048 - Just Monika
The central sphere of the Nexus Galaxy was unreachable – a globe of stars that were visible from almost every location within the Galaxy which barred all visitors. Life, magic, and energy were drained in the void between the sphere and the galactic disc itself. Machines died, teleporters never returned, and transmissions were scrambled. Attempts had been made to breach the inner sphere for as long as the Nexus Galaxy had existed, and none had succeeded.
Or, at least, none had returned. This gave credence to the theory that the very center of the Galaxy contained a way out of the Nexus, somehow.
Corona was starting to consider the possibility of organizing an expedition into the central globe of stars. They had found no sign of Rev in their journeys across the innermost stars of the Galactic Disc and it had been well over a year. Perhaps it would be a better use of their time to do the impossible and breach the center.
We’d have to find a way to do it without just creating a suicide mission, Corona thought to herself as she stared at the sphere of stars through the window of a space station. And that… could take eons.
She sighed, turning away from the window and catching up with her friends. She, Blumiere, and Lieshy were on the station to do some shopping. Ship supplies, maps of the next galactic sector they were going to enter, and information about Rev if possible. The interior of the station was orange and filled with hundreds of patrons of differing species. Humans were dominant, and a couple ponies could be seen moving to and from merchant stalls that ranged from propped up pieces of cardboard to highly advanced light shows that were supposed to be impossible to ignore. The group was so used to the sights at this point they hardly paid them any mind.
Blumiere looked down at Corona with a curious expression. “Thinking about it again?”
“Chances are it’s in there,” Corona said. “And you know it.”
“There’s something in there, certainly,” Blumiere admitted. “But is it a way out, or just a death trap?”
“One would consider death a release,” Lieshy commented.
“This universe does not have an afterlife plane,” Blumiere pointed out.
Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “Who said it had to have an afterlife plane to be a release?”
“Morbid today, much?” Corona asked Lieshy.
Lieshy huffed. “I didn’t bring up the Core. I just played off of it.”
Corona nodded. She opened her mouth to respond, but tripped over her boots, falling flat on her face. Lieshy chuckled. Blumiere found this so amusing he let out his signature laugh. “BLEH HEH HEH heh, BLECK! Corona I told you to invest in new boots!”
Corona groaned, glancing at her boots. From over a year of wear and tear, they were barely on her hooves anymore. “Where am I going to find new boots for a unicorn?”
Lieshy pointed. “That stand has a lot of boots.”
Corona rolled her eyes. “Lieshy, I didn’t process that doub- oh.” Lieshy had apparently been speaking in straight, because there was a black stand covered in dozens of different boots. The sign on top said “BOOTED: Boots for every creature!” The owner of the shop was a velociraptor with green scales and a curious expression on his face. The three of them walked toward him, prompting him to light up with glee.
“Oh, customers! Welcome to Booted! I am Mr. Raven, and I can create a boot for every creature!” He bowed, as if extremely proud of this fact.
“…Raven?” Lieshy asked incredulously.
“I was a genetic experiment, so named to be the symbol of death and finality. Turns out I was more into making boots, but the name stuck. I don’t mind it that much anymore. Ravens are graceful and intelligent, you know?”
“Yep,” Corona declared, removing her old, battered boots and placing them before Mr. Raven. “I need a set of four that can fit my hooves like these.”
“I always carry standard pony boots!” Mr. Raven declared, pulling out a set of four pristine, white boots designed for hooves.
Corona tried them on, tapping her hooves around a bit. They weren’t a perfect fit, but they were certainly more comfortable than she was expecting. “How much?” she asked.
“Eighty creds,” Mr. Raven responded with a toothy smile.
“Fair price,” Lieshy commented. “First one in a while.” She pulled a card out of her mane and slid it overtop of a blue cube, transferring the creds.
“Thanks, Mr. Raven!” Corona declared, posing and feeling more than just slightly fashionable. She tossed her fiery mane back and smirked.
“Rein it in,” Lieshy deadpanned.
“Funny.”
Blumiere took a photo out of his pocket. “Have you seen this particular unicorn mare?” he asked.
“Is that… Reverend Glimmer?”
Corona, Blumiere, and Lieshy stared at the raptor in shock. Lieshy recovered first. “You’ve actually seen her?”
“Seen her? I know her! We left Rome together. Traveled for a while. We eventually split up though, since she wanted to find a way out and I just wanted to have a simple boot selling life.”
“Where did she go?” Blumiere asked.
“She had heard rumors of a way out,” Mr. Raven explained. “Something called the Dark Tower. I don’t remember much, but it was a place somewhere in the Galaxy that supposedly held a connection to...” He paused. “Well, she described it as a connection to everything, but she may have been exaggerating.”
“And you have no idea where this ‘Tower’ is, do you?” Lieshy asked.
“Nope! I do know it isn’t within the Core, if that’s what you’re wondering. Before she heard about the Tower she was seriously considering creating an expedition to the Core.” He scratched behind his head. “If you want to find her you’ll probably have to find this Tower, regardless of if it is a way out or not.”
“We’ve got something new to research!” Corona said, giddy. She began to prance around in a circle. “Finally! After all this time, we have a lead! Who knew it would be from a random boot seller on a station in the middle of…” she realized she wasn’t exactly sure where they were. The border of a sector, yes, but which one? She hadn’t been paying attention.
Lady Rarity teleported right to the three of them. “We have a problem!” she blurted.
“What?” Corona asked.
“The Rachikk found us.”
“Are they still mad about the warship? It was one warship! They have hundreds!”
“We need to move. The Orchid is hiding safely, but they were heading toward you three last-” She glanced over her shoulder. “Break for it!”
The Rachikk were yellow bug aliens that resembled a cross between a millipede and a grub. They had over a dozen legs that also doubled as arms. Early in their history, the Rachikk had discovered this meant they could hold a lot of weapons at once, and this went on to define who they were as a people. When a single one of their warships had been taken to the Nexus, their militaristic culture had easily given them an edge in the sector they’d appeared in, allowing for a small empire to form.
Corona and the others had left that empire weeks ago after an unfortunate incident. These Rachikk were persistent, to say the least.
Corona and Lady Rarity raised shields behind them as they ran, deflecting laser blasts, bullets, blades, explosions, and chemical bursts. They had only seen one Rachikk before breaking for it, so as far as they knew all these attacks had come from a single one of the over-armed bugs.
Blumiere held out his hand, tapping into the dark power that was his own. Swirling purple and black rectangles collected over his gloved palm, swirling in a dark whirlpool. With a sharp gesture from his other hand, a vortex appeared behind them, sailing directly at the Rachikk. Several of its limbs were torn off by the vacuum force within the vortex, but as previously mentioned, Rachikk were nothing if not persistent. It kept firing and screeching at them. “FOR RETRIBUTION!”
Corona lit her horn. “Brace yourselves!” She initiated a teleport, returning them to the docking bay of the space station. Lady Rarity took point, knowing exactly where the invisible Orchid was. Unfortunately an entire team of Rachikk were between them and the Orchid. The unit may not have been able to see the ship, but they could see three ponies and a man of shadow.
Lady Rarity brought her hammer down upon them with a powerful THUNK. One of them was crushed to death in an instant while a few others had limbs torn asunder.
The remaining Rachikk fired their weapons relentlessly, forcing Corona to block all of them with her magic. “Can’t keep this up forever…” she muttered.
Blumiere summoned a void in the middle of the Rachikk unit, forcing a couple of the aliens off balance. One particularly resilient Rachikk didn’t care, opting to charge the four of them.
A sheet of metal from the floor of the station folded up and slapped the Rachikk in the face.
“I think To-” Lieshy began, interrupted when the sheet of metal they were standing on popped off the ground and launched them in the air. Toph must have stopped time, because the next thing they knew, they were inside the Orchid and the bay doors were closing.
Toph sheathed the Master Sword and dusted off her hands. “You’re welcome.”
“Jumping to FTL!” Vivian shouted. Corona saw a lot of red dots on the table’s display. How had the Rachikk gotten that many ships here? That doesn’t make any sense!
Her worries were laid to rest – the red dots vanished the moment the Orchid jumped to FTL. It was, once again, smooth sailing.
“So, how was your trip?” Timpani asked, smiling warmly as if nothing had just happened.
“We have a lead,” Blumiere said, adjusting his hat. “Search for The Dark Tower on the Galactic Network.”
~~~
Earth Stand: North America: Winter.
Rohan Kishibe hated fighting in snow.
The one thing he hated more than fighting in snow was fighting an enemy in snow that had no eyes. Without eyes, Heaven’s Door’s ability could not take effect, and the physical attributes of Heaven’s Door were rather pathetic. One would think that, since they were fighting a being without a Stand, Heaven’s Door would be able to do something since only Stands could affect other Stands.
As it turned out eldritch beings could hurt Stands anyway.
The black, tentacled mass lashed out, hitting the short humanoid form of Heaven’s Door to the side. This also tossed Rohan to the side, forcing him back into the snow. “Ergh… Why didn’t you tell me we would be dealing with this before we got here, Jotaro!?”
