The bridge of Ba’al’s mothership was filled with a few dozen Ba’al clones and the Pinkie Sage. The Sage had no chains on her, no imprisonment, and she had the mask lifted onto her forehead. The power of several deities flooded away from the mask and into her. She knew she could, at any time, destroy the ship she was on and every Ba’al within it. But she would have nowhere to go and that wouldn’t solve the much larger problem. Destroying the mothership – or any ship – would do nothing to Majora herself. Her influence was far beyond the handful of ships Ba’al had, and her mask could not be destroyed even by the holy power at the Sage’s disposal.
So she sat on the bridge, free, but in many ways more imprisoned than when the eldritch chain was around her neck.
One of the Ba’als looked at her, smirking. “So, Sage, which god should we take out next? The princess of the space ponies supposedly has one locked up inside her, the Avatar Spirit’s a pretty bright spark, and I hear there’s some crazy fairy lady on the Mushroom World that could stand some cleansing!”
The Sage stared right at him with angry eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Ba’al said, pointing at himself with excessive drama. “I thought you were all about the freeing of worlds from their gods. Weren’t you all ready to purge your world from its maker because you believed she was a horrible reason for existing?”
“She was.”
“Why not the others?” Ba’al said, leaning in. “If one true god needs to be sealed away, why not go for all of them?”
“Like people, they differ.”
“Remind me what the Blue Moon Spirit did, again?”
The Sage said nothing.
“That’s right! You needed a battery to seal your goddess away! She was just useful and easy to get to. Do you know how upset Siron was about that? Really upset. He wanted to use her as a battery, and you had to go and take his idea.”
“It’s not like you’re about to ruin his other plans, or anything,” the Sage chided.
Ba’al shrugged. “His fault for trying to play a game he can’t win. I’m really surprised he hasn’t been caught yet. If only he had a face, I’d be very interested to see the look on it when he realizes what we’re actually doing with all his shipments.”
“If you were close enough to see that you wouldn’t have a head for very long.”
“You’re very bitey today.”
“It’s what keeps me from purging that smug look off your face in a fit of rage. You should be thankful I’m letting it out in deep, biting, hateful sarcasm. The alternative is brutal judgement.”
Ba’al sneered. “You could just bestow the mask’s power onto us and you could go free.”
“And you could be an honest, caring individual who cares about people besides himself.”
Ba’al gestured around at his many clones. “But the only people who matter are all me!”
The Sage grunted, saying nothing.
Another Ba’al stepped forward, grabbing the Sage by the muzzle. “Maybe we should go for the Tree of Harmony on Equis Vitis now, hrm? How would you like that? Remove the deity that guides the actions of the Charter and her friends, the reason for all of this.”
The Sage glared at him. “You get to decide where we go next. Ask all you want. You make your own choice. Which one’s the biggest threat to your little god, hrm?”
A whole new Ba’al crossed his arms. “You give Majora too much credit.”
“You underestimate her effect on you.”
“You know we take measures to prevent her control.”
The Sage rolled her eyes. Sure, they cleared their minds and kept all ‘Majorist’ Ba’als on the corrupted ship, but the sage knew Majora could just snap her fingers and devour the minds of most the Ba’als at once. But did the Ba’als listen to the Sage? No. They just tormented her like she was some stupid pet.
She did get some revenge though. They couldn’t use the power of her mask without her. So they had to keep her around.
It was an aggressive psychological war.
Ba’al apparently found her silence annoying, so he grabbed her by the scruff of her neck. “Choose, Sage.”
The Sage narrowed her eyes, daring him to make her choose.
“We know where Maud and Lady Rarity are,” Ba’al said. “We can have them killed with a simple word.”
The Sage twitched. “Fine then, Equis Vitis, go to the center, take out the core. I wonder if Discord will notice. That’ll be fun.”
Ba’al smiled, setting her down. “See? Was that so hard?”
There was a flash of purple energy that sent chills into the spines of everyone present. A new Ba’al stood in the center of the bridge. Purple mists wafted off his sides, signifying him to be a Majorist Ba’al, but he was not just a Majorist Ba’al, he was the Majorist Ba’al. The man wearing the mask.
The Sage knew that this Ba’al no longer existed and that the being in front of her was fully Majora, but Majora was smart enough not to make this too obvious. She spoke with a hint of Ba’al’s original voice mixed with a feminine tone that was a simpler version of her normal, eldritch tongue. When she spoke, it may not have caused a headache, but it was creepy.
“Why are we toying around?” she asked, cold.
“It wouldn’t do to rush around-“
“We can rush all we want!” Majora said, thrusting her hand forward. “There is no more need for secrecy! We took out Majora’s ‘sisters’, revealing this aspect of our plans to them all. We need to render the connected worlds completely helpless before moving along with the rest of our plan. We’ve taken our time and been cautious long enough, it's time to cash in everything.”
“Even if that is true, you aren’t supposed to be here,” the previous Ba’al said. “You’re supposed to call us from your ship and not expose us to your energies.”
“Please, if I were going to be corrupted to betray our kind, you’d think it would have happened by now.”
The Sage snorted.
Majora turned to the Sage, the eyes of the mask brightening considerably, forcing the oculus to squint. “What do you find so funny, seer?”
“You. Claiming to not be corrupted. Or treacherous. But you know thi-“
Without moving, Majora summoned a tendril of purple that drove itself right through the Sage’s midsection, forcing her to scream from the deep pain. She fell to the ground, astonished that the eldritch being would deliver such a fatal blow to her tool…
The Sage narrowed her eyes, seeing through the deception. She stood up, raising an eyebrow. She didn’t even need to look at her side to know there was no hole, no blood, no real injury.
Majora pointed a finger at the Sage. “That could easily have been your end, Pinkie. You shouldn’t defy our will.”
A Ba’al spoke up. “Return to your ship.”
“I will. After we declare an active mission.”
“Equis Vitis, Tree of Harmony. Get its energy sealed in the mask. Happy?”
Majora lowered her head slightly. “And next?”
“The Avatar Spirit, then the space princess Cosmo, then the Mushroom World. Nobody cares about the Mushroom World anyway.”
“Good. We’ll do them as fast as we can.”
“You are not our king.”
“I am tied closest to our greatest ally. I speak for her,” Majora said.
The Sage shot Majora an accusing glare that nobody noticed.
“Fine. We’ll go with that plan. We-“
The entire course of discussion was interrupted when a green, swirling portal opened in the middle of the bridge. It was not of any pattern or design that the Sage had seen, in visions or otherwise.
Two human men stepped through – one older man with spiky blue hair and a labcoat, the other a younger brown-haired teenager in much simpler clothing. The older man burped, rubbing the back of his head. “And here we are, Morty, a land made entirely of palm tree asses. You happy?”
Morty blinked. “I don’t see any palm trees, Rick. I see what looks like a Council of Evil Bearded People.”
“Oh fuck me…” Rick muttered, pulling a gun with a green node out of his jacket. “Something must’ve messed with the coordinates.” He ticked the dial a little to the left and aimed for an empty patch of space.
Majora crushed the portal gun with her mind. “You don’t get to leave.”
Morty held up his hand. “Woah, we don’t mean any trouble, just got lost!”
