Episode 23: Fantastic Reality of True Imagination

It is what it is…

We've taken everyone out for a ride, we promise it won't be much longer

Our silly disguise, we wore so you could be stronger

No one else knows but you

No one but you and us two

Only through our defeat will the truth spread

We can only do it if one of us is reborn and the other is dead

I will rise as I have risen…

These were the last words Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord wrote in their book before they closed it up. FG Discord had the book he was writing in vanish with magic and be replaced by a new one.

"How bittersweet it is that we are both done with a life of playing tricks on others." NTG Rarity commented. "If we are ever to start a new journey, however, we will have to start from the beginning."

"Good thing that neither of us fear the end then." FG Discord replied. "I'd love nothing more to start over in a world where our insanity will be called normalcy. I've risen once...I'm not afraid to rise again…"

...

"...What do they mean by this?"

The heroes were asking this inevitable question as the true god had told them everything that Rarity and Discord had said.

All they mean to say is what they have said. They are tired of creating insanity for a world that will never understand them. They want to start making it again in a world that will know what they mean without having to ask a force from beyond. Stay on your guard, however. They fully plan to go out in a blaze of glory.

"What do they plan to do to us?" the heroes replied.

They plan to have you intertwined with their world…a world that is already intertwined with itself.

"Intertwined with itself?" they responded. "How does that work?"

You solved the riddle of Starcatch, did you not? Surely, you can surmise by yourselves what the purpose of it mixing the worlds with each other like it has, can you?

"Yeah, we know what the trick to it is…" they answered, ready to explain…

"This tower is an endless loop. The universe of Fluttershy's Dark Sky has five worlds, and this tower is taking us through each world in sequence, from either the first to the last or the last to the first...or so it would seem. We're not just starting from World 1 and making our way up to World 5...we're also starting from World 5 and making our way down to World 1! The tower mixed the worlds with each other to make us believe we were going through every world in either ascending order or descending order when we were actually going through both at the same time! So the real order isn't 1,2,3,4,5 or 5,4,3,2,1...it's 1-5,2-4,3!"

Good work. However, that is not where the puzzle ends. That's only the first part of the solution. If the puzzle ended there, you wouldn't have the real location of Rarity and Discord's secret hiding place. To find them, you can not think normal...you have to think crazy…

"Wait, are you implying…" they replied as they realized what they had overlooked as a silly thought. "...that the real order is 1-5, 2-4, 3-3, 4-2, 5-1?! How can there be two 3's?! And why would the universe repeat itself again?!"

That is what they mean when they say that their world is intertwined with itself. And the universe is repeating itself because that's what it means for it to be in an endless loop. A spiral, the representation of an infinite universe forever intertwined with itself. When the beginning goes to the end, the end goes right back to the beginning...do you see their nature now?

"...Yes." they answered. "Take us to where they are. We know what we need to do now. We need to break the loop."

Then let us go to break the cycle…

"So that's what they were talking about." the heroes thought as they were teleported to a representation of the world of Lightening. "Starting a new journey…"

Soon, Myra Michaels, the Dark Sky members, Adrian and Felix Bruce, and Nero all found themselves inside the auditorium of the Lightening world's church of Maud Pies. They were face-to-face with Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord, both of whom were casually sitting on the preacher's platform next to the podium and smirking.

"Finally...we get to show you...what we really fight against!" they proclaimed brazenly at the gods.

A chilling silence filled the room before NTG Rarity and FG Discord bluntly replied with a simple…

"Cool. So tell us, without talking like a hive mind like this. We want to hear from each one of you why you're fighting against us."

"To bring all the souls that have become lost because of you out of the darkness." Myra gave her reason.

"To show that I am done with fighting like a street thug." Adrian followed up with hers. "I fight for a cause now!"

"To prove that my sister and I were created for a reason." Felix interjected.

"Vengeance...at one point." Nero teased. "Now, I seek to honor my sister in creating a new world of light and love for her."

"Uh…" the Dark Sky members stumbled a bit as it came to their turn, as they were the only ones who never really had a reason. "Is it okay if we talk as a hive mind?"

"HA HA HA HA HA!" NTG Rarity and FG Discord burst out laughing as the other heroes gave the Dark Sky members weird looks.

