Future and Past
Octavia and Vinyl spent a great deal of time talking together as they made plans for their future and discussed events of their pasts, trying to figure out the best way to fit themselves back into the world at large, or if they even should try. As they talked, Albert took his time looking over the technology that made his ‘Terran’ guests function, along with the advancements made available due to material developments for X, Zero, and Axl. While this was going on, Vinyl’s Guardians stood silent watch, waiting for orders as they had little else to do at the moment, and found themselves quite out of their depth regarding everything going on.
“I’d hate to interrupt happy moments,” Dynamo spoke up playfully, “but someone might want to deal with the rapidly gathering angry mob outside.”
“Angry mob?” Octavia asked curiously. “That doesn’t sound like Ponyville.”
Vinyl let out a loud cough that sounded suspiciously like, “Zecora!” Octavia countered by blowing a raspberry.
Albert moved to the window and looked out. Ponies had gathered around the castle, looking quite angry and almost ready to storm the place. From what he could see, the charge was coming from another castle in the distance made of crystal. “Hmm...think it’s the skull motif?”
“...yeah, that’d do it...” Vinyl murmured thoughtfully. “They probably think we’re some sort of inter-dimensional villains here to take over and enslave them, and think we killed...well, us, on arrival.”
“That...is a problem,” Octavia mused idly. “And given how panicky ponies tend to be, I doubt they’ll take our word that all this advanced technology isn’t mind controlling us. We’ll need to figure out a way to get some breathing room without hurting anypony...and a way to convince them we aren’t evil in the process.”
Vinyl stared at Octavia in amazement. “You seem to know your way around the battlefield,” she mused thoughtfully.
“I tended to be on the front lines a great deal,” Octavia responded happily. “Myself, and many good friends.”
“Good friends, huh...” Vinyl murmured sadly, glancing away.
“What’s wrong?” Octavia asked earnestly, deciding to take care of Vinyl before the angry mob outside.
“It’s just...” Vinyl sighed sadly. “I...I lost a lot of friends that day. Some that...well, I’d have loved for them to see the world you built. Two in particular really, but they were guests at the wedding, and...” She lowered her gaze.
“...actually, Vinyl, I think I may have a way to solve both problems,” Albert spoke up suddenly. “That is, if Zero will loan me the use of his buster.”
“My buster?” Zero asked in confusion as everyone looked up. “Well, sure. But what are you going to do?” He held out his buster arm.
Grinning, Albert went over to the computer and made a few connections between it and Zero’s buster. “Tom and I created two things that revolutionized robotics as a practical science. The first was our original power core design, which went into Protoman and every robot after him until more efficient models were developed, like those Forte, X, Zero, and Axl have. The second was the matter/energy conversion engine that was the basis of the Master Abilities, and the Variable Weapon System.”
“Where are you going with this?” X asked carefully.
“Just this!” Albert declared as he ran his hands over the console, a wide grin spreading across his face. “The true power of that conversion system...with enough energy and the right programs...”
Zero’s arm suddenly jerked up, and he fired off a blast of energy that arced out onto the ground outside the fortress between it and the angry mob. When it landed, it took the shape of Cutman. “Fear the power of three!” he declared proudly as he struck a pose.
“...you can hold an army in the palm of your hand!” Wily concluded as he pressed one last key. Zero fired...and fired...and fired...
Vinyl and the others raced to the window and watched what was taking shape down below. Before Vinyl’s eyes, every Robot Master she’d witnessed die - whether in the world conquest attempts or from the actions of whoever attacked the wedding - took shape out of pure energy, falling into line on land and in the air. Much to her amazement, it wasn’t just those she and Albert had built...but any that had been particularly close as well, any who had lived on Sky Lagoon. Her eyes locked onto a particular pair of energy charges that landed close together.
A humanoid robot in blue samurai armor took shape, sitting on a green tank that had the upper body of a young woman with gun arms in place of a turret. The samurai put an arm around the girl’s shoulders, waving up at Vinyl with his spear.
Seeing Vinyl’s tears pouring from her eyes from the sight, Octavia pulled her close to offer comfort. Vinyl then glanced towards her, a question in her eyes. Octavia glanced from the army below to the fortress they were in...and rolled her eyes. “Okay, if that’s what you need...” Vinyl hugged Octavia tight in gratitude.
“So Vinyl,” Wily asked eagerly, his mad grin still on his face, “what are we going to do now?”
A matching grin slowly spread on Vinyl’s face. “The same thing we always do, Dad...try and take over the world!”
