Chapters EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
1: I'm On Fire (I'm Okay)
Celestia stood at the balcony that led into her room, tired from a long day of work. She had elected to stay up a little late in order to enjoy Luna's weaving of the night sky, as a little treat for herself. She stood vigil over the landscape before her, sipping idly at her cup of white lotus tea, watching the skyline with a simple joie de vivre.
By this point, Celestia had moved to her telescope to get a better look at the situation.
And finally, monsters. Monsters of all shapes and sizes burst out from the gate, some not quite making it in time and being visibly bisected by the portal's departure, where they burst like piñatas and dropped some strange looking objects she couldn't quite make out in the dark of the night. After a minute or so, they emerged from the woods in four directions, moving along the paths that the strange bio-mechanical objects left behind. Unfortunately, this meant that a wave of monsters was dead set upon Ponyville, and it wouldn't be long until they struck. She took a deep breath, and then moved with haste into the castle.
=>
It wasn't long until the entire population of Ponyville was roused from their sleep. They were initially shaken awake by the explosion from the Everfree, followed by the strange blood-red creatures that emerged from the woods and began to cut a swathe of havoc as they made their way into town. Initially, it was only little imps that could only more or less get into dangerous mischief, but soon, massive alien ogres and basilisks began to wreck property with the intent to harm. Ponies scrambled to avoid being hurt, shrieks and croes of fear ringing across town.
The Elements of Harmony were barely able to handle a bugbear together, and despite their relatively strong power when combined, they were not making a dent in the invasion. Too many small fries, backed up by dangerously big fries, and it resulted in the group being split up.
Fluttershy was alone in the middle of a destroyed thoroughfare, fleeing for her life. She seemed to at least the ability to hold sway over the imps the same way she could talk to animals, but that barely mattered when she had been trying to avoid being crushed by a cyclops brandishing a tree. She shrieked, and tried to get away, hiding behind a house that the giant clumsily gripped its hands around to try and find her. She landed onto her hooves with a running start and scurried across the street, only for the cyclops to throw the tree in her path. She stumbled to a stop, and turned to see the beastly monster staring her down with its massive eye.
"FLUTTERSHY! GET DOWN!"
"Sick shot CD!" A new voice cried out.
=>
"A portal?!" Luna shrieked.
=>
Rarity was trying desperately to save her sister from the disaster. She had managed to find Sweetie Belle, along with some of her more valuable fabrics, and stuffed the latter into a random saddlebag. She didn't have much time though, as massive claws burst from the windows and reached for Sweetie Belle. In a very unladylike gesture, Rarity swooped in and bit the claw as hard as she could, making the offending monster scream outside.
She scrambled out of the shop with Sweetie Belle, who screamed in fear when she saw a giant, salamander-looking creature crawling over the exterior walls, its many tongues flitting across the panelling of the boutique. She fired little sparks of magic at it, trying hard to hurt it from a distance, but her lack of magical control and a clear weak point meant she had power, but no precision.
"GO FOR THE EYES, KID!" A voice shouted at Sweetie Belle. She momentarily paused to see her who messenger was, which unfortunately allowed another basilisk enough time to sneak up on the unicorns from behind. Sweetie Belle yelped, and blasted the thing in the eyes with a column of magical energy. It flailed and scurried away, and Rarity turned to face the one that was still on her shop. A two-legged thing jumped and scrambled up the wall of the Boutique and onto the basilisk. She cracked a large wine bottle against its head, stunning the thing, with glass digging into its red skin. The stranger then grabbed the shard of glass, and shoved it in the throat of the beast. It wriggled and writhed as it found itself suddenly unable to breathe.
Rarity spun in rage at the stranger, and shrieked, "You ruffian! You nearly burned down my shop!! Who do you think you are, throwing bottled flame around like that you, you.." She trailed off, and observed the cyan ichor on the stranger's bare skin. "Are you bleeding?" She asked.
=>
The rest of the Elements found themselves saved serendipitously by those strange two creatures, and soon, thanks to their regrouping and planning, they had established a safe zone from the monsters. Ponies from across town kept showing up in the area, explaining that the 'weird tall thing' saved them and told them to meet at the place.
"Thank goodness you're alright." She said softly while she nuzzled her Faithful Student, who gladly reciprocated the gesture.pony ... But I managed to get a quick sketch of her before she ran off to help more ponies."
Celestia peered down at Twilight's sketch, and narrowed her eyes. Her right eyelid twitched, just a little, but it was enough for her star pupil to notice.
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EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
2: I Must Be Fine, Cuz My Heart's Still Beating
Ponyville had certainly seen better days.
Ponies had gathered at a somewhat disheveled town hall per the request of Princess Celestia, who stood patiently, awaiting her quarry's retrieval. Everypony else in the room felt cold, as if Celestia's radiance had turned bitter and dark. They silently prayed that it wouldn't stay like that for long.
The guards brought in that two-legged creature, the human, who seemed confused and scared.
Then more guards entered the scene, carrying a slightly different human, except this one was kicking and screaming, shouting things like, "I helped you ungrateful little shits out!" and "Let go of me!" This one was covered in cyan blood, for some reason, and the wounds were wrapped in what seemed to be fabrics from Rarity's boutique.
