Author's Note

Before we start this chapter, for the ones who haven't seen the last blog, Apple Bloom's Mansion is being adapted into a comic.

Link.

Chapter 193: Aurelis

The army took a long rest after this battle. They needed it. Really. This long battle took a lot.

They gathered provisions, trained new recruits, turned the roboticized back to normal, and repaired the ships that had been damaged. There wasn’t much wood to use however, the forests having been razed, but Sweetie was able to materialize materials. They even took a couple of Eggman’s own ships left in the port. The armada was getting very cramped. They were getting new recruits faster than they were losing soldiers on the battlefield.

Days passed.

Once again, in-between the days the army rested, another, bigger event took place.

Needless to say, the army's spirit and morale reached its maximum point: death has been minimal for a long while now, and in a whopping comeback thanks to their new allies, nearly the entire continent was freed of Eggman’s influence. It came to no surprise when an early celebration party was suggested to and then approved by Marth, who wanted everyone to be at their best both mentally and physically for the final stretch.

That's how Sweetie Void found herself wandering about in a great party, held in the middle of an open area. The people of Talys also came and both helped set it and partied with the army. It was already nighttime and the party was in full swing with everyone dancing, drinking, talking, and simply having a good time.

Even the humans and Manaketes that previously were mutually problematic had somehow reached a non-verbal agreement to keep to themselves or brood with a drink in a corner while everyone else had fun, which in her opinion was progress at least.

She looked around and saw various of her Pokemon playing around with the kids of Talys. Among them were Tank, Volta, Smily, Zephyr, Scout, and Mothra. Not seeing why she shouldn’t, she joined them and played around a bit before deciding to leave them as she wanted to look around some more.

There was a group that caught her attention quickly: it was Susie, talking with Merric and other mages. And by her side were some of the barons and generals of the army. Intrigued, she approached them.

“...Ah, my apologies. So you aren't actually akin to these robots?” Etzel asks.

Susie waved her hand in a dismissing manner. ”Not at all. My species possesses a combination of both organic and inorganic traits that make us appear machine-like, but majorly we are just like any other living being. I had a father after all,” she said and Etzel hummed.

Susie then noticed Sweetie Void and waved at her. ”Ah, good evening Sweetie.”

Sweetie nodded. ”Good evening. Enjoying the party?”

“Certainly.”

“Hey there!” Valbar, one of the barons, greeted. ”Name's Valbar. Nice to meet you little miss! You and your friends sure have helped us big time!”

“Indeed,” Draug, a general, said. ”Archanea-no, our whole world is in your debt.”

Sweetie waved them off.”Eh, no need for that- like I've said before, it’s just what we do. Anyways, what are you guys up to here?”

Merric looked at her, excitement clear in his eyes. “We were discussing with your friend about those force field-producing devices the armored units have used since Dolhr. Somehow taking their physical defenses and producing a defensive barrier that matches it…”

“It’s nothing short of fascinating, a complete revolution in warfare for us,” Arlen, also here, continued. ”We were interested if somehow the reverse could be done. That is, somehow taking our spellcaster's magical resistance and somehow converting it into physical protection.”

Susie nodded. ”An entirely possible thing. Likewise I was interested in this world's brand of magic. Turns out that by using a special kind of empty book and different sets and kinds of runes, inscriptions, and even materials, it is not only possible to recreate any existing tome, but also to create any spell imaginable and infuse it on one too.”

Linde then said. ”Of course, the more powerful and unique they are, the rarer and more costly everything needed to make them is. With the possibilities of other worlds with more and likely unheard of materials for tomes? The possibilities are more endless than ever!”

“What I'm interested in is if there’s a way to infuse spells in something other than books. Valentians are able to cast magic directly with their bodies, so casting without tomes is possible…”

“Aaand that's kinda our cue to go,” Forsyth said. ”We only came to share our opinions of the devices. We aren't all that into magic.”

“Yes, your experience is insightful. Thank you for your time,” Susie said politely and waved as the barons and generals went off to join the rest of the party.

“Mmm, I should be going too. Gonna look at the rest of the party,” Sweetie Void said.

“Enjoy yourself! This was all possible thanks to the help of you guys. Say hi for me if you find Marth!” Merric said.

“Will do!” Sweetie Void said, saying goodbye as she wandered again.

She saw how the archers had set up multiple targets and instead of bows, they practiced with knives for fun at Jeorge's suggestion. They quickly got the hang of it, some faster than others. The people saw them and even a few volunteered to throw one or two.

Jeorge then said he knew a neat trick, and that he needed one of the archers to shoot an arrow. Ryan offered, and when he fired, Jeorge quickly threw his knife, intercepting the arrow and cutting it in half. The small crowd cheered and praised him for his trick. Sweetie looked on some more before going elsewhere.