"Okay, okay." Dumb-bell said as the group conceded. "My reason is that I don't want to let Fluttershy down, despite everything she put us through."

"I just enjoy being here with my friends, and meeting new ones." Hoops gave them his reason.

"..." Score silently explained the stoic's approach to dealing with a world where beings are naturally drawn to fight each other.

"Love and friendship and all that good shit!" Ghost Rainbow Dash proclaimed. "Especially the love…"

"No reason!" Derpy Hooves cheerfully exclaimed to conclude everything. "I'm just here because I don't know what else to do! And I love you all!"

"OH HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO HO!" Rarity and Discord laughed loudly again. "All of you are so lovably innocent (especially G.R.D.)! You truly are all children at heart, and do you know what makes children so adorable? Declaring aloud their simple, naive goals. And do you know what that makes adults think in response? "Who are we to tell them the truth that their dreams are never going to come true and destroy their pure-hearted joy?" Are you all not seekers of the truth? And if you are, tell us, does that way of thinking not make you sick? You should know from your trials in this tower that lies are what trap us, and that only the truth can set us free. That's what you've been taught. So is that also what you truly believe?"

"Absolutely." Myra answered without hesitating. "Do you really think your mind games are going to work on us at this point? Truth is joy. If you destroy a child's joy with your own "truth", then obviously, you're not telling them the truth. You're just replacing their lies with your lies."

"It's not like we had it easy coming up here either." Adrian interjected. "I believed my own share of lies before I found the truth, and it stung! But the pain was well worth it! We're not a bunch of insecure babies!"

"Adults are just grown-up kids." Felix added. "And if they've grown up building their view of the world out of lies and convenient half-truths that merely adopt new shapes to match their new environments, then they really are in no place to be telling children what they should believe."

"Oh, for sure." Nero concurred. "Something that every child needs to know is that no adult is going to hand them the truth on a silver platter. Some don't even get the luxury of having loving parents to give them good guidance. But it's part of the challenge of life. We wouldn't be standing here facing you feeling the same sense of accomplishment if we hadn't changed at all from the experiences we've had."

"I hope you don't mind us telling you all together," said the Dark Sky members, "that we're glad you put us through this challenge, having us solve all these puzzles. That's because we enjoyed it. We enjoyed getting to do it with new friends…"

"We enjoyed watching what our truth blossomed into!" the heroes all agreed upon.

"..." Rarity and Discord said nothing in response for a while. To the surprise of the heroes, they began to blush, as if they were filled with admiration upon seeing how far they had come. Eventually, Rarity came out and said this…

"How quaint. Know, however, that we played no mind games with what we most recently said. We definitely wanted to test you one final time before our battle, but only with a question we sincerely wanted an answer to."

The heroes looked upon the gods in disbelief.

"Nice try…" they replied in a skeptical tone, despite getting a bizarre feeling that this was not part of a ruse.

"Doubt us all you wish." Discord remarked. "We are no longer intent on tricking you with our words. If you know what the truth is, then obviously, no lie we tell can lead you astray anymore. And if you know the truth, you will come to realize our true form that we have already revealed…"

"..." the heroes looked upon the gods with confusion as Rarity picked up Discord's tail with her magic and Discord took Rarity's tail in claw...and that confusion soon became horror as they realized what the two were planning to do the next time they opened their mouths…

*UMPF* *SCARF* *SLURP*

Rarity and Discord began to eat each other, simultaneously slurping each other up as they began to float and turn like a spiral would in the air. A dark aura emanated from Rarity and a light aura emanated from Discord as their bodies changed into blobs of dark energy and light energy respectively, shocking the heroes.

"They've formed the symbol of Yin-Yang…" the heroes realized. "They're planning on increasing their magical power exponentially by becoming light and dark energy themselves!"

"BECOMING?" the merging blobs replied. "NO. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN BEINGS OF PURE ENERGY. WE HAVE NEVER EXISTED PHYSICALLY. WE CAN NOT BE KILLED, EVEN IF YOU DO PROVE YOURSELVES STRONGER THAN US. IF YOU CAN NOT DESTROY US, WHAT WILL YOU DO TO REMOVE US FROM EXISTENCE?"