Celestia and Luna were sitting down to dinner - for Celestia, it was actually breakfast for Luna - when a guard burst in through the door. “Your Highnesses! Canterlot is being invaded!”
“...what?” Celestia gasped in shock. “How?”
“A...an army of bipedal machines is marching on the castle!” the guard responded. “They have air support, and weapons the likes of which we’ve never seen before! Some have set themselves on fire to fly about, and others have simply lifted buildings out of the way...and several are making objects fly about at will without any visible magical fields. There’s even a giant with them!”
“Lead the way!” Luna declared, leaping to her hooves and leading the rush out to the balcony where they could see what was happening. True enough, an army of robots was on the march, each wielding powers the likes of which Equestria could scarcely imagine. And to set the cadence of the march...they were singing.
They're Vinyl and Wily
Yes Vinyl and Wily
Both are genius
Whether human or pony
This Father/Daughter team
Will make the heroes scream
They're Vinyl
Yes Vinyl and Wily, Wily, Wily, Wily, Wily!
As the lyrics stopped for a time, Celestia blinked in confusion. “Vinyl? As in...Vinyl Scratch? She DJ’d Cadence’s wedding reception...”
“Did you remember to pay her bill?” Luna offered curiously, uncertain what to make of it all as the robot army brushed aside the Royal Guard without hurting them, the song beginning anew.
The night's not yet begun
But their plan has been unfurled
They will overthrow the sun
And take over the world!
“Just the sun?” Luna grumbled irritably. “What am I, chopped liver?”
“Wait...didn’t the first verse say something about Vinyl’s father?” Celestia asked in confusion as the song, ignoring their actions, picked up as the castle became surrounded.
They're Vinyl and Wily!
Yes Vinyl and Wily
Their family campaign
They feel no need to explain
The evil throne will be theirs
Equestria taken unawares
They're Vinyl, yes Vinyl and Wily, Wily, Wily, Wily-
A high pitched whistling echoed as a blue and yellow flying saucer coasted in through the army, stopping right before the two Diarchs. As it opened, Vinyl extended her metal leg out, the buster at the end converting into a sonic disruptor. She gestured to the Princesses’ crowns. “Drop it!”
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So we're now at TWO Equestrias taken over pre-crossover... hey Dissy, you better be ready to intervene once you've initiated the merger!
Whee-hee-hee-hee! Oh man, this chapter alone makes me wish that this continued on!
Wait, it is all,story is ended......... last chapter.....
Let's hope that we will see sequel (or something similar) soon
I guess some things will never change.......
I’m guessing that’s Giganto, they’re referencing. Meaning Vinyl’s brought out every robot master in her arsenal. Including the Wub Masters.
8221195
That’s right!
This might be a MITE overkill...
Luna: But I...
Vinyl: Here’s my old DJ equipment.
Luna: Tempting, but...
~
Octavia: It’s tradition.
8221200
“Drop It.”
Wait, did she just kill Celestia and Luna?! Or severely damage them?
This will be epic!!! I can't wait for the next chapters!
8221252
Quietly clears throat; points to where it says “complete”
8221267
Shit....
8221267
*cries*
I want more....
The ending is too big of a cliffhanger to just leave there...
You my good sir, I am unable to tell if you are made of win, or merely full of win.
That's the ending?! Well not completely what I wanted but I guess it will do. Now I wonder what story will premiere next?
Oh, this was glorious.
*See’s complete* Weak!
*Reads chapter* It’s fun but still weak that there’s only three chapters for this obviously good start to a wonderful story. Oh well, you can’t get what you want.
This was fun to read, even though it was *horribly* short. Keep up the good work
But... But... they're home... and their families... gonna rule Equestria... why is there no more story?!
8221244
Neither. She ordered them to drop their crowns.
A Gross overreaction to a single angry mob of ignorant towns-ponies with a history of overreacting to the smallest things (The horror. The Horror! ) before more or less forgetting what they were upset about to begin with after a few minutes. I also fail to see what Celestia and Luna may have done to instigate the mob and why they deserve to be threatened with a bass-cannon before both parties even try to negotiate for co-existence. It's not like this is a TCB multiverse branch or that the Princesses wouldn't welcome the technology the family has available to them. I only see the more traditionalist nobles being overly opposed to the changes such an arrangement would bring, and it isn't like either Vinyl or Octavia haven't handled worse publicity.
I expect this sort of thing from GLaDOS, but coming from the changed Vinyl and Albert Wily seen in their story, this seems to be pushing things a bit...