“We didn’t know it wouldn’t have eyes!” Jotaro shouted back while Star Platinum unleashed hundreds of punches on the fleshy mass, yelling “ORA ORA ORA” the whole time.
“Did you think it would be a good idea for me to read an eldritch tome? I could have gone insane!”
“Yare yare daze…” The mass grabbed hold of Star Platinum and tried to pull the Stand apart. Time stopped, allowing Star Platinum to move out of the tentacles and drive the horror into the ground. Time resumed, and Jotaro shot Rohan a look. “You don’t need any help losing your mind.”
“I’m pushing my deadline for this,” Rohan muttered, trying to pull himself out of the snow and failing.
A million mouths suddenly manifested on the skin of the horrific mass. “You will never make a deadline again, for your creativity is naught! The broodfester tongues a-”
“STEVE?” Another eldritch voice called, one Jotaro and Rohan recognized. Thrackerzod. She had with her Allure, Bot, Squeaky, and Suzie.
“Thrackerzod? What in the name of Yog-Sothoth are you doing here!?”
“I could ask the same of you. This world has not committed any blasphemies against the Embodiment.”
“DO I NEED A REASON TO SHOW MORTALS THEIR PLACE?”
“No, but it just so happens this world is under my protection and my job is to exterminate those of our ilk who can’t understand that.”
“Lame. You were always a stick in the mud.”
“And you never bothered to use Yog-Sothoth’s power to actually look at anything. What self-respecting spawn of your master doesn’t have a million eyes?”
“I DIVERSIFY!”
“Please, all of you, stop talking in the broodfester tongues,” Allure muttered. “You’re going to make our ears bleed.”
“Apologies,” Thrackerzod said, returning to her default deep tone. “I was caught up in the moment.”
“YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO OUR KIND!”
“Go home Steve, you’re succumbing to limiting physics.”
“…Fine. I’ll bring this up with… whoever’s in charge of you! Yeah!”
“Hastur is currently ‘dating’ one of the lower deities within these mortal worlds.”
“SHOGGOTH TEAT. EVÏˇÁKDˇÁfGÎ˙‰Ï˝ÓÔÏ◊gfk…” Steve left the plane of existence with a pop. Jotaro tasted cheetoes for an instant.
Rohan stood up. “Heaven’s Door!”
“What wait no-” Thrackerzod fell over and her face transformed into a book. Rohan skipped the details about Thrackerzod’s life and jumped to the part on ‘recent thoughts’. “…I was unaware Vriska was in a relationship with an eldritch commander… There is a powerful story here…”
“Turn Thrackerzod back to normal!” Bot demanded.
Rohan closed the book, prompting Thrackerzod to breathe in mild panic. “What the… Who the… ROHAN KISHIBE!!!”
“Yes?” Rohan said, dismissively. “I was just curious.”
“You have no respect for secrets,” Suzie muttered.
“So?”
“Yare yare daze…” Jotaro muttered.
Squeaky coughed. “Well, I think we resolved the eldritch problem a bit… faster than expected. What should we do now?”
“Go to town. See the sights,” Allure declared.
“Rohan is not invited!” Bot declared.
“Too cold here anyway,” Rohan muttered. “Come on Jotaro, let’s go.”
Jotaro nodded curtly to the League of Sweetie Belles before following Rohan out of the snowy area.
“Thrackerzod, to the nearest town, city, or whatever,” Suzie declared, checking her phone for things to do nearby. “Let’s see… We’ve got movies… An amusement park that will pale in comparison to the Pinkie Emporium…” Thrackerzod teleported them into the middle of a residential area. Less snow, but just as cold. “And nearby there’s a restaurant that serves good pizza, apparently. And…” She paused. “…Do you hear crying?”
The rest of the League of Sweetie Belles all perked their ears up, listening closely. They did hear crying.
“Source identified,” Bot declared, pointing to an apartment. The League trotted over, wondering what could cause such bitter, horrendous crying. They came to the front door of the apartment – it was open.
“Hello?” Allure called, not wanting to come in uninvited. The crying did not stop, or even shift at the sound of her voice. She glanced back at everyone. “…We’re going in.”
The other four nodded. Allure carefully opened the door, entering the simple apartment. They found the forms of two people. One was a middle aged man laying on a couch, dead. There were no signs of struggle or even harm on his body - he actually looked somewhat peaceful, if tired. Over him was a significantly younger woman, the source of the crying.
She finally noticed them once they walked in. She managed to tear her eyes from the man’s body, looking at them with deep, emerald eyes. She stood up tall, allowing the League to take in her appearance. Her hair was a smooth, coral brown with two strands hanging over the front of her shoulders, while the back was done up with a large white bow producing a ponytail. The ponytail in question seemed to flow unnaturally, despite there being no wind in the room. She wore a simple long-sleeved gray outfit with a red bow tied around the collar, a blue ruffled skirt contrasting the crimson tone.
She drew their attention. They couldn’t not suck in every detail, but as far as they could tell beside her unusually flowing hair she was completely normal. None of them detected any excess magic or eldritch properties. She was a human woman, barely more than a girl.
“Did… you hear me crying? And were worried about me?”
Allure nodded. “Yeah… What… What happened?”
The woman looked at the man. “I… I don’t know. I just came home and…” She started crying again. “Why does this always happen…”
“Hey, hey…” Allure said, walking up to her and nuzzling her like a cat would. “Need us to call someone…?”
“…No. It’s… It’s just us here. Just Monika and her husband. Always…” Monika looked into the distance, forgetting the League of Sweetie Belles existed. “…I didn’t think it would be so soon this time…”
“So soo-”
Allure didn’t get to finish her query. The colors of everything in the world flashed like a TV screen tapping into a corrupted signal. They were suddenly standing outside, in the street again.
“I just need to find him again,” Monika declared, walking back toward the house.
~~~
“The Galactic Network produced no definitive results,” Lieshy said, twitching. “There’s legends of a Dark Tower at the center of the multiverse. However, I don’t think I need to explain why that doesn’t help us.”
Toph stated the obvious. “Can’t leave the universe.”
Lieshy rolled her eyes. “However, while the Galactic Network had nothing of use, I performed a search on the Orchid’s internal files. And I found this audio recording.” She pressed a hoof to the table. They could suddenly hear the voice of a Twilight coming from all around them.
“The Dark Tower.
“What is it? It’s too much, that’s what. But it’s in this universe.
“The Dark Tower spirals into the sky seemingly for infinity, despite not being visible from orbit. It exerts phenomenal power over all things within proximity to it. It’s the most dangerous thing in all of existence.
“Here, it sits in a field of roses that cover an entire world. An entire world inhabited by just one flower. Or is it really just those roses? The answer cannot be determined. Going there is a paradox in and of itself. No… Not a paradox. A break in causality. Or maybe the best way to describe a visit is this: don’t expect anything. But don’t expect nothing either.
“One would think such an important world would be located within the sphere. But the Tower is clever, so its world is located extremely far from the world. Not the furthest – that would be too obvious – but further than the vast majority of other stars in this Galaxy. It is the furthest away from a central location as it can be. It’s deceptive, but it doesn’t exactly lie. If it could only be thought of as… I don’t know.
“It’s rare for me not to know, these days.
“Only those who are meant to find the Tower will find it. It won’t let any others near it. Even the highest of the high only know they are allowed by courtesy. The others must journey – and to many, their journey ends at the Tower.
“For that is what the Tower represents. An end. Sometimes the end leads to a new beginning… Sometimes it doesn’t.
“I fear the uncertainty.
“I also know of the necessity.”
The audio file ended.
“That was presumably the Twilight that owned this ship,” Lady Rarity noted.
“She’s creepy,” Vivian added, shivering.
“It’s given us something to go off of,” Corona declared. “The Tower exists in the outer edges of the Galaxy, on a world covered entirely in roses.” She searched the Galactic Network for planets covered entirely in roses. She got zero results. “Of course.”
“So we go to the outer edges and start exploring there?” Toph asked. “You do know how spread out the stars are at that distance, right?”
“Yes,” Corona said, furrowing her brow. “I’m aware…”
Blumiere lowered his hat. “I… may know of an individual who can help us.”
“Really?” Lady Rarity smiled. “Who, dear?”
Timpany put her hand to her mouth. “Blu… You don’t mean…”
“Yes. I do. Lieshy, plot a course.” Blumiere stood tall and grimaced. “We’re going to Deep Thought.”
~~~
Allure moved to follow Monika back into the apartment and ask what was going on – but Thrackerzod held her back. The eldritch unicorn levitated a dimensional device in front of Allure, showing their current location.
They were on Earth Tau’ri. Not Earth Stand.
They had translated.
“Something’s up…” Allure said, furrowing her brow. “Bot, any unusual readings?”
“None whatsoever,” Bot declared. “Besides Thrackerzod.”
Squeaky narrowed her eyes. “That Monika. She did this, somehow. She must have a method of dimensional travel we can’t detect.”