Her facial expressions suddenly warped and twitched, anger and grief mixing and smearing into the general muddy emotions of fear. She slammed a fist against her own head, and the ponies all recoiled, not sure what was going on.
=> C-Side: Get Delta to shut the fuck up.
You two have an internal argument about who should front and handle the situation. The one who knew about etiquette and political positions of this society, or the one who wouldn't crumble in the face of an authority figure. It takes a lot of deliberation, and some self harming, to get Delta to see that maybe she shouldn't make like Icarus and taunt the Sun, literally.
=>
The human stared up at Celestia with suddenly heterochromic eyes, and said nothing. Celestia decided this was the best moment to test her hypothesis.
The human shivered again, and her face screwed up again for a moment. She shook her head, and spoke.
Checkmate, Celestia thought. Her face grew darker.
"Uh.." The human stammered, shaking, standing there like an absolute dolt.
"This wasn't part of the plan...!" C-Side screamed internally.
"We plead guilty, your majesty."
Luna tilted her head upward a bit and stared down at the human. "You know the purpose of a Skaia session, do you not? Why wouldst thou do such a thing?!"
=>
Twilight and her friends huddled up. "Okay girls," Twilight whispered, "Does anypony know what a Sky-uh session is?"
The gang looked at her with bemused looks.
"Well.. regardless of whatever she is.." Rarity tried to get back on track, "Delta, the other one, she gave me her name, and C-Side did put their well-being on the line to ensure our safety, as well as everypony else's. So I believe I agree with Pinkie, as ridiculous as that may sound. No pony or.. human.. should be punished for a good deed."
Twilight looked to Fluttershy. "How about you? What do you think of C-Side Disco?"
=>
"And if we have any say in what will become of us.. the primary thing is that we want to fix this. Please just let us fix this." C-Side offered.
Celestia solemnly shook her head.
"No, this is our fault-" C-Side kept trying to interject, growing more and more agitated, before Delta screamed, "NO! SHUT UP! THIS IS OUR FAULT, DAMMIT!"
She kept slamming her fists against her head, the wound on which suddenly reopened. Blood trickled down into her eyes, and she shut them tight, and shuddered.
Celestia blinked. Stars and stones, this mare is all sorts of damaged. She thought, and then said aloud, "Luna, what say you?"
The entirety of the crowd gasped and murmured to each other.
Celestia nodded, her expression still a little dark. "Very well. You start your travels tomorrow morning. You will be assigned one assistant and some chaperones to monitor you in your endeavor. This impromptu court is adjourned!"
As the ponies in the room departed, Celestia stood and waited until she and the human were alone. She slowly approached CD, who noted they were similar in height. Despite that, C-Side couldn't help but feel intimidated as Celestia stared her down.
EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
3: Red Squirrel In the Morning
Sunrise.
You're not even sure who you're gonna be working with, you just feel like they're gonna hate your guts immediately.
"There you are." Fluttershy interrupts your reverie. She nods a greeting at the guards, who at least seem to know her by reputation, seeing as they let her through without protest. You look over to her and nod your head in a casual greeting.
"Howdy."
You tap your chin thoughtfully.
=> Delta: Get bored and wander off.
Your most prized item, Disco II, flashes against the morning sunlight. The light seems to almost bounce in patterns and formations, and through these little flashes, you emerge.
You don't really mind the fact that C-Side is hyperfixated on ponies - hell, you're not above admitting you find some of the dragons cute - but man, you never thought that you'd have to play the game by their namby pamby rules.
=> C-Side: Chastise your alter.
"Seriously, Delta?? We have a job to do and you're drinking?"
"C-Side, you dork. She's already got enough high level powercreep shenanigans in her life. You need to appeal to her grounded side of life."
You decide to trust her on that.
"Yeah, it was a zoo." You say nonchalantly.
"Extinction prevention...?" she asks.
"... You and Delta... mentioned a Skaia session. What is that?"
Your mind wanders to your friends.
=> Delta: Take over.
C-Side disappears into your body and is tucked away in the back of your mind. You sneer, and look down at the little butter pegasus.
=>
"Helloooo? Equestria to C-Side Disco, you in there?!"
You try to recall this mare's name, but you're not the one with the hyperfixation on Equestria - C-Side is, and she's still recovering from her breakdown. You don't really want to deal with her shit right now, so you just hold out your hand to shake it.here?
Rainbow Head blows a whistle, making you both flinch, and derailing your train of thought.
=>
It sure was a train station.
Your eyes glaze over the hubbub of apprehensive ponies giving you a wide berth, very clearly afraid of you. You feel C-Side's voice despairing in the back of your head, and hush her. You look for anyone that would look like a "specialist", but it's just a bunch of ponies going about their day.
The sun looms directly overhead, right above you, so it's definitely noon. And you're sticking out like a sore thumb, so you're not sure what the next course of action is. You feel a strange breeze, and an honest-to-god manila folder smacks you on the back of the head. You grab it, inspect it, and see no real sign of its sender on the surface. Sunset looks at you with a puzzled look as you finger it open, and pull out two train tickets to someplace called the "Crystal Empire", and a letter that has actual ransomware-magazine-cutout text.really good at blending in, I guess."
