//------------------------------// // 026 - Majorism, Part 2 // Story: Songs of the Spheres // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// General Sunset and her group stood at the edge of a floating island in the Twilight Realm, examining a large, flat, black disc with six pillars spread around its edge. Between each set of pillars stood three Twili in long, ancient robes. Their hands were outstretched to the center of the disc, where, surrounded by lines of magic ‘circuitry’, an empty version of Majora’s Mask sat. Wooden, colorless, and without the vibrant eyes the real mask contained. It was to serve the exact same purpose as its predecessor - to seal Majora’s magic away where it could only do little. The eighteen Twili finished their chants and rammed their fists into the floor of the disc. The circuitry flashed between all the colors of the rainbow, infusing the mask with sealing power. It gained a soft purple color, ready to entrap the magic of Majora within. It floated into the air and began to rotate, slowly. “We done?” General Sunset asked, turning to the Twili Queen. She nodded. “It simply requires contact with Majora’s essence now. It will draw all the power into it. Simply get her into this world and it will find her, and then you can leave.” “Finally,” O’Neill muttered. “It’s been hours.” “Such a complex ritual is an ordeal,” the Queen stated. “Now imagine how difficult it was to perform when she was here, looking for us. Remaining hidden from Majora for several hours is no easy task. I’m not sure how our ancestors pulled it off.” The Happy Mask Salesman chuckled. “Very carefully. I may or may not have helped.” “What are we going to do with it once she’s sealed inside?” Toph asked. “Toss it into a black hole,” O’Neill said. “I don’t care how powerful she is, she’s not getting out of that.” “If you believe that will remove her for eternity, by all means, try,” the Queen said. “But since she is not here, we will have to move the altar.” O’Neill glanced at the Apollo, hovering overhead along with all of Cosmos’ ships. “I think we can handle that. Dial the Hub, see if we’ve got any dirt on anything Ba’al or Majora related. Just need a little touch-“ A tremendous, purple-rimmed portal tore through the fabric in reality like a shark tearing at fresh meat. A lone, purple claw reached out for the altar. The edges of the tremendous arm shimmered with an edge that hurt to observe and tentacles that grew from all angles, branching out like a tree’s roots. The tendrils angled around the mask carefully. Sunset looked away. “Ugh… Well at least we won’t have to go hunting….” The Happy Mask Salesman’s smile vanished. “No…” Comso narrowed her eyes. “Something’s wrong.” The tendrils deliberately attacked the altar from below, triggering the reaction. The new mask became a gravity well, sucking the tendrils of darkness in. Cosmo teleported the eighteen Twili to safety before they could be destroyed by their own creation. The defenses of the Twilight Realm itself activated, sealing Majora’s power within a gray bubble covered in patterns reminiscent of refracting water. Majora’s claw swirled into the mask’s essence like a hurricane, infusing into the wood. The Happy Mask Salesman roared. “Keep the portal open!” As he said this, the portal Majora’s claw was sticking out of started closing. Cosmo was the only one who could do anything, appearing behind the portal and forcing it open with the full brunt of Harmony. On the other side, Majora slammed the portal shut, severing her own essence. The eldritch tendrils were completely absorbed within the mask. The moment they were gone, the gray bubble vanished. The mask tried to suck more dark power in, but there was nothing to latch onto. It shook for a moment and promptly disintegrated into dust. The Happy Mask Salesman let out a sound that had no right to leave a human’s mouth; conveying agony, distress, and rage. Comso teleported back. “That’s a problem.” “She knows how to use dimensional portals now…” The Happy Mask Salesman said. “She doesn’t have to slip between Ardent and the Twilight, she can slip anywhere. She can seal the Sealing Altar away whenever she wants! Even if we took it to her physical location, she’d just move it!” “Take it?” the Queen blurted. “That was a one time use! We’d have to make a new one, and that’ll take hours. Hours I doubt you have.” General Sunset paled. “No… We have to be able to do something else!” “Like what?” the Happy Mask Salesman said, laughing. “She’s expanded too much!” “Brute force,” O’Neill said. “We’ve got a fleet right here. I say we find a way to use it.” The Queen glared. “You can use it elsewhere. Leave our world, now. You are not welcome here, nor will you ever be welcome here.” O’Neill nodded. “As you wish, your highness.” He turned to his radio. “Apollo, start beaming us up.” Link and Midna took one look at the Queen. She lifted her head higher. “I will celebrate when you die to Majora. It will finally serve your world justice.” Midna slapped the Queen across the mask with her hair. “Not happening.” They were transported away before the Queen could react. The Apollo and other ships left the Twilight behind. Every Twili was happy to see them leave. They returned to their lives, confident no destruction could come their way, from Majora or otherwise. ~~~ Corona walked back to the command center of AID. Blood caked her coat. Most of it wasn’t hers. She stumbled into the room, coughing. “Got mine taken care of,” she called. “Same,” Tempest said, returning with her group of agents. “There may be some stragglers, but we’re good now.” Director Storm and Iroh returned as well. Director Storm was leaning on Iroh for support from a broken leg. “Clear,” Iroh said, laying Director Storm down in a chair. Aang returned to the center as well, breathing heavily. “I… Have never spent so much energy… In my life…” “Good for all of you!” Sombra called over the intercom. “Now we should probably get out of here, you know, see how Twilight’s doing?” Corona nodded, scratching her neck, trying not to look at the blood on her legs. “Exit’s easy enough to get to, now.” Director Storm laughed. “All right! Who’s ready to get out of here and kick some more Ba’al ass?” “I think most of us are exhausted,” Iroh commented. “But we will.” Tempest saluted, along with all the agents behind her. “Yes we will!” Corona smiled. “Yeah… we will. Hey, Sombra, think you can activate the sprinkler system in the hall over there, I need to-“ Sombra activated the sprinkler system in the room they were all in. “SOMBRA!” Tempest shouted. Sombra chuckled. “Oh, I’m sorry – Corona, did you want to not get all these schmucks wet?” Corona rolled her eyes. “Not really?” Storm chuckled. “We may be sworn enemies, Sombra, but I have to admit, I like your style.” “You’re nicely eccentric as well, Oncoming Storm.” “What is it with people and trying to use my full name ominously? Really doesn’t work on me.” Tempest coughed. “We should probably move out. Get beyond the bubble so we can teleport, contact reinforcements, and update the Hub.” “Yeah, right,” Director Storm grunted, standing up, leaning on his chair. “That’s going to be slow.” “We can send a scout, sir,” Tempest said. “Yeah, I vol-“ Corona didn’t finish her sentence. She just started screaming. Director Storm followed her example, falling to the ground. “What happened?” Aang shouted, running to her. “YOU DID!” Corona yelled, lashing out with a burst of purple magic, tossing Aang back. He fell against a wall, dropping to the ground. “YOU LET ME KNOW!” Aang stood up, glaring at Corona – or what had just been Corona a second ago. Now, a being with deep, purple pupil-less eyes stood in Corona’s body. She took a few steps forward, sneering at Aang. The agents behind Tempest fired. Corona lit her horn and shot the death spell at several of them, draining the life from them in an instant. Tempest tensed as she heard the agents fall behind her. “Hold your fire!” She yelled. “Yes…” the voice of Majora said, coming from both Director Storm’s and Corona’s mouths at the same time. “Realize that to retaliate… Is death.” Director Storm stood on his broken leg, unable to feel the pain within. He slapped Iroh across the face, knocking him to the ground. Corona took a few more steps to Aang. The guns in the walls locked on Corona, readying a volley of specialized bullets. “Sombra!” Majora said, her voice echoing into Sombra’s ears despite the distance between them. “You don’t want to do that!” “Why not?” Sombra demanded. “Worst you do is kill all your hostages.” “You may not care about these hostages,” Majora said. “In fact, you don’t care about anyone here – except one.” She forced Corona to create a knife of magic and held to her own neck. “I can make Sunset here cut off her own head if you so much as make a move of any kind.” She pressed the knife deep enough to draw blood on Corona’s already bloodsoaked coat. Sombra said nothing. She also didn’t do anything. “Thought not.” Majora turned both her heads to Aang. “Hello, Raava.” Aang shook his head. “Just Aang right now.” “Why not enter the Avatar State and destroy us?” “Because that’s what you want,” Aang said. “You want to destroy the Avatar