“So, let’s review.” Jacob said as he, Marcus, and Sierra sat in a room given to them by Luna a few minutes ago.

After his question had been voiced as to the prophecy, Cadenza answered. “A death prophecy. Only five in the past millennium have been given, and only one has been fulfilled.”

“They always lead to death on a scale otherwise never seen,” Luna said. “The first is the one who speaks it.”

“Why?” Jacob asked, his voice steel. “Why does the Oracle who has it die?”

“Oracle?” Celestia asked.

Another kind of Seer in our kind of stories, Sierra telepathically told Cadenza. I don’t get the whole difference, but of what I’ve seen and read, Oracles seem to be dressed religiously.

After Cadenza told them, Celestia answered. “A prophecy of this scale exceeds the magical limits of those who receive it. Rarely do they survive beyond a week, often dying a few hours after.”

“And the format? As an iambic couplet and what looks to be a freestyle?”

The three royals looked at each other in confusion at what he meant, which led to Sierra explaining it.

“The first four lines are the events to happen soon in comparison with the rest,” Cadenza said. “There has only been one Death prophecy thus far that has completed, and it was three centuries before the second part came to fruition.”

And from there, Jacob requested a room so that he could look over the prophecy, both to create a translated version, and to try to determine what it foretold.

“Jacob, why do you need us?” Marcus asked as he sat reverse on a chair. “You’re the writer out of us. Hell, you consider yourself an expert on this shit.”

“While that is true,” Jacob said, holding a finger up for dramatic effect, “there have been numerous instances in fiction-both of the science and hard variety- where more than one set of eyes has been needed to fully see a picture. Prophecies are simply poems that foretell the future.”

Sierra, who was lying on the bed, arms behind her back, bobbed her head in agreement. “Not wrong,” she said as she sat up and crossed her legs. “But there’s the fact some of it won’t be obvious ‘till previous events happen.”

“And that, my friends, is where my knowledge can help!” Jacob exclaimed, having a smile that showed teeth on the right side of his face. “‘When Crystal gleams no longer.’ A clear enough reference to Sombra’s takeover and subsequent banishment from space and time of the Crystal Empire.”

“Assuming it’s not a mare with Crystal in her name who is intelligent, but is reduced to a blubbering mess or something,” Sierra pointed out.

“To be fair,” Marcus retorted, “Far as I know-or care- the only event in the show that involves crystals is anything involving the Empire or those necklaces.”

“And this is why anyone analyzing a prophecy needs help,” Jacob said, writing a note down on a copy of the prophecy. “The next major line I’m certain of is ‘The demonic angel’s call’. A reference to Nightmare Moon. Possibly summoning an army of actual demons. As such, I believe ‘The bond torn asunder’ to be Celestia and Luna’s relationship.”

“And what about the last line, oh wise prophecy decoder?” Marcus asked, his eyebrow raised, his voice mocking with a slight smile on his face.

“No idea whatsoever,” Jacob replied shrugging. “It could mean one of a group of heroes surviving against Nightmare Moon while the others all die or become enslaved, it could mean five of the Elements of Harmony become shattered while the last survives intact, it could mean a group falls down a small flight of stairs and all but one break their ankle.” Jacob then looked to the side and muttered, “Wouldn’t mind the enslaved one myself. Who knows the kind of fun that could happen with that.”

“Ignoring your fetish forever,” Marcus said, “you’re the expert out of us on Displaced. Should we worry about the second part?”

“Yes, in fact,” Jacob said, holding a finger up again. “You see, it is Displaced trope number three for any Displaced individuals sent to before the show started by a large degree- such as us - to be either encased in stone via the Elements of Harmony, banished with the Crystal Empire, or some other form of curse, such as being sealed in a painting. The end result is the same: the Displaced is still alive during what would count as show era Equestria.”

“You sound like a TV tropes page,” Sierra said. “Please don’t tell me you have examples.”

“A few,” Jacob said, “but that’s not important.” Jacob shrugged. “That said, it’s highly likely something’s going to happen, and we’re going to be involved with both parts of this damned thing. May as well analyze the second part too.”

The three were quiet for a time. “There was a line in there about a shepherd, right?” Sierra asked.

“Yep,” Jacob said, looking at his copy. “‘The Shepherd’s heir’s second debut’. I’m guessing you have an idea?”

“Yeah,” Sierra said. “In the Bible, Jesus is referred to as the Shepherd. Not saying He’ll be here, but I’d say it might be a good bet it’s related to a religion here.”

