wiped the moment she entered this place!

She shifted her gaze to the countless dots of light sprinkled through the space surrounding them. Last time she was here… when she saw her mom at the pit… that was through one of those dots. Gadget said that she’d hold onto it for safekeeping after that. Maybe if she went back there, she would remember again!

Zoey hopped back to her feet and ran into the hut. “Gadgetttt! Where’s that portal orb thingy that I used to find my mom?”

Her counterpart wasn’t inside.

“Gadget?” she repeated, quieter this time. She crept through the dingy hut, pausing for a moment at the lingering scent of singed metal. “You in here?”

A momentary flicker in the shadows caught her eye.

“What are you doing?” Gadget squat down beside Gadget’s trembling form.

“I thought…” Gadget’s voice came in uneven spurts. “I thought I was still eleven this entire time. I hadn’t even thought of how much I should’ve aged while I’ve been in here… just…”

“How long you’ve been in here?”

“…Yeah.”

“Hey now,” Zoey set a hand on her counterpart’s shoulder. “I’m sure we can figure out a way to get you out of this place eventually! You said that you should be an adult by now, right?”

“…Yeah?”

“You said that, but you’re still physically a kid like me.”

“…Yeah.”

“So, that means that we’ve got all the time in existence to find out how to get you out! It’s like what you said, right? Anything’s possible in an infinite universe or whatever. And here, we have infinite time!”

“…I guess,” Gadget uncurled herself, lifting a tear-stricken face from her arms. “I…” she flickered, revealing that familiar golden-yellow mane Zoey knew from her plushie. Gadget brushed it aside with a hoof, pausing for a moment to stare at the appendage. “I’m just not sure how much longer I can stand being in here. There’s so much living that I’ve missed out on now that I’m thinking about it. If I’d made it through like that other version of me in her own rocket, then for all I know, I could’ve finally arrived home to my home universe! I could’ve grown up! Learnt how to drive, maybe! Idunno… even…” her voice cracked again as she flung her forelegs up in the air. They flickered back into being human arms before she lowered them. “I could’ve even found love!”

She fell back in a slump, a loud exhale escaping her. She straightened herself up, her attention falling to the bushy yellow tail still emerging from her behind.

“Well, I guess that’s one thing that’s new for once,” she curled her tail around to her lap, idly picking through the strands of horsehair. “Sorry for making you my captive audience by the way. I’m sure you’ve got far better things to do than listening to my rants.”

Zoey snorted. “No, you’re me and I’m you. It’s weird to think about, yeah, but shouldn’t it make sense to stick by you whenever I can? It’s not like being out in the universe me and Lisa are in right now is fun, either. Both of us have had to pretend to be the versions of us from that universe without any idea of who they actually are. Heck, from what I’ve heard, Lisa’s counterpart in that world is freakin’ royalty!”

A quiet laugh rose from Gadget. “Maybe I should spend more time watching you, then. Sounds interesting to see. Actually, that reminds me—” Gadget stood up, hitting her head against a low-hanging shelf. “—ow. Er—” she rubbed her head. “That reminds me of something. Hold on a sec, lemme get it out.”

She stumbled over to the opposite side of the shack, one hand still pressed against her head. “You already know how I have a bit of a hobby in watching and collecting those little balls of light, yeah?”

“Yup.”

Gadget picked through a makeshift shelf lining the wall. “Well, there’s one particular one I came across a while back that’s especially interesting.” She squat down, her tail swaying behind her as she searched. “I’m pretty sure that it’s the very first version of us to exist. The point that spawned all of these different timelines that you and I and every other incarnation of Zoey originates from. I don’t know why it’s the original universe, but for whatever it’s worth…”

She stood up, a grin forming on her face as she held up one particular orb of light. “Here it is.”

Zoey stepped closer, peering into the glowing ball. Sure enough, there was yet another incarnation of herself. One from a different time and place.

“Next, she’ll eat a baked potato she carved into the shape of a hot dog.”

“Wh—” Zoey turned to Gadget. “Hu—”

“Shh, just watch. Weird, isn’t she?”