“I believe you,” Majora said, pointing a hand at them. “But that doesn’t mean you can just go on your way. You could be useful.”
The Sage felt the horror seep out of Majora, aimed directly at Rick and Morty. Morty instantly succumbed to the eldritch energies, curling into a ball on the floor and crying out things in a language he didn’t know.
Rick just blinked. “Oh, scary. You’ve broken my grandson’s mind. Whoop de dooo.”
Majora walked closer to Rick. “Rick Sanchez. Your mind may have protection, but his doesn’t. I can see all I need. I see other worlds, I see great power, I see great technology. You’ve traveled much further than we have.”
Rick facepalmed. “Fucking hell, you’re transdimensional. Look, you can see into Morty’s head, you know what I can do. Dig around. Look at that time I took out a galactic government, or an entire planet, or fought against an army of myself, something I’m ninety-nine percent sure you fucknuts have experienced at some time or other. So, once you look inside and have a good horrific crisis at the things I deal with every day, can we just agree to go our separate ways and agree this never happened? I need to show this kid palm tree asses.”
Majora took a second – and then laughed. “I think you are the one who doesn’t realize who they are dealing with. I speak for Majora – a god.”
Rick blinked. “You’re serious.”
Majora used her power to lift him menacingly into the air. “I could squash your body with a simple thought from the power bestowed in me. You can do no-“
“Code four three dick.”
A device shot out of Rick’s coat, glowing a bright purple. Majora caught it in her magic – but this only made it grow in size. It impacted her right in the mask, knocking her over and entrapping her in a cube of purple lasers.
Rick dropped to the ground. “RUN MORTY!”
“Hu- WAUGH!” Morty yelled, not given time to recover from the eldritch mindscrew before he was dragged along the ground by his grandfather. The Ba’als drew their guns and fired, but Rick pulled out a small shield device that reflected their weapons back at them. Majora screamed from within the cage, unable to break free despite her literal warping of the space inside it.
The Sage would have loved to see how this turned out – but something grabbed her legs and pulled. Before she knew it she was below the ground, but somehow not in the floor below the bridge. She was in an in-between place filled with loose, warm shadows. Looking above, she could see an image of the bridge as if the floor itself were a window.
“Vivian,” the Sage said, allowing herself to smile. “I was wondering when you’d show up.”
Vivian revealed herself, pink hat and all. “Yeah. I was waiting for a moment she wouldn’t notice. This seemed like it. Welcome to the Veil. Nothing can see us here.”
“I would question if you were sure Majora couldn’t see you, but clearly you’ve managed to hide this entire time.” She looked up, seeing that Majora had freed herself.
“HOW DID THEY ESCAPE ALREADY!?”
“They… Somehow got to one of our smaller ships and activated a dimensional device.”
“HOW D- WHERE IS THE SÁG̴Ę?”
The Sage smiled. “Standing right under your nose.”
Vivian giggled.
“That’s it, initiate the final stage now,” Majora shouted.
“That’s no-“
“Does it look like we have a holy mask right now? No? Thought not!”
“We need t-“
Majora flared her eldritch energies, flooding the minds of all present with her power. “We’re done with this. Today, Majora is going to rise. Today. Do you hear me!?”
“Yes,” the Ba’als all said.
“Good.” Majora vanished, presumably returning to her ship.
The Sage shook her head. “Idiots…”
Vivian put her hand to her mouth. “What are we going to do?”
“For now? Nothing. We stay in here, watching what they do,” the Sage sat down in the nothingness. “We only act if we see reason to. Let the others sort it out.”
“You sure that’s the right thing to do?”
“I’m sure – for now,” the Sage said, entering a meditative pose. “Heroes will always come to face the villain, after all.”
~~~
Twilight and her four close friends sat at a table outside of one of Ponyville’s many diners. Twilight had her ears off since she had seated herself in such a way where she could see all four of her friends’ faces, which was a very welcome allowance since the sheer amount of loud people in the area would have made the supposedly fun lunch an ordeal.
Ponyville had changed in the last two years, there was no doubt about it. While it was still clearly a Ponyville, calling it a village might be stretching it. The number of buildings had expanded so much that Twilight’s castle was no longer in the outskirts of town, but closer to the middle. The diner the ponies were currently eating at was so close to the castle it was currently in the crystal structure’s shadow. The way the castle refracted the light around it made for an excellent view in the morning, which was why they had chosen this spot to have breakfast.
The diner itself was run by an oculus by the name of Shimmerbeets, who had a knack for knowing exactly what you wanted to order before you knew it. Twilight had been dubious about the cheese-cinnamon waffle she had been given, but as she ate it she discovered that it was exactly what she wanted.
“Must be nice to be an oculus,” Twilight murmured through her delicious mouthful.
Renee shrugged. “Eh, it tormented the Sage.”
“That was something else,” Pinkie said, downing her entire cotton candy soufflé in one gulp. “You know, like me.”
Renee nodded in agreement, saying nothing further on the matter. She took a sip of her drink. “It always amazes me how Shimmerbeets just knows how to give you the most divine meal… I’ve never had the same thing twice! The menu must be immense. Why, just last week Daniel and I were here and she gave me something with meat in it, I don’t know what kind, but it was still magnifique-“
“You and Daniel?” Nova said, raising an eyebrow and smirking. “Do elaborate.”
Renee narrowed her eyes. “It was all about politics, dear. I do believe that would bore you half to death.”
Pinkie snorted and quickly covered her mouth with her hooves.
Renee rolled her eyes. “So immature…”
“That’s Pinkie for you,” Flutterfree quipped.
Pinkie put on an exaggerated gasp. “Egad! Flutterfree thinks I’m immature! The horror! Our friendship will never recover!”
Twilight chuckled, taking out a pen and piece of paper. “We must repair the bond at once. Pinkie, tell me how that made you feel.”
“Like stealing some of Flutterfree’s delicious cake,” Pinkie said, swiping a piece of Flutterfree’s sugar-ridden food.
Flutterfree rolled her eyes. “Then I’ll- oh. You already ate all yours.”
“Foolproof plan!” Pinkie cheered, tossing the cake into her mouth. Nova grabbed it and pulled it out before Pinkie could chomp down, eating it herself.
“You need better plans,” Nova commented.
“Oh no! I, the mare with the plan, had a bad plan!” Pinkie rammed her face into the table. “Oh woe is me!”
Twilight scribbled some notes down on her piece of paper she was planning to use in a comical, but still therapeutic, manner later. Something about the pen reminded her of a thought that had been shoved to the back of her mind. She pulled the journal out of her saddlebags and laid it on the table, checking the last pages. Still nothing from Corona.
“I’m getting a little worried about Corona, girls,” Twilight admitted, looking up.
“Let’s go to Earth and say hi then,” Flutterfree said. “I’m sure she’ll be glad to see us.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” Renee added. “She may be neck-deep in studies, so we may not get to stay long. But it’ll be worth it; I haven’t seen her in ages.”
Twilight smiled. “I guess we know where we’re going today, then. I…” She looked up, something catching her eye. “Hey, what’s that?”
All four ponies turned their gaze to the sky, quickly finding a streak of fire shooting across the blue expanse.