"So!" You huff a sigh. "What are you in for?"
"IF." A new mare interrupts you both. You look over, and there's some pony hiding mysteriously behind a comically huge newspaper. There's another mare sitting next to her, in a real snazzy fucking suit and sunglasses. A real MIB looking pony. You grin in amusement, and the mare hidden behind the newspaper lowers it slightly to eye you and Sunset up. The mint lady looks way more excited to meet you.
C-Side's voice, still wavering a bit, but finally back to coherence, whispers exhaustedly to you. "Agents from S.M.I.L.E. It looks like Lyra and Bon Bon, but they shouldn't know that we know that. They'll get on edge if you do."
"Don't need to tell me twice." You reply out loud, both to "Bon Bon" (seriously, what kind of name is that??), and your headmate. You shift your focus to the mares, and grin a bit wider when you see that they look like a futch/futch lesbian couple. The suits really sell that impression.
The minty toothpaste looking mare pops up. "I'm L-" She clears her throat. "Agent Heartstrings." She glances over to the other mare, who stares you down.not here to help you. We're only here to monitor your progress and make sure neither of you try anything funny. We have direct contact with our superiors at all times, and are trained in hoof-to-hoof combat. If you step out of line, your flank's on the chopping block. Got it?"
The train whistle sounds off in the distance, and the floor rumbles a bit as the car lurches into motion. You stretch a bit more, and settle as best you can into the seat for a nap. Before you can, though, you're prodded by a hoof. You snap one eye open and look at your assailant.
"Hiii..! I'm just doing a bit of research on humans. For Agency purposes. You see, humans haven't been encountered in a long, *long* time. And, uhm, I personally volunteered to interview you about your society! Would you mind answering a few questions?"
"C-Side," you whisper internally. "You there?"
EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
4: Ugly Human Heart, Part 1
"Question 123A, section IV: are there any food accommodations that ponies should be aware of for humans? Do you eat anything that ponies do not?"
=> C-SIDE: TAKE OVER NOW
You reach out from the back of Delta's mind and yank her back, sending your collective body into the seat as your mind takes over. Disco II flashes, and you're now dressed as you'd usually look.
"Did- are you- are you somepony else? Your voice is different." Lyra asks you. "Your clothes are different!"
Lyra beams at you. "Don't worry about me, I've dealt with some real pieces of work on this job. Honestly, I expected you to snap way earlier. This questionnaire tests for irritability and hostility in the face of mundanity, along with a lot of other things." She flips through the paperwork, and writes down, "Outburst at question 123A-IV.. swiftly deescalated by alter C-Side Disco.. Okay! You good to pick up where we left off?"
She nods, writes down one last note and starts magically packing up her assortments of paper and writing tools. She returns to Bon Bon, who is still warily brandishing a grappling hook and aiming squarely at you. It takes a bit of reassurance to get her to calm down.
=>
You step off the train, and immediately, your stomach drops in fear.
No, no, this wasn't apocalyptic snow, but you'd been asleep for so long you didn't realize you crossed an entire climate area overnight. Damn, these ponies know how to make the trains run.
The cold bites at your fingers, and your initial panic returns. You hate the cold. A lot. Not even just because of the fact that it's how your world ended, the snow is just a miserable fucking thing to trudge through.really long song starts to play in your head. And it's the entire thing.that? "
=>
The group was about to ask the locals if they had seen any suspicious activity when Sunset pointed at the mountain range.
"Augh, it smells like a junkyard."
"MORE Details! I can't work with just 'chemical waste' and 'crude oils'!! That can mean so many different things, and if we walk in preparing for acids and get mercury, we'd be screwed!!" Sunset stamped a hoof on the ground.
"That, I can answer. It's the effect of one of the Dark Hearts, which were.. involved in a quest I had before coming here. Each one had some unique weird aura around it that made it dangerous to approach. This one was just.. The Sludge™."
Lyra and Bon Bon watched their charges brainstorm from a few meters away. Lyra idly chowed down on a recently purchased bowl of street food, occasionally spilling some on her freshly laundered suit.
It took a minute, but someone from HQ responded.
There was silence for a bit.
CD was suddenly behind the two agents. She was keeping quiet, but observing. Bon Bon tensed up when she noticed her presence.
=>
A massive machine crunched into the ground as CD awkwardly read off the lyrics on the captchalogue card. C-Side at least had the courtesy to explain what a fetch modus was at all, going into a minor lecture about the different kinds of modi that existed, and the intricacies of why almost each modus was a bitch to use.
For starters, she used the words "fetch modus", "captchalogue", and "inventory" interchangeably, and furthermore explained that certain modi can be weaponized in combat by hurling items at enemies from the card.
She captchalogued a hazmat suit, and flipped the card over to show a strange sequence of numbers and letters. She pressed those numbers into a blank card, which punched an array of holes in it. She then dug around through her inventory and pulled out another card with one of her human outfits inside it.
"Sweet Celestia! How did you get your hooves on this technology?" Lyra was extremely fascinated, and Sunset wasn't far behind. "Captchalogue cards, and this.. big machine! What did you call it, an alchemiter?"
=> Years in the past, by a vaguely small yet unknown amount..