8221094
Why should he?
8221838
Because taking over a world is their idea of fun and family bonding. Didn't you read the song lyrics?
Besides, it's not like they'll be bad rulers. And what else are you going to do with a robot army in a world without advanced technology?
Beyond that, given the overall capabilities of the summoned robot masters (not to mention their visible abilities), ponies are going to assume invasion/conquest anyway.
8221376
Why not both?
8221918
Put them to work performing their intended tasks as Robot Masters, rather than having them "overrun" an all but defenseless society (comparatively) who's only "crime" was becoming upset on their behalf and jumping to conclusions based on their choice of building ornamentation...?
Vinyl and Wily's family pastime may be "taking over the world", but Octavia and her family are more "normal", with Saving the world being more along the lines of an enjoyable career/workout. Also as far as Vinyl and Wily go, after the Wub Masters arc it became less about taking over the world and more about the giving Rock something to do to take his mind off of his three-laws lockups and eventually help him "redeem" himself before falling into the "Bonding", with the last couple arcs being the lead-up to the frame-up of Vinyl and eventually her "legitimate" takeover ("" because she used the equivalent of hypnosis). At the end it was less because they genuinely wanted to, and more because their hands/hooves were forced by the same bigotry and shortsightedness that instigated their first few attempts interfering with their efforts on Sky Lagoon and the attempted sabotage of the Mars Colony.
All I'm saying is, from the mental templates I've put together in my head based on their altered personalities and actions in the stories, this seems a little extreme when they could instead use the resurrected Robot masters to pacify the crowd to enter reasonable negotiation and explain the situation to their fellow towns-ponies/The Princesses, rather than justifying the attitude and giving them a Real reason to want to go after them... I'd think they'd feel they'd had enough of that sort of attitude for one lifetime.
Tuesday in Ponyville: Where and When most of Life's biggest problems can be solved in thirty minutes or less and everyone walks away as better friends than before having learned valuable life lessons! Tune in Next Week, Same Pony Place, Same PWNY Time!
I swear when the angry mob appeared I half expected Wily to tell them to get the hell off his lawn.
8222084
One, you can't save the world if something isn't threatening it.
Two, Octavia gave Vinyl permission to go through with this as a means of becoming more emotionally adjusted to being back after what happened back on Earth (the idea being she overcomes grief by burying herself in work, either from fighting non-lethaly to take over, of by doing the paperwork of running the world.)
Three, Wily and Vinyl have, from the beginning, been mad scientists who were running the world for the past five or more years of their lives. You expect them to be logical?
8222154
Yes?
They're scientists and inventors. The Logic of the former is balanced by the insanity of the latter. Crazy dreams made reality through sound planning and controlled experimentation. As for ruling the world; Politics are just as much a machine as anything else, with reasons behind why everything happens, even if the masses at large don't see all the cogs. Throw a spanner in the works suddenly instead of using it to fix or replace the broken parts over time and everything falls apart, as Vinyl found out.
8222132
Right!???
8222232
You expect too much. They're anything but logical when they're this emotional.
bad ending Tats, seriously not the way to end this.
I mean honestly, you people really expect a master storyteller like Tatsurou to change their style now, after all this time? Not gonna happen; This story is just the epilogue to the other two.
You've fooled us all with this misconception of a sequel, you magnificent #%*&@.
Thanks for the laughs.
I really liked the sense of the possibility of actually losing someone. It honestly feels cheap when a character dies and everyone goes into mourning for them and all, and then they just deus ex come back.
Huh... so, this was how it ended? Not what I imagined... Kinda disappointed. Not gonna lie.
Something that I realized while letting other comments mull over in my mind: the end of Chapter 3 simply doesn't feel like an ending.
Not just in a "this is the end of a story" sense (which of COURSE it wouldn't be given the looming crossover event), but in a "this is the end of a story ARC" sense too. The only other PWNY-verse stories I've read that come close to failing this are Chrysalis (which, given both the 4th wall shenanigans AND the "we're at a stalemate but can't give up" situation, CAN'T progress without the crossover), and Fortresshy 1.5 (which is Slice of Life and thus exempt from NEEDING a solid end).
Denouement Duet doesn't have either of those justifications, and thus feels incomplete regardless of the official status.
8221245
Now, you see, THIS feels like a logical ending point! Old joke perhaps, maybe not large enough for its own chapter, but if it were put at the end of the LAST one it would work out fine! In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that's the case until the crossover or a rewrite proves otherwise.