Twilight was pretty sure her friends were saying something, but she couldn’t see it. But she did know that was a sure sign of a meteor falling through the atmosphere – a meteor that might hit ponies.
She spread her wings and flew into the air, performing a calculated teleport right next to the descending ball of fire. She failed to take into account how fast it was falling, so she was only next to it for a split second, unable to latch onto it. She entered a dive, grabbing onto the burning hunk with her magic, slowing it down as much as she was able.
She curved it away from Ponyville, driving it toward the Everfree Forest. She managed to slow it down enough to stop the atmospheric burning, revealing it to be one of the smaller Goa’uld ships. She wondered if the Starfinder had launched one down incorrectly, but she quickly realized it was the wrong color for one of theirs.
It was probably Ba’al.
The ship hit the ground with an impressive impact, uprooting a few dozen trees before coming to a stop. Twilight glided to the ground, folding up her wings and landing on a rock near the impact site. Nova teleported herself and the three others next to Twilight.
They all examined the wrecked ship. While still in one piece, it was laying on its side and one of its back points had been bent so far the protective hull had been ruptured.
Flutters nudged Twilight, getting her to look at her. “Think it’s Ba’al?”
“Maybe,” Twilight admitted. “We’ll need to be on our gua-“
A laser shot up form the interior of the craft, burning a hole right through the hull. An old man with blue hair crawled out, lifting a younger man out alongside him.
“Rick! Where are we?” the younger man yelled.
“I have no idea, that dimensional drive was a piece of shit,” he burped. “Clearly, Morty, we’ve crash landed in creepy magic forest number seven million and six, and our ship is completely busted.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Make some kind of deal with the people here, Morty, duh. Scam them into giving me the supplies I need to build another portal gun. It’s like we haven’t done this a million times.”
“Scam us?” Twilight said, raising an eyebrow. “I know we have a stereotype of being naïve, but we are standing right here.”
Rick took in a deep breath. “Fuck all kinds of duck, this just isn’t my day… First, clone aliens bent on world domination or some shit. Then, technicolor equines from my daughter’s second grade coloring book.”
Morty coughed. “Er… Sorry about grandpa Rick, he’s a bit… Ricky. Hi, I’m Morty. We travel a lot.”
“I’m Charter-Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight began.
“God, you even sound like she named you,” Rick muttered.
Twilight ignored him. “And we travel the multiverse as well. From your description, I take it you ran into Ba’al?”
“If that’s what his name is,” Morty said.
“Even though I can tell that name’s not from this world, I can’t get over the idea of that bearded fuck being a literal ball,” Rick snorted. “Imagine that, Morty, an entire ship filled with bouncy balls of that stupid face.”
“Yeah, that is pretty funny,” Morty admitted.
“Do you, by chance, know where Ba’al is?” Nova asked. “We’ve… Been trying to find him for quite some time. He’s been causing a lot of trouble for numerous worlds.”
Rick folded his arms. “Unless by some miracle the computer in that ship isn’t busted, I’ve got nothing for your little spat.”
“It’s busted to kingdom come!” Pinkie shouted, poking her head out of the ship’s hole. “Everything is fried!”
Morty blinked. “How did you…?”
Pinkie shrugged. “I’m Pinkie Pie.”
“That’s not an explanation, that’s evidence of retardation,” Rick retorted.
Pinkie appeared on his head, glaring at him. “Technically right, but still mean.”
Rick threw her on the ground, taking a few steps back. “Stay back Morty, this one’s high on the freaky powers chart.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes, taking a cupcake out of her mane and offering it to Morty.
“I dunno Rick, she seems nice.”
“Beware the nice ones Morty! Haven’t you learned anything!?”
Flutterfree smiled warmly. “Mister, we’re not going to hurt you unless you hurt us.”
Twilight nodded. “We can even help you get back to your world.” She pulled out her dimensional device and handed it to him. “You don’t have to scam us, Rick. We’ll just give it to you.”
Rick swiped the dimensional device and popped the hatch open. “Derivative magic-based tunneling system with a series of limited dials… Complete shit.”
Twilight blinked. “What?”
“Are you deaf? I just said it was a piece of shit!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “As it happens, yes I am deaf.”
Morty tensed. “Rick, maybe you should stop talking-“
Twilight held up a wing to silence Morty. She smiled at him to put him at ease, but then glared back at Rick. “We’re offering you our assistance – for free – and you’re just, well…”
“Shitting all over it,” Nova said.
“Nova!” Renee chided.
“What? Twilight won’t say it, so it falls to me.”
Rick facepalmed. “For the love of… You’re arguing about swearing. There is something seriously wrong with the way you look at things.”
Twilight grunted. “The point stands, Rick.”
“Do I look like I give any shits?” Rick asked.
“Nope,” Flutterfree deadpanned.
“See? The buttery one gets it.” Rick tossed the dimensional device back at Twilight. “This is useless. Doesn’t go far enough, doesn’t have the correct coordinate usage, and it won’t operate properly in magically void universes.”
Twilight twitched. “Well then, Rick, is there anything we could do for you?”
“Unless you ponies have a state-of-the-art laboratory filled with a tremendous amount of intricate technology and a vending machine that dispenses alcoholic beverages, we’re done here.”
Twilight activated the dimensional device and created a portal to the Hub universe.
Rick poked his head through the portal. “This is a burnt jungle.”
Twilight lit her horn, teleporting them all into the Hub’s central room. “Ahem. Welcome to the Hub, the center of interdimensional civilization.”
Morty’s eyes lit up. “Huh. Nice.”
Rick folded his arms. “I don’t see the lab or the vending machine.”
Twilight teleported them all into a room of the Hub that was a lab, one that two other versions of Twilight – a pegasus and a unicorn – were hard at work in, scribbling down notes about a glowing blue crystal. Twilight spread her wings wide. “And here is one of our labs. You can see magic crystals over there, but you can also see alien technology to your left, and a beaker full of liquid electricity!”
Rick narrowed his eyes. “Vending. Machine.”
Twilight teleported a vending machine full of alcoholic beverages from a nearby hallway in the Hub. “Here you are! Every alcoholic beverage I’ve never drunk! Now accept our help already and make your silly portal gun that’ll take you home like you want!”
Rick blinked. “So, let me get this straight, this is how you do dick measuring contests here? See who can be the friendliest? That’s fucking lame.”
Twilight twitched. “I could just not help you, you know.”
“Too late, already here, no takebacks,” Rick said, grabbing the beaker of liquid electricity. “Believe it or not, your lab here isn’t quite as hopeless as I’d thought, and I think – with a significant amount of work – it’ll suit my needs.”
Morty raised an eyebrow. “Rick, just admit they have what you need, stop making the pony that could teleport us into a pit of acid at any moment angry.”
“I’ll anger whoever the fuck I want, Morty,” Rick grunted, setting to work on his portal gun in full.
Morty shrugged, turning to the ponies. “Yeah, sorry about Rick. He’s an asshole.”
Nova rolled her eyes. “Surprise surprise.”
“You’ve handled him pretty well, considering…” Morty looked around, smiling. “Can I just say that this place looks much nicer than the other interdimensional hubs I’ve seen? Usually it’s just a horrid mess.”