Again, she saw more of her Pokemon. This time there was a a big water tank provided by Susie where the Water-types like Swirly (now a Poliwhirl), Calypso, Nessy, and her Gyarados, Boss (formerly the Magikarp she got before she fought Groudon), put up a show by doing various tricks assisted by Mesmer and her Orbeetle, Dexter, who used their psychic powers to put up floating hoops and to levitate the water in the air, producing a spectacle that had most of the party mesmerized. She saw two people that, thanks to the stories told about them by both Archanean and Valentian soldiers, she recognized as Jagen and Mycen. They sat on a nearby table as they drank and enjoyed the show.

It was all well when suddenly a Valentian came and started telling others something with enthusiasm that instantly took her attention.

“The blue blur and Lady Clair are gonna race!”

Sweetie Void, alongside a good portion of the presents soon followed the guy to an open zone a bit apart from the party, where Past Sonic was doing some stretches and Clair readied her Falicorn. With them were various of the mounted units, both flying and on land, as well as Past Amy. Sweetie Void approached them.

“Hey! What's this about a race?” she asked Amy after greeting her.

“Well, you know Sonic. Both of them: speed is kind of their deal, so he was gathering attention showing it off…”

“And then some of our guys from the Zofian Army let out that they don't believe anyone is beating a mounted Clair in speed. Stuff predictably escalated into this,” Python finished for Amy.

“I see. Well, this is gonna be interesting…” Sweetie Void mused, seeing how both racers seemed to be finished. To their credit, she could definitely say high-tier warriors of this universe were no slouches. She had seen the fastest ones being able to frequently dodge lightning and even light-based attacks (which while it didn’t make them THAT fast, it was still quite the feat) and among them the mounted ones were the fastest in both movement and combat.

All that said this still was Past Sonic they were talking about. He wasn’t as fast as his future self, but let's just say he was well on his right to be at least somewhat confident in his speed.

“Let’s give it our all, little guy!” Clair said in a friendly tone.

Past Sonic smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. With that, he got into position while Clair mounted her Falicorn. Then Cecil stepped up with a flag in her hand.

“Alright, listen up! Your goal is to make it all the way to the eastern edge of the island, then make it back here. First one to arrive wins it all!” she said, and both runners nodded.

“Mmm, I think I can help you guys with this,” Sweetie Void said as her horn ignited with magic. Then, a floating screen showing Clair and Sonic popped into existence, startling a good amount of the presents. ”With this we will be able to see them all the way,” she explained.

“Huh, magic is so mysterious… So, is everyone ready? On your marks! Set!” And so, Cecil brought the flag down. ”GO!”

In an instant, both Sonic and Clair bolted with great speed, even breaking the sound barrier and producing a great wind that everyone had to brace for to resist.

On the screen, it showed how Sonic started out in the lead, but then Clair started to catch up to him. They were both incredibly fast, and the public started cheering them on with Past Amy and Clive being the most enthusiastic, Amy cheering for her crush and Clive for his sister.

Sweetie Void quickly noticed that Sonic was at a disadvantage, being earthbound and having to follow the landscape that unfortunately was filled with Eggman’s buildings. Although he handled it well by getting through small openings and jumping, most of the time he had to deviate to advance. By comparison Clair had an easier time as she just had to fly, occasionally evading particularly tall buildings.

To make matters worse, halfway through, the shape of the island made it so Sonic had to deviate to the side while Clair could go right through in a straight line due to her flying, making it so she arrived at the edge of the island first, taking the lead.

Sonic was surprised at this, and seeing how once again Clair could go in a straight line through the island summarized that he was going to lose.

That is, if he kept his current pace.

“C'mon Sonic! You can do it!” Amy cheered him on, seeing him through the screen.

For his part, Sonic acknowledged the challenge and once he reached the edge he got into position, then went all out.

Immediately the change was noticeable, and many of the warriors from the army were left speechless. Sonic used his speed to run directly to the top of a building and started jumping from one to the other, making his path easier this time. In a moment Sonic was side by side with Clair and then surpassed her, jumping to the next building. looked back mid-jump and saw her dumbfounded expression, making him smirk.

Clair quickly recovered however and snapped her reins, motivating her Falicorn to also go with everything.

Both were fast approaching the finish line, Sonic leaping through at great speed and Clair flying with her Falicorn with remarkable skill.

Alas, this skill wasn’t enough to surpass Sonic once he took the lead, and she arrived just after he did.

Immediately, the crowd came to celebrate.

“Amazing! What a race!” Cecil cheered.

“Soonic~! I knew you’d win!” Amy said, running up to give Sonic a hug. She then separated with a light blush in her face.

“You did good, Clair,” Clive congratulated his sister

For her part, Clair dismounted her worked-up Falicorn, patting her side before approaching Sonic.