8227059
I honestly think that Tatsurou's ending worked pretty well for me - I didn't mean to steal their thunder, just to provide a tiny little codicil, like a post-credit sting. The name of the story is Denouement Duet, meaning the final wrap-up of a pair of stories, instead of the start of a new one. It showed that Vinyl and Tavi were (ahem) happily reunited, and that there was a bright future ahead for the two. And hey, if you've already got a perfectly serviceable skull fortress and a loyal army within throwing distance of the capital of the empire, why not try to take over the world?
Short? Sure, but a story's usually short after the climax winds down. Thank you for the kind words, tho!
8227584
This.
This is exactly what I was going for with this.
It was never meant to stand on its own as a story. It was literally just meant to show that they have a happy reunion, and throw in the "Vinyl and Wily" joke I wrote way back in the "Mega Man 3" arc of Wily's Wittle Wub. (As in, that's when I wrote those parody lyrics.)
Reaction to seeing this: Yes! YES! YESSS!!! YEAH BOY!!! *mad laughter*
8228093
Then to be frank, you failed. The end of the last chapter worked to wrap things up from the first two stories since it more or less dealt with their emotional issues and clearly set them on the path to healing, but this feels like the start of a new plot arc about how they and Equestria deal with each other. There was really no need to go into that in order to wrap up the two stories and the character arcs within them, and it opens up a huge mess of plot threads that, while implied by the end of the last chapter, didn't need to be brought out unless you were going into a real story to deal with them.
8229051
The world doesn't end just because a story's wrapped up. Sure, the heroes have managed to kill Anakin and the Emperor once and for all, Luke and Leia know their past, Han gets his princess - but what happens next? (Barring the intervention of J.J. Abrams, of course.) Every one of Tatsurou's PWNY-verse stories have been about the characters finding themselves - from Rarity learning to live with and accept her darker side, to Coco finding a family, to Trixie becoming... well, Trixie, but more, to Nightmare Moon actually growing up in the proper sense. And so it is here. With the conclusion of those character arcs, certainly there are a lot of consequences with which to deal, and a lot of dangling plot threads about which to speculate, but those are a tale for another day.
What kind of author would Tatsurou be if they didn't give us food for thought?
Okay, I can't leave it at that, I'm going to go full-on lit geek here. There are three major foci for a protagonist, or really any detailed character. First is the world acting upon the character. This is where the character is thrust into a situation which they would not otherwise find themselves a part of. Every single PWNYverse tale starts out with that, both for the primary protagonist, and those around them. Pony (or, okay, gryphon) winds up in a new world with no memory of where they are or how they came to be there, and the people around them don't know where that pony's come from, so huge changes for everyone. Discord being Discord, he also put everyone into a place where they could be safe, meaning people who were unlikely to turn down the opportunity to raise a tiny little pony with big eyes and lots of fluff. Come to think, I wonder if he intentionally sought out the best 'parents' for each of those around. But that's neither here nor there. This is also the world, the setting, acting on characters other than the protagonist. Change hits us all, usually when we're trying to take a shortcut through a dark alley.
Second is how the character acts upon the world. The butterfly-of-doom is trite, tried and tapped out, so I'm not going to go that far. But the smallest actions can have far-reaching consequences, especially when those actions are in proximity to those whose grasp precisely equals their reach. A very good example is how Rarity finally inspired Bruce to leave the matter of the Joker to his friends in the Justice League, or how - under her jurisdiction - Gotham became a much more peaceful place, all in all. This doesn't necessarily need to happen, but it's almost inevitable: what's the point of a protagonist who sits on the sidelines, eating cookies and drinking their glass of milk? It makes for a much better story when the reader can see precisely how the world's changed under her influence.
The third is how the character changes themselves, the character acting upon the character. We've got a pretty good term for this, actually. It's called 'growing up', and this is the central point of Tatsurou's stories, at least as I read them. For all that Vinyl has those terribly, terribly stylish goggles, they're not blinkers. Every one of her actions was taken with eyes wide open, and she had to deal with the consequences, even if most of them weren't as harsh as they might have been. She grew up as a result of her own actions. The goal of stories like this is the self-actualization of its primary characters. For some ponies, this happens when they get their cutie marks: for others, it takes a while longer.
This also ties in quite nicely with the show. Every one of the Mane Six - and, to a lesser extent, Spike, but he's still smol - have realized themselves in ways they wouldn't otherwise have, and they're growing up. So to one degree or another, the torch has been passed along to those who haven't, who're still struggling with themselves. Because that's what a character arc is: it's about someone changing the world, having the world change them, and changing themselves. That, I think, is what the PWNY-verse is all about.