Spirit forever. You can’t do that unless I’m in the Avatar State.” “Smart boy,” Majora said. “But you want to turn to the Avatar State anyway. If I don’t get to kill your essence soon this entire place goes up in flames and I kill everyone in it.” Aang narrowed his eyes. “You are going to do that anyway.” Majora’s faces scowled. “Surrender yourself, Raava, or-“ “Or what? You kill me?” Aang stood tall. “You’ll have to try.” Majora twisted her heads. “Why must all you guardians be so pesky and petty…” Corona unleashed a beam of fire at Aang, which he quickly deflected around himself. Using the water in the room, he froze Director Storm and Corona solid. Storm was unable to break free, but Corona easily melted the ice around her. Majora only spoke through Corona now. “That was intensely stupid. I am-“ Aang ran away. He charged down a hallway on top of a sphere of air, blowing papers everywhere. Corona’s face sneered. She teleported after him. “You can’t run away from me, Raava.” “I can try!” Aang said, dodging a bolt of fire from her. “I could kill you in an instant!” Majora yelled. “Oh, I think you’re right!” Aang said, making a hard right in the compound. “I just think you won’t unless I’m in the Avatar State!” Majora tugged on Aang with Corona’s telekinesis, but Aang bent the magic into his hands and unleashed it in a bright flash-bang. Majora shrieked. Aang noticed something. “Hey… That wasn’t painful to my ears.” Majora growled. “I wasn’t angry enough.” “I think your little bubble-shield prevents you from getting your full power in here as well!” Aang grinned. “You have to use her power, not your own!” “It’s still more than enough,” Majora said. “You transformed her into her true form, a being with nigh unlimited magic potential. She has spells that can twist your very perception of pain. Her past is a rather delightful one.” Aang caught a jet of fire with his hand, twisting the magic into his body and releasing it again. He smirked. “Aren’t you mad I figured out how to bend magic? And… I guess whatever your mysterious purple stuff is, not that you can use it.” Majora roared, forcing a piece of wall near Aang to transform into an explosive. It ignited, tossing Aang through a wall of the compound, He groaned, barely jumping in time to avoid a flaming hoof to the face. “It’s only a matter of time before I force you into the Avatar State…” Majora growled. “Then, Raava, your time as an annoyance will be over. No more removing my influence from the souls of others. No more bending my eldritch energies. I will have dominion.” “Yeah, don’t think so.” Aang blew a mixture of air and fire at Corona, toppling her to the ground. “I think I’ll just stay alive. Or, well, die, and then let the next Avatar defeat you.” “I’ll find them… As a child…” Aang smirked. “And that worked so well with me, didn’t it?” Majora roared, surrounding Aang in fire. He calmly collected it with his fire bending, throwing it on the ground. Aang was right – Majora could easily use the powers of Corona to kill him outright, but Majora didn’t want that. She was having difficulty using the nonlethal attacks to force the Avatar State, and Aang was just so good at dodging that he recovered from whatever he was hit with quickly. He was drawing her out. “How long does this go on, Raava?” Majora shouted. “How long?” “Oh, it’s already gone on long enough. I’m pretty sure that, by now, everyone’s evacuated the building. It’s just you and me in here, Majora.” Majora’s face twitched. She focused on the frozen Storm for the first time in a few minutes, only to find that he was the only person in the room. All the agents and Iroh were gone. Majora lit Corona’s entire body on fire in a fit of rage. “YOU WILL REGRET BLINDING ME, RAAVA!” Aang shrugged, bending the fire around Corona to knock her over. “I don’t think so.” He raised his hands and waved her on. “Come and get me.” Corona, under Majora’s wrathful control, charged. ~~~ The eldritch claw reached out to Twilight. She would be dead the moment it touched her. She knew this, and couldn’t do anything. Its impossibility froze her. It wanted her stuck there, stuck to just take it. Majora wanted them all gone in one fell swoop they wouldn’t be able to do anything about. Rick pointed his fully operational portal gun at the hand and fired with the calibration slightly off. Instead of opening a portal it latched itself onto Majora’s portal, turning the connection between worlds into a sinkhole of green sparks and nothing. The hand disintegrated, and the portal Majora had made solidified into a green swirling mess of instabillity. Twilight could suddenly think again. She backed away from the pulsating green mass in front of her, shaking her head. The green mass twitched, pulsing. She heard the sound of a battering ram hitting a door. Someone must have said something, because suddenly they were somewhere else. Nova had teleported them to Canterlot High. Twilight turned around to look at everyone. Rick, Morty, Flutterfree, Renee, Pinkie, Nova… All were fine. Rick threw his hands into the air. “Fuck this shit, I’m out!” He recalibrated the portal gun and connected to another universe correctly. “Come on Morty.” “But, Rick-“ “No buts, Morty! These ponies currently have a one-way ticket to Destination Fucked because somebody forgot to consider the possibility that, maybe, I dunno, there was more than one planet the fucking ‘god’ was trying to destroy!” “Can’t you do something?” “No, Morty, because there are some things you just don’t fuck with. Eldritch god-monsters that have just had their seal broken is one of them! It’s not worth the effort.” Morty looked at the ponies. “But what about-“ “They can escape with us, if they want,” Rick muttered. “If that’ll make you stop whining” Morty looked at them, eyes pleading. Twilight shook her head. “We can’t abandon what we’ve made.” Morty sighed. “Well… Good luck then. Hope you don’t die.” Twilight smiled sadly. “Take care of yourself, Morty. You’re a good kid.” Morty felt the need to hug her, and Twilight let him. “Oh for the love of-!” Rick yelled. “Let’s go Morty!” Morty retreated from the embrace, nodded to Twilight, and followed his grandfather through the portal. It closed, leaving the five ponies alone with a very big problem. Pinkie took in a breath. “Okay, so, allow me to say what we’re all thinking. WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME ARE WE GOING TO DO!?” “Find out more,” Twilight said. “We… We don’t know where Majora was freed, how exactly she’s been freed, if she’s just in the process of being freed, or what her plans even are besides, well, kill us.” She took a breath. “At least Earth is okay…” “What if it was Equestria, Twilight?” Flutterfree asked. “What if our world was taken?” “It wasn’t Equestria,” Twilight said. “I would have sensed those magic nodes, or the Starfinder would have. No, our world is fi-“ All of them felt their connection to the Tree of Harmony hiccup. Their cutie marks flashed brightly for a second and then went out. The Tree of Harmony wasn’t calling them to solve a friendship problem. It was just screaming in pain. Twilight paled. “The Tree of Harmony is in danger!” “Let’s move it!” Pinkie shouted. “It needs our help!” ~~~ O’Neill looked at the horrifying picture on the Apollo’s bridge screen. Boxen folded his arms. “I was on a ship returning from the Other Side. I saw this. I left the universe as soon as I could. Then I came here.” O’Neill stood up and walked closer to the screen. It was a still of the ruined Binary planet – purple, fleshy, impossible core surrounded by twisted tentacles that grasped the chunks of crust that survived or drove themselves into dimensional portals. O’Neill knew the image wasn’t moving but he swore the core was beating like a heart. Cosmo put a hoof to her chin. “Well, we know where Majora really is.” Link pointed out the extruding tendrils that ended abruptly. “She’s reaching into other universes. That’s how she got to the Twilight.” General Sunset’s eyes widened. “Where else is she attacking?” “Probably everywhere,” O’Neill said, folding his hands. “We need to destroy that planet she has become completely.” “Do you have a weapon that can do that?” Boxen asked. “I can think of one. We dump a stargate in your star, connect it to something unpleasant, force the ball of fire to go supernova. That’s off the table because it would destroy your other planet as well.” Boxen nodded. “Keep it on the table as a last resort.” Sunset blinked. “I was not expecting that response from you.” “We are able to realize when there’s something bigger than us,” Boxen said indignantly. “If it comes to it, use it.” O’Neill sighed. “We’ll have it ready. I’ve also contacted Earth Tau’ri to see if we can get a shipment of some of our super big bombs and a ton of drones.” Cosmo spoke up. “My portion of the fleet is designed with the capability to take my power and amplify it. The onslaught was enough to drive a race of galactic exterminators to the extinction they themselves dealt out for so long. I do not know if it can face this Majora, but it will certainly be a boon.” The Happy Mask Salesman stood up. “I believe you are all being foolish. Even this idea of destroying the