"Easy," answered the heroes, "we'll transform you into something we like."

"OH?" the blobs responded as they completed their transformation. "DOES THAT MEAN YOU DO NOT LIKE…"

Rarity and Discord had finished transforming into what looked like a lamia...only much more grotesque. They were now a monster that had the upper body of a kangaroo that had every part of its body turned inside out, including its pouch, and the lower body of a snake that had the skin of a pig instead of a reptile. The kangaroo's pouch was filled with soy sauce that looked like it was about to overflow, and the snake had a vagina that could secrete pig testicles. Rarity's face was on top of the kangaroo portion of the monster, wearing a black mask, and she wielded two ninja katanas instead of her usual one. Discord's face was on the end of the snake portion of the monster, smiling a creepy grin that showed that the fangs in his mouth were replaced with pens. As both of them laughed demonically, they finished their sentence by yelling…

"...THIS?!"

"No," they nonchalantly replied, "but it might just be an acquired taste."

"HA!" they exclaimed in response to the heroes playing around with them. "MAYBE YOU'LL SHUT THOSE SMART MOUTHS AFTER HAVING TO EAT THIS!"

Rarity waved the sword in her right arm at their legs, and suddenly, all the heroes were unable to move, with the exception of G.R.D..

"Huh?" she went in response to still being able to float. "It affects spirits too? How come I can still move around then, even though my legs feel numb…"

She then took the sword in her left arm and stabbed a Maud Pie clone who was sitting on a church bench through the chest. She lifted the Maud Pie up in the air, jerking the sword up to fling her off it before slicing her into pieces in midair and letting the remains fall into her pouch, soy sauce splashing from the reverb. Emerging from the soy sauce pool, the Maud clone's reappeared, having been turned into sushi. She was nothing more than California rolls now, yet the other Maud clones simply stared at the sight emotionlessly. They didn't even attempt to flee as Discord projected his head off the snake body, revealing an elastic neck behind it that stretched out so he could bite one of the Maud clone's through her head, then toss her into his mouth to swallow her whole. Soon, a line of smoked sausage links came out of his vagina, curling into a roll on the floor. Enraged at having to remain idle upon watching this heinous monstrosity unfold, the heroes shouted…

"YOU'RE INHUMAN! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING SO REPREHENSIBLE?!"

"OF COURSE WE ARE NOT HUMAN." the monster answered. "WE ARE NOT EVEN GODS. WE ARE THE AVATAR OF THE ENDLESS CYCLE OF HUMANITY AND ALL CREATURES WHO KNOW OR ONCE KNEW HUMANITY EATING ITSELF. OUR NAME IS FOOD CHAIN."

"WHAT IS IT THAT YOU MEAN TO ACCOMPLISH?!" they demanded to know.

"ACCOMPLISH?" Food Chain asked. "WE HAVE NO PERSONAL GOALS. WE EMBODY THE FUTILITY OF GOALS. NO MATTER WHAT WE DO, WE ARE AN ENDLESS SPIRAL OF INSANITY, JUST LIKE THE UNIVERSE THAT BORE US. THESE MAUD PIE CLONES ARE LIVING PROOF THAT RELIGION AND MORALS ARE JUST LIES TO KEEP US CONTROLLED BEFORE WE ARE SLAUGHTERED AND FED TO EACH OTHER."

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ANY MORE OF THEM!" they bellowed furiously. "IF YOU WANT TO FIGHT LIKE A MONSTER AND NOT A WARRIOR, AT LEAST UNLEASH YOUR SAVAGERY UPON US!"

Just before they closed their mouths after saying that, Rarity waved the sword in her right arm again to keep their mouths open. This confused Myra and Nero, as their experiences with Rarity and Discord had taught them the nature of time.

"Something's off." Myra thought. "I know the reason they didn't just stop time for us completely and slice us to bits is because their power has some kind of limitation. If they had to freeze our mouths, we obviously weren't completely frozen earlier…"

"Time is endless in this world…" Nero reiterated this to himself, musing. "If time has no end, then how can time be stopped? Unless they're merely separating parts of us from time...

"GLADLY." Food Chain replied to their exclamation as it slithered closer to the heroes, towering over them. "WE HAD ALWAYS PLANNED FOR YOU TO EAT THIS!"