Sure enough, the version of herself they were watching did… well, precisely that. With a hefty serving of powdered sugar as a topping, too.

“I don’t know how long this has been going for,” Gadget lowered the orb as she spoke. “But it always ends with her and her friends rolling down some grassy hill for whatever reason. Then, it repeats. Over and over, forever. As if that’s all the time she ever exists for.”

“Huh.”

“You wanna know how I figured that this is likely the first one?” Gadget shifted her hands, now gripping the orb from both sides. With a single movement, the entire perspective of the orb… shifted.

“Don’t ask how I did it ‘cause I don’t know how I do it either,” she added, still holding the glowing ball with both hands. “It’s like this feeling, I guess. Like I wanna see more, and it’ll just respond that way. Anyhow—you see what’s there now in this new position?”

Zoey leaned closer to the orb. There was a calendar there.

“That, combined with what I’ve overheard, tells me that this is a school day sometime in May twenty-fourteen. I haven’t found any indicator of any earlier date in any other universe.”

2014.

Zoey blinked. That was what—a decade ago? Also—

“Overheard?”

“Oh yeah, you can definitely hear things through the orbs,” Gadget lifted it higher. “It’s real quiet, that’s all. Like listening to whispers from the other side of a room.”

The view through the orb suddenly shifted again at the swipe of Gadget’s hand from the back. “I can also do this if I don’t care as much about precision,” she grinned, slapping her hand on top to stop the flying colors. A flicker ran across her as the tail peeking out from behind her finally vanished. “Like I said, don’t know how this works either, it just kinda does. But yeah, I’m pretty sure this is the earliest version of us!”

“I think I even recognize some people from there,” Zoey tilted her head a little at the new perspective currently visible. “Yeah. There’s Sam… Brodie… Caleb looks pretty different from the one I know, but still—” she looked up. “Is there a reason why you haven’t taken a look from the inside?”

“Scared, I guess,” Gadget drew the orb a little closer to herself. “I’m already here forever. What would happen if when that reality hits its loop, I get trapped in there instead? Lonely as it may be, at least out here I don’t have to worry about living in a perpetual loop.”

Zoey looked between her counterpart and her… other counterpart. The one they were watching. Even after spending so much time with Gadget, it was weird to think about.

“What happens if we open it up right when it starts looping?”

Gadget frowned. “I’m not sure, actually. I don’t think that’s something I’ve really thought of before.”

It was Zoey’s turn to grin now as she set her own hand on the orb. “Wanna give it a try then?”

“I… guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

Zoey took the glowing ball from Gadget. These things always had a nice heft to them. Like holding a bowling ball made of glass.

“Wait until it jumps to the grassy hill. The perspective changes on its own when this version of Zoey heads outside.”

And right on cue, too. Zoey tightened her grip around the orb, feeling for that ethereal edge just under the surface.

There it was.

Just like the first time, she pulled it open. It was hard to really put into words how it did so. It wasn’t really stretching, per se, nor was it fragmenting and giving way to her efforts. It sorta just… expanded. She let go, allowing the fixture to hover just above the floor.

Whatever the case, the portal was open now. Through the wider view it now offered, she watched herself and her alternate-friends roll down the hill.

“It should’ve looped by now.”

“Hm?” Zoey leant past the visage.

“The universe we’re watching,” Gadget continued, gesturing at the portal. “I’ve never seen any of this before. Look, they’re heading back into the cafeteria now.”

“Do… you think it’s safe to go in, then?”

“Maybe.”

“I’ll go in then.”

“Wait wait, are you sure you wanna go in there? Like I said, I have no idea whether or not it’s safe to go in. We’ve only seen it continue past its final event. What if the whole universe starts falling apart now instead of looping?”

“Then I’ll trust you to watch my back. If you ever feel like I’m in danger, yank me back through.”

Zoey turned her attention back to the portal. At the moment, it seemed to open into a cafeteria of sorts.

Her school’s cafeteria. More specifically, that little nook under the stairs that students sometimes hung around.

Right. Parallel universe whatevers. Not only were the people gonna be similar but the locations usually matched up too. It was probably for the better that the opening of the portal led to somewhere out of sight anyway.