“Well, can't say I'm too bummed out by it. You truly are fast! Beat me fair and square even with unfavorable terrain. Well met, mister,” she said, sticking out her hand which Sonic was quick to shake.

While she did see Sonic winning coming, Sweetie Void too had to admit it was a good race.

The race finished, everyone went back to the main party soon enough, although some called it for the night.

Upon coming back, Sweetie Void started to get hungry, so she decided to go look for something to eat and approached the party's buffet.

Unsurprisingly, she found more of her Pokemon there, stuffing themselves full on it. Ratzo and Drako in particular seemed quite pleased simply devouring everything in front of them to the point the healers, who were in charge of cooking everything, had to come and scold them. Lena in particular was giving them quite the earful while they looked down with an apologetic look. In contrast, her Noctowl (formerly Hoothoot), who was named Night Wind, Amanita, and Anubis were content with eating their servings calmly and politely, earning them headpats from Maria which Anubis seemed to try and play off as if he didn’t mind even though it was noticeable he liked it. She just looked on amused as she ate.

More importantly, she found Marth, Alm, Celica and Caeda eating and talking together at a nearby table.

Alm noticed her and invited her over. “Hey, Sweetie Void! Wanna accompany us? We got a spot left.”

Not seeing why not, Sweetie came and sat on the chair.

“So, how are you liking the party so far?” Caeda asked her.

“Pretty good! Normally these come after the defeat of the bad guy, but I’m not complaining,” she said.

“Huh, it sounds like you’re pretty used to it,” Alm said.

“Yeah, pretty much. There's this friend of mine called Pinkie Pie-she is a renowned party planner, and always looks for the slightest justification to throw a party. The success of one of my adventures is a regular one as of late.”

“Is that so? You must have many a tale to tell for this to be a regular thing,” Celica said.

“Oh boy, you don't know half of it…” Sweetie Void said and then began to narrate to them various tales of her adventures not only across the multiverse, taking the occasion to tell them a bit about the friends she made there (and that they could meet and fight besides if they decided to join), but even old ones of her time on Popstar, including how she ended up in that universe that fateful day. Of course, grossly skipping over the details as to not make each story too long, and more than once she had to give them brief explanations whenever she mentioned technology they didn't know of.

“...Incredible… That was beyond anything I could imagine,” Marth said.

“Yeah! Like… I'm still processing all that. It’s just… wow,” Alm agreed.

“I still got more, like the most recent one I had with Kirby and everyone where we fought Void's first kid who got divided into a good and an evil half who tried to destroy Popstar. In the end though they made up,” Sweetie said.

“To think you have lived all that at such a young age, even younger than Jubelo and Yuliya…” Caeda said.

“Agree. Sorry if this makes you uncomfortable but… are you sure you're fine, Sweetie Void?” Celica asked her.

Sweetie opened her mouth to answer, but then closed it. For some reason she paused and actually thought it over. That question…

“Are you sure you're fine?”

Was she really?

“...Yeah, as much as I can. Like, I know it has been a lot…” Nightmare, Marx, Star Dream, Sectonia, Dark Matter…

…Zero…

“But in the end, I can only keep pushing forward. And hey, I still get to live my childhood out… Even if it is with some of the innocence off,” she summarized.

For the sake of not completely souring the mood, she left out how there were other kids on the Alliance that had to go through getting parts of their childhoods robbed, including alternate versions of her closest friends and variants of herself.

They kept talking, Sweetie Void recounting more fun and light-hearted parts of her time on Popstar. She eventually finished eating, and then went on where people were all dancing together to the music of a local band.

After a while though, they started to play slow music, and sure enough the people started to either pair up or leave the stage.

Marth went on with Caeda, and Alm with Celica.

Near them, Jesse looked at Malice, bowing slightly and offering his hand with a flourish.

“May you concede me a piece, ma'am?” he said with a smirk and a wink.

Malice rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she took his hand, much to Jesse’s marveling.

Faye gave Tatiana a little push, and she collided with Camus' back. She looked back and glared at her a bit before turning towards him, who also turned to look at her.

They both looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Then, Camus extended his hand. ”Would you… like to dance?”

Tatiana closed her eyes and huffed, then opened her eyes and smiled at him. ”Quite so, yes.”

Roderick kept switching between looks at Cecil and at Mathilda and Clive, the latter two simply giving him a thumbs-up.

Letting out a sigh, he finally decided to go for it and approached her.

“Cecil. Would you… like to dance…?” he asked her.

Cecil blinked once, then twice.

“Huh? Me? B-but… er, I don't… I don't really know how to…” she said.

“Eh? Really now?”

“I was always too busy training to learn! And I never thought it was something worth learning…”

“Mmm… Well, I taught my younger sisters, so… I could teach you,” he said.

Cecil went silent for a bit, before answering. ”...Sure. That's fine.”

And so, more pairings filled in and slowly danced to the music.