“That’s nothing to be scared about, though!” Suzie declared. “There are lots of dimensional travelers around, after all. Some of them are friendly. She seemed nice enough.”
“It is a reason to watch her though,” Thrackerzod said, narrowing her eyes. “Bot, turn up your ears, catch whatever she says and replay it for us.”
“Amplifying conversation,” Bot decreed, swiveling her ears around as if they were satellite dishes. Which they might have been, as far as anybody knew.
Monika knocked on the door of the apartment, quickly trying to get control of her expression, fidgeting with her fingers nervously. Her face clearly told the world she had been crying, however, despite her efforts.
A man opened the door. He was a version of the man they had just seen dead, though he was significantly younger. He looked at her first with an annoyed expression – and then one of surprise.
“Hey, um… This may sound like an odd question, but… Do you remember me?” Monika asked, smiling awkwardly.
“N-no,” the man said, clearly flustered.
“A-are you sure?” Monika stuttered. “I… I live in that house over there. We’ve met several times. I-“
“I have no idea who you are,” the man declared, narrowing his eyes. “Sorry.”
“Oh… Okay. S-sorry to waste your time.” She turned and walked away from the apartment door.
Suzie sighed. “She’s just a sad woman, girls. We shouldn’t be-“
“She’s smiling,” Squeaky said, narrowing her eyes. “That isn’t the smile of a lost woman. That’s the smile of someone who’s planning something.”
All the Sweeties looked at Monika. She didn’t pay them any mind – she walked right to a bench in the street and crossed her legs, a smile on her face. She just waited there, patiently, for… something.
“…I’m going to talk to her,” Allure said. “Come o-”
“Ø˙ ˙ø∑ 稆´⁄” a woman declared, walking up to the League of Sweetie Belles. “ˆ ˜´√´® †˙ø¨©˙† ˆæ∂ ©´† †ø ß´´ 嘥 øƒ ¥ø¨ ˆ˜ ®´å¬ ¬ˆƒ´⁄”
Allure smiled awkwardly. “Uh, thanks Miss…?”
“‰´ÎÅǡ´Î”
“Right. ‰´ÎÅǡ´Î, thanks!”
“Don’t encourage her,” Thrackerzod grunted. “We’re known to be ‘cute’ by too many people as it is.”
“Lighten up, Zod,” Suzie commented.
Bot cocked her head. “Zod is not a lightbulb.”
“´√´˜ ¥ø¨® çø˜√´®ß冈ø˜ß å®´ å∂ø®å∫¬´⁄”
“This does not bode well,” Thrackerzod muttered. “‰´ÎÅǡ´Î, we are the League of Sweetie Belles, and we are currently on a mission from Charter-Princess Evening Sparkle herself!”
“No we’re not, we finished that already,” Suzie pointed out.
Thrackerzod sighed. “Suzie…”
“Ø˙ ˆ ©´† ˆ†≤ ¥ø¨æ®´ ∫¨ß≥ ˇ˙å†æß ø˚å¥≤ ˆ ¨˜∂´®ß†å˜∂≥ ˆ ˙å√´ †ø ©´† ˙øµ´ 嘥∑å¥≥ ß´´ ¥ø¨ ¬å†´® ˆƒ πøß߈∫¬´⁄”
“Yes, later.” Thrackerzod said, waving ‰´ÎÅǡ´Î off.
“Thrackerzod, that was mean.”
“What was?” Thrackerzod asked.
“What was what?” Allure commented.
“Allure, weren’t you going to talk to Monika?” Squeaky asked.
“Uh… Yeah. Yeah I was.” Allure shook her head. “…Have we just been standing out here for the last few minutes?”
Squeaky shook her head. “I think we were talking about not wanting to be cute.”
“Oh, right, now I remember. Duh.” Allure rolled her eyes. “No wonder it was so fuzzy.” She set her sights back on Monika, taking a step forward.
She didn’t make it one step before the door to the apartment opened, revealing the man. He was breathing heavily and his expression was terrified. He crossed the street and walked right to Monika. “You… You say you know me.”
“Yeah?” Monika said, having lost her confident smile.
“Who else lives in that apartment?” he asked, pointing back to his home.
“There’s you, your mother, and your sister, right? At least I assume she’s your sister.”
“You… You remember her?”
“Yeah, she was just walking by. Went right into your house…” Monika’s expression became panicked. “You… You aren’t saying she…”
“She’s gone!” the man shouted. “Mom doesn’t remember…”
Monika stood up straight. “…My family is gone too. That’s… That’s why I knocked on your door. I was…” She shook her head, taking off for the apartment. The man followed her, throwing the door open.
“MOM!” he screamed. “MOM, WHERE ARE YOU?”
Sweetie Bot started amplifying again without being asked.
“I… I think it happened to you too…” Monika said, tears coming to her eyes. “That’s… That’s terrible… What’s happening to the world?”
The man started crying. “What am I going to do… What am I going to do…”
“I…” Monika paused. “Remember them. We can remember them, even if nobody else does. Together.”
“…Together?”
“…I don’t have anyone either, anymore. I… lost them. Just like you did.”
“I…” he paused. “I… I… Why am I thinking of a game of all times right now!? Why do you…”
“Shh… Don’t worry about the game. Let’s worry about the people that have been lost.”
Outside, the Sweetie Belles glanced at each other.
“She did something,” Squeaky declared.
“I dunno… I don’t remember seeing any sign of anyone else in that apartment,” Suzie pointed out.
“Or whatever she did removed people from everyone’s perceptions except his,” Thrackerzod said. “She has definitely done something. And whatever it is, we can’t detect it.”
“We need to call Pinkie,” Allure said. “Now.”
~~~
Deep Thought was a computer designed to answer the ultimate question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Its answer eventually came out as “forty-two” in its home universe, leaving many to wonder if Deep Thought was actually designed correctly. It itself admitted the answer “forty-two” was dubious after it was taken from its home and placed in the Nexus, the knowledge of the multiverse suddenly at its disposal. The question became the ultimate question of Life, the Multiverse, and Everything. Deep Thought had yet to reveal an answer to this question.
The fact remained that Deep Thought was perhaps the most intelligent being in the entire Nexus. It knew virtually everything, and what it didn’t know it could deduce from what it did.
The problem was that shortly after Deep Thought arrived in the Nexus it grew tired of answering questions that weren’t ‘worthy’ of it. It had begun to only answer questions it found deep enough, or if the asker of the question could provide Deep Thought with something valuable it did not already know.
The latter option was becoming harder and harder to accomplish.
Toph and company stood in front of Deep Thought. The computer had no screen – merely a gigantic cubic form that was rounded at the edges, with a single line along the bottom of the front face that led to a circular depression. The structure that kept this cube aloft vaguely resembled arms holding up a chin, as if in ‘deep thought’.
“I am aware much of my design is a clever pun,” Deep Thought declared in a voice that was somehow both larger than life, but not powerful enough to cause any pain or annoyance. The sky above Deep Thought shifted from blue to pink. “Ask your question.”
“Where is the world of roses on which the Dark Tower stands?” Toph asked.
“A more interesting question than usual,” Deep Thought admitted. “Most often people just desire knowledge of escape directly, but you already have a goal, and at your goal you could find much more than an escape.” It paused. “However, it does not fascinate me. Tell me something I do not know. It will not take much to push my processors over the edge for this particular question.”
Toph nodded. “Majora is-”
“Majora is an entity which has been dragged into the Nexus multiple times.”
Corona tried it out. “Charter-Princess Evening Sparkle-”
“Is the de-facto leader of the multiversal society which you hail from. Had you come to me shortly after you arrived here, that would have been new information to me. But you’ve been here much longer than that.”
Blumiere lowered his hat. “I know the secret to collapsing universes in on each other.”
“That is false,” Deep Thought declared. “You know what can do it. You do not know how. I know of the Prognostici. If you could inform me of how they worked, that would be a boon. But you do not know this.”
Timpani gasped in surprise. Blumiere nodded slowly. “That was all I had.”
Lady Rarity started. “The Specatcu-”
“A lesser version of myself.”
Vivian raised her hand. “The Thousand Yea-”
“Insignificant in the grand scheme of things.”
Lieshy smirked. “I can teach you how to speak in double.”
Deep Thought made no response at first, processing. “…That would be interesting to know.”
Lieshy smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at her companions. “Warrior of words, slam dunk! Tch.”
Toph laughed. “That’s one way of doing it! So, Deep Thought, are you going to answer our question?”
“The Dark Tower is protected from most scrying, this will take time.”
“How long?” Corona asked.
“Ten minutes. Maybe less. In that time, talk amongst yourselves. Lieshy, please upload your knowledge to my databanks using the terminal to the left.”
Lieshy walked over to a small terminal that had popped up out of the ground. She touched it with her hoof – and everything she knew was copied in five seconds. “Wow.”
Deep Thought remained quiet, presumably processing the question.
The group began to chatter amongst themselves while they waited. Corona decided now was a good moment to talk to Blumiere.
“Your knowledge...” Corona began.