She ducked through the portal. Almost immediately, the smell of whatever was cooking for the main lunch line hit her like a wall. She paused, savoring the all-too-familiar smells. Even if the food wasn’t necessarily good, she missed this place.

The end-of-period bell played over the intercom. Another point for familiarity.

‘Well,” a voice caught her attention. “See ya later then.”

“See ya!” another voice responded.

It quickly grew difficult to pick out the conversation as more students filed past into the hallway. Actually—shouldn’t they have seen the portal as they passed?

Zoey whipped around. Thankfully, it seemed to have vanished after she’d exited. The last thing she needed was for more random kids like herself to wander into that place. Though, why it closed like that she wasn’t as sure. The previous ones she’d traveled through lingered on even after she’d exited, albeit a little more translucent compared to the entering side.

Still. They didn’t just disappear like this one did.

Hopefully it was just Gadget closing it for the same reasons she had in mind.

Zoey started walking toward the lunch lines. With the periods changing, the second wave of students should be showing up at any moment for their lunch period. If this place was anything like her own school then the main line should have different items every day of the week.

“Oh hey, Zoey,” one of her classmates walked past. “You’re getting a second lunch?”

“Er—” she forced a grin as she waved them off. “Yeah! Like I always do! You?”

“Going to class,” they shrugged, stuffing their hands in their pockets. “I’ve never seen you get in line a second time, though. You sure you’re gonna have enough time to eat before class?”

Zoey’s eyes flit between the lunch line and the classmate who wasn’t really her classmate. “Mmmmmaybe I’ll skip second lunch this time around.”

“You’re hangin’ out with Sammy again today after school, right?”

“Yup!” she chirped before their question fully processed. “As usual!”

Seems like this version of her didn’t go back to Lisa after school. Sam was part of Lisa’s brother’s friend group.

“Neato. I don’t know how you got through history today. My teacher looked like he was gonna fall asleep.”

Zoey scrambled for the name. “Mister… Daniels, right?”

Weeks of pretending to be a different version of herself and somehow remembering a teacher she didn’t really remember out of the blue paid off then and there.

“Yeah. I heard that the teacher for your team is a lot more fun to be around. Anyway, gotta go!”

She waved as they wandered off. That was probably the most stressful moment she’d had in a long time.”

The next voice that drew her attention immediately shattered that notion.

“Did we really have to roll down the hill like that?” Sam’s voice rung out from somewhere within the throng of students shuffling about the cafeteria. “I’ve got grass stains all over my shirt now. My mom’s gonna kill me!”

The voice after that spiked her heartrate even further.

“Nahhhh, you blow stuff up all the time in the lab. I think you’ll be fine.”

There she was.

Through the crowd, Zoey momentarily locked eyes with herself. This version of her looked a little different—hair styled differently and a little more curly… maybe even a little shorter—but most definitely a version of her.

“Woah, two Zoeys?” a boy—Brodie, she was pretty sure—slid between her and her counterpart as the group approached. “Sammy, did you know Zoey had a twin sister?”

“Actually, I—” Zoey held up her hands.

“I don’t though?” Other Zoey stepped closer. She narrowed her eyes, stopping right in front of her. “Idunno, she does look reaaaaaaally similar to me though. Maybe I do have a secret twin?”

“How would you have a secret twi—”

“Anyway hi! I’m Zoey!” Other Zoey held out her hand. “Do you like potatoes?”

Zoey backed away from her counterpart. From past experience, touching another Zoey in-universe was not a good idea. Somewhere out there was a much older Zoey who thanks to her now had to explain to her parents how she aged like seven years while they were away.

“C’mooooon, you shy?” Other Zoey tilted her head. “Ooh, you know what always gets me talking?”

She swung her backpack to the floor, digging around inside before extracting a wrinkled ball of aluminum foil. “Potatoes! Except I already ate this one.”

“Not everyone is as crazy about potatoes as you are, Zoey,” Sam walked around her. “Sorry about her, she’s a bit wild. I’m Sammy.”

Zoey shrunk further back from his own outstretched hand.

“No handshake, alright,” Sam retracted his hand.