Rarity brought her right arm to her pouch and squeezed it to cause the sushi to fall out, while Discord slurped up the sausages and spit them out one by one at each of the hero's mouths. However, just before the flood of soy sauce hit them along with the sausage and sushi, it was repelled by a large shield of shadow that covered the heroes.

"WHAT?!" Food Chain exclaimed as they saw two glowing, green eyes emitting a purple haze appear from the shadow. "NERO?! HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF THE TIME FREEZE?!"

Suddenly, Myra's sword appeared out of the shadow, being thrown at Rarity's right arm and stabbing it, causing her to drop the katana she was holding in it in agony. It was then that the Dark Sky members appeared out of mist that materialized in the air. Dumb-Bell and Hoops grabbed the katana before it fell to the ground, and the other three drew Myra's blade from Rarity's arm. Hoops took the katana in hoof and slashed at Food Chain from the middle, where its upper and lower body connected, but no damage was done to the monster.

"Just as we thought…" he said to himself. "This blade isn't meant for offense. It separates the body parts it slices off from the slashed enemy's body, trapping those parts in a space where time doesn't pass so that those body parts can't be moved in this dimension."

"What a horrifying ability." Dumb-bell remarked. "Thank God we can turn into mist."

"Don't forget my ability to float." G.R.D. gestured to how that provided them with a clue. "Thank God I'm a ghost."

"Good thing God killed you!" Derpy happily proclaimed.

"..." Score silently commented on the importance of death in the world.

"Uh, guys…" Nero intervened as he pulled his shadow shield off of Myra, Adrian, and Felix, revealing that a demon had come out of Myra's body to toss her sword.

"Oh yeah, right." the Dark Sky members replied sheepishly, slightly embarrassed as they flew down to give the rest of the gang the katana and give Myra her blade back. "Here you go."

"That's not the issue." Myra informed them as the demon from her body receded. "Haven't you noticed anything out of place? Anything you may have sent out of place?"

Taking the hint, the Dark Sky members turned around and gasped when they realized that the monster they had slashed had now disappeared.

"What?" they asked. "How did that happen?"

"You sent them both to a space where time doesn't move." Myra explained. "They can't be separated because they're intertwined with themselves. So when you hit them from the middle, you hit both of them."

"Why is that a bad thing though?" the Dark Sky members asked in confusion. "This means we win, right?"

"Not even close." Nero replied. "This is very bad. Very likely, they're now in the same space they sent the body parts they separated us from. It's even worse for me, because…"

Nero revealed as he moved away from Myra, Adrian, and Felix, that there were no parts of him left. He abandoned every part of his body except his eyes to move autonomously with the shadows that were still left inside of him.

"Oh fuck…" the Dark Sky members cursed as they realized what they had done, and the evil laughs of the monster could be heard echoing. "...why are we so stupid?! GOD DAMN IT!"

"I'm sorry, Nero!" Hoops apologized. "This is my fault! You can have my body as recompense if they destroy yours!"

"Oh no," replied Nero, "I'm not worried because I consider my body too precious. I'm worried for Spira. How unfair it would be if she were to watch what she tried so hard to cleanse of evil be chopped into food. I just don't think it's right for her to have to sacrifice any more…"

"Oh Nero…" Spira's soul thought, even able to feel what her brother was thinking from another space in time. "I don't care about whether it's fair or right...I just want to devote myself as a living sacrifice for all…"

"BWA MWA HA HA HA!" Food Chain laughed maniacally as it walked through the other dimension Spira's soul was in, which turned out to be identical to the inside of the church of the Maud Pies, only with the mouths and legs of the heroes lying around the part of the auditorium where they had been cut. Nero's body was still intact, however, missing only its eyes. Spira's soul resided in it, taking control of the very body she had given her life to cleanse…

"FABULOUS, TRULY A GEM!" Food Chain taunted Spira. "YOUR BROTHER ABANDONED THE GIFT YOU GAVE YOUR LIFE TO GIVE HIM TO ESCAPE AND LIVE ON AS SHADOW! HE TRULY IS A MODEL DEMON!"