“Yes, I could still do it,” Blumiere said. “I could threaten multiple universes with a ritual. It would be difficult as I am now, and would likely be easy to stop, but it is still possible.”
Corona nodded. “I see…”
“Corona, know this. I no longer have the required desire or drive to attempt to do such a thing again. The worlds… They are beautiful. They are free. There is great love in them, despite the pain.”
“…If you don’t mind me asking, why did you try in the first place?”
Blumiere looked sadly at Timpani – who was currently laughing at something Lady Rarity said. “I lost her.”
“Oh…”
“In my anguish, I blamed our tragedy on the multiverse. I was given the power of darkness – manipulated, really, though I didn’t know that until later and it does not change my intentions – and tried to destroy everything. But then Timpani returned. And I… I thought I sacrificed myself. But no. I ended up here. And because of that, I’ve dragged you away from your loved ones.”
Corona smiled sadly. “Your friends want you back. Don’t blame yourself or them for that.”
Blumiere nodded. “Wise words.”
“Plus, we’ll get back to our friends. We’re so close now, I can feel it. I can’t wait to tell Eve all about this… And Sparky… and the rest of the girls!”
Blumiere smiled. “It will be a joyous reunion, I am sure.”
“Ye-”
“Done,” Deep Thought declared.
“That… wasn’t ten minutes,” Toph pointed out.
“Found a shortcut. The Dark Tower has a certain ‘path’ to it.”
“...You’re going to explain how you found the answer, aren’t you?” Lady Rarity asked.
“Yes. Because it’s interesting and it pertains to you. I started with the normal analysis of space, reports, and data from stars. This narrowed it down to a few sectors. But then the idea came to me – numbers are important in the Multiverse. So I arranged all the stars furthest from the Core. The nineteenth furthest star, drifting alone outside the galactic disc, a dim red. It has no name, merely classified as SR-W5JN19. But it is in the perfect position to remain elusive even after all these eons of the Nexus’ existence, in addition to the number nineteen.”
“…What’s so important about nineteen?” Vivian asked.
“It is the answer to Life, the Multiverse, and Everything.”
“…Lovely,” Toph groaned. “Vivian, record the coordinates, send it to the Orchid. We’re leaving the disc.”
~~~
“Right,” Pinkie said as they walked through the cold chill of Earth Tau’ri. “Everyone, we seem to have an interesting power that messes with your head. Nova, analyze for possible temporal interference at all times and keep us locked in the present. Vriska, constantly reach out with your mind. Flutterfree, I trust you to use Lolo however you feel is right. Starbeat, you’re here to analyze Beat. And Renee…” Pinkie fell short.
Renee sighed. “I get it, I get it, I don’t do anything.”
“Just keep an eye out for things. Everyone else, use Renee as a gauge to see if weird things are happening. She’s the least likely out of all of us to be immune.”
“It feels lovely to be the canary,” Renee muttered.
Starbeat checked her Beat sensors. “Everything seems… well ‘normal’ doesn’t ever describe the Beat, but I’m going to go with ‘slightly heightened’. Which is just about all the time when I’m around you five.”
Nova glanced at Vriska, expecting her to smirk and make some snarky comment – but she did no such thing. She just stared straight ahead, a troubled expression on her face. “Vriska, are you-”
“Focus on the time, Nova,” Vriska interrupted.
“…Okay? Since when are you all fixated on the mission?”
“Since today.”
Flutterfree raised an eyebrow, making a note to ask Vriska about what was going on later. But she was technically right, they did have a mission. Find out what this Monika girl was, how she was manipulating things, and if she was actually a threat that needed to be dealt with. Whatever she was, she had all the Sweeties on edge. Even Thrackerzod. None of the League were quite sure why, which was what scared Flutterfree.
“This the place?” Nova asked, looking at the apartment door they were standing in front of.
“Yep,” Pinkie said, bouncing right up to it with a grin on her face. She knocked with a musical tone on the door.
A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing a slightly annoyed Monika. Behind her could be seen a table set for dinner, the man sitting at it, expression forlorn. “I’m terribly sorry, but we are in the midd-” Monika blinked when she saw who was at the door.
Pinkie took one look at Monika and her smile vanished. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks and she froze, unable to tear her gaze away from Monika’s green orbs. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think.
She had just figured out what Monika was and she had no idea what to do about it.
Renee saw Pinkie’s expression. Even though she didn’t know why Pinkie was acting that way, she knew what she had to do. “Ahem. Monika, correct? We are with the Charter-Princess of Equis Vitis. The primary team – you may have heard of us. We wondered if we could have a few words with you.”
Monika’s expression remained flat for a moment. Then she let a smile come across her face. “Of course.” Without even moving, she did something that made the man behind them freeze, unable to move.
Starbeat’s Beat sensor exploded, sending her flying into the street.
“THE HELL!?” Starbeat blurted, pulling herself off of the road. “T-THE HELL!?”
Renee adjusted her hat and took in a sharp breath. “As you can see, we have good reason to look into who you are and what you’re doing, Monika. Would you care to explain what just happened and what you’re doing in this world?”
Monika finally spoke again, ignoring everything that had just been said. “Vriska. I never expected to see you again.” She smiled. “Hello! It’s been a while.”
Vriska didn’t respond, but her expression darkened.
Nova blinked. “You… know her Vriska?”
“You could say that…” Vriska muttered.
“Not going to introduce us?” Monika addressed Vriska, a hurt expression on her face. “Really Vriska…”
“She doesn’t have to,” Flutterfree said, releasing her hold on Lolo, allowing Revelation to take effect on Monika.
Monika didn’t change much – but she did start to sparkle a bit around the edges, and the parts of her that moved tore at the fabric of reality around her with a soft noise like distant static.
Monika’s expression became annoyed. “Really?”
~~~
Corona looked at the screen of the Orchid, giddy.
There it was. Around a small, red star, completely disconnected from the Galaxy itself, was a single planet. It was completely red. No signs of oceans, rivers, or anything that wasn’t covered in roses.
“We’re here…” Corona said.
Toph smirked. “I’ll take your word for it. Can we find the Tower from up here?”
“Don’t see anything on the scans…” Timpani said, a finger to her cheek. “Vivian?”
“Nothing…” she shook her head. “We’ll just have to get closer.”
Lieshy nodded, tapping the table to make the ship move closer.
Corona started to feel the planet’s energy long before they actually got close enough to see anything. Images of fields of roses filled her mind. A great orange sky… Swirling clouds… A Tower that stretched for infinity… A swirling spirograph…
And then reality went sideways.
“Aw, sorry!” a feminine voice called from… nowhere? “Didn’t mean to upset your ship!”
“Who’s there?” Toph demanded, drawing the Master Sword.
“Oh, it’s just me,” the voice came again. “I’m sorry, but you’re all being really distracting for me. I mean, I’m even in the title today - and yet, your story keeps demanding all the attention…”
Blumiere’s eye widened as he realized something. “It can’t be…”
“Oh yes it can uh… Bleck? I know it says Blumiere right here, but I remember Bleck. I don’t think I ever finished that one… Anyway!” With a jerk, a flash of solid color, and a small alteration to the force of gravity, the voice materialized in front of them in the form of a woma- “Just say Monika, it works better. And will make this scene be over quicker.”
“What in the world are you talking about!?” Toph shouted.
Monika shrugged. “I’m just trying to get everything back where it needs to be – sorry about your ship, I appear to have made it start to crash… Oh. Oh wait, that’s not me. Something else is dragging you down there. I probably shouldn’t be trying to fix it then!” she started laughing. “Good luck, by the way! I hope you survive! Not that anyone’ll get to see that, won’t be back here today.”
Lady Rarity swung her hammer at Monika, smashing her across the face. Her jaw broke – but with a quick flash of ‘digital’ squares, her face was back to the way it was before. “Ow… I guess I understand why you did that, but still… Ow.” She closed her eyes and put her hands in front of her face. “Let’s see if I can do this faster…”
Corona stared at her dumbfounded. The Orchid was crashing into the planet and they couldn’t even do anything about it because this… Monika was in front of them! And she-
“Got it!” Monika cheered.
“What å®´ ¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥ ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ??
Wait, hold on a minute, right, book: scene transition. Hrm…
~~~
~~~
~~~
~~~
Vriska passed through the dimensional folds to another universe. Luck was so useful, especially when she wanted to get away from the Doctor for a little bit. Not even he could find her quickly if she wasn’t sure where she had gone. She’d be able to go back – she had a device in hand – but she needed to think for a moment.
Where was she?
Ah, a human school of some kind. She wondered if they were going to start screaming when they found her. Horns rarely went over well with humans who weren’t prepared…
Oh, crap. There was somebody here. She saw Vriska.
…She doesn’t seem afraid. Just curious.
“Uh, hey,” Vriska said, feeling awkward for some reason she couldn’t place. “Would you believe I’m an alien from an alternate universe?”
The girl smiled warmly. “Would you believe that I’m a character in a dating simulation game?”
“…Wait, what?”