“Well… uh, sorry we couldn’t talk for longer!” Zoey slunk away from her alternate-universe self and friends. “Was neat meeting y’all! I kinda sorta have a class to go to for now. Don’t wanna be late, bye!”

She sprinted down the hall, turning the corner to head down one of the branching corridors. With her entry portal gone for now, she’d have to find somewhere out of the way to cut herself a way out.

She slipped a hand into one of her pockets, feeling for…

Her steps slowed.

Oh.

Oh no.

“Gadget, you still there?” Zoey muttered under her breath, her eyes frantically searching her surroundings. “Really need some help right about now. I know you can hear me.”

“Who’re you talkin’ to?” Other Zoey’s voice sent a jolt through her body. “You look a lot like me. Where did you come from? I don’t think I ever saw you here before.”

“I… uh—” Zoey spun around to face her counterpart. She was standing so close right now. Worse yet, this hallway really didn’t allow for any kind of easy escape, either.

“You lost or something?” Other Zoey grabbed her hand. Zoey winced, preparing herself to open her eyes and find herself facing yet another aged-up version of herself.

Other Zoey laughed at the action. “You know, I like you. You’re weird. C’monnnnn, what’s your next class? I can show you.”

Zoey opened an eye. Thankfully, the event she dreaded didn’t come to pass. As for the question, the first class she had after lunch in her own world came to mind.

“Art two.”

“Ooh, you’re in my class then!” Other Zoey dragged her along down the hall. “Yup, right this way, you were already almost there! Still haven’t told me your name yet by the way.”

Whatever. Until Gadget did something, she really didn’t have any choice but to play along. At the very least, she could maybe find a way to slip out unnoticed. Protect this Zoey from getting tangled in the mess that was her and Gadget’s predicament.

“Uhm—Aspen,” Zoey blurted. An art display featuring various gemstones caught her eyes as she followed. “Garnet. Aspen Garnet.”

“Well, Aspen Garnet, I think we’ll be good friends,” Other Zoey stopped in front of the art room. “And here we are! The art rooms are kinda funny. Instead of walls, there’s a whole freakin’ garage that can open up into the hall!”

“Right.”

“No, I’m serious, look!” Other Zoey waved wildly at the paneled door beside them. “It looks like a garage door, it’s got rails on the sides like a garage door, and if you go inside, there’s even a pull chain to open it! It’s a garage!”

“You’re uh,” Zoey tapped her fingers against her leg. “Very enthusiastic about the garage, aren’t you?”

“I just think it’s neat.” Her counterpart reached for her hand again. “C’mon, let’s go in before we’re late!”

A flicker of… something rushed through her mind the moment their hands met again. Zoey blinked. That… what even was that?

She shook her head, sucking in a breath. Her counterpart had retracted her hand, instead now staring worriedly into her eyes.

“Is… something wrong?” Other Zoey stepped back a little. “I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did! I promise!”

“N-no, you didn’t. I just…” Zoey brought a hand to her head, patting herself lightly. “Weird headache I think, that’s all.”

Any minute now, Gadget.

“Oh, okay!” her counterpart’s cheery expression returned, albeit a little more muted than before. “I’ll be a little quieter then. Is it the kind of headache where it hurts more when you’re near loud stuff?”

Again, she had to thank the few weeks of experience she’d had by now of living a lie.

“Yeah. I—” she faked a wince. “—I think I’ll go to the front office for the school nurse first. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Awww, that’s alright. I’ll let the teacher know that you’re not feeling good!”

Zoey backed away, peering down the now-empty hall. She turned back to her counterpart. “Thanks. I guess… maybe I’ll see you around?”

Other Zoey lifted a brow. “See me around? We’re in the same class! I’ll see you—” she poked a finger into Zoey’s chest. “—after class. I’ll bring you a snack even!”

“Is it po—”

“It’s potatoes, yeah,” Other Zoey pat her backpack. The distinct rustle of a potato chip bag crunched from within.

“Aaaaaanyway, I’ll be off now. See ya.”

“Yup!” her counterpart opened the door to the classroom. She gave a playful salute before disappearing inside.