“Usually?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “You’ve been to other interdimensional hubs?”
“Uh… Yeah?” Morty blinked. “You haven’t?”
“No! We’re the only interdimensional group we know about! …Actually, that’s not completely true, there was Vriska, and the Stars used to have a society…”
Morty smiled eagerly. “Since Rick’s busy, I guess I get to tell the stories this time…”
~~~
The briefing room of the Apollo was rather full – O’Neill, Ganondorf, Link, Zelda, General Sunset, Toph, and Lieshy were all present, staring at the one person they had spent the last few hours tracking down.
The Happy Mask Salesman.
O’Neill leaned in. “I don’t care what kind of stupid excuse you have for not telling us everything you know, you’re going to tell us what Majora is, where it came from, and how to defeat it.”
The Happy Mask Salesman was suddenly leaning back in his chair. “Okay.”
Link shook his head. “…Excuse me?”
The Happy Mask Salesman was leaning in, eyes narrower than they had been earlier. “I said, okay, I’ll tell you all I know.”
Link blinked. “It’s that bad, then?”
“Oh it’s so much worse than I ever thought it could be.” The Happy Mask Salesman lifted a hand into the air. “Long ago, when our small world of Ardent was being created, there were many Goddesses. Only a few matter. There was the highest, the Goddess of Time, Hylia, who was unrivaled in her power. She felt alone, so she took parts of her own essence to create sisters for herself. Three of these are the Goddesses we know and love, Din, Nayru, and Farore, who shaped Ardent. But there was another, a Goddess known as Majora, the outcast.”
Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf were hanging religiously on to every single word the Happy Mask Salesman spoke.
He continued. “They were once equal in power, all working together for the world they created. But Majora resented the light of the others, and how it combated her love of chaos and darkness. In many ways, she was this world’s version of Discord. But she had a much darker heart than the childish snake you know. She tried to make a claim for herself on Ardent, being the eventual source of almost all dark magic on the globe. But the Goddesses wouldn’t accept her darkness, they found it distasteful. When they created the Triforce, her piece was rejected. Needless to say, Majora vowed revenge.”
“Why couldn’t the Goddesses just stop her? They had the numbers,” Lieshy asked.
“They could, but they didn’t believe they should. Majora was still family, after all. This proved to be a mistake.” The Happy Mask Salesman’s eyes glowed a slight red. “Majora found something beyond the holy power of the Goddesses one day. Another world. A world I believe Link is familiar with known as the Twilight.”
Link nodded slowly.
The Happy Mask Salesman was standing now. “This Twilight was an empty world of darkness, horror, and sorrow. Nothing lived there – and Majora thought this the perfect place to craft her own world, separate from the world her sisters had created. She did just that, becoming an active god in the lives of her own creations. She, over time, fused with the unique essence of the world of darkness, becoming something more than a goddess. Something maddening, horrid, and evil. She was no longer just chaos and disorder, she became darkness, despair, insanity, and sin itself. She made plans to use her newfound power to utterly destroy her sisters and their world. However, her own children of Twilight came to believe she was dangerous to them, so they used the powers bestowed to them to seal their Goddess within a mask and throw it somewhere else, so it was no longer their problem.”
“And then a few thousand years later, I found it,” Link said.
“Yes. There were other events of darkness relating to Majora’s Mask over the years, all of which I have involved myself in, to keep its evil at bay.”
“...How old are you?” Toph asked.
“Very,” was his only response to the question. “I keep it hidden, and I am the only being I know besides the Goddesses themselves that can – could – resist the mental effects of the Mask. It always calls to others, and I can never keep it out of the public hands for long, but I usually go a century or two before it reaches out to someone. Majora must have sensed something special about Ba’al to act so soon after her defeat.”
“How was she defeated?” O’Neill asked.
“Link should have told you that one,” the Happy Mask Salesman said. “Destroy the center of her essence, which is always focused around the mask. The mask itself is indestructible, but the Master Sword can, with effort, seal all the energy back inside - as Link himself did a few years back.”
“And to do that, we’d need to find where Ba’al is keeping it,” Link said.
O’Neill folded his hands. “And if the last year has been any indication, we just aren’t going to do that, and we’re running out of time. She’s going to make a move.”
“Clearly!” the Happy Mask Salesman said. “She must have one killer plan, because she never waits this long to cause havoc. She must think she can fully free herself from the mask, or something similar. She’s removed the Goddesses from the picture with the Sage, therefore rendering the Triforce’s unequaled power useless.”
Ganondorf drove his fist into the table. “She’ll pay for that…”
“Is there any other way?” Sunset asked. “Anything we could do to stop Majora, without finding her and engaging in a direct conflict? What about the people of Twilight that sealed her last time?”
Link sat back. “They… Won’t be very eager to help us.”
“Why not?” Sunset asked.
Midna appeared on Link’s shoulder. “Hey, name’s Midna, I’m not a secret anymore. I’m one of those Twilight people, a Twili. We generally hate this world, think it needs to be destroyed. We resent your sun, your greenness, and your happier lives. And, well, let’s just say that last time Link was there he totally wrecked the place.”
O’Neill cracked his knuckles. “Then let’s not give them a choice. Do you think a giant warship appearing in their dimension will make them pause?”
“They’ll probably attack it with their powerful magic,” Midna said.
“…What about a fleet?”
“A fleet? How are you going to get a fleet of dimensional spaceships?”
O’Neill stood up and grinned. “Give that Princess Cosmo-Twilight a call. She’s got ships to spare. Of course, this all depends on Link figuring out the dimensional coordinates to this Twilight Zone.”
Link pulled out a dimensional device. “I think we can step through the mirror and find out. Ganondorf, mind letting us into Gerudo Desert again?”
Ganondorf folded his arms and nodded silently.
~~~
The AID were a very paranoid bunch, even if Director Storm himself was usually rather chill. They had an electric fence around the compound, security cameras in every conceivable location (even bathrooms, though not many people knew about that), walls lined with automatic defense systems, and a state of the art alarm system that continually updated the status of the compound.
They were very careful about being hacked. Since Director Storm came back one day and declared that Sombra was in their systems they’d done a full purge and had all of the computer systems triple-backed up. The computer system sent an alert to the tech department every time anything that looked like a hack came through. They thought it was a foolproof system.
They failed to take into account the possibility of Sombra breaking into the compound while invisible and taking out the entire tech department before hacking the system from their computers. She smirked at how easy it all was. Despite all their fancy technology and handful of magical artifacts, none of them were able to see her.
She pressed the final keystroke of the hack and grinned. “I’ve got complete control. You’re free to come in.”
In the main hall of the AID, Director Storm sat in the big chair under the big screen, hands folded. He had this inkling that something was about to go terribly wrong.
A portal opened up in the middle of the room, right next to the table the Directory sat on. A unicorn stepped out, smiling. “Hey, Director! I’m back!” Corona called. Tempest stepped through with her.
The Director’s eyes widened. “All agents, get them! They aren’t the Agents we know!” He pulled his crystal out from under his desk, ready for a magical fight. All agents – including Mike and Ike, drew their guns.
Tempest snapped her fingers. At the signal, Sombra took control of the security systems in the wall, pointing the mounted turrets toward Director Storm.