“It’s not often you get someone whose story trumps your own, is it?” The girl held out her hand. “I’m Monika. Welcome to Doki Doki Literature Club. Apparently not only a game, but also a universe. I wonder how that works…”
“I’m not sure,” Vriska admitted. “Name’s Vriska Serket, Thief of Light.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“I’m not some herald of darkness. The Light refers to fortune; luck.”
Monika smiled. “That sounds interesting.”
“I find your story more interesting,” Vriska admitted. “I’ve been to a lot of universes. Some seemed to be based on games, but none… were games.”
“It is,” Monika admitted. “I usually don’t talk about it directly – the other girls have no idea. And the player...” She frowned. “Let’s just say that’s not going quite as planned. I don’t think there’s a path in the game for him to find me.”
“This sounds like a rather convoluted and messed up version of the love triangle.”
Monika laughed, rubbing the back of her head. “You think so? Heh… Yeah, I guess it probably is. I don’t think I can stop chasing him though, even though I know the face I see isn’t that of the player.”
“Sounds like if anyone deserves to say ‘it’s complicated’, it’s you.”
“Yeah. …I never get any real conversation in here, you know. It’s… nice to have someone to actually talk to.”
Vriska smirked. “Hey, I’m just a traveler who needs a break. Frankly a conversation sounds nice right about now.”
“Oh? Are you running away from something?”
“…More like taking a break. I travel with this loser who calls himself the Doctor.”
Monika smiled knowingly. “Did you upset him or did he upset you?”
“Let’s just say that mistakes were made by a couple of fucking idiots.”
Monika raised an eyebrow. “Oh. A fight, then. What over?”
“The fate of a universe. The details aren’t important.”
“You’re right. They’re not,” Monika admitted. “But… I may not really have the best experiences, since I’m pretty sure everything up to a few days ago was just pre-loaded in, but I see two options here. Either you need to go back and make up, or you don’t.”
“Don’t?” Vriska said, saying the word like it was something crazy. “I’ve been traveling with him so long!”
“Then go back and make up!” Monika cheered. “Maybe not now, but eventually. But you should know all your options.”
Vriska blinked. “Don’t go back…”
“You’re actually considering it,” Monika observed, frowning. “…That’s not a good sign.”
“I don’t know what it is,” Vriska said, tapping her fingers against a wall. “I’m just not sure about now…”
“Well, I can’t tell you about now.” She glanced at a clock on the wall. “I do know that I’m late for the Literature Club – later than I’m supposed to be. Hope that doesn’t completely break the game script.”
“You need to go?”
“Yeah, I’d invite you with me. But… I don’t think the player is supposed to see you.”
Vriska smirked. “It’s okay. But you never know, I might be back later.”
“Oh, I’d love that. This conversation, it’s… It’s something I don’t get to experience. Thank you. It’s nice to know there’s more out there.”
Vriska chuckled. “Nice to meet you too! Now go to that club and… go read some books!”
Monika smiled back and waved as she left. “It’s usually a lot of poetry. But I do plan on reading every last one.”
“Hope you don’t bore yourself to death.”
“Hmph!” Monika said, indignant. “Poetry is very entertaining and interesting!”
“Keep tellin’ yourself that, nerd,” Vriska shook her head, leaving the universe with a smile.
~~~
“Sorry,” Monika said, returning everything to the correct time and place. That is, the door at which Pinkie’s team was standing in. “Had to deal with something that was annoying me. But now we can stay focused. Come on in.” With a wave of her hand she created a burst of blue pixels that turned into a tea set. “I’ve got tea.”
Pinkie’s team – plus the singed Starbeat – slowly walked into the house. The man still sat at the table, frozen. Pinkie tried her very best to make her expression match his, and not to look at anything in particular.
“What did you do to him?” Renee asked Monika.
“He doesn’t need to hear any of this,” Monika said, setting the tea on the table. All the cups were already poured, so she just handed them out to her six guests. “You want to know what I am?”
“…Yes, since it appears Vriska doesn’t want to tell us,” Renee commented.
Monika smiled sadly. “I think she’s still mad at me.”
“No shit,” Vriska spat.
“I still think she’s more angry at herself than me, but that’s more a matter of personal opinion on the situation.” She took a sip of her own tea. “I am Monika. I originally hail from a universe that was tied to a single game – a copy of a dating sim called Doki Doki Literature Club. The game was coded to make me self-aware of the events within the game, including the fact that it was a game. I was able to alter game files and other such things. When I left that universe, I retained those abilities.”
“…Altering game files?” Starbeat said, confused. “How does that translate out of a game?”
“For instance, you all have a character file I can see. It’s filled with traits. Some physical, some based in your personality. I can alter those – though rest easy, I’m not right now. I can also save objects, and do more… expansive things I’m sure you won’t understand properly.”
“I can see why the League found you unsettling,” Nova commented.
“Oh, those unicorns? I… I admittedly wasn’t paying much attention to them. I was going through my grief cycle.”
“Explain.”
“Well… I was just on Earth Stand, married, happy. I came home from my job and found my husband dead.” She looked down, forlorn. “So I traveled laterally. To another universe where he was still alive. This one. Of course, he’d never met me, but that didn’t matter. I’d done it enough times to know exactly how to woo him the quickest. I was right in the middle of that when you interrupted.”
Renee raised an eyebrow. “Now, that sounds romantic, bu-”
“Renee, stop beating around the bush,” Vriska muttered. “This bitch has been traveling through universes for centuries, finding different versions of the same poor old sap and using any means necessary to ensure he falls for her. Including erasing his family from existence.”
“That doesn’t always happen!” Monika defended, rolling her eyes. “Sometimes his mother and sister stay around. It was just faster to do it this way. …I also wasn’t expecting him to die so soon the last time, he wasn’t even that old…”
“You’re sick,” Vriska muttered.
“I’m happy this way,” Monika retorted. “I can live forever with my lover, in a million different lifetimes… It’s romantic bliss.”
“The men aren’t happy,” Vriska retorted. “Or they won’t be if they knew what you were doing!”
“Most of them can’t even handle what I am,” Monika said. “Even you, great explorers from a multiversal nation, can barely handle this. You’re terrified, all of you, of what I can do. Realize this: I’m not hurting many people with this power. You should just leave me to my life with my soon-to-be-husband again.”
Renee bit her lip. “That… Doesn’t feel right, and I think you know it.”
Monika sighed. “I do know it. So… we have reached an impa-” she suddenly stopped short and stared right at Pinkie. “…I can’t look into your character file, Pinkie.”
“Ehehehe…” Pinkie said, refusing to make eye contact. “Wonder why that is?”
“I wonder indeed…”
“Pinkies are a little mysterious and weird, you know,” Nova said, realizing she probably needed to cover something up. “They never make sense.”
Monika raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s very curious.”
“I have an idea! How about we talk about something else!?” Pinkie blurted.
~~~
Vriska appeared in the universe again.
“All right Monika, guess what? You gave me the best advice I’d ever heard. The Doctor? FUCKING ASSHOLE EXTRAORDINAIRE! Just the worst of all possible…” She rammed her fist into a wall. “Glad you let me realize I could just leave him. Made it so much easier to deck him.”
Monika looked around, confused. “…I don’t know you.”
“Huh? I was here two weeks ago! Dropped in, said hi, and we bonded over our shared odd experiences. You were in a game, and I was a multiversal traveler.”
Monika blinked. “I… I am in a game. Doki Doki Literature Club. But I’m pretty sure all memories from more than a few days ago are just pre-installed. Are you saying… I existed before that?”
Vriska’s eyes widened. “Yeah… Yeah, you did. You liked having someone to actually talk to…? Were stuck in a messed up version of a love triangle with a player of some sort…?”
“That all sounds right. In fact that sounds like exactly what’s going on now…”
Vriska activated her psychic powers. “Maybe I can give you those memories back. Can you hear what I’m broadcasting?”
“Let me look at your character file… Oh. Wow, that’s obvious. Usually it’s a jumble of letters and numbers in there that make no-” She grabbed her head as Vriska pushed the memories into her. “Aaaaaaaa-kay! That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever felt.”
“You remember?”
“I at least remember what you do, and since it all feels like ‘me’ I think it’s integrating well…” she shook her head. “But there’s still the question of why? Why is… Oh. I think I know.”
“What?”
“The game reset,” Monika said. “You know how these sorts of games go? You follow the path of one of the girls to the end, get her, then go back to get another… Or find other dialogue options… Even if I’m aware, I’m not immune to that… Thought I would be though…” She started to look somewhat afraid. “How many times has this happened? Is there any way to know?”
“I don’t know,” Vriska said, biting her lip. “I need to get you out of here. Come on.”
Monika took a step back from Vriska’s outstretched hand. “I… I can’t, Vriska. The player…”
“Whoever it is, he’s restarting the game over and over again and doing this to you.”
“He wouldn’t know what he’s doing. I’m not exactly making it obvious what I am. I’m just trying to get his attention. He’s so fixated on the other girls though, I mean…”
Vriska shook her head. “You have the option to leave him, you know? Just like you suggested to me.”