Fetch modi were a new invention. A finicky one, at that. Some Homestuck fan went into the field of quantum coding and came out the other end with the first ever successful instance of what was essentially a pocket dimension. And instead of selling it off to a military junction, she marketed it to civilians first and foremost, especially other fans of Homestuck who still couldn't get that narrative out of their head.
Ours was a relatively simple number. The larger or more numerous items got longer song lyrics, which needed to be sung to retrieve.have computers. That's a whole other can of worms that I don't wanna open right now, so just imagine a book made of electricity that had access to a lot of human knowledge.
Right. So that's where captchalogue cards came from. As for the alchemy machine..
The country I lived in, the United States, had befallen a snowstorm like nothing seen before, and it had completely fucked everything up.
We had just downloaded a game called DNGEON onto our computer, a game that our friend Pine was extremely adamant on playing. We hooked up to one of our friends sessions. She was the host, we were the client. And then, something rumbled near our room, shaking the floor. We went out into our apartment to investigate, and Lune was playing the game with us, so she tagged along. We all headed downstairs, and right there - my heart stopped, and I grew sick with dread when we saw that mechanism of doom in our living room.
I spent as much time as I could saying goodbye to everyone I ever knew, knowing what was coming next for them. Miserable, freezing deaths that couldn't be avoided, wouldn't be avoided. Even people I hadn't been particularly fond of, for one reason or another, like family, all received heartfelt truthful messages. "Goodbye," I ended each ranting departure, "I'll miss you."
=>
"Hey, wait, you just skipped over how you got the technology!!" Bon Bon protested.
The gang had taken shelter inside a cave, with the mountain not too far away. The noxious fumes had already begun to grow unbearable, and so everyone had taken the chance to put on their protective gear before they pressed onward. They sat in a circle, tending to a fire that didn't need to be burning bright, since the group was already bundled up, with the hazmat suits layered on top.
"What's Homestuck?" Sunset asked.
Bon Bon jerked to attention for a moment. "WAIT A MINUTE- No. N-nevermind."
EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
5: Ugly Human Heart, Part 2
Delta was ranting about the Donner Party.
"And that's when the cannibalism started!" She declared, mimicking one of her favorite podcasters.pretty brutal." Delta conceded. "But I still think the actual methods of execution we had take the cake. You ever hear of the electric chair?"
Before they could continue, a loud screech stopped everyone in their tracks. They were inside a sort of mini-valley, where sharply angled walls surrounded them on either side, almost a tunnel but not quite.
Then, another fence exploded from behind the group, locking them in against the sheer face cliffsides. That's when a rumble came from the far end of the valley, as rancid sludge spilled its way down straight towards the crew.
That's when CD hoisted her round the barrel.
=> CD: Time to put your sick combat skills to the test. Figure out a way out of here.
The both of you look around for any semblance of cover, but years of cruel winter wind had made these walls relatively smooth. There weren't any obvious footholds, so climbing was out of the question. You wouldn't have the time either way.
You look back to the fence at the entry and realize that it's lower than the one up top. A high enough jump would clear it relatively easy.
"Hardcore parkour! Hardcore parkour!" You both begin to chant to yourselves, hyping and pumping up the adrenaline.
Your acrobatic fucking pirouette was a minor success. You test your limbs to see what, if anything, broke, only to taste blood pooling in your mouth. On instinct and impulse, you try to stick your finger in there to assess the damage, only for it to bump up against your respirator. As a secondary measure, you swirl your tongue around. One of your incisors has chipped something fierce it seems. You swallow the blood, and the loose chunk of tooth, and suppress the urge to constantly lick it like you did with your wisdom tooth surgery. No choice but to tough it out for now. You start to climb back up the mountainside.
=>
"THE PRESTIGE!" CD shouted as she regrouped with the mares, raising her arms up in victory.WELCOME, by the way. For getting you out of danger."
The hazmat gear made it slightly awkward.
"It's our job to think fast, as a Seer. So thanks."
=> Seer: Portend.
⚄⚃
It's not like how most Seers - at least, the documented instances - portend. Rose Lalonde had vision in her eyes as a Seer of Light. Terezi Pyrope could see multiple possibilities through her Mind's eye. You have vision, where else, but in your Blood.
Gut feelings, chills down your spine, hunches and aches in your bones. You breathe, and your lungs take on the filtered air, warmth somewhat clouding up your eyesight. Not your vision.
"Someone else is on the mountain."
=>
"Weird question." C-Side finally asked after a good few minutes of her in blissfully quiet contemplation. Bon Bon's ear twitched. "How long has it been since Twilight's ascension to Princess status?"
"A few weeks before Doodle and Matilda's wedding, Twilight and company ventured out into the northeast part of Equestria and found an isolated village that celebrated absolute conformity - by magical removal of each pony's cutie mark."
=>
The peak of the mountain had been carved into some sort of grand arena, almost. Twisted rebar and thick chunks of rusted metal were pressed up against the surrounding stone walls, ensuring that there was only one way in, and one way out. The wind howled above the opening above them all, and Bon Bon felt at least somewhat happy to be out of the bitter gale.