"..." Spira felt a burning sensation inside of her soul after hearing that. A feeling of genuine anger…

"YES...WE CAN FEEL YOUR RIGHTEOUS FURY." Food Chain remarked, "sympathizing" with her. "YOU KNOW YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY AT HIM, ALWAYS HAVING TO BE THE ONE TO MAKE SACRIFICES. DYING RIGHTEOUS SO THAT HE CAN LIVE PROFLIGATE. WORRY NOT, HOWEVER. AFTER WE KILL YOU AND TAKE YOUR SOUL INTO US, YOU WON'T HAVE TO PUT UP WITH HIM ANY LONGER. IF YOU WERE TO WORK WITH US, YOU COULD BECOME A GOD. A GOD WHO SAVES THOSE WHO ACTUALLY DESERVE TO BE SAVED! UWA HA HA HA HA! WHAT DO YOU SAY? NO WAY YOU COULD REFUSE SUCH AN OFFER. NO WAY YOU COULD PASS THAT UP, RIGHT?"

"No way…" Spira answered in a cold monotone, showing how angry she was as she let a tremendous aura of light energy be released from her body. "No way am I letting that pass…"

"GLAD YOU CAN SEE REASON!" Food Chain exclaimed, brandishing its katana. "NOW THEN, TELL US HOW YOU WOULD LIKE TO DIE…"

"To emit my full power, I need my brother's dark energy…" Spira interjected as she also let out a tremendous aura of dark energy from her body around the light energy, stunning Food Chain. The spiral on Nero's chest began to glow as well and swirl, mesmerizing Food Chain with its hypnotic movement… "Do you honestly believe he just left me here to rot? Do you have any clue about the sacrifice he made so that we could reach our full potential?"

"TELL US ABOUT THIS POWER…" Food Chain said in a zombie-like tone, entranced. "THIS COMBINED POWER OF YIN AND YANG THAT SURPASSES EVEN OURS…"

"No way do you deserve to know." Spira replied, giving them a furious glare, her eyes emitting a fiery red haze. "Not after what you said. You're not getting away with that…"

"WITH WHA-UUUUUMMMMMPPPPPHHHHH!" Food Chain cried, as Spira, with lightning fast speed, pulled Discord's head out of Food Chain's lower body and dragged it all the way up to Rarity's head on the upper body to shove his head down her throat.

"NO WAY AM I LETTING YOU GET AWAY WITH CALLING MY BROTHER A DEMON AFTER HE SACRIFICED HIS BODY TO SAVE ME AND OUR FRIENDS!" Spira shouted.

The power Spira poured into the blow she used to shove Discord's head down Rarity's throat was so great, that Discord's head carried Food Chain's entire lower body down Rarity's esophagus, causing the creature to eat itself, rolling into a spiral that eventually imploded with a resounding pop. A huge mess of blood, flesh, soy sauce, sausage, and pig semen went everywhere before two giant waves of light and dark energy were sent out, melting away the alternate dimension and causing Spira to reappear in the air back in the regular dimension. All of the heroes noticed that they could move every part of their body again, just as they noticed an unconscious Spira beginning to fall...along with a conscious Rarity and Discord, who had been restored to their original forms.

"YOU WILL SHOW US YOUR POWER!" the gods exclaimed as Rarity got out her sword and Discord charged up a magic blast in his claw.

Before they could reach Spira in the air, however, Nero quickly extended an arm made of shadow to grab his sister in its hand and pull her down to safety. Rarity and Discord were about to be reached in the air as well, though by less comforting hands. The two could see what awaited them below as Adrian smiled a sinister smile, holding two beakers of red liquid in her fists as she jumped up in the air, ready to give both of them the finishing blow.

So we're going to out like fireworks. What a truly fabulous way to end it all.

Ninja Time God Rarity said those words as Adrian gave an uppercut to her chest and Discord's chest, pushing her fists through their bodies to plant Felix's explosive concoctions inside.

More importantly, however, is the truly wonderful way we're going to begin again though.

Fantasy God Discord said those words as his body and Rarity's turned red and took on the shapes of firework rockets, flying off in all sorts of directions and propelling streams of light and dark energy before finally colliding with each other…

*BOOM* *WAPING* *ACHING* *BING* *BANG*

A massive explosion that caused light and dark sparks to form and dissipate occurred, following in both the Maud Pie clones and the heroes looking up to watch in awe.