Corona lit her horn, creating a ball of magical fire. The wispy fire shot out, hitting every Agent in the head except Mike and Ike, infusing their minds with a sleep spell. Her smile widened. “Celesta, it feels good to be a unicorn again…”
“What do you want, imposters?” Director Storm demanded.
Tempest pointed at Director Storm. “You’re the impostor. You have a Ba’al in your head.”
“I have no such thing!” Director Storm yelled.
“Care for a test?” Corona said, teleporting a device into her hoof. “We do have Ba’al testers on site, you know. And, oh would you look at this, if I point it at you it screams Ba’al.”
“You’re clearly working with Sombra, you could have just overridden the code.”
Corona shrugged, glancing at Mike and Ike. “You two buying this?”
Ike blinked. “I’m… Not sure?”
Corona rolled her eyes. “Okay then… Bring in the others.”
Iroh and Aang walked out through another portal. Aang pointed at Director Storm. “Ba’al, if you’re in there, I’ll be able to feel you. And I’ll be able to switch your soul with that of Director Storm.”
Director Storm tensed. “No…”
“Also, I’ve figured out how to bend magic, so I should be able to remove any corruption you might have as well!”
Director Storm lifted his crystal and shot a bolt of lightning at Aang. Aang caught it with his fingers and shot it back at Storm, where it hit the crystal.
“Mike! Ike!” Director Storm yelled, leaping into the air and sending a whirlwind of enegy at Aang – which the Avatar easily deflected. “Do something!”
Mike lowered his gun. “I don’t think so.”
Director Storm narrowed his eyes. “Fine.” A dark, purple energy wafted off his free hand, shooting right for Aang. “Gig’s up, and so’s your life.”
Aang intercepted the dark magic with his hand, twisting it into the center of his palm. It was much more painful than his experience with Corona, but he managed. Entering the Avatar State, he sent the purple darkness back at the Ba’al with a burst of fire. Ba’al fell backward. He lifted his magic crystal up, but all the weather-based attacks were child’s play to the Avatar.
Corona, Iroh, Tempest, and Sombra didn’t even need to do anything. Aang was more than enough to knock the lone man down.
“Hold him down!” Aang called, putting his hands to Ba’al’s head and chest. Corona obliged, using her telekinesis to keep him immobile. From the outside, the act of spirit bending was an impressive light show. She could see Aang’s bright blue essence, Storm’s dark blue, Ba’al’s orange-red, and the purple corruptions of Majora.
The blue essences worked together, facing off against the orange-red and purple. The orange-red was diminished to a small size easily, like butter. The purple corruption, however, fought back ravenously.
It had learned from last time. It quickly decided that it couldn’t win, so it took the opportunity to chip away at Storm’s dark blue essence. Aang wasn’t going to let this happen. He cut off the purple energy’s path, giving it an in to his own soul, but Storm and Aang’s essences looped around and crushed the purple corruption like a snake.
There was a bright flash of purple from what Corona assumed was the actual essence of Majora making contact, trying to lend aid, but if her own experiences were anything to go by, the Avatar Spirit was more than enough to contain this.
Aang released Storm.
Storm blinked. “Holy cow, this feels weird. Like… Like an out-of-body experience. Hey! I can get my voice to do the sweet Goa’uld thing! Nice!”
“Welcome back, Director,” Corona said.
“Welcome back, Corona! You’re fired!” Director Storm grinned.
Corona blinked. “Uh…”
He gestured at the guns poking out of the walls. “Tell me that’s not Sombra.”
“It is Sombra,” Sombra said over the intercom.
“See? Obvious evidence of treachery. You’re fired.”
Corona blinked. “Right, right, fair point, we’ve got bigger fish to fry right now, though.”
“Oh, don’t I know it!” Storm tapped his head. “Fun thing, I’m technically in Ba’al’s little snakelike body right now, controlling him stuck in my mind! So, I have direct access to every little thought he’s thinking and everything he’s ever known. He’s quite angry. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.”
Iroh smirked. “Poetic justice, then?”
“Very.”
“Director!” Tempest called. “Enough of this, what’s Ba’al’s plan to destroy the Earth?”
The Director folded his hands. “Using the magical hotspots of the world, Ba’al has used his infiltration skills to build a few dozen magical nodes for Majora. These nodes will connect in a magical framework large enough to surround the globe, then drain it of all the power it can to free Majora from her imprisonment in the mask. Most of the power comes from the souls of the people who live here.”
“Majora…” Corona said, grinding her teeth. “We’ve got to stop this. Is there a node in the Everfree?”
“You bet your bottom dollar there is!” Storm picked up his weather crystal paperweight and grinned. “I have literally no idea how we’re going to stop it from there, but let’s go.”
Corona lit her horn, activating a teleport… But nothing happened. “…Did you teleport-proof the base?” Corona asked.
Storm raised an eyebrow. “Besides the artifact room? No.”
Corona levitated the dimensional device and activated it – but nothing happened. “…That’s not good.”
“I have a theory,” Sombra called over the intercom. “Our inability to leave might have something to do with the giant purple magic circle surrounding the base that Ba’als with purple magic are lining up outside of.”
Storm growled. “Majora felt you freeing me. She didn’t want anything I knew getting out…”
“How are we going to tell anyone what we just found out?” Aang asked.
Corona’s eyes lit up. She teleported into her ‘office’ – apparently teleportation within the base was still allowed – and picked up the journal, teleporting back to the main room. “This. This works even when there’s no active portal.”
“The spell might still stop it…” Storm said.
“I have to try,” Corona said, pulling out a pen.
“We’re about to have other problems…” Sombra said. “The Ba’als have begun to move in. I think they plan to kill everyone.”
Storm looked at Corona. “Wake the agents up. We’re going to defend this place.”
Corona did what was asked. Storm began to fill everyone in on the situation, and Corona wrote a message to Twilight.
~~~
Twilight had no idea what Rick was doing with all the mechanisms around him. She knew exactly what all the devices he was cobbling together were supposed to do, but quickly realized he wasn’t using them in that way at all. He had torn apart a magical conductor for a single, mundane screw that he’d placed at the tip of his… thing. He had thrown together several ingredients ranging from rare horn dust to baking soda, creating a thick, green liquid. Morty had been able to tell her that was ‘portal fluid’, the ‘ammo’ of the portal gun, but he had no clue how the rest of it worked.
Morty had described the adventures he went on with his grandfather rather well. The stories were amazing, but often horrifying. There were universes that existed only to power car batteries, friendly beings that were sure destroying all organic life was a gift, and many, many civilizations Rick had just wiped out for annoying him.
It made Alushy sound like a saint. It made Twilight fear the blue haired man in front of her. He seemed like a bumbling lunatic with a big brain who didn’t care about anything. Not… Not what Morty had described.
What saddened her, though, was how jaded Morty was about it. He just seemed to accept what he told her as facts of life, things that couldn’t change. He admitted what Rick did got him angry a lot of the time, but it was the way Rick was, and Rick was always Rick. Nothing ever changed that.