sun has no guarantee of success. Majora is a being far beyond what any of you have experienced. That Tree of Harmony you have within you, Princess? Majora started as that. Then she became more. So much more. Not even the holiest weapons in our world could destroy her while she was sealed in a mask. As destructive as your magic and technology can be, do you really think it will be enough?” “The other option is run with our tails between our legs,” Sunset spat. “And we aren’t doing that.” Link nodded. “We’re fighting, no matter what. We may die trying, and if that is the case, then so be it. But we will not run away quietly. That’s just giving Majora what she wants on a silver platter.” He grabbed his sword and plunged it into the ground. “We’re going to fight for our lives, our families, and our worlds. We’re going to make her fight for her life.” “Nice speech, but you’re fixing the hole you made in the floor,” O’Neill commented. “I’m going to check to see the ETA on those weapons and any possible backup…” “A ship just entered the universe!” a crewmember yelled. “That’s way too fast,” O’Neill muttered. “On screen.” An image of Ba’al’s Mothership appeared alongside a single Ha’tak. There was a large gash cut through one of the Mothership’s sides. “…His weapons aren’t charged,” the communications officer said. “He’s not stupid,” O’Neill said. “I bet he wants to talk. Put him up when he calls.” A Ba’al with blood running down his face soon took up the screen. “Ah, O’Neill!” “You screwed up.” Ba’al bit his lip. “Er… Yes. Clearly. You know, I did have backup plans in case she tried to betray us. Mental conditioning on a few of us, spies sent into her ship, a couple outposts…” The Happy Mask Salesman laughed his usual eerie laugh. “But she knew about all of them and destroyed them before you could activate them.” “Yes. …Excuse me, O’Neill, who is this man?” “The Happy Mask Salesman,” O’Neill answered. “I have come to accept that I will never learn his actual name. He knows a bit about Majora.” “Ah. So, O’Neill, what’s the plan?” Ba’al asked. “Wait for a shipment of weapons and brute-force our way to destroying Majora,” O’Neill said. “Think you can not mess this one up?” “My ships are at your service.” O’Neill rolled his eyes. “Of course.” He cut the channel. “…We’re just accepting this?” Link said. “Link, trust me, I know Ba’al. He’s willing to cooperate right now. It always happens when a bigger fish shows up. He can manipulate and deal with us in many creative and vile ways. He cannot deal with Majora.” Link nodded. “Fine. He doesn’t actually have much to give us though. Just a big ship and a smaller ship that the Apollo alone could destroy.” “We need every edge we can get,” Cosmo said. “Every weapon, every ship, every spell. I’ve already sent orders back home to acquire as many ships as possible. They’ll be pouring in steadily for some time. I doubt we’ll have time to wait for them all.” “Must be nice, being able to leave your world unattended,” O’Neill commented. “It is. No internal threats, and I don’t believe Majora can operate well over large enough distances to reach our planets.” “Furthermore, she’d have no interest in your world,” the Happy Mask Salesman said. “Since you aren’t in it.” Cosmo nodded slowly. “I am aware I am probably one of her targets. I am surprised she hasn’t attacked me directly, yet.” “It may just be she doesn’t know what universe we’re in,” Lieshy piped up. “Or doesn’t care to find out.” O’Neill gripped the arms of his chair. “I don’t like relying on the cluelessness or apathy of our enemies… At any moment, a switch could turn.” “We don’t have much of a sign – choice,” Lieshy said. “Do we?” O’Neill just shook his head slowly. ~~~ Aang was losing energy quickly. He could tell Majora had made Corona break one of her legs – but Majora forced the unicorn’s body not to feel anything. “What’s the matter, Raava? Losing your energy? Perhaps you should go into the Avatar State, tap into your true self,” Majora chided. “All you have to do is defeat one broken, bruised, and battered unicorn before she can kill you! Can’t be that hard, right?” “Not taking the risk!” Aang said, running down another hallway. He was getting real tired of running. He’d already been doing it for… He had no idea. Not an hour, but more than fifteen minutes. And she pursued relentlessly with her fire and her magic, never running out of juice. But she couldn’t force him to do what she wanted, and he knew it. Not here. Then he tripped. He tripped and hit his head on a wall hard enough to blur his vision. Majora seized the opportunity. She made Corona leap onto Aang and flip him onto his back. She tied his hands up, preventing him from bending magic. She tore a piece of metal out of the wall and heated it up to extreme temperatures. “I’ll get you to show your real self yet…” The metal glowed white hot after only a few seconds of direct exposure. Corona pressed the scalding chunk to Aang’s leg. He screamed, feeling the instinct deep within him to unleash the judgment of the Avatar – but he kept it inside him. He couldn’t risk it. “Stop fighting it Raava!” Majora yelled, using Corona’s magic to drive the white hot slab into his other leg. “The longer you fight the urge, the less likely you can win when you do give in!” “NEVER!” Aang shouted back. In retaliation the metal plate was pressed against his back, scalding it. He roared, but kept his instinct within. Majora screamed. “SHOW YOURSELF RAAVA! SHOW YOURSELF!” “NO!” “SHOW YOURSELF!” “Okay,” Sombra said, dropping her invisibility and shooting a syringe into Corona’s neck. Corona blinked. “…Wha…?” “Sorry Corona, have to keep you sedated, doctor’s orders!” Corona took a few shaky steps forward. Her horn sparked, trying to come up with a spell, but it fizzled out quickly. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slumped to the ground, out cold. Aang allowed himself to relax. “Thank goodness…” Sombra walked over to him, smirking. “You don’t look too hot there.” “Funny,” Aang wheezed. “Good news: you’re not bleeding. Bad news: burns. Lots of them.” “You should have left already,” Aang muttered. Sombra rolled her eyes. “I might have left you behind. Her? Nah.” Sombra checked Corona’s pulse. “Out like a light.” “Should we get out of here?” “After Majora realized you’d let everyone go, she surrounded the magic bubble in her power. We’re rather stuck.” Sombra laughed. “Erecting a shield you can’t even get through. What a moron.” “She’ll get through eventually,” Aang said. “Yeah. We’ve just got to hope the others find a way to stop her before then.” She sat down next to him and took out her phone. “Can’t do anything from in here right now.” “So… We’re just stuck?” “Yep. But hey, she didn’t get you, and everyone else got out. That’s good.” Aang nodded with considerable effort. “Yeah…” ~~~ Twilight teleported herself and her friends to the Tree of Harmony’s clearing. They were not surprised to find a giant portal with tendrils of Majora pouring out of it. They were surprised by who was there. Defending the Tree in its rainbow power of Harmony stood Starswirl, Discord, and the Sage. All three of them had exceedingly focused looks on their faces, all working together with Harmony to push back the eldritch horrors. Starswirl’s horn smoked, Discord’s form shifted unnaturally as he poured chaotic energies back at the oncoming chaos, and the Sage’s mask pushed back at the claw with all the energy it could muster within its multi-faceted power. It was enough. Majora could not make any headway. This did not stop her from trying. Her tendril pushed, and pushed, and pushed. They would have to give in eventually. Vivian appeared in front of them. “Hi,” she said, nervously. “W-what’s going on?” Twilight asked. “Majora wants to extinguish the Tree of Harmony,” Vivian said. “Apparently more than a few powerful beings disagree.” “This can’t go on forever,” Flutterfree said, shaking her head at the light show. “Somebody will give. And it’s probably going to be Starswirl. Even if the others can keep it up…” Twilight turned to Vivian. “What… What’s happened? Why is Majora doing this? Do you know?” Vivian nodded slowly. “…We – General Sunset and the rest of us – were called to the Temple of Time in Ardent to defend against an attack by the Sage. The Sage was forced by Majora to seal the goddesses of Ardent into the mask. When she was dragged back in, I followed her, and managed to hide from Majora’s perceptions. Then a couple of humans showed up and I took the opportunity to hide the Sage as well. Majora decided that, without knowing where the Sage’s mask was, she had to move ahead with her plans faster. We went to the Binary world and saw it destroyed.” “…D-destroyed!?” Renee said. Vivian wiped a tear from her face “Y-yeah. It was terrible. Majora… She’s free. She is the planet now, I think.” She turned to the Sage. “I think the Sage could explain better, but… She’s busy protecting your Tree.” Pinkie looked at the Sage. “Tag in for her, Vivian.” “I can’t use the mask-“ “She’ll let you. Just tap on her shoulder, she’ll give it to you. But you’ll need to think fast, Vivian.” Vivian blinked. “R-right!” she moved to the sage, tapping her shoulder. The Sage twisted around back, shoving the mask onto Vivian’s face. In the second it took the mask to recognize Vivian, Majora’s essence pushed forward. “BACK!” Discord shouted, letting out a burst of pure energy, not bothering with any of the chaotic visual gags. Just pure energy. “BACK, YOU DISGRACE TO CHAOS!” Vivian activated the spirits within the mask, pushing back against Majora’s onslaught, returning the momentary imbalance back to a stalemate. The Sage took a deep breath and turned to the five ponies. “So, first off, I technically surrendered last time.” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you did.” “You’re not off the hook yet,” Twilight said. “But we have bigger problems.” She turned to the claw of Majora; its presence a constant nail in her skull. It didn’t have enough power right now to freeze her in place, but it had more than enough to upset her on a deep, deep level. The Sage nodded. “We need to defeat Majora.” “How?” Twilight asked. Pinkie and the Sage looked at each other. “The Triforce,” they said at the same time. “The wish-granting artifact?” Nova asked. “The one Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf have the parts to?” “That’s the one,” Pinkie said. “It’s connected to Majora on a personal level,” the Sage said. “Unfortunately, due to my recent escapades, the goddesses that provide the Triforce’s power are sealed away within that mask.” “So, can’t we just use the mask’s power on the Triforce?” Renee asked. “Bring those three bearers here, use the mask on them, and wish for Majora to be destroyed?” “Majora’s powerful enough she might be able to defend against that…” the Sage said. Pinkie facehooved. “No beating around the bush, Sage-me. She is powerful enough to defend against a simple wish. We actually have to bring the Triforce to her, with the mask. Find the center of her essence on her planet.” “How can we do that?” Flutterfree asked. “We can barely keep her away from the Tree of Harmony! How do we go to the place where she is?” Twilight gulped. “We leave the Tree of Harmony. Use Discord, Starswirl, the mask – everything – to protect us while we’re in her territory. We use everything at our disposal to cut a hole right to Majora’s center, and use the Triforce. The Tree of Harmony… will not survive.” Renee gasped. “Twilight, remember what Cosmo said! When she sacrificed her Tree of Harmony, the other races vanished! If… If you don’t find a way to absorb it, all of us might perish!” Twilight took a deep breath. “I… I know Renee! I just… I can’t think of what else to do! We can’t stay here and protect the Tree, we have to do something!” Flutterfree blinked. “Take the Tree with us.” Nova blinked. “What?” Pinkie and the Sage exchanged glances. “That could work…” Pinkie said, rubbing her chin. “We’d need someone with a personal connection to it that it trusts…” the Sage said. “Starswirl will volunteer to carry it. ISN’T THAT RIGHT STARSWIRL?” Starswirl managed a grunt that was probably a yes. Pinkie grinned. “We might just have a shot!” “But if she tries to crush us, even with my mask’s power, she can,” the Sage said. A smile slowly grew on Twilight’s face. “Girls – we just need more friends to help. We’ve met hundreds of people on our journey, many of which were very very powerful.” She turned to the portal Majora was pushing through. This time she didn’t wince in fear. “What we need is a group to defend the Tree of Harmony and the Triforce while we take it to Majora on her own turf…” Nova grabbed Twilight’s dimensional device. “I’ll get on that.” “Me too!” Pinkie said, pulling out a spare device. “…Why can’t you do that when we get stuck in another universe?” “It’d make everything too easy.” Pinkie hoofbumped Nova. “Let’s go round up some friends.” Nova nodded. “I’ve got some ideas. You?” “Ooooh yeah. Some not-so-great ones, but you know how it is.” Nova chuckled. “Yeah, I do. I’ll get the Triforce bearers.” The two opened portals and went their separate ways. Twilight took a moment to look at the Sage. “…So. We finally get to meet.” “Hello, Charter Twilight,” the Sage said, extending a hoof. Twilight shook it. “You know,” Twilight said, putting a hoof to her chin. “Just a few months ago I thought you were a big problem. But you really didn’t have any plan beyond sealing your Goddess away, did you?” The Sage shook her head. “I wanted to rid our world of the horrible reason it had for existing and for its conflict. She was responsible for the way our world turned out, for the wars, for the petty arguments, for Applejack and General Sunset. I decided from the moment I knew this that I wanted to end it. I did what I wanted – though admittedly with some unforeseen consequences. I knew Ba’al and Majora were up to something. I did not see what. I should not have been so focused on my quest. I do not apologize for what I did to free my world, but I do apologize for what my actions did to Ardent. What it’s allowed Majora to do.” She bowed her head. “I forgive you,” Twilight said. “Though I think you need to apologize to the people of Ardent more.” The Sage nodded. “I also need to be locked up for, let’s see… stealing, manipulation, organizing the death of a handful of ponies, and conspiracy. Not innocent here, nor do I pretend to be.” Twilight nodded. “I understand. But know that you’ll have a friend, regardless of what happens.” The Sage let a small smile crawl up her usually stoic face. “You sure live up to your name, Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship.” Twilight chuckled softly. “CAN YOU TWO STOP IT WITH THE CUTE MOMENT AND HELP!?” Discord shouted, using just enough of his magic to ensure Twilight would hear since she wasn’t looking at him. “TWILIGHT, I KNOW YOU HAVE ALICORN MAGIC IN YOU!” “Right,” Twilight said. She flared her wings, lit her horn, and pushed back against the claw of Majora with all her might. She did little compared to the mask, Discord, and the Tree, but it felt good to do something. ~~~ Nova teleported onto the Apollo’s bridge a short while later. “There you are!” She pointed at Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. “I’ve been looking all over for you! We need the Triforce! Come on!” “Triforce doesn’t work anymore,” Link said, sighing. “The Sage stole their power.” “We have the sage and her mask in Equestria,” Nova said. “We can reactivate its power. Come on, we’ve got a plan.” O’Neill looked up from his chair. “Funny, so do we.” “What plan is that?” Nova asked. “Punch it until it gives up. Failing that, blow up the sun and everything in the system.” Nova blinked. “…Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.” “What’s yours?” General Sunset asked. “Ours is to drag the Triforce, the Tree of Harmony, and all the other powerful friends we can find to the planet that is Majora, and use the Triforce on her essence, wishing her sealed or destroyed. Whichever works.” O’Neill blinked. “…Yeah, that sounds like a great plan.” “Both,” Lieshy said. “Let’s do both the stupid plans.” “…What?” Toph said. “You don’t need powerful individuals in the fleet besides Cosmo, and you don’t need spaceships on the ground with the Triforce. Do both. Attack Majora from two fronts.” O’Neill and Nova glanced at each other. O’Neill shrugged. “You know what? Why not. Got nothing to lose at this point.” Nova nodded. “Who’s coming with me besides Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf? You three don’t get a choice.” “Fine by me,” Ganondorf said, curling his fingers into a fist. “I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be allowed to get my hands dirty…” General Sunset came forward. “I’m coming.” Toph raised her hand. “Me too.” The Happy Mask Salesman stepped forth. “I believe it would be prudent if I came along as well…” O’Neill nodded. “Good luck.” “We’ll be supporting you from above however we can,” Cosmo said. “Thanks,” Nova said, lighting her horn. “Anyone else? Because we probably need to move quickly. There’s a very high chance Majora knows what we’re doing. You should probably begin your space assault as soon as possible.” O’Neill turned to Cosmo. “Should we wait for any more ships?” “I don’t think more will help at this point,” Cosmo said. “Then tell the fleet to prepare to jump universes.” O’Neill stood up. “We’re going to drop some nukes on a god’s face.” Nova teleported away with Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Sunset, Toph, and the Happy Mask Salesman. ~~~ Pinkie looked at her dimensional device. It was time to go fast. She opened a portal to another dimension and jumped to another location far away. She poked her head out of Siron’s armor. “Hey. Hey Siron. Psst. Over here.” Siron looked down at her, a drink in his hand. “What, Pinkie?” “Got something to tell you I think you’ll really like to know.” “What?” “A chaos being known as Majora took control of Ba’al and destroyed the Binary world.” The drink in his hand crushed from the pressure his fingers exerted on it. “Imma take that as a ‘yes, Pinkie, I’m available to crush this Majora’s head in for personal reasons I will not go into.’ Am I right?” Siron nodded slowly. “Good!” Pinkie jumped out and grabbed him. “Awaaaay we go!” She opened another portal and jumped through. They were suddenly standing at the edge of a mysterious forest. In front of them was a yellow mare in a red suit and hat, firing her guns at an oncoming hoard of zombies. “Ah, Pinkie!” Alushy yelled. “Glad you could join me, slaughtering the hordes of undead has been proving to be a bit boring here. They just keep coming! They don’t get any smarter, don’t try anything new. So sad.” “Hey Alushy! Want to help us punch a chaos god in the face?” Alushy stopped shooting the incoming zombies. She slowly turned to Pinkie, a psychotic grin on her face. “I’m listening…” “No time to explain, we’ve got one more to pick up!” As Pinkie opened a portal and dragged them through, Alushy extended a hoof to Siron. “Name’s Alushy. Fudgemothering vampire. Siron, I take it? Bug demon king?” Siron nodded slowly, but wordlessly. “Ah, still reeling from the rapid Pinkie-ness, huh? Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll do fine facing off against whatever eldritch horror we’ve dreamed up today. I must say, I’m excited. I have no idea who we’re fighting or why but I know it’ll be big, bad, and hella awesome.” Siron blinked, refusing to comment further. He registered that they were in a different Ponyville. Pinkie cleared her throat. “I really hope I don’t regret this… HEY MELINDA!” The ‘perfect’ human appeared in front of her. “Hey, Pinkie! What can I do for you?” “There’s an evil chaos being by the name of Majora that’s destroyed a planet and is trying to kill so many others.” “Kill? That sounds a little extreme!” “It is,” Pinkie said, extending a hoof. She shivered slightly. “Care to come with us and lend your… skills?” Melinda smiled. “Do I ever!” “Good. Just remember, you’re not in charge, Charter Twilight is.” “Fine by me!” Alushy blinked. “Holy shit, you’re agreeable.” “Hey, watch your language,” Melinda countered. Alushy cocked her head. “Okay, that was a compliment but take it however you want.” Pinkie rolled her eyes, activating the dimensional device again. “Let’s gooooo!” “Hold on,” Siron said. “Shouldn’t it have run out of power by now?” “We don’t have time!” Pinkie muttered, throwing the three of them through and walking back into the Tree of Harmony’s clearing. “Made it!” Nova raised an eyebrow. “What took you so long?” “I’m going to blame the time dilation effect and my scrambled mission. I got three. I thought about getting Celestia and Luna, then I realized we probably need them here in case Majora tries something crafty.” “I got six,” Nova said. “Three of those were required!” “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Alushy cheered. “Friends shouldn’t fight!” Melinda countered. “We need to work together to face the evil.” Alushy looked up at her. “I’m really not sure what to make of you.” Twilight blinked, walking over. “Quite a group, Pinkie. Hey Siron, Alushy, Melinda.” “What’s with your ears?” Melinda asked. “Oh. I got my ears blown out. Went deaf.” “That’s horrible!” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Yes it is. But not important right now. What’s important is the giant claw of purple you three have conveniently not looked at yet.” The newcomers stared at the claw being beaten back by Discord, the mask, the Tree of Harmony, and a handful of unicorns. Starswirl was currently not beating back the darkness, but instead was placing magical markings in the ground around the Tree of Harmony. The shadow flooded the minds of the newcomers. Siron let out a breath of bloodcurdled rage. Melinda’s face became overcome with fear – a feeling she had felt so rarely in her ‘perfect’ existence. Alushy, on the other hand, just grinned. “Yes. Hell yes. Hell fudging yes! This is the kinda thing I want to fight! The kinda thing that could trounce me! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find things like that?” “Fluttershout,” Renee reminded her. “That was bullshit and you know it.” Renee shrugged. “Not claiming otherwise.” Twilight turned on her ears, wincing audibly. She climbed up on a rock on the outside of the clearing, coughing to grab everybody’s attention. “Okay, everyone, let’s go over what we’re doing. We are taking Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf to the center of Majora’s essence on the other side of this portal. We will activate the Triforce with the power of the Sage’s mask, and either seal Majora away or destroy her, whichever works.” “It will likely end up being a seal,” the Happy Mask Salesman offered. “Thank you… Mister Salesman.” Twilight shook her head, clearing it. “The other side of this portal will be horrendous, monstrous, and full of death. I don’t know if we’ll make it far, or even if we can really make it back. But we need to take this to her. Those of you who can’t fight on a high level… I am going to ask you to leave. Sage, tag Vivian out. She’s been through enough.” The Sage swapped places with Vivian, reclaiming the mask. She focused on keeping the purple claw at bay again. “Vivian,” Twilight said. “Did you catch what I said?” Vivian nodded. “I’m not complaining. Today… Today has been enough.” “Renee, Flutterfree… I’m going to ask you to stay behind as well.” Renee smirked. “Figures. I wish you luck, Twilight. Come back to us, you hear?” Twilight nodded. “I plan on it. And as for you-“ Toph held up a hand. “If you were about to tell me to stay back because I’m not on the same ‘level of power’ as you all, you can take your words and shove them back down your throat. I’m not going anywhere.” “Neither am I,” Sunset said, lighting her antlers and horn. “Not only because I feel that this is my quest that I need to finish, but also that I can use Majora’s very essence against her.” Twilight smiled. “Fair enough. You two can come.” She turned to the claw, smile vanishing. She turned off her ears. “We go in five minutes, or when I give the signal. That’s when everyone pushes in with everything we’ve got. Starswirl will be ready by then. The Tree will do all it can to protect us.” She stared at the portal. “Just a matter of time…” Twilight, Pinkie, Nova, the Sage, Discord, Starswirl, Toph, General Sunset, Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Siron, Alushy, Melinda, the Happy Mask Salesman, and the Tree of Harmony itself… Whatever these people were normally, they could forget that for now. Today, they were heroes. ~~~ O’Neill had Cosmo permanently on screen for the battle in a small window next to the actual battle display. “Ready if you are,” he said. “Ready,” Cosmo said. “All ships’ channels are online and prepared for my magic.” “Our really big bombs are active and our drone bay is full,” O’Neill said. “Ba’al, Starfinder, you two good as well?” “Peachy,” Ba’al muttered. “Ready!” Mauve called from the Starfinder. O’Neill walked over to the control console and pressed the jump button himself. The Apollo went into overdrive to power the dimensional device, tearing a hole in space large enough to fit several ships through. The fleet moved in, far enough away that the Majora planet wasn’t in sight range. “How’s our power?” O’Neill asked. “Should be plenty to maintain the portal until they’re all through,” a crewmember said. “No reaction from Majora. She may not know we’re here…” “She knows,” Cosmo said. “I can feel her, and she can feel me. She just knows that she can’t reach us all the way out here effectively.” She sighed. “She thinks she can take us when we move in.” “Be careful,” O’Neill said. “Don’t let her get in your head.” “Princess Cosmo’s head is just fine,” the Starlight AI chirped. “I know. I’ve been scanning it constantly. It’s under stress, but no nefarious entities yet.” “Thank you,” Cosmo said, narrowing her eyes. “It still unnerves me, the confidence I feel coming off Majora. I’m almost certain she knows exactly what we’re doing, and what our plans are.” “She can’t know exactly how powerful one of our bombs are, or precisely how good your ships are at amplifying your power, or the extent of Twilight’s group.” “No. But her confidence is unnerving.” “Do you think she knows about Plan B?” “I’m not sure…” Cosmo said. “I did detect a reaction in her when you said that, but I don’t know what it means.” “Okay, it is now time to stop talking about Plan B just in case we managed to slip that one by her. Is everyone through?” “Yes,” a crewmember said. “All ships accounted for.” “Then here we go,” O’Neill said. “ATTENTION MULTIVERSAL FLEET. We’re ready for battle. You all know what this is going to be – our goal is to shred that purple planet to complete smithereens. There’s a very large chance none of what we do will have much effect, but keep attacking anyway. We have men trying something else, and our presence may keep them alive. And to you, Majora – I know you’re listening. You’re about to find out what it feels like to have an entire colony of fire ants get inside your trousers.” “I LOO̢K̵ ͜FORWAR̀D TO͠ ́TH͝E ̧P̸AI͟N͝,͏ MÒRT̀ÁL̡,” Maojra called across the divide of space. “Bejeezus,” O’Neill muttered, grabbing his pounding head. “You must have a difficult time at the club with that kind of voice… Fleet, engage!” The fleet used their various FTL drives to arrive at Majora’s planet in quick succession. Neither side wasted any time getting started. Majora had been preparing a large, powerful tendril