The air opened up in front of her like the flaps of a tent. That was probably the very first time she’d seen a portal open from the other side of things, to be honest.

Gadget peeked through, peering first at the closed door beside them, then at Zoey.

“We’re clear,” Zoey crossed her arms. “Guessing there wasn’t any good opportunity to bring me back while everyone was around?”

“Nope.”

“Anything interesting happen in the void while I was gone?” Zoey placed a hand against the edge of the portal, one leg already stepped inside. “Or was it the same old whatever?”

“Actually, yes! This whole reality you’re in right now split off the moment you entered. The original one kinda slingshot itself away the moment you walked in.” Gadget lifted her bangs, pointing at her forehead. “Smacked me right on the noggin, too. If I was ponymoding it when that happened, then that might’ve even cracked my horn with how fast it was shooting!”

An amused scoff rose from Zoey. “Alright, so you had a bit of excitement then. Let’s go before—”

“Woah.”

Of course the universe that contained a potato-obsessed version of herself also had an impeccable sense of comedic timing.

“Well, uh, hi there!” Gadget waved past Zoey. “I’m… Aspen’s… cousin! Picking her up. She’s feeling terrible right now. Riiiiiiiight?”

Well clearly other versions of her didn’t have so much experience in acting. Zoey lifted a hand to her head again. Just to play along.

“See? Not feeling good. Just a big ol’ headache and stuff. C’mon now, get in here, I don’t think that the school would like it if they found out that I parked this thing in the hallway, y’know.”

Zoey pursed her lips, nodding her head toward the awestruck potato-obsessed version of herself still staring at the portal.

Gadget sighed. “Alright, I guess the schtick is up. Guess we don’t have to hide anything from this world’s Zoey since she’s kinda sorta already seen… wait. Wait.” Gadget practically leapt from the portal, grabbing Other Zoey by the shoulders. “You can see me? I-I can touch you!”

Zoey cringed as a flicker ran across Gadget’s trembling body.

“Ponyyyyyy?” Other Zoey drawled as her attention fixed squarely on the cartoonishly-colored unicorn holding her by the shoulders.

“Right okay yeah gotta go see ya!” Zoey pulled Gadget off of this world’s Zoey, backing away into the portal. She grasped the edges from the other side and slammed them back down to nothing more than the usual glowing dot.

“Gadget.”

“She can see me,” Gadget’s voice came in hushed, shaky whispers.

“Gadget, is everything alright?” Zoey crouched down beside the shivering filly.

“I…” Gadget ran a hoof through her mane. “I don’t think I’ve ever even thought of that! I have to go back for a moment. I wanna try something—”

“Gadget,” Zoey blocked her counterpart. “Let’s take things slowly, ‘kay? You always start doing this whenever some strong emotion hits you. I’ve been watching.”

“Watching?” Gadget blinked, her curly yellow mane deflating back to the usual brown. She stared at the bangs falling over her eyes. “O-oh. That.”

She blew the strands of hair aside, sitting back as the rest of her body flickered into her human form.

“I know that was exciting for you. To finally be seen by someone besides me. But… just think about it for a sec.” Zoey sat down in front of Gadget. “Both me and Potato Zoey back there are versions of us. Of Zoey. I can almost guarantee that only she could see or touch you. Have you ever tried interacting with other versions of yourself in those times you visited other universes?”

“…No,” Gadget fidgeted with her hair. “I figured they’d be like everyone else I tried to interact with. So I stopped trying. Thought it was for the best anyway, since… well…” she gestured a hand toward another glowing orb hovering near the floor beside the one they’d just emerged from. “That never happened when I entered. I didn’t want to interfere, so I guess… a little part of me always counted on being a ghost whenever I visited some world or another.”

She huffed, curling herself again back into the sulking form she’d been in before, muffled words rising as she buried her face in her arms. “I don’t know. I guess I just got carried away.”

An uneasy silence settled between the two, punctuated only by an occasional sniffle rising from Gadget.

“Hey,” a murmur drifted out of her.

“Mmm?”

“Y’know how I said earlier that maybe this whole void plane thing was made just for us?”