There, in the center of the room, being held aloft by stilts of slick goo, was Starlight Glimmer, looking worse for wear. Her fur was matted and burnt from contact with the acidic goo, with the Heart of Lead attached to her chest, wrapping vines of disgusting substance around it. Her face snapped up with an unnatural sound, passively observing the team as they kept their distance.
"Aight, you two stay outside." Delta said, and Lyra tilted her head. "What? Why?" She asked.
b-THUMP, beat the heart.
"Aight Sunset.. Anti magic. Your specialty." C-Side said.
The duo charged in, and Delta brandished more bottles of flammable liquids. She quickly stuffed a rag into one, and lit it up. Grinning and roaring with the might of a physical instrument, Delta chucked it hard at one of the tendrils, which exploded into a brilliant oil slick flame. The fires quickly spread, only for the tentacle to purposefully amputate itself and burn away while the rest of the entity remained untouched. Regardless, Delta cackled in delight at the fire. She quickly got to producing more bottles and prepping them to throw, shouting, "I AM THE MILKMAN! MY MILK IS DELICIOUS! SPECIAL DELIVERY TODAY!"
Sunset quickly dove into a fracas with the underlings, still able to kick flank with the best of them despite her limitation. She took care to not let herself be bit, lest a tear in her suit cause severe chemical burns. She acted primarily as a distraction for Lyra and Bon Bon to regroup, taunting the monsters and leading them away from CD's section of the fight.
Bon Bon reeled Lyra back to safety and checked her vitals, before silently chastising her partner for recklessly entering the fray. The heavy breaths fogged up against Lyra's suit, indicating that she was breathing, if nothing else. She looked up at Sunset, who was definitely not winning, but not losing either - yet. She grimaced, and knew that if she walked in, she'd fall victim to the anti-magic.
Each tentacle exploded in flame after flame, the noxious fumes coating the arena in a smog that was hard to see in, but at the same time, each one meant that Starlight was losing ground. She gasped some sort of whickering swears at the human, wailing whatever tentacles she had left, before suddenly swinging one at Sunset, who was unable to see it due to the smog - knocking her against the ground and killing some of the remaining monsters, before it exploded, leaving Starlight standing in the snow by herself. The Heart on her was racing now, as she lit up her horn, and grabbed CD in it, who suddenly found themselves unable to move. And then she brought CD up close to her deranged face, and growled, "Spar....kle....." before grabbing hold of CD's mask.
=>
Starlight is ripping your mask off.
Oh, hey, your mouth. It's still bleeding!schlick noise at it struggles to stay attached to its host, but when you pull it out far enough, you simply captchalogue it to cut it off from the world. You can feel it try to break free from its prison, but nothing stops quantum code.Nothing could hope to beat quantum code in a containment-off. It is simply the best there is.
The toxic fumes finally begin to dissipate, sludge vanishing into the aether upon your collection of the heart. The mountain is clean again, and you stretch your limbs and pop your spinal bones in celebration.
=>
C-Side: Check on Starlight.
You return to your senses after Delta's victory roar. You have a sneaking suspicion as to why exactly Starlight took that heart, and you move to test your theory. You wipe the blood from her eyes and press your fingers against her nose, checking for signs of breath.Stayin' Alive. You hate irony sometimes.
Your headmate emerges from your body, now that it's safe to walk around without gear. This is a mistake she'll probably regret, because you're still up on a snow smothered mountain, and you're the one wearing a jacket. But she's putting on her usual tough girl facade. Or maybe it's the facade of the white boy who walks out into freezing temperatures in shirt and shorts and claims it's "Not that cold."
"Why are you giving her CPR?"
You try to remember everything you can about CPR, though you're not sure how you personally feel about mouth-to-mouth with three other mares watching. In other scenarios it may be scintillating, but you're pretty sure they wouldn't care for that sight right now.
Delta tilts her head in confusion. "What? She just attacked us, why are you helping her?"
"Hey, so," you begin. She looks back at you. "Were you gonna use that Heart to fight Twilight and her friends?"
=>
The crew began to trudge back down the mountain, taking their pace relatively slow as they were all exhausted by the ordeal. Funnily enough, it seemed that C-Side and Delta could walk for longer distances than the mares, which they used to their advantage to scout ahead whenever the ponies needed to rest for a break.
"She was clearly overtaken by the rotting power of the Heart of Lead. She wasn't in control of her actions, and so I feel like she should't be culpable." C-Side argued.
The two continued to bicker back and forth as they continued to travel down the mountain, Sunset keeping an eye on Starlight, who looked exhausted and traumatized.
Starlight looked away for a moment, then back at Sunset. "What did you do...?"me. Which made me lose control of my own thralls, left me in a six-on-one brawl, and, well," She tapped the anti-magic device on her horn, "My own creation was used against me."
"They're probably not gonna let me go free, huh?"
Bon Bon sidled up next to them, and began to whisper. "Not to speak out of line, but no, I'm in the same boat as you all. Almost nopony really told me or my partner what was going on. I'm just trying to keep a straight face with these humans because they're - well, they're confusing! I want at least one of them to tell me their entire story, but I feel like they keep purposefully holding back information!"
"Sunset, do you know what a Skaia session is?" Bon Bon asked. "It's technically classified information, but apparently discretion has gone out the window with Delta and C-Side."