Sweetie Void let out a yawn and rubbed one eye, her mental fatigue catching up.

“Well, I think that's it for me tonight. Gonna resume watch duty with the doubles tomorrow…”

And so, she simply retired to sleep.

Eventually, they were ready, and for the last time, the army sailed. Their destination was Galder Harbor, the most eastern port of Archanea, just west of Talys, which was part of no kingdom, a region known as the borderlands. Of course, when they arrived, nothing was left of the port, replaced by a base.

From here, they journeyed through a path that Marth knew very well to reach Aurelis, passing by the Samsooth Mountains, also known as the Ghoul’s Teeth, previously home to many bandits.

No bandits were left. Instead, they found more bases defended by the roboticized bandits.

After traversing the mountains, they reached the plains of Aurelis.

They still had a long road to reach the capital. The kingdom was vast, and the capital was all the way west. All the while, they had to explore to find all the bases on the way so they wouldn’t leave one behind.

They didn’t bother to explore the north of the kingdom. It was part of the huge expense of the mainland of the continent. Sweetie Void intended to send her doubles to deal with that, not expecting to find many robotocized beside barbarians over there. The northeast of the kingdom would especially force the army to do a huge detour along the coast, losing a lot of time.

Eventually, they reached the capital, finding the last city.

Already, countless robot paladins were galloping in the plain surrounding the city, charging toward the army, and Sweetie Void could feel that one of them had destructive energy. She could easily see it too.

Indeed, the Egg Roland was three times as big as the other paladins. It towered above the others, and it was faster. The other robots were making sure to not be in front of it to not be trampled, until it eventually reached the front of the army, thus heading the charge.

No doubt it would destroy any obstacle Sweetie would put in its way to try to stop it and the other robots, so the filly began by trying to destroy it with large and powerful beams. However, the Egg Roland dodged the beams by making its horse move left and right, annoying her.

So she teleported right before the Egg Roland, avoided the spear, and tripped the horse, making it fall. This caused a chain reaction in which other paladins behind the Egg Roland tripped on it, and then other robots tripped on them, causing dozens and dozens of robots to fall, disorganising the robotic army.

Such chaos. Discord must be proud.

Of course, before they could get up, Sweetie destroyed as many of them as she could, Egg Roland first, avoiding the roboticized.

Not all the paladins were stopped however, many continued their charge, so the barons and generals placed themselves at the front of the heroes and readied their shields with their Shield Cloaks, forming a wall. That stopped the robots.

Many robots at the front suddenly stopping because of them ended up impaled by the spears of the robots behind. The barons and generals touched still slid backward by the force of the hit.

With the paladins stopped, the heroes attacked them, starting with mages using long distance spells.

Many horsemen followed the paladins, firing arrows at the army. Again, barons and generals worked together to tank them and allow their friends to reach and attack the horsemen.

Among all these paladins and horsemen, the heroes encountered three roboticized friends: Wolf, Sedgar, and Roshea, the first two horsemen and the last one a paladin.

Like always, Sweetie Void took care of the airships and most dragons. She also intercepted some wyverns.

Because the plain was left for the cavalry to charge through, not many obstacles and traps were placed, making it easier to advance. There weren’t many staff users either, leading to less problems while fighting. All that made the battle rather easy once the cavaliers were dealt with.

But then, a second cavalry army came from their flank, taking the heroes by surprise. The barons and generals didn’t have time to get in place, so this new army succeeded in its charge, trampling and piercing many soldiers. Once the charge was over, the paladins began to hack and slash wildly with their swords while horsemen rained arrows.

In the chaos it caused, it was hard to see what was going on. Sweetie Void quickly came to help, and Sonic was running around trying to save as many soldiers as possible.

One paladin charged towards Jesse who was already fighting one. Before it could pierce him in the back, Saber came in and tackled Jesse away. Unfortunately that left him at the mercy of the two paladins who were quick to finish him while on the floor.

“SABER!” Jesse screamed and quickly got up. Luckily for him, Saber's sacrifice gave those near him time to react and back him up, but it was too late.

“Why…?” Jesse asked a dying Saber.

“Cough… Listen, you're a good one Jesse. Despite your flaws, you actually… made me hope for something great… My life hasn't been all that great anyways… You? You're young… And now there's someone there for you ... Don't let it go to waste, ok?” Saber said, his voice getting weaker.

Jesse said nothing, and simply closed Saber’s eyes with his hand.

He left his body, aware that the fight was not done yet. ”...I promise,” he said to himself, then went back to fighting with renewed vigor.

In the end, all the robots were destroyed, and the heroes were able to enter and conquer the city.

But as they discovered after the battle, the robots’ successful charge wasn’t without its heavy consequences. Many soldiers died.

In addition of Saber, Lena, Ogma, and Arlen were also killed.