“…Yes? Go on,”

“What if it really is exactly that? A construct that exists just for us, and we exist just for it? Life in a box, in a sense.”

She lifted her head. “What if, these exact words that I’m saying right this instant are being made up on the spot by, Idunno, some greater consciousness that dictates the terms of our very existence? Why else would there be so few memories that either of us can clearly remember? Why, when you’re in a pinch for answers, you can suddenly pull something out of nowhere that suddenly makes sense, as if you knew it all along?”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“Think. We’re sitting here, in this… this void world. There shouldn’t be any air here, and yet we breathe. There shouldn’t be any gravity here, but the only things we’re seeing that float are those wacko balls of light. Do you know what makes the most sense for an explanation?”

“…That we’re made for this place, and this place is made for us?”

“Now you’re getting it!” Gadget snapped her fingers. She paused, staring at her hand. “See? I didn’t even know I could snap my fingers until just now!”

“I think that’s more anecdotal than—”

“We,” Gadget clenched Zoey by the shoulders, drawing her closer. “Are characters in a story. Nothing more, nothing less. That’s what I’m getting at. Zoey, can you describe what you were building with Lisa before you were unceremoniously sucked out of your world?”

“A combat robotics machine with a hammersaw-style primary weapon. Plus a flamethrower.”

“Okay, and can you picture it now? I want you to describe in words the exact thing that comes to mind.”

Zoey shut her eyes, thinking back to… to…

To what?

She could remember spinning on the stools… soldering alongside Lisa… burning her hands more than a couple of times, leading her mother to scold Lisa for not watching her close enough…

A memory of winning something bubbled up.

“How’s that robot lookin’?” Gadget’s voice cut through the fractured memories.

“I… I can’t remember it.”

“And that is because the author hasn’t bothered describing it in detail!” Gadget laughed. “I…” she let go of Zoey. “I promise I’m not going crazy. Or maybe I am. To be frank, I don’t remember a thing between the first day or whatever after I crash-landed here and meeting you. Heck, my memory’s even spotty after meeting you, loneliness aside. As if I just… ceased to exist whenever I wasn’t relevant. But like, this is the most excited I’ve been about anything since I climbed into that rocket and never came back. Something—maybe even someone—marked the beginning of us, and we’ve been going ever since.”

She sat back again, taking a deep breath. “I… understand if you don’t want to be here with me anymore. After all that I’ve just said. Heck, if I was in a better place mentally, all that stuff I said probably would’ve scared me off. But you took it like a champ. Thanks.”

Zoey sat down beside her counterpart, also leaning back against the inner walls of the rickety shack Gadget called home. “I mean, it’s like what I said earlier, right? It makes sense for me to stick by you whenever I can. Quirks and all. Still don’t entirely get the whole existential dread thing that you just pulled us through, but…” she ran a hand through Gadget’s hair, gently stroking it in long, slow motions. Gadget leaned into the brushing, resting her head on Zoey’s shoulder.

“You’ve lived a completely different life than I have,” Zoey kept stroking her counterpart’s hair. “Even if we’re the same person, there are some things about us that we can’t possibly understand in each other no matter what we try. Just rest for now. We’ve got all the time in the world in here.”

A soft whimper rose from Gadget.

Zoey leaned forward a little.

Gadget had fallen asleep.

From the corner of her eye, she could see her little unicorn plushie, laying on its side.

Zoey stared at the empty space in front of her that just ate up Aspen a moment ago. Alongside that unicorn girl called Gadget that went crazy.

That was not what she expected to see when she ran out to the hall to grab the pencil that fell out of her backpack when she was showing off the chips.

Like, that was not supposed to happen! Maybe she could ask Sammy about it later. He’s smart enough to maybe know something about it.

She leant a little closer. She swore there was some little something hanging in the air still. She held her hand up, tracing her fingers along what looked almost like a crack floating mid-air. A crack in what, she had no idea. But…

She felt her nail catch on a slightly raised edge. Whether it was an accident or out of curiosity, the next thing she knew, the crack had grown…

…And a small chip of what was supposed to be the air in front of her lay in her hands.