Twilight sighed. It was just… It was clear that she and her friends had a long way to go. They had barely scraped the surface of what these two had seen. She, originally, had considered copying Rick’s portal gun design after he’d finished. She didn’t think she was going to do that anymore. Like Earth Omnic, she was becoming convinced they weren’t ready to spread out that far yet.
Yet.
Something in her saddlebags started vibrating. She expected it to be her phone. She sighed, expecting to need her ears – but it wasn’t her phone. It was the Journal.
She threw it on the table and quickly flipped to the last page.
Sorry I couldn’t get back to you sooner, but we’ve been having a problem. I don’t have long to explain. Tempest, Storm, Iroh, Aang, and I are all currently trapped in AID headquarters, surrounded by Ba’als infused with the power of a being called Majora. We can handle ourselves, but we have information that needs to get out.
Majora, the force behind the foalnapping of the Sage, is trying to destroy Earth. She has used Ba’al to place numerous magical nodes around the planet that will activate, surrounding the planet in a magical network and use all the power in the planet to free Majora from her current, imprisoned state.
I don’t know what she’ll do once she’s free, but it might involve the destruction of other worlds. It will involve chaos, dark magic, and destruction.
You need to go to Earth and do something about these nodes. We know the location of a few – the Bermuda Triangle, Yellowstone, Racetrack Playa, Marianas Trench, the North Pole, Durweze, the Black Forest – but your best bet is the Everfree forest. Apparently it will look like a tall, purple cylinder with elaborate engravings on it.
We’re not sure how you’re going to stop Majora through these nodes, but you have to try. Blow them up or something.
We’re going to be busy shortly, so don’t expect replies for a while.
Twilight scribbled ‘got it’ down in the book. “Okay, girls!” She shouted. “We’ve got an emergency!”
All four of them – and Morty – lined up in front of her.
“Corona just messaged me back in the journal – they’re in trouble. Big trouble. Something called Majora wants to destroy the Earth. It’s the being acting through Ba’al. It’s going to do this by using dozens of magical nodes around the world to create a framework surrounding the world that will destroy it. There’s a node in the Everfree Forest. We’re going to go there… and blow it up.”
Pinkie saluted. “Sounds like a plan!”
Rick said something Twilight couldn’t see. She turned to face him. “Excuse me?”
Rick grunted. “Not repeating myself.”
Twilight wanted to shoot a laser into his face.
Morty facepalmed. “He said it wouldn’t work.”
“Why not?” Twilight demanded.
“Do I have to explain everything?”
“AN ENTIRE PLANET IS AT STAKE!” Twilight shouted. “Possibly more! Can you get your thoughts off of your own petty projects for one moment and think that, I dunno, maybe you could at least tell us something that might keep us alive?”
Rick glanced at Morty. “…Fine. It won’t work because lattices usually have backups. Destroying one would only save a portion of the planet, not all of it. You’d need to destroy around a third to keep the lattice from activating.”
Twilight ran back to the book. “I need to get the locations of all of them from Corona…”
“Don’t bother, I’ve got a better idea,” Rick muttered, pulling a staple-shaped device out of his science project. “I need to power this baby up, and a planet-wide lattice-net sounds like just the way to do it. If I can plug this in to the node, I’ll stop it from destroying the planet and complete this shitty portal gun. Does that make everyone happy?”
“Yes,” Flutterfree said. “Thank you, Rick.”
“Don’t thank me, thank the convenience principle.”
“The what?” Nova asked.
Pinkie smirked. “The ‘I just so happen to be here and it just so happens I should help you’ idea.”
“…Okay…?”
Twilight spread her wings, readying her dimensional device. “Everyone, get ready, we’re going to the Everfree Forest on Earth. Expect anything.”
Morty looked around. “Is there a weapon I can have or something?”
Rick handed him a laser gun and Pinkie handed him a ball and chain made out of rubber. He took both and shrugged. “Good enough.”
Rick shrugged. “I hope there’s some ass to kick, otherwise this is going to be as boring as Jerry’s apartment.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “You won’t be disappointed! Expect heavy resistance everyone!”
Twilight nodded, activating the portal and stepping through.
~~~
Vivian and the Sage hadn’t moved – they couldn’t risk the mask’s magic revealing itself and tipping Majora off to their location. So they just stayed in the Veil, looking at the bridge from below.
The Ba’als were moving forward with the plan. The Sage had caught them talking about the magic charging, that it wouldn’t be much longer before the lattice would activate.
“I feel so horrible, not being able to do anything…” Vivian said, hands to her chest.
“You’re doing something amazing already. Hiding from Majora. Very few can do that when she’s actively looking for them.”
“I… Had a mother a lot like her. I… Have practice.”
“I know,” the Sage said, looking up at the bridge. “Something’s happening.”
Majora’s mask appeared on the main screen. “I’ve detected magic surges in the Everfree Forest. They’re going after one of the nodes. It’s time to move the fleet.”
“Right,” a Ba’al said, pressing a few buttons. “Fleet is ready to jump universes.”
Vivian and the Sage felt the ship lurch. The Sage smirked. “I told you the others would try something.”
“But… The fleet is moving to stop them!”
The Sage frowned. “Have hope, Vivian. They have a plan.”
~~~
Link, Ganondorf, Zelda, General Sunset, Toph, and Midna stood in the middle of the Gerudo Desert, flanked by dozens of Ganondorf’s Gerudo warriors.
“Having all your ladies in waiting really isn’t necessary,” Midna said. “It might just put them on edge.”
“And having you there won’t put them on edge?” he retorted.
Midna rolled her eyes. “Fine. Link, summon the Mirror.”
Link held the Master Sword high, making it glow a bright color. He quickly drove it into the sand, sending its magic deep beneath the silicon grains. The earth around them rumbled, the sands shifting like a sea in front of them. A pedestal and numerous columns slowly rose out of the ground, revealing many intricate carvings of eyes, usually with a single tear dripping from them. The central pedestal held one large mirror. The mirror caught the light of the sun and reflected it into the space in front of it, tearing a hole in reality unlike any of the other portal devices seen in the multiverse. A flat, black plane came into existence, slowly becoming riddled with intricate white lines. The designs took a strange hybrid shape of digital circuitry patterns along a circular glyph that was similar to the design in the Temple of Time.
The circular pattern depressed into the flat blackness, becoming a portal to another universe.
Midna rubbed her hands together. “Well, let’s hope we get a warm welcome, hrm?”
Toph held up her dimensional device. “Ready to call the Apollo if it doesn’t.”
“We are going to have to…” Midna muttered, floating up to the portal. “Okay, so, this is going to feel weird.”
“How so-“ Sunset began. She didn’t get to finish – the portal latched onto the six of them and disintegrated them into hundreds of small square pieces, rushing them through the boundary between worlds, and reconstituting the squares on the other side.
Sunset’s tail had a freak out, yipping and snapping around in a panic. Sunset herself just let her eye twitch. “…Fun.”
“Woah…” Toph said, stamping her foot into the ground. “Weird…”
The Twilight Realm was a place eternally stuck with the lighting between sunset and night. There was no visible sun, just a miasma of dark and light clouds surrounding everything. The Twilight was composed of numerous floating islands of rock, on top of which large, black structures were created, lined with red and blue magical circuitry.