After all, nobody's as much of a fan of change as a god of chaos.
8229716
Thank you very much. You've hit the nail on the head on all points.
A most pleasant ending to a great story. I've always enjoyed it when OC's you put in become more than just extra characters and am honored that mine not only became fan favorites, but that they got a happy ending in the end.
I am, as always, looking forward to more of your great work.
Deus tecum.
8229671
, and everything was good. End of story. Everyone is assumed to more or less live happily ever after (plus shenanigans of course). We're good.
Thanks, that was exactly my point. The last chapter wrapped this up perfectly. They both sorted out the problems they were focused on, they both completed their own personal character arcs, they both got the girl
Then this chapter happened. What this chapter did was start a new story with them in Equestria, and that why I have a problem with calling this complete here. The first story was complete at the end of chapter 2. Chapter 3 on the other hand is the start of an entirely new story, so you can't call it complete any more than you could call the Hobbit complete after Bilbo left the Shire.
8229716
Well, since you are going full geek, I will too.
First, how the world acts upon the character. I think you basically hit the nail on the head with this one. While no process truly ends, this was mostly dealt with in the first few sections of the story as the characters learned about the world they lived in, at least as far as the Mega Man world goes (I'll get to Equestria later).
Second, how the character acts upon the world. You also hit the nail on the head with this. They did fundamentally change the Mega Man world in visible and meaningful ways. This was really obvious towards the end of the two stories, and part of the point of this thing was to tie the two together. The changes that Octavia made truly represented the realization of Vinyl's dreams, so a segment was needed to connect the two together in order to show how their actions supported each other. Once again though, this was completely limited to the Mega Man world.
Third, how the character changes themselves. I'm definitely with you that this was a constant theme and really underlined the entirety of both stories. This was mostly dealt with in the previous stories, but they once again needed to be brought together and this more than anything else drove the need for this story. We needed to see how Octavia's actions affected Vinyl and how directly interacting with each other caused them both to change. That was what the first two chapters spent most of their time doing, and while no character development process is ever truly complete, it did get the big stuff worked out to wrap up both their development arcs and at least painted the outline of their path forwards
Now for Equestria. The reason I was specifically excluding Equestria is very simply that they were never really in it. That means it wasn't part of the story and thus couldn't act on them or be acted on by them. Moving to Equestria is in many ways the most fundamental break between two stories since it effectively resets the entire world. That means two of the three pillars of a story are completely wrapped up and the story is very solidly over. To use your Star Wars analogy, this is the equivalent of ending Return of the Jedi with the entire main cast on the Death Star when it blew up. Sure there's still stuff afterwards to write a story about if you want to, but just about everything the story was about is completely gone. Everything was wrapped up, the world was as done as it is possible to be, the character arcs were finished. Sure there was a new world to explore and see how that relates to the characters, but that was very much a new story since it would completely reset two of those three pillars and start a new arc on the third.
What this last chapter did is start that new story. The characters start being acted on by and acting on the new world, new character paths are started, and everything is gearing up for another major story. Then it's called complete. That obviously doesn't work, and it's why a lot of us are complaining about it.
Does Vinyl REALLY want to be stuck with doing all the paperwork to run Equestria??? And if the crystal palace is in Ponyville, Tirek has already been defeated... this makes me sad since I would have loved to see Vinyl and Octavia take him on while their families offer color commentary.
8231793
I agree
Every one seems to forget they are back in equestria now. On a tuesday. They only have thirty minutes fir shenanigans before deus x twilight / starlight fixes everything to status quo. Of course they had to rush it.
Considering this is for all intents and purposes an epilogue... I think this is pretty neat. Yeah, I wish there was more, but this is just to wrap everything up, not start a whole new story.
Though... There is potential for a follow-up if you ever felt inclined.
All in all, good job.
I just realized, we never learned what the deal with CeCe was, did we?
*deep and disappointed sigh* Vinyl feels particularly dense in this story, this story feels rushed at the end, said story's end came way the fuck out of left field, and the worst of the four flaws I can find, you rehashed the end of Merc with the Moth. I'm not mad, just IMMENSELY DISSAPOINTED. To say that I'm mad implies that I have any anger left for this behavior from you. I'm just going to sit in a corner and hope against hope that you don't fuck up the Avengers-style finale you've got in the works. Though, if you meant the end of this to be the prologue to said finale, bra-fuggin-vo. Well-fuckin' played.