longer than the Earth itself, and now she swung it at the ships. The Apollo responded by firing off three sets of weapons. The laser weapons did next to nothing, simply tearing holes through the impossible fleshy mass that healed almost immediately. The second weapons, the drones, were much more effective – the golden nodes of light rammed through the fleshy tentacle, then turned around and rammed through it again, and again, and again, tearing at it apart until they ran out of energy and exploded. But trumping all this was the cluster-nuke, special-ordered from Earth Tau’ri. A weapon designed to glass planets. The huge cylinder departed from the Apollo’s underside, rushing toward the fleshy mass. It split into eight sections, swirling around the tentacle and hitting it in seven different places, the eighth part continuing on to the planet’s ‘surface’. The supercharged nukes were more than enough to blow the tentacle to smithereens, though the surface took the hit dead on with little apparent damage. Majora fought back with psychological warfare. Every mortal mind within the fleet had to scream in madness from the noise that entered their ears. Weapons that weren’t automatic stopped firing. Cosmo took a deep breath in. “When all hope is lost, look to the Harmony within yourself, connect the souls between ponies, and stand stronger than any alone.” She let it out, and spread her wings. Her entire body flashed white, the power of her Tree of Harmony spreading from her horn, wingtips, and mane. The specially designed holes in the flower-shaped ship she was on sucked the power from her. Every petal point produced a spark of white magic, sending a beam of Harmony to another one of Cosmo’s ships. Each of those ships took the magic it received and magnified it, firing it back to the flower capital ship and other amplifier ships. A spherical lattice of magic lines connected everyone together save the Apollo, Starfinder, and Ba’al’s ships. The mental assault of Majora ended, banished by the holy barrier. “Th-thanks…” O’Neill said, touching his ear. That was blood all right. “I’m not done yet,” Cosmo said. “Majora, Goddess of Ardent and the Twilight! You threaten my ponies, and my allies, like the exterminators did so long ago. Prepare yourself to face the might that drove them to extinction.” Cosmo’s lattice shot a beam of pure holy light forward. Majora acted fast, knowing that if that power hit her core, it would be bad for her. A shield composed of purple miasma, claws, and eyes the size of small moons appeared, dissipating the holy power. The shield didn’t crack or bend from the power. “Don’t stop shooting!” Cosmo yelled to the others. “This isn’t going to be enough!” “You heard her!” O’Neill yelled. “Fire all weapons!” Everything flew towards the planet that was Majora with intent to kill. ~~~ General Sunset felt the power of Majora falter. Apparently Twilight did as well, because she instantly yelled “NOW! EVERYONE, MOVE IN!” Sunset didn’t need to be told twice, She put all the power she could into her antlers and horn, charging. She felt the weakened tendril of Majora give way. Her power was enough to push it back. When Alushy, Melinda, and Siron joined in, it was more than enough to break through the barrier. Starswirl uprooted the Tree of Harmony and dragged it through with them, the glowing crystals shooting out all the rainbows the tree could manage, providing them a bubble of multicolored safety in the other world. The portal closed behind them, leaving them inside a drifting bubble several hundred kilometers above the surface of Majora. Majora fought back, pushing them away with what energy she could spare – but most of it was going to the assault from space. Apparently throwing nukes and magic at Majora did have an effect – there just needed to be a lot. The fleet could have completely reduced several normal planets to rubble at this point, but Majora was still facing off against them strongly. “I hope we have radiation therapy,” Alushy said. “Because holy fudge that’s a lot of nukes.” “We’ll all go to healers,” Nova said. “Right now…” “EVERYONE! PUSH DOWN!” Twilight yelled, firing her magic laser at the shadow keeping them from progressing. Melinda pushed both her hands forward, unleashing a torrent of magic stronger than Twilight had seen her use before. Just the right amount for the occasion. Alushy completely discarded her physical pony form in favor of thousands of dark ridges covered in teeth and eyes. They could still feel Alushy’s voice. “The number of lost souls… They empower me… THE DEAD RISE AGAINST YOU, MAJORA!” Siron wordlessly shot his beam of red and green energy downward. Toph folded her arms, bored because she was floating and couldn’t detect any rock - though she was also on edge, trying not to freak out about how helpless and dependant she was right now. General Sunset used her antlers to connect directly to the eldritch power beneath them, and banish it as far as she could. Their combined efforts dragged the bubble of Harmony closer and closer to the actual surface of Majora. The Happy Mask Salesman rubbed his hands. “Once we touch down, we should be able to use the Triforce! Simple as that!” The Sage grunted through her use of the mask, her holy tendrils tearing apart the shadow more than most others. “I feel like an overglorified battery…” Discord muttered. Pinkie shrugged. “Eh, I’m actually not doing anything, so… Yeah. I’m more here to catch if someone tries something spooky.” Melinda grinned. “Stand together everyone! We can do this!” Zelda, Ganondorf, and Link held their hands that bore the pieces of the Triforce together, ready for the rapidly approaching ground. They crashed into the eldritch soil way too hard, creating a crater in the fleshy mess. It was pretty clear that the geometry of the world around them was impossible, but the bubble of Harmonious energy kept the eldritch power from driving them insane. What they could tell was that the ground was made of both flesh and rock, the mountains had both eyes and mouths, tentacles appeared from nowhere and yet everywhere, and a deep, purple miasma filled the whole place. Then they saw her. Or her center. Majora’s mask had taken its place at the top of a mountainous sized hunk of flesh, the only truly defined physical property of the scenery. It leaned in, revealing a tremendously long tendril of a body affixed to an ever changing number of spidery legs – sometimes six, sometimes thirteen, sometimes somewhere in between. The arms came closer to them, allowing three separate hands to grab the outside of the harmony bubble. The palms contained designs of eyes, teeth, mouths, and miniature versions of Majora’s mask itself. She spoke, clearly trying to use her eldritch voice to burn their brains, but the power within the bubble was too strong. “GIVE ME YOUR WORST.” General Sunset gulped. Had they miscalculated horribly? Majora seemed way, way too confident for this… Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf raised their hands into the air. The Pinkie Sage stood on top of them, letting the power within her mask flood into their hands. The pieces of Triforce left the bodies of the bearers, taking their positions in the world as three physical triangles of a golden hue, arranging themselves in a larger triangle pattern, a single inverted triangular hole between them. The Sage floated in the middle of the Triforce, holding her mask high. “Majora – we wish for your defeat.” Majora laughed. “I defeated the Goddesses! Your Triforce can do nothing!” She pointed at the golden triangles attempting to grant her wish. “Look at them squirm! Look at them dance! But they know they do not have the power within them to undo me. Not even with all the souls sealed within your mask. I am Majora. I am more than a stupid Goddess. I am the destruction of everything, including the divinity that is creation.” The Happy Mask Salesman was suddenly standing outside the bubble. “You created something, once.” “What is…” “Did you ever wonder what happened to your piece of the Triforce once it was rejected?” “It was destroye- No.” The Happy Mask Salesman held up his hand, revealing a single, black, inverted triangle. “I’ve kept this a secret for so long. Until the moment came where I knew I could get rid of you forever. They have the means. But first you need to go back into that mask.” “NO!” The inverted piece of Triforce took its place in the hole between the rest. The Triforce became a solid piece of holy whiteness. It rotated, accepting the wish spoken by the Sage. The Sage screamed, throwing herself into the true Triforce. It absorbed both her and the mask in an instant. Sunset gasped – the Sage. She… She was gone. Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and the Happy Mask Salesman all passed out as the true Triforce whirled around faster… And faster… and faster… Majora tried to hit the Harmony bubble with more might, but the effort going into the space battle prevented her from mustering enough. Alushy, Melinda, Discord, and the Tree of Harmony managed to keep her back. The Triforce unleashed its full power, hitting Majora right in the mask that was her face. She reeled back, screaming. Sunset suddenly realized how powerless she was in this fight, against this creature who could fight against the power of several goddesses, an onslaught more than capable of wiping out an entire planet, and even a part of herself. She was one being fighting against multiple universes. How had Sunset not realized how terrifying Majora truly was until now? Majora screamed. ~~~ Majora’s planet sent out a burst of intense magic and not-quite-magic energy, shaking every ship in the fleet. A few that were damaged from the battle exploded, including Ba’al’s Mothership. O’Neill was not sad to see that one go. One less problem for later. “Report!” he said, climbing back into the chair he was just tossed out of. “It… looks like they did it,” Cosmo said. “Look at the planet.” The purple energy around Majora’s world was dissipating quickly, leaving behind nothing but chunks of earth. The fleshy tendrils, the shield, everything Majora-esque began to vanish. “Stop firing!” O’Neill yelled. Cosmo dropped her gigantic purging laser before he finished his sentence. The fleet, sitting at ninety percent of their original numbers, stood over the world, watching it revert to a normal ruin. Cosmo frowned. “…I still sense her. Her power is severely limited, but she’s there.” “Probably sealed in the mask,” O’Neill said. “You’re probably right. Let’s move in closer and see.” “Roger roger,” O’Neill saluted. He shook his head. “Most headache inducing battle of all time…” ~~~ The ground returned to normal. Toph celebrated by kicking a rock into the air. “Yeah! We did it!” “No we didn’t! Stop celebrating early!” Pinkie shouted, drawing her warhammer. “There’s more where that-“ Majora’s mask fell to the ground, landing right in the center of all of them. Its eyes glowed an intense color, filled with rage. But the mask was inert. Pinkie narrowed her eyes. “I was sure there was more to this…” Alushy kicked the mask, knocking it to the side. “There. Now I can say I punched out Cthulhu.” “She’s not-“ Nova began. “Sh sh sh... Let me have this.” Melinda stood on top of the mask and grinned. “We’re victorious, friends! Let us seal this evil creature away forever!” “My God, how much of a ham are you!?” Alushy blurted. “All the ham,” Pinkie said, grunting. Discord walked up to Melinda. He looked down at the mask. “Huh. Is it supposed to be calling out to me?” “Yeah, we’re all hearing that,” General Sunset said. “Just don’t put it on, we’ll toss it into a black hole and everything will be fine.” Discord kicked the mask – and the moment he made contact he was tossed far away. They could hear Majora laugh. “It’s not that hard to absorb chaos magic… Just need an unguarded touch…” A spike of fleshy darkness shot out of the mask and right through Melinda’s midsection. She quickly teleported away but still passed out from the sudden intense pain. Pinkie blinked. “Crud.” The spike of flesh turned into a hand, and three other spikes shot out the back of the mask in quick succession. Soon, a lanky humanoid figure took shape, with Majora’s Mask as its chest. It laughed. “Who wants to go first?” Despite the Harmony of the Tree, almost everyone present was frozen in fear. Everyone except one particular vampire pony. “Hey. Majora. Sup.” “Sup?” Majora said. “Yeah. Sup. Name’s Alushy.” She flew into the air and bucked Majora in the place where her head should have been. “And now I’ve punched you in the face, officially, no take backs.” Majora drove her hand straight through Alushy. She dissipated into a dark, loose form. “Nyah! Not even you eldritch gods can-“ Majora squeezed. Alushy yelled in pain as she was forced back to her solid form. “HOLY HELL THAT HURTS!” Majora tossed her to the ground, stomping on her head and splattering it against the ground. She kept her foot planted, keeping Alushy from regenerating for the moment. Toph snapped out of it next, tossing rocks, but this was just child’s play to Majora. Nova and Twilight fired as one, but their magic reflected right off her. Pinkie smashed the real warhammer down on her, but she was kicked to the side. Siron pointed his staff at Majora. “You’re a traitor.” “So are you.” Majora retorted. She snapped her fingers, breaking all four of Siron’s wrists. She just glared at him and he fell over. Then she walked to the Tree of Harmony and Starswirl. “Taking your magic will be more difficult than that chaotic snake’s, but I’m more than willing to be patient.” Starswirl narrowed his eyes. “You will not-“ Majora backhanded him away. She stroked the branches of the Tree, chuckling. “You know your little rainbows can’t purge me. But I wonder why you’re not even trying, great Castor…” General Sunset’s mind suddenly started working. She had an idea. She teleported over to the form of Link. He was breathing, but clearly not getting up anytime soon. She was sure he wouldn’t mind what she was about to do, considering. She levitated the Master Sword out of its sheath. It was the finest blade she had ever seen – sharper than any she had ever beheld, more intricately designed than most artworks, and the handle’s brilliant blue stood out like it was too pure to exist. On one side was an engraving of the Triforce, which seemed to have lost its power. But on the other, there was an imprint of an hourglass. And this part still held power, Sunset knew it. She’d seen Link do it before, right? Just point the tip of the sword in front of you and trace out an hourglass shape. That was all it needed. Majora drew her claw over a branch of the Tree of Harmony. “So delicious… So pure…” Sunset lifted the master sword with her magic and traced out the hourglass shape. Everything froze in a single instant. Nothing moved, not even Majora. Sunset swore she could hear Pinkie scream to her. “Move already!” Sunset teleported right behind the frozen Majora and cut her as many times in as many places with the Master Sword as she could manage in a blind frenzy. Arm, leg, chest, pelvis, chest again, hand, leg, other arm. A handful of seconds later, time restarted. Around every cut, a burst of purple mist poured out of Majora. One of her arms fell to the ground. Maora still managed to turn despite her severed hips. The front half of her body slid to the ground, but her hand was still outstretched. The eyes of the mask stared right into Sunset’s. Sunset froze. She saw the hand reaching for her, but the gaze of the mask wouldn’t let her go. Majora knew she had lost. But she wouldn’t let the smallest victory escape. “Sunset!” Toph yelled, throwing a volley of rocks. But it was too late – the fingers of Majora slid out, puncturing Sunset’s brain, heart, and horn. The fingers disintegrated the instant after they performed the vile act, once again leaving just Majora’s mask on the ground. Twilight encased the mask in a magic box, then she ran to Sunset - but Toph got there first. She touched Sunset’s body and knew she those were no ordinary wounds Majora had inflicted. They had frozen Sunset’s body, turning it into a material that wasn’t quite flesh, but not quite rock. Tears flowed from Toph’s eyes. “S… Sunset! Come on!” She laid her hands on her friend and leader for most of the last year. “You can’t just check out because your quest is over! Sunset! Sunset get up!” She extended a hand to her side. “Does anyone know any healing magic!?” “I… Don’t think it would help,” Twilight said, leaning down. “Majora… She…” Twilight sat down and shook her head. “She was a sore loser,” Alushy muttered, standing up. Toph stood up, fists clenched hard enough to hurt. She raised a hand, kicking up a pillar of earth. The Master Sword flipped up, down, around, and into her hand. It was still covered in the strange juices of Majora. Toph showed no signs of ever letting that sword go. O’Neill and Cosmo teleported down. “Did you do it?” O’Neill asked. Twilight didn’t hear. Nova had to point O’Neill to the magic box. Cosmo sealed it up tighter in her own magic and took it. “Who didn’t make it?” O’Neill asked. “The Sage. General Sunset,” Nova said, biting back her tears. O’Neill let out a sharp breath. “It always happens…” He grit his teeth. “I’m sorry.” Toph pointed the Master Sword at him. “You’re sorry?Old man, what are you sorry for? Was the plan not good enough? Should she not have come? Should-“ O’Neill leaned down and put a hand on Toph’s shoulder. “Kid, listen to me. Listen close. You’re going to hurt for a long, long time, and it will never completely go away. Don’t remember her by thinking, over and over again, how you could have done things differently. The ‘what if’ game never goes anywhere. Remember her by thinking what she’d want you to do, what you’re going to do with her legacy.” Toph looked like she wanted to stab him, but ended up hugging him instead. “I know. I know. It hurts…” ~~~ Sombra’s phone beeped. She looked at it. “Well, the bubble went down, and we’re not dead, so I think they won.” Aang let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good…” Corona started to stir. Sombra blinked. “…Convenient timing.” Corona opened her eyes. “…What?” “The drugs wearing off just as we all realized we’re alive.” “Oh,” Corona said, groggily trying to stand up. She realized she had a broken bone and fell to her other side, hissing