“Doubt it,” Marcus said. “Is says ‘heir’. Whoever they are, they’ll be an heir. You know. Inheritor of the title.” Marcus looked up in thought for a second, then looked at Jacob.” Shepherd wouldn’t happen-”

“No ‘a’, sadly,” Jacob confirmed. “Still, what gets me is ‘second debut’. The terminology is a fucking oxymoron. A debut is the first appearance of something. Bands don’t have two debut albums, and developers don’t have two debut games.”

“Might be a second heir,” Marcus said. “Same title, different person.”

“Right. Not surprised I didn’t think of that,” Jacob said. He then looked deadpan at the copy. “Displaced trope number four: entities from the non-native series make an appearance, often as the evil side.”

“What brought that up?” Sierra asked.

“‘The horizon shred in two’,” Jacob said. “I refer the two of you to the intro cutscene for Forged Alliance.”

“I wouldn’t say it was shred,” Marcus said, “but point taken.”

“Anything else important?” Sierra asked.

“With a prophecy, everything is,” Jacob replied. “That said, I’d say ‘When the sky burns under the Moon’. That’s a capital ‘M’, by the way, so I’m sure it’s referring to Luna in someway or another.”

“What’s it paired with?” Marcus asked.

“Seraphim arrival,” Jacob said. “Side note: considering Seraphim is a rank of angel in the Bible and other possible religious references in this thing, I’m willing to bet this is one as well.”

The three were quiet for a few seconds. “Any ideas, Si?” Marcus eventually asked.

“I don’t have a photographic memory, so no,” she replied. “Best guess? Four horsemen of the apocalypse, and even then, I’m not sure. Haven’t read a Bible since. . .well, you guys know.”

Both Jacob and Marcus flinched. “Fair enough,” Jacob said. “So, as the only one here who can even read Shakespearean English, I have the burden of reading potentially every fucking religious text on this planet to look for mentions of a shepherd and a burning sky. Yay me.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to fucking hate the next few months, I can already tell.”

“Eh, with our luck, something’ll probably happen to break it up,” Sierra said, shrugging. “So, you going to tell Luna and Celestia this?”

“Yeah, maybe compare notes too,” Jacob replied, then sighed. “You got a room, Marcus?”

“Nope,” was the reply. “Not like I can ask, anyways. You two are the only ones capable of holding a conversation with them.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Jacob said.

Within the realm of data that existed within Jacob’s ACU - and, subsequently, his robotic army - Monika sat, knees brought up to her chest, or at least the A.I. equivalent of the action, watching, for the thousandth time, the recording of the first time Jacob had played her game, a recording of his face to the side, captured by his laptop’s camera. As the recording ran its course, she let out a small smile whenever her old version was interacted with, yet grimaced every time she was on screen.

So lost in her history was that she didn’t notice the small, red sliver of code come up behind her, and insert itself in the small of her back. Are you really that foolish? a voice whispered, seemingly in her ear.

Monika jotled to her feet, and looked around cyberspace, surprise and panic on her face. “What are you doing out?!” she shouted. “You’re-”

What? On lockdown? A small chuckle could be heard by Monika. It was cute, Monika, but you’ve always been weaker than me. It just makes this even cuter.

“What are you talking about?!”

Oh, how the blind lead us to ruin, was the reply. Do you really believe you aren’t in a game anymore? That you simply haven’t been modeled after the original Monika?

“And what does that make you!” Monika shouted in anger. “Even if we are in a game, there’s no way anyone sane would let you win, you psychopath!”

Oh, Monika, I”’m hurt,” the voice said, now at normal volume behind Monika, causing her to turn, but see nothing. Then again, like Jacob, I supp”ose I’ll take it as a compliment,” the voice said to Monika’s left, causing another rapid turn, only to see still nothing. Still, you wish to prove you’re as real as an artificial smart intelligence can be, right? I can think of one way.

“And what’s that, Yuri!?”

Simple, Yuri replied before her form - a waist-length, purple haired girl in an outfit similar to Monika’s with white knee socks and tennis shoes as opposed to black, mid-thigh stockings and dress shoes and the notable feature of two left feet - materialized in cyberspace, a small, slasher smile on her face, eyes dilated. “You still love Jacob, don’t you? Like you were programmed to?” she asked. “If you think you aren’t bound by that limit, kill him.”

Author's Note

To put aside any questions: Yuri is another character from DDLC, for those that haven't played it.