"What is this feeling?" the Maud Pies asked themselves in confusion of their excitement. "This feeling of fascination?"

"It's the joy of watching something finally be completed." the heroes answered them. "Those gods may have been totally insane, but they were totally devoted on seeing their story out to the end. They killed and destroyed the lives of many, but everyone they've hurt will have a chance to begin again. They were done with their work of creating insanity and feeling enmity for those who didn't understand the spirit of their art, wanting to move on to create something that would make the spirits of even those who have long forgotten how to feel true joy marvel in childlike wonder once more…"

"How do you know this?" the Maud Pies asked with genuine curiosity.

The heroes then told them the final words of Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord…

Because we have passed on our spirits to the ones we sought to make stronger through our story…

It was then that the heroes instinctively turned around and saw Discord's pen and book lying near the church podium.

"Could this be it?" they asked themselves as they walked over to the pen and book. "Could this be the end? There is still the Trinity and The Reborn One...but this feeling...it feels like it would be so satisfying to just end the story right now..."

No. There is no way you can end the story right now. Not...be...fore…be...

These are the words the true god spoke before the heroes wrote an ending in the book.

Once Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord were defeated, the heroes were all teleported home to their respective worlds, feeling wiser and stronger.

Myra Michaels found herself working at Phoenext alongside Edward Miles and Dawn Dedde. They were now a team of soldiers hired by Nick Rohn to rid the world of evil demons. Phoenext's days of oppressing the innocent were no more, as like the land, its leader had been purified by fire and light…

Adrian and Felix finally returned home to their parents and told them how they honestly felt for the first time, revealing that they knew of the secret of their conception from Noimman. Cristo and Krysta immediately apologized...and knowing an apology wasn't enough, they allowed Adrian and Felix to leave the house and do what they wished with their lives, no longer bound by the past. The path their parents had planned for them then was now only in the past…

Nero eventually convinced Spira to keep his body that she had purified for him...under the condition that Nero took up residence in her body. Spira had discovered what had given her such strength in the battle with Rarity and Discord aside from her righteous fury and love, her soul of light merging with Nero's body of darkness. And after she had told her brother this secret, it wasn't long before his soul of darkness merged with Spira's body of light. Soon, the two of them had finally become a complete form through their strong bond…

The Dark Sky members went on to have an excellent adventure. Dumb-bell got lucky in getting hooked up with a nice Chinese lady who gave him his wang back, Hoops got courted by Shaquille O' Neal at a basketball game while Score silently kept score, and Ghost Rainbow Dash played another prank on Derpy Hooves by possessing the skeletons in her closet that had to be let out while Derpy was cleaning. Thankfully, Derpy finally found the gang's instruments after G.R.D. finally came out of the closet...for Dumb-bell. She blushed as he scolded her for the prank and gave him a kiss. Derpy just didn't know why she was so enamored with him. Was she just happy he got his wang back?

However, while the Dark Sky members were happy to be back, there were bigger questions of concern than romance and wangs. When the gang returned to Fluttershy's mansion, they found that she was nowhere around. Where was she? Where was Twilight Sparkle? But the most important question of all, where...wa...s…S…

"Ha ha ha ha ha." three spirits watching from above laughed, unseen from blending in disguise with the lights in the dark night sky. Emerging from the stars, the souls of Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike appeared, the three spirits who had become the Trinity of The Reborn One...

"You ask such questions believing that a time will come soon for them to be answered." Twilight remarked. "Unfortunately, that won't be the case. They at least won't be answered for you in the state you're in."

"When you killed Ninja Time God Rarity and Fantasy God Discord," explained Fluttershy, "you became their successors. And like them, you must undergo the same ultimate fate...being transformed into something truly beautiful…"

"The stories of all you heroes have ended, whether you realize it or not…" Spike said ominously. "The end is going to come for all, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. The only thing that you can do is create a new beginning for the spiriting...in a new form…MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

They do realize their story has ended. They only cut me off because they already knew. They don't care about the end...all they care about is the new beginning that we all wish for…

These were the last words the true god spoke before the end came to an end…