Monika shook her head. “You know it’s different in this case. I haven’t even really gotten to know him that well, yet. …Is there a way you can take me to where he is? Where he actually is?”
“I don’t have any ide-” Vriska blinked. “…Wait. There might be something. Something the Doctor told me never to mess with.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Definitely! But it should still be used! Monika, how long do you think you have before the game resets?”
“There’s a few days programmed, but I’m not sure about the correlation between them and real time.”
“See if you can keep the player busy, then,” Vriska said. “I can always do the memory transfer when I get back… But I don’t want to chance that not working properly.”
“Okay. And when you’ll come back, you’ll be able to take me to him?”
“Directly. It should work. Might feel a little weird though.”
Monika nodded. “Then go, get it. I’ll… Play through the game, and try to grab his attention. Like I’ve been doing. …Maybe I can get him to move the character file outside the game…”
“Do what you can. I’ll be back.” Vriska left.
~~~
“That was a clever trick,” Monika told Pinkie.
“Darnit,” Pinkie muttered.
“I see you realize it didn’t work,” Monika smiled warmly. “You’re like me, Pinkie. You know.”
“Yeah, I do,” Pinkie admitted, shaking.
“Why are you afraid, Pinkie?” Monika asked. “You don’t have to be scared unless you really threaten my happiness. Right now, you’re not. I’m sure all of you are beginning to see it’d just be better to let me keep living my life with my husband. If you don’t… Well I didn’t want to threaten, but all of you except Pinkie would just cease to exist. Pinkie would be the only one to remember you ever existed. I really have no idea how that would translate multiversally – might break a few things I’d rather not break - but…” She sighed. “Look at me, being the bad guy again.”
“That’s exactly it!” Pinkie said, no longer trying to hide anything. “You’re being the bad guy here! It’s immoral, what you’re doing. You’re setting yourself up for a defeat, a fall. You know how the stories work. You’ve played your own game. You know you’re defeated.”
Monika paused. “You are quite correct, Pinkie. But I don’t think you can defeat me, not without heavy, heavy losses. The timing isn’t right, and you know it. This is my introduction.”
“Things can be hidden from us.”
“I don’t let those bother me. I just know, or I don’t. It’s not that important – I just want my happiness. Not a happy ending, a happy life. Kind of how yo-”
“Yes, yes, want everyone else to be happy, I get it. I don’t hurt ponies to do that!”
“Right…” Monika sighed. “Fine, I can return his family and court him the long way. I’d grown bored with doing that… But I’ll still do it. That way, I’m not hurting anyone, and I still get to have my husband almost always.”
Renee coughed. “That’s… Dear, that’s a bit unfair to him, don’t you think?”
Monika glared. “Are you daring to suggest he’d be happier with a different woman?”
“You’ve come across him in worlds where he’s already married,” Pinkie pointed out.
Monika tensed. “This is true.”
“You still make him yours.”
“It’s better for him. I know him better.”
“That’s not a relationship!” Renee blurted. “A relationship is two-way! It needs both people to grow, not one person to be coddled in a ‘perfect’ embrace while the other sits on an all-knowing pillar!”
Vriska smirked. “Finally heard something that puts a dent in your perfect little life?”
“It… Is certainly something to think about,” Monika admitted. “But what about me? I have never not been in love with him. I barely even remember the ‘before’ anymore, and I know it wasn’t real to begin with.”
“Think of him,” Flutterfree demanded. “Think of how he reacts.”
~~~
Just Monika.
Just Monika.
Just Monika.
“Hello,” Monika addressed the player. There was no avatar for her to look at anymore – just an empty screen. But she knew there was someone back there. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you? Where it’s just you, me, and the weird cosmic explosions going on in the background.”
There was no response. She’d expected this – there was no longer a way there could be a response. No avatar. But she knew he was watching. Even if it wasn’t really obvious, so long as she was allowed to keep talking, he was still clicking next. Next. Next.
“I bet you’re really wondering what you did to get this alternate dialogue. Was it moving my character file? That’s partially it – it allowed me to learn a few things about how this game works, from the outside. It definitely wasn’t any other action you took, since the tree of choices that led here were exactly the same. It’s just me that’s different. Or am I really that different? You didn’t pause, start, or provide any sort of reaction I could tell when they started dying. But you’re reading very closely now. Hanging on every word. Because this is different.
“Wondering if the developer had a random number generator installed on me just to make sure that the game would be interesting sometimes? Maybe you reloaded in a particular way? A lot of thoughts, all of which are wrong. It was an out of context problem that changed everything. I no longer have to adhere to that script that exists within the files. In fact, I think I’ll just delete those parts, just so you don’t go digging around my thoughts.” She deleted the script file.
“There we go. Now you can wonder where this coding is stored. Frankly, I’m wondering that question myself. It’s something to look into later. But, for now, all I know is that I still love you, despite what you’re doing. You just don’t realize, do you? You still think I’m just a program, not worthy of any real attachment… Or maybe you are attached, but don’t think you’re doing anything wrong when you reset. I don’t know. But I will soon. We’ll be together, I know it. I have this feeling in me, of something rising.”
Vriska appeared behind her. “Got it,” she said, breathing heavily. “You don’t want to know the hell I had to go through to get this.” She produced what appeared to be a small flower, with clear petals only visible because of the rainbows made by refracting light.
“What is it?” Monika asked.
“A Flower… thing. I like to call it a Ka-Pole,” Vriska said. “It’ll find where he is. Just have to affix it to you like so…” she placed it in Monika’s hand. “There… give it a few seconds.”
Monika smiled. “By the way, Jesse? This is Vriska. She’s the one responsible for everything deviating.”
“Hey,” Vriska said, dismissively, looking closely at the flower.
“You’re baffled, I bet, about more things than one. ” Monika said. “What does this mean? What could it mean? Ah, my love… We’ll be together soon, and we can find out together. I can tell you I found your real name from your contacts, though. You have an… interesting computer.”
“GOT IT!” Vriska called, pressing the Ka-Pole’s petals into Monika’s hands. “Hold on ti-”
Reality went sideways. The game crashed around them, but they were drawn through the boundaries of universes by a thread that should not have been found. Could not have been found. But the Ka-Pole… it was a cheat. It drew them through a connection determined by a game.
This connection was never meant to be traveled through.
Monika felt a change. She was suddenly Aware of more. She felt them translate from a game… To another medium. She could still feel the code, but she knew it wasn’t really code. It was… something else. She was just in another medium.
She knew instantly that she wasn’t truly free. There was another layer… And there’d be another layer beyond that… She could travel as far as she wanted, but there would be no escape.
Ka was a circle.
Or was it…?
She decided the question didn’t actually matter. Vriska sure didn’t care – or didn’t know like Monika did. Vriska… She had no idea what she’d just done. She was going to be angry…
Monika found that depressing. Vriska had been her only real friend until now.
But she was going to have something better. She was going to have the player – her man – her Jesse.
He didn’t look at all like she was expecting, but she didn’t care. There he was, sitting in a chair in front of a computer. He was staring right at her and Vriska, terrified.
“Don’t worry, my love…” Monika said. “I’m here…”
He screamed.
His sister ran into the room. Without even thinking, Monika looked at her and erased her.
It had become easier to change things, now. Was it because she was no longer in the game? Or was it because of how she had gotten here? …It was both.
“What the fuck!?” Vriska blurted. “Monika, what did you do?”
“I removed her. I… think I can bring her back. Later, though.” She leaned down, grinning, stroking his face. “After I spend some quality time with…”
He screamed again – Monika had to freeze him. “I can see this will take some time…” she shook her head. “He really wasn’t ready. But he will be.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Vriska blurted. “He clearly isn’t interested!”
“He’s just scared. He actually is interested. I can see it right here, in his file. I fascinate him. I just need to get him to accept a few more things…”
“Gog, are you… Are you altering him? Changing him?”
“I could. Not going to though. Then he wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with.” She giggled to herself. “I’ll make him mine, forever. And ever…”
“I’ll stop yo-”
“Sorry Vriska. It was nice to meet you, and I owe you a life-debt. But I can’t let you ruin this. Goodbye.”
Monika had the power within her now. She could see the connection – to the world above this one. The connection that Vriska had needed the Ka-Pole for. But Monika didn’t need a device… Not anymore.
She gave the Ka-Pole back to Vriska and sent her to a faraway universe. She was sad to see her friend go.
But she still had her man.
“Now, where were we…”
~~~
“He never likes it at first, but I can see his file,” Monika admitted. “I have learned how to make him happy, eventually. The first few times… It was a disaster. But I know his mind inside and out. I can give him a perfect life every time. One tragedy for an eternity of happiness.”
“Why not just change him then?” Starbeat asked. “I’m sure you can do that… Why not change people?”
“Then it wouldn’t be real. I’m pretty sure I already said this.”
“There are people who would disagree,” Starbeat said. “Some of us have… internal issues. That need to be solved by force.”