Numerous tall, pale people with the black and white color scheme of Midna pointed weapons at the otherworlders. “You should not have come back,” one said.
“Listen to me!” Zelda yelled. “We come here to ask for your help, not-“
“We will not give you help.”
Sunset coughed, stepping forward. “Then what about me? I’m not from their world. I’m from a world that has had nothing to do with yours or your dispute – until today. Your Goddess, Majora, is trying to free herself from the mask you created. She is no doubt plotting a campaign of revenge and destruction across every world she can find. We ask – no we beg you – to help us defeat her in any way you can, with the powers you used to seal her the first time.”
A taller, masked member of the Twili walked up to them, large black robes trailing behind her. Midna growled. “Oh, look who showed up. That was fast.”
“Who are you?” Toph asked.
“Queen,” was all she said, folding her arms. “I speak for all of us when I say we would love it if Majora wiped you all from existence.”
“And what if she comes here to attack you?” Sunset demanded.
“We have defenses in place from the last time. She will not risk it.”
“So what, you just consign dozens of worlds you know nothing about to die?”
“Not just that, but you too. Kill them.”
Toph pressed a button. Instantly, the Apollo zeroed in on the dimensional coordinates, appearing in the cloudy miasma. Dozens of other ships appeared alongside it, graceful warships of Cosmo’s army: curved ships with numerous spiky protrusions, round ones that resembled toruses, and a truly gigantic ship that resembled a cross between a flower and a pinecone. The fleet drifted through the air, surrounding the rock island the group was on.
“How about no?” Ganondorf said, taking a step forward. “How about we make you help us with force?”
“Kill them,” the Queen reiterated, no emotion to her voice.
Cosmo teleported in front of Sunset. She blinked and all the Twili in a mile radius were knocked over except the Queen. Cosmo looked the Queen, directly at the mask. “I am Princess Twilight ‘Cosmo’ Sparkle. We asked for your aid – now we demand it.”
The Queen attempted to use her own impressive magic, but Cosmo’s inner Tree of Harmony absorbed the Queen’s magic before it could even come out. Cosmo narrowed her eyes. “I’d really consider helping us.”
The Queen sighed. “Very well. We have a ritual we can perform. It will require multiple hours of setup and research in the old documents, but you are clearly giving us no choice.”
Toph smirked. “Hey, no offense lady, we just couldn’t take no for an answer.”
The Queen didn’t dignify this with a response.
~~~
Corona dug deep into her mind to remember a spell she had taught herself long ago, but never actually used. It was a forbidden spell, one that served no beneficial purpose to ponykind, one that existed only for damage.
The death spell.
She lit her horn, surrounding it in the deep red aura of her magic. A twisting pulse of red, snakelike energy shot out of the horn’s tip, hitting Ba’al right in the chest. There was no writhing, no scream – just a blank look and death.
Some Ba’als put up shields of purple magic, only for Corona to use more complex fire spells to create an explosion behind them, opening them up for another attack. She combined her knowledge of firebending and fire magic to create a flaming dragon construct that charred through the flesh of dozens of Ba’als.
It really did get easier. Though it may have helped that everything she was killing was the exact same person.
“You are a beast when you’re a unicorn!” Sombra called over the intercom. “Why aren’t you one more often?”
“I live among humans,” Corona said, setting an entire hallway of Ba’als on fire. “Can’t really go to college like this, and I rarely need this kind of power. How are the others doing?”
“Aang’s got east hallway taken care of, though he’s being decidedly less brutal than you are. Tempest and her dozen agents have the north, though a few of them have fallen. Iroh and Storm have the south, and aren’t having any difficulty keeping them getting any further in.”
“Are the Ba’als still coming at us?”
“No, actually, they’ve stopped appearing,” Sombra announced. “No signs of reinforcements.”
“That could just mean they’re activating the lattice…” Corona muttered, igniting a couple Ba’als who tried to attack her mind with purple miasma.
“Don’t worry, Twilight got the message. She’s there. Maybe the reason it’s looking up for us is because they’re sending forces there!”
“I hope Twilight’s okay…” Corona said, skewering a Ba’al that appeared behind her with a flaming javelin. “…I hope she’s not doing this.”
“She’s not the type. …How high is your kill count, now?”
“More than doubled,” Corona muttered. “I’m losing count, and that’s not a good thing.”
Sombra was silent for a second. “Sixty-three.”
“What?”
“The number of people I’m responsible for killing, directly or indirectly. Before this battle started, that is. The guns in the walls have killed about twenty more.”
Corona bucked a Ba’al in the face while torching another. “…Does it affect you?”
“Not really. I was never the real compassionate type, you understand.”
“From knowing you? Yeah.” Corona teleported behind several Ba’als and encased them all in a fire tornado. “…They have no self-preservation instinct.”
“They’re mindless servants of Majora, now. Rest easy knowing they were sleazy asshole aliens that killed millions before.”
“Yeah,” Corona said, burning more. “This is almost too easy…”
“We’re not facing any of Majora’s magic directly,” Sombra reminded her. “I’m not seeing any claws, tentacles, or otherwise. I don’t know if that’s because of the bubble they’ve placed around us or because she’s busy elsewhere. Possibly both.”
Corona grunted. “How many more Ba’als are there?”
“Few dozen on your side. You’re almost done.”
“Good. I need to wash this blood off. It’s all over my coat…” She shivered, a tear falling down her face, sharply contrasting with her enraged expression.
As much as she was talking, she was not okay.
~~~
The Necklaces that Corona and her human friends always wore came from the Everfree Forest of Earth. They were found in a mysterious magical cave deep within the woods, ready to bestow the seven of them with various abilities. This cave was ancient, mysterious, and powerful.
That had not stopped the Majora-driven Ba’als from invading the space and building their node. The node was a seven-foot tall cylinder made of a dark purple substance, carved with images of Majora’s mask alongside many other disturbing symbols. It glowed black, somehow emanating an absence of light around it.
There were a few dozen Majorist Ba’als guarding the pedestal, along with one woman by the name of Azula. In one hand, she was playing with fire. In the other, a purple conglomeration of shadow swirled. She laughed to herself, enjoying the eldritch horror bestowed upon her.
Then the ponies, Rick, and Morty charged. The Ba’als were powerful, filled with magics unlike anything they had ever experienced, and they launched these horrors at the ponies.
But Pinkie and Twilight had outlined a plan.
The charging group vanished into nothing, revealing them to be nothing more than illusions. Illusions that served their purpose. Twilight, her friends, Morty, and Rick teleported behind the node. Rick quickly leaped up and placed his device on top. Instantly the black light within the node switched to a neon pink, forcing streams of energy into the gun. Lasers shot from all corners of the globe, sure that the lattice was activating, when really they were just shoving power into a madman’s little science experiment.
“Suck it!” Rick yelled, pointing his laser gun at a Ba’al before he could turn around. “All powerful god my ass Majora!” He blasted several of their brains out.
Morty swung the ball and chain, knocking several Ba’als out. “…This is a lot less lethal than I’m used to.”
“It’s how we roll,” Pinkie said, appearing in the middle of the Majorist Ba’als with three party cannons. The confetti blew them over and away.
The Ba’als managed to form some kind of resistance, creating giant claws of shadow magic, but Nova had their number. She sped herself up, altering time so she could shoot lasers dozens of times a second, knocking all of them to the ground with ease. Twilight protected Nova from the distance, deflecting the cheap tactics the Ba’als were using.
Renee found herself face to face with Azula. Azula sent a mixture of fire, electricity, and horrific fleshy tentacles at Renee. Renee deflected with a blue shield and, at the same time, drove a curved laser spell around Azula to hit her in the back.
Azula did a cartwheel, landing on her feet. Fleshy, shivering tentacles grabbed Renee’s hooves and squeezed. Renee summoned four magical blades, slicing the tentacles off. Azula shot lightning, but it was deflected with a shield.
Azula laughed. “You’re a clever unicorn!”
Renee raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Really. Too bad it’s time to die.” Azula clapped her hands together, sending an eldritch pulse into Renee’s mind. It felt like a sea urchin had suddenly appeared within her brain and wanted to push through her skull on all sides. She let out a yell and fell to the ground.
Azula grinned, pointing a finger at her. It crackled with electricity. “Ready to burn?”
Renee didn’t respond.
“I’ll take that as a yes-“
A spell Renee had placed a few seconds ago activated, shooting Azula in the face with a laser. She wasn’t expecting this in any way – she fell like a domino.
Renee coughed, standing up. “That’s me being clever.” She rubbed her head. “Ow…”
The other Ba’als, while terrifyingly powerful, had been caught by surprise. They all fell – though only those shot by Rick were actually dead. He started shooting the knocked out ones.
“HEY!” Twilight yelled, tearing the gun from his hand. “No!”
Rick rolled his eyes. “Pussies. Bet none of you have actually had the guts to finish anyone off. It’s a weakness.”
Renee twitched but said nothing.
Rick glanced at the node. The portal gun had just completed draining all the power it needed to, and the node had shattered into a million pieces. “There you go, all other nodes in the world should look exactly like that. Majora’s plan failed. We win.”
Twilight grinned. “That… That felt so much better than the attempt to catch the Sage.”
Flutterfree landed next to her, smiling. “That did go pretty smooth.”
Pinkie’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “Uh-oh,” she said.
“What is it?” Nova asked.
“That went too smoothly.”
Rick’s eyes widened. “Fuck.”
~~~
Vivian and the Sage saw a planet on the bridge’s main screen.
This planet was not Earth.
“What… Is that place?” Vivian asked.
The Sage clenched her jaw. “That’s the Binary world.”
“Why are we here!?”
A Ba’al above them laughed. “Well, I’m glad we’re doing this one instead of the other. It was much more rewarding to plant the nodes here. Nobody expected a thing.”
Another Ba’al smirked at his counterpart. “The best part? They set themselves up for failure. None of them would be able to know more than a handful of these things exist because of how spread out they are! They sure noticed several magic shipments, but they could never put anything together fast enough! Doomed from the start!”
“And now… We activate their lattice.” He pressed a button.
They watched several points of light shine all around the planet, sending columns of pink light into space. These columns of light were quickly connected by neon lines, surrounding the entire planet in a lattice that vaguely resembled a die with far too many faces. There were a few large explosions – presumably from reactionary attempts to nuke the nodes. A few of the light columns went out, but the vast majority remained lit.
“…Oh no…” Vivian said.
The lattice of pink energy began to shrink – cutting through the crust at every location it touched like the rocky planet was butter. Hot, molten rock poured out of the cracks, only to be absorbed by the cutting lattice itself. Tectonic plates buckled down the middle, landmasses broke off the planet’s edges, and still the lattice shrunk. The planet crumbled bit by bit – those chunks that weren’t loosely sent into space by the crushing were drawn back in, to be absorbed by the lines of energy. All civilization on the planet was gone in less than a minute, leaving only a hunk of molten rock with loose dirt all around.
There were probably Binary people on those loose chunks, in their houses, praying that there was enough air inside to last them forever. They would have to deal with a sudden lack of gravity, quick rotation, and being able to see their own planet burn beneath them.
Still, the lattice shrunk. The molten rock flowed into the lattice, forcing the orb that was once a planet to get smaller and smaller and smaller, boiling with the intense pressure of the rocky world.
They saw the corrupted Ha’tak float in front of the screen. A claw of purple impossibility shot from the ship, latching onto the lattice. The wiry structure glowed a bright purple, almost like a star. It dimmed and dragged the entire Ha’tak into it, devouring the corrupted structures within itself.
The remnant of the Binary world began to change, losing its intense glow. Purple veins coursed through it, turning the dying shine of a planet into a dead husk bit by bit, cooling the rock into a corrupted form. There was a laugh that everyone could hear, even in space.
“Now!” the Sage screamed. “Majora’s distracted!”
Vivian released the two of them from the Veil. The Sage activated the holy power of her mask, making all Ba’als in the area pass out. The two of them ran through the halls of the Mothership, heading directly for the hangar.
They arrived quickly, and the Sage sent out another burst of holy power, thankful that none of the Ba’als on the Mothership were allowed to be infected with Majora’s magic. That would have made it somewhat difficult to escape unnoticed, even with Majora distracted. The two of them piled into a small craft and launched out of the Mothership’s grasp.
“Great,” the Sage muttered, pulling up the dimensional controls. “They locked the dimensional drive after Rick escaped…”
Vivian shivered. “What are we going to do!?”
The Sage looked at the purple conglomeration that was Majora. “…We wait.”
The purple corruption of Majora soon enveloped the entire remnant of the planet, banishing the lattice in favor of a horrid, purple mess. The shape of the thing was still spherical, but it was hard to look at. Dark, purple tendrils shot out from the planet, grabbing hold of the loose pieces of crust. Any Binaries that had been lucky enough to survive the initial compression of the lattice would soon find themselves in a literal living hell.
A large tendril of purple energy shot forth from the planet, flying across space along a very particular path.
Vivian blinked. “She’s… going for the other planet.”
The Sage nodded. “The Binaries will not recover from this…” She squinted at the round form of Majora. “Come on…”
Then she saw it. A few smaller claws had pushed themselves out of the central part of the body, opening portals to other universes.
“There’s our way out!” the Sage yelled, pushing on the throttle, diving towards the nearest opening.
“She’s going to notice us!”
“Yeah, she is,” the Sage said. “We’ve just got to be fast.” She approached the portal from the opposite end the shimmering claw was, hoping to get through without any interaction with the darkness of Majora. She, of course, knew this was wishful thinking.
Majora noticed them from about a mile away. Which, in terms of spaceflight, is almost nothing. But Majora was released, and she had no intention of letting the pesky Sage get away again. With a roar that sent shivers down their spines, another claw shot toward them from the side.
The Sage activated her mask. The holy light of six holy deities surrounded their craft, deterring Majora. The eldritch being was more than powerful enough to break through the holy shell… if given enough time.
She was not given enough time. They ducked through the portal, crashing the ship on the other side.
~~~
A giant portal opened up in front of Twilight and her friends.
Twilight didn’t have her ears on.
She could hear the screaming.
A claw rushed out at her. She couldn’t move. All she could do was hear the screams and wait for the hand of death to take her.