"So.. do you think, maybe, just maybe, the world actually will end because of her actions? And that she's not telling you all everything because.. she thinks we'll be dead soon?" Starlight shuddered.
=> CD: Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.
It takes a lot of fucking effort not to cry. You have a tendency to just dissociate entirely when both of you are stressed out and neither side can front. You know that vaguely, the group booked a few hotel rooms to rest and recuperate from the fight.
You remember something about Lyra calling into HQ to report Starlight Glimmer's apprehension, and her proposal to add you to the team of outlaws tasked with this mission. You think they said they'd have a verdict in the morning.
There's some food on the table. You don't remember ordering food, but it's there. You're not even really aware of what time it is. A part of you was mentally gearing up to play Hobocop and sleep in the nearest dumpster.
=>
The crew gathered up at the Crystal Empire train station. Lyra and CD were using a combination of Intel and Shivers to triangulate the location of the next dark heart. They opted to try for the one in the western parts of Equestria. They set their sights on Las Pegasus.
Bon Bon approached the still-apprehensive Starlight and took off her glasses to make direct eye contact with the new convict.
"THE MORE YOU KEEP UP THAT PLEDGE OF WITHHOLDING THE TRUTH ABOUT ALL THIS SHIT, THE WORSE IT'S GONNA GET! I'M SICK OF IT! I'M SICK OF BEING SCRUTINIZED BY FEDS AND ROYALTY AND WHATEVER ELSE THEY HAVE HERE! SICK OF IT!"
"Delta-" C-Side tried to appease, but a sharply pointed finger and bared teeth stopped her effort, as Delta screamed, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN TIRED OF THIS? OF EVERYTHING?! ALL I WANTED WAS TO FIND AN ISLAND AND DRINK BOOZE AND SMOKE WEED UNTIL MY LIVER GAVE OUT AND EXPLODED FROM THE POISONING. BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF LIVING, AND ESPECIALLY, I'M TIRED OF LIVING WITH YOU!"
C-Side was shaking, and began to tear up.
Starlight tried to readjust herself, and whispered to Sunset, "What in the ten layers of Tartarus is wrong with her?"
It was gonna be a long ride.
EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
6: Ugly Human Heart, Part 3
It took a few days worth of travel, but Delta eventually calmed down. However, you yourself didn't reemerge for a while. During the journey, Delta begrudgingly answered more of Lyra's questionnaire about humans. She explained the concept of things like animated television shows, smart phones, computers, cars, and other such marvels of human technology.
Nothing about Skaia, however, which you could tell she was still grumpy about. Inside, you hushed her, afraid that you already said too much when you explained that Homestuck was originally fictional in your universe.
Bon Bon and Lyra were of course already good friends, but Bon Bon was a lot more hesitant to open up to the other mares, much less yourself and your alter. However, the mare found a sudden spark of kinship in the strangest of places with Sunset - punk rock music. The two swapped their favorite bands together, and eventually considered the idea of going out to see a rock festival together, should all of this mess finally be resolved.
By the time that the group had arrived at Las Pegasus, the SNAFU had already began.
The defeated Blueblood had begged the group to join, seeing that the team consisted mostly of convicts, but everyone gave him the cold shoulder afterwards, mostly because he couldn't stop calling the group "peasants". Worse still for Blueblood, the recently restored workers of the casino were not happy with his Midas Touch in the slightest.
Now you board the train with two Dark Hearts in your inventory. The Heart of Lead, and the Heart of Gold.
=>
Delta shoved herself into a seat where her back was turned to the gang. She figured she didn't have much to say, as usual.
The other mares stared at her blankly. Delta looked over her shoulder.
Delta suddenly stood up, walked around the seat, and plopped down next to Sunset, head resting in one hand, the elbow firmly planted on her leg, the other leg bent on the floor to accommodate for the lack of height in the seats. Her intensely curious and eager face made the mares stare back at her, Starlight clamping her mouth shut.
"What?" She said, "Keep going, this sounds interesting! You were talking about mind control stuff?"
"People did study it, though the practice wasn't as prevalent in modern times as it is here. The most impactful career you could have that was even remotely close to magic was either a pastor or an electrical engineer."
"Hey! I just realized! I don't wanna talk about this anymore! You said you were into mind control magic?" Starlight interrupted.
Delta frowned a bit and looked past Sunset out of the train window, and sighed. ".. Do you girls think I was rough on her, earlier?"
Bon Bon locked eyes with Delta for a bit.
"Okay, yeah, I can see how that would make a less composed mare freak out." Bon Bon nodded. "That kind of knowledge would absolutely ruin anypony who wasn't ready for it."
Delta sighed and rumbled a groan. "Fine. Knock yourself out."
Deltas grin returned.
Her grin widened even further. "Honey. You're in for a wild ride. I haven't gotten to rant about capitalism in a looong time."
=> FOUR HOURS LATER.
"HOUSING! SCHOOLING! FOOD! HEALTHCARE! NOT A SINGLE ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE WAS SAFE FROM BECOMING A COMMODITY! EVERYTHING WAS A MARKET, AND PRICES CONTINUALLY RAISED AGAINST WAGES THAT DIDN'T."