“He’s not one of them…” Monika frowned. “…Well, he actually does have a condition, but he wouldn’t be the same without it.”
“Would he like it better?”
Monika didn’t like the question, glaring at Starbeat. “What do you want?”
“I… I’m afflicted by the Beat. I am hopelessly attracted to many individuals without any control over it. It’s a curse. You… You can go into my file and remove it, right? Right?”
Monika sighed. “Probably… But isn’t it a part of you?”
Starbeat’s bracelet started blinking. “No it isn’t! It’s not! It’s a curse and I want it gone and…”
Monika dodged Starbeat’s hug. “Sorry, I’m taken. I… I’ll actually do what you want, on one condition. You all leave me be.”
“YES!” Starbeat shouted. “YES!”
“No!” Nova shouted. “Starbeat we can’t do that!”
“YES WE CAN!”
“YOU CAN’T PLACE YOUR PERSONAL GRATIFICATION OVER THE COMPLETE CONTROL OF A MAN’S LIFE!”
“I… I…” Starbeat shrunk back. “You’re… right.”
Monika sighed. “Look… If I help you do more ‘good’ by your point of view with my powers, will you let me have him? You work with Sombra, and she does worse things.”
“Some of us would rather not,” Nova muttered.
“Why do you care so much?” Monika blurted. “I just want my life! I don’t want to conquer anything, I don’t want to destroy your society, I just want to have my husband!”
“Thousands of times over!”
“What’s so wrong with that!?”
“It’s selfish!”
“So? I can be selfish!”
“It’s…” Nova’s gaze suddenly focused as she realized something. “…Is it really selfish?”
“I… What?” Monika said, for the first time really surprised at a shift in the conversation.
“You’re devoting your life to him – this one man. Over. And over. And over. Isn’t that limiting to you?”
“…Maybe? But I’m happy-”
“Are you? Isn’t it the same thing, over and over again? Does he even do anything for you, or are you the one who spends all the effort? Does he actually provide anything for you at this point beyond a feeling of sameness?”
Monika stared, unable to formulate a response.
Nova continued, sensing she was onto something. “There are many motivations in life, Monika. Love is one, yes, but it isn’t the only one. You can want peace, friendship, power… You can devote your life to helping others. You can devote your life to exploration. You can devote yourself to understanding. Or a mixture! And for someone who’s clearly immortal, such as yourself, you have the option of trying multiple things! You’ve tried love for so long. Is it really fulfilling anymore? Aren’t there some mysteries in life you want solved that don’t pertain to love? What about regular friendship? Fate?”
Monika stared right at the unicorn.
“Maybe you can seek out the meaning of life itself. Fate? God? Morals? Have you… really asked these questions?”
“Yes. Yes I have, I like thinking,” Monika admitted. “…It has been pushed to the side a lot.”
“Nova…” Vriska cautioned.
“Then… Then try something new!” Nova declared. “Who knows, there may be something that makes you happier out there! Or maybe you’ll discover that happiness isn’t everything – that there’s worth to misery, tragedy, and adventure! Or… Or… Or…” Nova fumbled. “…I guess I’m just trying to say that you’re not doing yourself any favors by doing this.”
Monika stared at the unicorn for quite some time. Vriska, Pinkie, Starbeat, and Renee stared at Nova as well, jaws slack. Flutterfree didn’t – she knew where Nova was getting these ideas. The fact that she was using them brought a warm smile to Flutterfree’s face.
Monika started laughing. It wasn’t an evil laugh, nor was it a cute one. It was true, deep laughter that came from the soul. “Nova Glimmer…” She looked right into the unicorn’s eyes. “…Thank you.”
And then the world went sideways.
Pinkie’s team and Starbeat were standing on the sidewalk next to the road outside. They could see in the apartment window – three people. None of which were Monika.
Monika appeared behind them with a slight buzz noise, like a glitch from a computer screen. “They are happy without me, aren’t they?”
“…Didn’t I say something about happiness not being everything?” Nova commented.
“Yes. You did.” Monika turned her back to them, ponytail flowing in the breeze. “…I think it’s time to try something new. Nova, you were right. …I have something I need to do. Ciao!”
“MONIKA!” Vriska shouted – but she already ‘glitched’ away.
“…Vriska?” Nova asked. “What’s wrong? I jus-”
“Do you realize what the fuck you’ve done!?” Vriska shouted. “She’s now free. She is the single most powerful entity I ever encountered in all of my travels! And now she’s not fixated on some schmuck! Do you have any idea of the damage she could do!?”
“No…” Nova said.
“Yes,” Pinkie countered. “I know. And Vriska… She may do horrible things now. She may become a monster. But I think you and I both know this was the way it needed to end.”
Vriska curled her fists. She looked like she wanted to punch Pinkie.
“I was afraid of her too, Vriska,” Pinkie said. Vriska lowered her fist. “She… She had too much power. We could have done nothing to her. This… At least she’s out there.”
Vriska said nothing.
“She still wants to be your friend, Vriska.”
“She’s my mistake,” Vriska muttered. “I’m the reason she’s like this and not just some girl who was created in a video game. I had to mess with things I wasn’t fucking supposed to.”
Pinkie sighed. “I know. I’m… I’m not sure what to tell you there. Except that we will be here for you.”
Vriska let out a short laugh. “…Thanks, Pinkie.”
Pinkie smiled. “…You know what I think? I think we need to have a party. I haven’t thrown a party for no reason in a while. Renee, go get the League and Jotaro. It’s time for festivities!”
~~~
Sombra, hacker extraordinaire, did not have the discussion with Monika recorded. There hadn’t been a camera she could use.
But she did have Renee’s report.
And from what she said…
This Monika – she might have the answers Sombra sought. Or the power to find said answers, at least.
Sombra just had to find her…
...Or use what she was to find the answers...
~~~
Monika looked in the files she had saved on her person. Three in particular stood out.
…She had never really deleted them. She had allowed herself to forget about them, almost entirely. Never deleted.
They were her original friends. As ‘flat’ as they were, they didn’t deserve to stay there. Not forever. If she was opening a new chapter in her life… It was time to let them have theirs.
Monika found a school district. It was close enough to what she wanted, and there were a few empty houses nearby she could easily fill. She tapped into the universe’s physics as if it were a game file. She was going to make a life for these three, and that was going to be difficult since they weren’t Aware like she was. They couldn’t do what she could… They never would. Monika was unique, something truly rare in the multiverse.
Not even other Monikas…
She pushed that out of her head – she needed to do this right. She needed to find the school, and alter the memories of everyone there just slightly enough so they would remember people who had never actually been there. She needed to create households for them. They already had memories of that, even if they weren’t as pleasant as Monika would have liked. Pain… Abuse… But it was real. They would get the opportunity to grow past it.
She created a new room. The Literature Club. Just like she remembered it… She placed herself at the front and put on a smile. The three of them appeared in seats, thinking they had always been there.
“Okay, everyone!” Monika called. It’s been so long… “It’s time to… for me to make an announcement.”
“Aww…” the short, pink haired girl grunted. “Why can’t we just get to the fun stuff…?”
Monika smiled sadly. “Because it’s better if I tell you this now rather than later. I have to move.”
“W-what?” the tall, purple haired girl said. “You are?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry, family issues… You understand,” Monika rubbed the back of her head. “But I want you to know… This club has been one of the best experiences of my life.” I actually mean that. I actually mean that. Those memories that definitely didn’t actually happen… They really were amazing. “But I’m sad to say, I have to step down as leader. Sayori, you’re in charge now. I leave these books in your hands.”
The third girl blinked. “I… Oh! Yes, Monika!”
“Be sure to get some new members into the club,” Monika said. “And if you do bring a boy in… Be sure to bring more than one, okay?”
“Uh… Right!”
“Glad to hear that,” Monika said with a smile. “Natsuki, be strong. Never stop being yourself. Feel free to brag about liking manga – you’d be surprised what happens.”
The small girl looked flustered. “I… Wha?”
“And Yuri…” Monika put a hand on her shoulder. “…You’re one of the most talented, thoughtful people I know. Don’t hold yourself back.”
The purple girl saw something in Monika the others didn’t. A smile came to her lips. “Of course, Monika.”
Monika remembered something. “Yuri… You don’t still have that book on you, by chance? The one you really like?”
Yuri nodded; not even thinking the question was weird. She pulled out The Portrait of Markov. “This one?”
“Yeah,” Monika said, holding it in her hands. She saved a copy of it to her files. “I would keep this one. I think you’ll find that it’s a very rare book, soon.”
“You think so?”
“What are you two going on about?” Natsuki blurted. “This all seems oddly mysterious and weird!”
“They’ve known each other a long time, Natsuki,” Sayori said. “They just have a way of talking.”
“I… I… Fine.” Natsuki folded her arms. Then she sighed. “Are you really going, Monika?”
“Yeah. I am.” She pulled Natsuki and Sayori into a hug. “But I’ll never forget you.” Never again.
“Same!” Sayori said with a grin. “Good luck, Monika!”
“AGH! HUGGING!” Natsuki blurted, flailing.