at the pain. “Yeah, we need to get you fixed up…” Aang said. “I… Am so sorry. I know it wasn’t me, but…” “Shh,” Sombra said, pressing Corona’s lips with her finger. “You were under the influence of an alien deity, and we all thought she couldn’t get in your head anymore. It’s okay.” “I know. I still feel horrible.” “That might just be the drugs.” Corona snorted. “…Tempest? Mike? Ike?” “They made it out alive,” Sombra said. “Thank goodness… …Director Storm?” “Here,” Storm said, limping through the hallway. “Broken, but fine.” Sombra tensed. “I’m not going to shoot you,” Storm muttered, sitting down in the rubble. “I am getting out of here, though,” Sombra said. “Can’t be around when the nice guys show up and feel a need to capture me.” “You earned your freedom this time. Take it,” Storm said. Sombra bowed. “I’ll be in touch, Corona!” She vanished right before their eyes. Corona nodded. “Yeah… touch… ugh…” Aang laughed. “Wow. I need to get you some cactus juice. I bet you’ll be hilarious on it.” “Shut up. Hey, Director, am I still fired?” “Yes.” “Figured I’d ask.” Corona was silent for a moment. “I’m going to be really upset about that after the drugs wear off, huh?” “Yes.” “Looking forward to that.” There was silence for a little while. “How much longer until the emergency rescue shows up?” “No idea.” Aang groaned. “Just… great.” ~~~ In a cell on a world where the Spectacularium ran free, a certain Applejack saw a familiar face. “Ah thought you were never comin’ back,” Applejack called to Toph as she strolled closer to the cell. “Does Sunset know you’re here?” “I just thought you’d like to know something,” Toph said, walking right up to the cell bars, Master Sword in hand. “What?” “Sunset’s dead.” Applejack blinked. “…What?” “She finished the quest. All of it. Sage Pinkie, Ba’al, Majora – everything. She delivered the final blow to a being who wanted to destroy everything. She saved us all. Even you.” Applejack blinked. “What’s the matter? Not as happy as you thought you’d be?” “Buck off.” “I’m NOT bucking off!” Toph screamed. “She was a great mare who sacrificed herself for us all and you hate her!” “Bad ponies can do good things, kid,” Applejack said. “Just because you died right doesn’t mean you lived right.” “Speaking from experience?” “Yes,” Applejack said, turning away. “Now, leave. Thank you for telling me. I don’t want to see you again.” Toph clutched her sword. Then she relaxed. “…I was expecting some kind of reaction. An admission of wrong, or a delighted smile that would give me an excuse to cut you in two. But… You just look lost.” Applejack said nothing. “…I hope you find what you’re looking for.” Toph turned and walked away. Applejack sighed. “I don’t even know what I’m looking for…” ~~~ Queen Luna led Nova and Pinkie into the secret chamber. “Here they are. The graves.” Spectacular statues of three ponies stood in the chamber – a white marble Celestia, a rose quartz Pinkie Sage, and a sunstone General Sunset. Luna smiled. “I know General Sunset has an official grave out in the military yard but… I think she belonged here, with the others.” “Thank you,” Nova said, tears coming to her eyes. “They… They needed this.” The Queen nodded. “Apparently I have a habit of making graves I’m not supposed to. It won’t be much longer before I reveal this to everypony. Just a little longer.” Pinkie nodded. “I know. …Can you give us a moment?” The Queen teleported away without a word. Nova and Pinkie stared at the two graves. Pinkie sighed. “I knew the Sage was sacrificing herself. I knew it from the start. But Sunset? I…” she sniffed. “I didn’t see that coming.” “I don’t think she did, either,” Nova said. “She just acted. To save us all.” “She can’t be defined by just her last moment,” Pinkie said. “Come on, what else was she?” “Driven. Stupidly driven, at times,” Nova said. “Single minded. Very loyal, trustworthy, and full of a fire few other ponies had.” “She knew how to lead. She knew how to leave a legacy. And she knew how to turn her life around,” Pinkie added. “She was a villain to us, at first. Then she was just misguided. Then she became the hero, then the savior.” “Was she really any of those things?” Nova asked. “I don’t think anybody’s truly those things. All of us fighting Majora, in that moment, we were heroes. But we’re not heroes right now. We’re just ponies. Crying ponies.” She hung her head, holding Nova close. Nova didn’t feel the need to say anything in return. ~~~ Twilight looked at Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf. “I’m curious. What are you three going to do now? All the Goddesses of your world are gone, the greatest power you had at your disposal was sacrificed, and now you’ve all got to go home.” Ganondorf grunted. “Same as before. Lead my people to power.” Zelda nodded. “The same.” “Link?” Twilight asked. “And Midna, I guess.” Link shrugged. “I don’t know. The Master Sword has chosen someone different for the first time in… the history of our world. Maybe it’s telling me that it’s time for the line of chosen heroes to come to an end. That I should settle down, stop all the adventuring.” Midna rolled her eyes. “You always say that at the end of an epic quest, and you can never sit still for long.” Link smirked. “I… Guess you’re right.” “That’s why I think we spend maybe a week with Zelda then it’s off to the races again. And that’s where I’ll be, in your shadow, keeping you from doing something stupid.” Link nodded. “Yeah, that is what you do.” Twilight smiled. “Then… I wish you all luck. For better or worse, you are now free.” The three of them bowed and left through the portal to their world. Twilight didn’t know why, but she felt happy for them. ~~~ Renee looked up at Daniel. “You must be in a thinking mood.” “Hrm?” “They brought you something made almost entirely out of avocados. You must want to think. I know you aren’t a huge fan of them otherwise.” Daniel smirked. “Ah, you’re right there. I am thinking.” “Penny for your thoughts?” “…I was thinking about how Majora managed to get as far as she did. She exploited our desire to keep secrets.” “How so?” “In the case of Earth Vitis, she built nodes at the magical locations kept secret by the government, and used Ba’al to ensure the government didn’t complain by taking over the minds of key figures. And in the case of the Binaries she had the nodes built with smuggled magic artifacts, each in different areas of the planet so the Binaries couldn’t organize to figure out what they were. She used our systems of government against us. I have no doubt she could have done the same on Earth Tau’ri with a bit more effort.” “So… What, secrets are bad?” Daniel nodded. “I’ve been talking to Jack and the rest of my government about disclosing the stargate program to the public for some time now. I’m thinking of turning it into a large announcement, and encouraging all of our allies to do the same. It’ll be like a multiversal disclosure day.” “That sounds like a nightmare to get everyone to agree on, darling.” Daniel smirked. “That’s the fun part. But I think it’d be good for everyone, even with the difficulties it brings up. It’ll allow our worlds to become even closer than they are. And since Majora’s gone and Ba’al has been thoroughly decimated, I think the time to think about it is quickly approaching.” Renee smirked. “You’re crazy, but right. You know that?” “Yes. Yes I do. You should eat your mushroom stew, looks like it’s getting cold.” “I wonder what mushroom stew says about my mood…” Renee pondered. “…That you were in the mood for something thick and creamy?” Renee rolled her eyes. “I meant about my psychological state.” “Hey, sometimes, it’s just food, Renee.” ~~~ O’Neill and the Happy Mask Salesman stood on the front-most point of the Apollo, both in full spacesuit. In front of them was a circle of blackness that bent the light of all stars around it into an eerie, distorted halo. O’Neill turned to the Happy Mask Salesman. “Ready to end this?” The Happy Mask Salesman took Majora’s Mask out of its black box and held it in his hands. He could feel it reach out to his mind, but fail miserably to do anything to him, as always. He smiled. “You know, it almost feels sad, to finally close the book on this purpose in my life.” “I can throw it in if you’re having second thoughts.” The Happy Mask Salesman laughed his creepy laugh, sending shivers up O’Neill’s spine. “Oh, I’m throwing it. If I didn’t get the honor, I’d be very upset.” Seemingly without motion, suddenly his hand was outstretched and the mask was flying toward the black hole. It turned to face O’Neill directly, one last time. “I ͞WILL ̧H́AUNT ͟YO̷U͝ FO͝REVE͞R.” O’Neill whistled. “Yeah, I believe you on that one. Now enjoy your existence in a place that’s just as impossible to wrap my head around as you are. Toodeloo.” Majora said nothing further as she tumbled towards the event horizon. O’Neill and the Happy Mask Salesman watched the mask shift to a red color and eventually vanish from their sight completely. Majora was forever trapped within the cosmic vacuum of the universe. O’Neill stretched his arms. “Well, ready to go back inside? I can get us a drink. I can tell we’ll need it.” The Happy Mask Salesman nodded wordlessly.