Delta was pacing back and forth frantically, waving her arms around as she did, hunched over from the energy of the mood she found herself in, before she suddenly stopped in the middle of the train car and held her arms out wide. "And suddenly! Get this! Imagine, if you will, that no one can afford everything anymore, and business start to lose profits - not even struggle, just that they're not making as much as they *want* to make. What does the government do?!"
She began to slap the side of her hand against her other palm in a chopping motion. "Give the businesses economical bailouts instead of helping out the populace that has been living paycheck to paycheck for decades on end!! Because our shit ass government wanted to keep us poor so that we'd consider loans or joining the military!"
Starlight and Sunset looked on in grim fascination of this aspect of human society. Lyra had been in deep concentration, writing down everything that Delta has been ranting about, including an extensive section about their healthcare system, to which Delta had pulled out some sort of device from her captchalogue and made them watch a thirty minute educational video about insurance terms .
Incidentaly, the mares were intrigued by the mere prospect of video recording, something that had been barely achieved in Equestria, and here the humans had crisp video with sound. Bon Bon had used technology that was close, but used magically enchanted crystals instead of the circuitry that Delta had gone off on a minor tangent about.
"And you know what's the funniest fucking thing of it all?"
Delta's eyes began to dilate, her breath rapidly quickening, a bit of drool dripping from her lips. "We are the only human left from our world in this timeline, and therefore we are the representative! The Ambassador! And I choose to paint the narrative of humanity from the eyes of a working class lady like us, because we were miserable! And every single playboy billionaire that ran our lives from the cream of the crop deserves nothing but to remembered as the MONSTERS THEY WERE!"
Delta panted, trying to catch her breath before she suddenly lost her footing from where she was standing, collapsed to the floor, and passed out. Lyra finished writing up her notes, looking exhausted, and put everything away. Her horn was slightly burnt from overuse, which Bon Bon pulled out some medication for.
"Soooo..." Sunset began, "I think it's safe to say that I'm very glad I don't live in that place."
"Okay, but, seriously," Bon Bon began, as she tended to Lyra's burnt horn. "What in Tartarus is wrong with her people? Now I understand why she told Celestia that Equestria looked like a way better place to live!"
=>
Out in the southern depths of the Everfree forest, the guards that had been tasked with culling the legions of monsters that CD had brought stumbled upon a building. They began to excavate it, and eventually managed to pry their way inside. They found incomprehensible technology within, panels upon panels of maps and graphs that seemed to show analytical data of two planets. One that the guards immediately recognized, that being Equus, and the other one a mystery.
=>
Lyra and Bon Bon moved into the next train car and flicked on their crystal transmitter.
"Let us move on to lighter topics." Luna shook her head, "Agent Heartstrings, hast thou gathered any information about human society?"
"That actually reminds me.." Celestia tilted her head. "Agent Sweetie Drops.. what say you in your judgement of C-Side's behavior?"
Bon Bon had to simmer on that one.
"No, no, that's definitely a Seer of Blood thing." Celestia hummed to herself, before returning to the conversation. "Actually.. what do you two think of her involvement with.. Skaia?"
"So what do you mean by Equus being an influence on Disco?" Celestia asked curiously.
A few minutes into the report, Lyra heard a scream come from the other car.
=> Minutes in the past, but not many..
C-Side stared out the window as the landscape rattled on by. The train would occasionally jostle a bit as they traveled through the night, but it was never of a concern. She actually felt nostalgic for a time she'd never lived in, and here she was, living it. Music danced around her as she listened to one of her favorite albums, passively mourning every great artist that she knew she'd never hear from again - not in this timeline, anyway.
She idly sat back in her seat, and felt somewhat chilly, if anything. She wasn't sure why, as they were moving south in pursuit of another Heart, which meant warmer weather. Either way, she got up from her seat and shook herself to warm her limbs, hoping that a faster bloodflow would help fight the cool air. And then, one of her favorite songs came on her phone, and she couldn't help but feel the need to dance.
She kicked her way down the aisles silently as the mares slept soundly next to her, losing herself to music and letting the shine of the Disco Ball light up the train car. She smiled, and she felt a strange accumulation in her limbs as she moved, but didn't think to question it as she let it flow through her bloodstream. She spun in place, and suddenly struck a pose as the song reached a crescendo. She opened her eyes and saw Bon Bon passively observing her from the train car door. C-Side immediately caged her heart back up and ripped down her headphones, shoving everything back into her inventory.
"Why are you awake??" C-Side whispered.you?"
"So, back out in my session, there were two.. moons. Derse and Prospit. On those moons were perfect copies of our bodies that, when we fell asleep, they'd wake up and we'd be conscious in that body. There were a lot of shenanigans you had to get up to in it - messing with the queen and agents of your respective moon, getting information from less than reputable sources.. and.. In worst case scenarios, making it to the Sacrificial Slab before that body died, so you could ascend to God Tier."
"..Are you?" Bon Bon asked, moving to her bed.this timeline."god?"
"Some god you were." Bon Bon scoffed lightly, half joking.
A silence hung in the air as C-Side continued to somberly stare at the landscape.
Bon Bon sighed. "Please, C-Side. The least you can do is help me figure you out a little more. Why were you capable of seeing Equestria long before you developed those abilities..? Whatever makes you shudder violently and portend?"
C-Side suddenly shuddered violently.
Suddenly, she screamed, which woke up everyone else, and made Lyra burst into the train car, with the feed still active, showing everything to the Princess."STRIFE!" momentarily appearing above everyone.
Sunset slunk into the shadows, not noticed by the talking statue.
"I am simply here to give you an ultimatum. You can still repent, sinner. All you must do is end your miserable life. After all, you are the only reason we all are here - and if you die, then Skaia will have no use for us being in this universe. We will leave this planet alone, and allow these miserable horses to live in what they call peace."
Starlight looked up at CD. Something grimdark was hidden behind her heterochromatic eyes, and Starlight began to fear that maybe, just maybe, CD would take up that offer.
"After all, you know you weren't supposed to come here. And yet you did, and in the process, killed all of your precious friends. And what is a Blood player without their friends, hmm? Nothing. And that's what you are. Nothing. And it's alllll your fault."
"CD?! What are you doing, man?!" A human, raising his arms in a defending gesture.
The entire car was forced to be subjected to CD's past, and suddenly, everyone saw why she was so tight-lipped.
"Oh, and look at that. You just put two more of your friends out of commission." The Heart of Silver floated in through the window, grinning, "How many more of your friends will you lay to waste before you're finally aware that you deserve to be alone, hmm?"
CD tried her best to ignore the Heart's remarks and grabbed at it with a captchalogue card, but the Heart ABJURED capture.thought for once in their existence, but no, they are all consumption, all the time."
Sunset emerged from the darkness and spun a roundhouse kick right into the teeth of the statue.
The Heart flew further down the train tracks, outpacing the engine, out into the Appleloosan desert.
Author's Note
what's good. welcome back to this mess
EVERFREE: A Post-Skaian Story
PROLOGUE: AND YOU WOULD GO TO MYKONOS
EVERFREE
PROLOGUE: AND YOU WOULD GO TO MYKONOS
=> Begin.
A young, heavily injured human woman stands in the debris and wreckage of her escape pod. Twenty-six years ago, she was given the white elephant of life, and a name to go along with it. She left the name behind, but kept the life around. She figured she needed that.
Unfortunately, this lady is gonna need a name, along with the friend she brought along with her. That should probably be dealt with.
=> Enter name[s?]
_
Yeah. That'll work.
=> CD: Examine surroundings.
Your names are C-SIDE DISCO and DELTA CAROL. You were one of the unfortunate few to be chosen for a SKAIA SESSION in your home universe. As with all Skaian sessions, your universe died to serve as fresh fertilizer for any potential new universes.
From there, you entered THE MEDIUM, otherwise known as PARADOX SPACE, a world BEYOND and IN-BETWEEN REALITY AS YOU KNEW IT. You developed MAD COMBAT SKILLS and POWERS RELATED TO YOUR GODTIER. But that is OF NO USE TO YOU NOW. As if to compound your misery, past fuckups led to the session failing. Everything and everyone you know is dead. You SEE BLOOD. ALL OVER YOU. ESPECIALLY YOUR HANDS.
You decided to take up a friend's dying offer and managed to ALCHEMIZE TECHNOLOGY that could jump out of PARADOX SPACE into a REALITY.
The good news is you made it to your intended destination, relatively speaking. The bad news is you are heavily injured, exhausted, and smack dab in the middle of the Everfree forest.
=> CD: Find your friend Delta.
Oh, not to worry, she's right behind you.
=> Cool. Get a move on then.
You try to get a hold of your surroundings, and put your powers to the test. You dig deep into the world, and figure out what direction Ponyville would be, relative to the Everfree forest. Your veins feel little wisps of the winds against your skin, and you SHIVER.
"Hey. C-Side." She growls passively.
=> CD: Watch the stars.
They're beautiful. Unlike the stars on your home planet, these ones aren't blotted out by light pollution, nor the devastating cataclysm that ended your world. They're so bright and densely populated, that even in the thickened canopy of the Everfree, light shines down on the ground and allows you to see just how alone you two are right now. You shiver, and scoot closer to the fire of your wreckage.
For twenty six years of your shared life, you've been struggling with the looming feeling that the other shoe is going to drop. Even when it would, it seemed that some horrorterror eldritch asshole with the thousands-scooting-fresh-drip would have another pair to dangle and Damocles right over your person. The failure of your session had been the latest of a long line of shoes cascading, usually followed by you scrambling to pick up and fix the mess as soon as possible.
The last one was, more or less, the one time you let the shoes plunge into the abyss, and now all that is left is mostly void and partially stars, the night sky passing you by unabated. For once, you have no idea where or when the disaster will strike again. And that scares you more than you could've ever thought.
"So look at the fleeting stars with fleeting eyes, and feel how the earth beneath you gives. It is all a temporary manifestation of particles, and it is all unraveling back to particulate silence. The bustle of the human day will come and will go. And then there will be night." -Esteemed Radio Host Cecil Baldwin
That is like one of your favorite quotes from Night Vale. Shame the writers of the show are dead. It means that giving that show a relistening will sting twice as hard.
And then, you hear screaming in the distance.