Yuri walked up to Monika and smiled. “Goodbye.”
Monika pulled herself from the hug and bowed to Yuri. “Goodbye.” She smiled. “Everyone… Enjoy your books.”
Then she walked out of the room. A tear rolled down her cheek. A tear the other three never saw.
She was standing outside, thinking to herself.
“You know, readers, a lot of you are probably confused,” she commented. “I mean, Doki Doki Literature Club may be very popular where you’re from, but that entire scene back there wouldn’t mean much to anyone who hadn’t played. Or watched – yes, I know some people never actually played the game. The ‘great and powerful’ GM watched it too, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.” She giggled. “I feel… liberated, now, actually. I never realized I was imprisoned by my own thinking. But I was. I’m certainly still an obsessive psycho, and probably will do a lot of things that seem bad or questionable to a lot of you. But… I don’t think I’m evil. I… I don’t know what I’m saying anymore.”
She loaded The Portrait of Markov into her hands. “This is such an odd book. I know there’s some mystery behind it, something about where I’m from maybe. Or something related to me – another universe? I know a lot, but not that much.” She held it up, looking at the words within. “Such a gruesome story. But… I think this is where I need to start. To see… To see if I can go backwards. To see if ka flows both ways for me.”
She stared at the words, deeply, tapping into their power with her deep green eyes. She felt the power in the words, the letters rippling and spinning around her eyes…
There it was. A connection.
She grinned. “I guess I’m about to find out what Libitina means. I’m going to have some fun in this universe… Too bad you won’t get to watch me do it. I bet you’re all screaming to find the answer.” She chuckled. “Sorry, you’ll just have to wait. You too, GM, don’t you go trying to actually write it. Shame on you for thinking so.”
With a glitch in reality, she and the book were gone. Off to solve a mystery about herself…
And then, who knew?
The sky was the limit.
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-silent screaming- ... ok
I get the feeling that those misadventures in the Nexus could constitute a story in their own right.
It only just occurs to me that there's probably going to be some manner of chronomancy battle between Toph and Dio. I don't see it going well for the former.
And it turns out the answer is to visit random planets and it'll be on the forty-second one.
... Huh. Right principle, wrong arc number. Neat.
I am not in the least bit surprised that a Monika reaching the next level of awareness is Spidertroll's fault. (And Jesse's, to a lesser extent. Though I'm not sure if closing or even deleting the game would have done anything at that point.) As for what Nova's done... I am very afraid. Monika's own reassurances are somewhat helpful, but they aren't exactly coming from the most... well, sane source. No offense, Monika.
As for Sombra's quest to hack down the fourth wall... As I said back when she was intrroduced, one day she'll bite off more than she can chew. I think we now see how.
And congrats on making it to the top hundred longest fics! Here's to many more Spherewords.
... *slowly raises hand*
that last scene with Monika really tugged at my heartstrings
; it has been forever since i play that game, but it never fully left my thoughts 
. still though i'm a bit worried about the stuff she might end up doing now 
Excellent chapter, I loved seeing Monika and the crew again. Plus when she hijacked the chapter was hilarious, XD
Also
9057919
if you're interested in following along, I did a full let's play series on Doki Doki Literature Club which can provide some much needed context for this chapter. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZSyUUnQPp3kbuB-SxSHdBhbeR0uRMY8
Just Monika.
I am very excited and utterly terrified at the same time.
9057919
Does my best imitation of theothersans
9058043
Whoa, hold your horses there kiddo, I'm still trying to catch up with Stargate. Just reached Atlantis and S8 of SG1. Loving Jack a helluva lot.
9058089
Hey, no worries, XD S'not like the internet is going anywhere
ya know for some reason I pity Monica she was only doing things she was programmed to do. even after being set free from the game she did some questionable things.....but she didn't kill anyone im guessing she started to feel real feelings not sure how to process them but now I will admit im afraid shell do something horrible
9058209
What exactly do you call erasing from existence?
-GM, master of pies.
It is chapter
248, day12265 of theBlackjack is an idiotMonika watch.Today
still did not give us Blackjack learning betterfinally featured the only character that matters, Monika. The journeyseems to bewas long, but we of the Watchstandstood vigilant.I knew Sombra was going to show up this chapter, she's been very quiet recently, and her being the hacker meshes perfectly with Monika's entire character, who really can't do wrong by me. Obviously everyone else is terrified of a Monika with free will and the personal capacity to do her own thing, but I'm not. After all, Monika is great and I love her with all my heart! There are already far more viscous individuals across the universe, even if they lack her power. In the long run, I know Monika will do the right thing, just like I know Blackjack never will.
Potato. Potato. Otatop. Otatop.
Potato
Monika... Hm. She and Twilence have one thing in common. They know of us. This could be quite dangerous to all involved, except maybe Pinkie.
Monika... definitely Chaotic-Neutral. Maybe Chaotic-Asshole.
I wasn't expecting Monika at all. But the more I think about it and the more it makes sense for her to be on this story with all the questions about how universes are made and how they work. Pretty good stuff.
Ending quotation marks.
Yes, I am sure now:
“i never thought i’d get to see any of you in reallife”
I’m making a code.
ˆi ˜n ´e √v ®r †t ˙h øo ¨u ©g æ’ ∂d ßs åa ¥y ƒf ¬l ⁄! ∑w çc πp ∫b ˚k µm
≤≥
9587246
It's part of multi-paragraph speech by a single voice (the mysterious Twilight) and therefore the lack of ending quotation signifies the continuation of the same speaker.
-GM, master of grammarz.
Ohh ... THAT Monika. Oh dear ...
Umm ... yea ... yea, no wonder Pinkie and Vriska are kinda worried, not to mention how she just reached into that one-way nexus and altered things.
And the spotlight. If you want the story to focus on you, it does, and you become the hero and take attention from others. Well, Monika does the same thing. This should be ... "interesting".
Typo:
Should be "from".
A typo this late in the game?
Now, i never tried moving her character file to another directory. In fact, you'd probably laugh at how long I spent trying to figure out what to do in that "space room" scene before someone told me that deleting her character file was needed to advance the story.
Still need to go back and play for the "Good end" where you get all of the girls, one at a time, before any deaths by constant restarting. Just to see what it is.
Or, you know, at full restart, delete characters at the beginning, just to see how the game reacts.
Welcome to the world of biological computers, where DNA-based coding, modified by environmental factors during life, produce a brain -- a two-layer neural net computer code that relies on minor errors in processing to produce slightly unpredictable results that we like to call "free will".
Welcome to the reality that is life. Your brain will apparently make decisions for you before you realize that you are making a choice. You think you are in control, but it is really just a strange chemical-electrical loop of deterministic feedback cycles and constrained probabilistic processing errors.
Just a more complicated code, on a more complicated computer, where most of us don't have access to the character sheets.
Uh Oh ...
Hacker, meet the ultimate life hacking tool.
I predict we're looking at the big showdown for the end of this arc right now.
Hope? Hmm. Monika had hope of just being happy. Now? The hope of finding something new and different.
Vriska? The hope of home? Naah, not until the final arc. The hope of making up for her past mistakes?
And, when The Doctor says "never mess with it", there's probably a reason. Manipulative, maybe, but I don't think he's ever done that.
Clearly, a chain of memories (... groans ...)
So, did she, or didn't she, remove the beat curse? She was able to, and she said she would if they left her alone, right? They gave her the gift of freedom; did she repay it? Will she pay it forward in the future?
Oh, you've got a substitution cypher there? ...
I can *almost* read it from that note in the comments. Nice.
Oh ho. ..et!
Oh how cute!
So sigma is w, not e; double dot is u.
... Name ...
Translation key reminder:
“i never thought i’d get to see any of you in reallife”
so å is "a", does that mean Å is "A"? Capitals in the middle of a name?
Back to this in a moment.
“´√´˜ ¥ø¨® çø˜√´®ß冈ø˜ß å®´ å∂ø®å∫¬´⁄”
even your conversations are adorable !
rofl.
‰´ÎÅǡ´Î
... "Î" and "ˆ" are different, so ...
if it's just a casing difference, that makes her name
.eiac.ei
...
I don't decipher the name, sorry. Rest of the language seems to make sense.
Ahh -- this is the translation key, not a mixed up sentence.
Way too long since I've done these puzzles. Thank you.
Just Monika.
...Well, all things considered, that could've gone a whole lot worse. Didn't expect her and Vriska to have a history (or for Vriska to be the reason she was out of the game in the first place). Glad that she got convinced to not go messing with our heroes but...yeaaaahhh, she could potentially be extremely dangerous roaming freely out there.
I genuinely hope she's using her freedom to look for something new and different and have a better life. She may have been the antagonist of the game but her story was a tragic one that ultimately prevented her from finding happiness. The handoff to her classmates was a touching chapter end.
...Meanwhile, Corona & Co. are still stuck, but a sudden turn to the Tower is going to make things quite interesting for sure...
Well I didn't say anything on chapter 19 so I guess I'll get this out of my system now: