Thank god I had that spa day cause if I didn't this might have hurt like a bitch. I didn’t specify my body on how many kids I was gonna birth at once… Twenty nine pups, some could change into a keychain form, others were part naga, a few were purebred dire wolf pups. All in all… Yeah I’m not leaving this spot… nope. Not moving. “And I thought I was bad…” Heart said, giving me an ear scratch.

"I'm a Den Mother, this is my job and I will be darned if I left my kids sides." I said simply. "They are my kids...my very fluffy kids...and I couldn't be happier." I said, even though people saw during the kids birth I grew quite a bit in many many ways.

“So… how will?”

“It’s alright.” Ophelia said, resting next to me. I was about her size right now.

"Yes, everything is alright." I smiled warmly.

“So, what am I exactly?” Heart asked. “Cause this… is weird.” They motioned to all of themselves.

“And you haven’t just changed back to your human form why?” I asked honestly. “Your an Admin, you can shapeshift.”

“Why haven’t you? At this rate I’ve changed species, if a Keyblade can be counted as a species, three times. Human to Keyblade, Keyblade to Admin… now… whatever I am now. At this point I don’t completely care anymore but I don’t think what I am even has a name.”

“Hybrid Naga and Dire Wolf...is new yes.” I started. “But why haven’t I? Because technically I was born as a Dire Wolf to get my Soul back so this is my base form...even though I was originally born male but that’s not the point.” I said honestly. “So...right now you and some of my kids are half naga half dire wolf...would they be Dire Naga’s? Floof Noodles?” I asked.

That last one made Heart chuckle. “Cute. So… what are we gonna do next?” They asked, managing to lean against me and pet one of the pups.

“Well I would have went to a beach to have a nice day off, but I’m not going anywhere right now.” I said gently, gently brushing some hair out of the face of a dire wolf keyblade.

“Hm. Well, if anything you staying here with the kids would work to our advantage. Keeps Nexus and the rest blind to what you and Eclipsa to an extension a mystery.”

“Plus I can train her in the more practical uses of our abilities.” Ophelia said.

“That is also true.” I nodded. “Cause nothing like learning from my future self.”

“Huh. Well, wonder what that leaves me to do?” Heart questioned.

“No idea.” I shrugged. “You have a lot of things you can do while I’m here tending to our kids.”

“That’s just it… I don’t know what to do. I guess I’m just not as good at… adapting to this kind of stuff as you guys.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t already gotten used to this already.” I said simply.

“You and Eclipsa never had extraordinary lives. You live for all this wildness. Me? I basically get handed the ultimate weapon, and resurrect a city… and I didn’t want it. I’ve spent my whole life wanting what you two already had, harsh or not I wished for just one day of the lives you two lived.”

“Basically you wanted a day where you don’t know what the fuck is happening?” I asked honestly.

"I wanted a day to feel like everyone else."

“I was never ‘like everyone else’ to start, you know this...and Eclipsa was literally reborn into a kid with Oath and Oblivion...neither of us had a ‘feel like everyone else’ moment. And honestly feeling normal is...kind of boring.”

"Boring is better than being taught step by step how to hide the corpses." Heart sighed. "So what's it like… being a Dire wolf? Given I'm now… half one I guess some perspective is in order."

“Boring let’s your mind slip and get distracted.” I started. “But being a Dire Wolf? Um...hard to explain, but it’s basically being a Wolf except bigger, faster, stronger, and a fuck lot more magical.”

"Huh." Heart hummed. "I sometimes wish I wasn't…"

“Wish you weren’t what?” I asked curiously.

"Wish I wasn't me."

“Okay, first up, stop being a baby.” I frowned. “For the past god knows how long, all you’ve done is complain about who you are when both me and Eclipsa have no idea who, or what we truly are, and Cript even proved that more.” I frowned. “So how about you take a good long look at yourself, and actually be okay with who you are, because you are so far removed from the bog standard factory made Zeke’s your so scared of being compared to.” I frowned. “If I, the most paranoid person in this realm, is more accepting of myself when I don’t know who the heck I am, then you should as well.” I said while making sure my tone was soft and not angry so I didn’t either wake up or upset my pups.

"... Maybe. I just don't know how."

“How I do it is that I look at all the accomplishments I’ve made, look at the absolute bonker’s size of my family...and just take a deep breath and feel like only I could have done this, no one else.”

"Hmm…"

“Yes?” I asked while a few of my children woke up and immediately started to drink my breast milk straight from the tap.

"Why not take a vacation? Reflect?" Ophelia said. "For us… myself, Eclipsa and I would take special vacations when we were extremely stressed."

“I mean, Lyra told me to go to the beach for a vacation, but I can’t since my kids.” I said honestly.

"This vacation was… different." Ophelia said with a smile. "It was just us three and we actually only had to have one of us be under the… conditions." She chuckled.

“Well either way.” I shrugged. “I need a vacation cause Lyra said so, Heart need’s a vacation because of his own reasons.”

"What kind of Vacation is it?" Heart asked.

"We called it a Childhood Vacation." Ophelia said.

"I think I get the picture." Heart said.

“Oh?” I asked curiously. “As in...literally going back to being a child again due to...that reason?”

"You'd be surprised on how effective it was." Ophelia hummed. "And it lasts as long as we wanted."

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “But I have these twenty nine wonderful pups to take care of.”

"Then play the role of the mamma." Ophelia said, looking over at Heart and I.

"Wait… you want me to be the kid in this?" Heart asked.

"It would give you something you've never had. A childhood."

"... Is it wrong that I am considering it?"

“Not really.” I said honestly. "It’s something that can help you. Why wouldn’t you want to take a chance to get help?”

"I just…Will I remember?"

"Only if you want. But once the vacation is over you will change back and remember everything." Ophelia said.

“I mean, I remembered everything when I was reborn just to get my soul and light half back.” I said honestly. “Come on, the worst can probably happen even though Nexus doesn’t know what to do at the moment...or at least, until Spoiled clones are involved.” I sighed out, remembering that I have a mental connection to all the people that were connected to Heart.

"Hmm…" Heart thought it over for a time.

“You’ve been humming a lot lately.” I pointed out to Heart.

"Heh. I guess I have… alright, a week and I'll want to remember stuff." Heart said. She then placed a kiss on her finger tips and blew it at Heart, a strong pulse of magic followed as in a puff of cool steam, Heart was now…. Puppy.

My mind semi blanked seeing the now baby Heart as I unconsciously added him to my litter. “My puppy.” I said while gently nuzzling Puppy Heart.

They were still half Naga, half Dire Wolf, but so damn small! He's half snake and still smaller than the solely Dire wolf pups...

“He so smol, he so cute.” I cooed happily. “Is this what normally happens?” I asked Ophelia.

"Yeah. Seems like Heart was just always a small baby." Ophelia said with a smile.

As the rest of the day was getting started, Heart mostly just seemed to nap. It also seemed that moving in the baby version of their body was harder than the adult one. They moved around almost like a worm. “And here we see the legendary floof noodle try their best to walk.” I said in a makeshift animal documentary voice because honestly this is just adorable.

They didn't seem to mind my narration, still trying to move to no real avail. With me here, Ophelia took my work for the past few days, though the kingdom was absolutely ecstatic at hearing I gave birth apparently and thousands of letters and reporters wanting photos of the newborns arrived.

“Listen, I know everyone’s so happy about me finally giving birth but do I literally need thousands of letters?” I frowned.

"You have fans." Alxun said, aka Luna for those who can't tell. "It's a big deal."

“I know I know.” I said. “But there too young and all the attention might scare them…” I said worriedly, not wanting my kids to be scared by the paparazzi.

"Most likely."

“This is gonna be a little annoying I just know it…” I sighed out.

I sighed as I saw Baby Heart crawling around, well, inchworming around. I wonder how much an infant Biology is affecting their mentality? For me it was mostly just being tired a lot, finding the stupid little toys interesting and a natural instinct tot feed when hungry.

“How are you feeling right now Heart?” I asked, having the ‘baby talk app’ open so I can understand if Heart is talking.

'feel… kinda cold actually.' They replied, still inchworming around.

“Uh…” I frowned. “Either because your a naga and your cold blooded...or something else…” I said nervously, trying to recall if Eclipsa’s race were cold blooded and warm blooded Dire Wolf would do something about that.

I got a copy of that guide book Eclipsa had on her race and opened it up. Flipping through the pages until I found something.

Infant Naga's while warm blooded thanks to our evolution, does not yet generate enough body heat alone until they are a month of age, as such, the mother or family members swallow them into their storage or healing stomach for warmth and protection from the elements. While inside either belly their inborn magic creates a sort of parasitic relationship to the host so they do not require food or water, while the bellies natural oils and biology gives air. This parasitic relationship does not harm the host at all, and works akin to normal pregnancy

“They could have said it’s ‘symbiotic’ instead of ‘parasitic’...” I muttered while gently picking up Heart and cradling him, my fur warm enough to hopefully increase his temperature so he wasn’t cold.

They yawned, falling asleep as I was warm enough to keep them as such with just the fur. This was nice. I've rarely seen them so calm.

“This is nice.” I muttered with a warm smile. “How have you and the others...reacted to me finally having kids?” I asked Alxun.

"I lost sixty rem to Twin Pie…" She laughed.

“Even after all this time people still bet on me…” I sighed out. “What did you bet?”

"I thought you'd give birth in a year."

“Alrighty then.’ I nodded. “But I take it everyone’s happy about the twenty nine new kids?”

"Very." Alxun said with a nod. "If not for all the work they'd be here too."

“Honestly...I just want a day where none of us are working and just...spend time as a family.” I said. “When was the last time we did that? Everytime people have just been busy, tired, or having planned other things…”

"Pain of running a massive kingdom. The bigger it is, the more work there is to do."

“Even though that everything we’ve done we can honestly let the entire kingdom run itself for a while without any problems.” I said honestly.

"If I know anything, it's that there is always work, mundane or of grand importance."

I sighed out. “And this is why I hate working…” I muttered.

Smirking, Alxun cuddled up next to me and yawned. "I hope you don't mind, but we were setting up a room for you and the other Den Mother's. All the babies and you all. Figured the best way to keep the kids, you, and all that together and safe. Plus it will be hidden so no way Nexus will find it."

“Yay.” I smiled while nuzzling Alxun. “Thank you.”

"Thank Cript. He had a point. So long as you and Eclipsa remain a mystery to Nexus the kingdom won't have to worry about grand scale attacks. Plus it keeps you relaxed and with the kids so, win win." She said smiling.

“Until Nexus gets so upset at not knowing things they actively attack us.” I sighed out.

I received a light flick to the snoot. "Don't think, just enjoy." She said, placing a puppy on my muzzle.

I pouted. “Fine fine.” I said while gently taking the pupper off my muzzle and cuddling with my wife, Heart, and one of my kids.

Later that day I was moved to the room. It was actually kinda cool. Cript modified his Radist, that weird TARDIS ship of his to hold us all in, and camouflaged it as something I didn't expect. The air. This makes it, thanks to my Nothingness, impossible to locate and can only be opened from the inside. My parents, Den and many others were here, including… wait. "Hello again Ben." The Mother said. She looked like a Den Mother… like the legendary first Den Mother… just as big too.

“And...what are…” I took a moment. “Wait...what happened?”

"Allow me." Cript said, walking up to me as a Den Mother also. What the? "You see, Max… killed her protectors… while she wasn't in danger this did give me an idea. You see, Den Mother's are in every reality, the best mother's. Loyal, fearce, so, after speaking with her, we decided to move her here, taking up a Den Mother form along with the other- oph!" Cript yelped, tackled by a rather green fur colored Den Mother. "Lyra!"

"This is fun!" Lyra proclaimed.

"Yes… as you can see everyone here either is a mixed Den Mother along with their normal forms, or just a pure den mother, but the kids they birth while The Mother is here are not all going to be born solely Dire wolves. Ponies, Naga's, Centaures, etc. This room is basically the family baby making/raising room. Completely locked off from all of Creation, and thanks to your Nothingness, the Void as well, keeping all here safe. This includes the grown up kids as well."

“That...is really cool.” I said. “And who said my paranoia into figuring out how to make people completely untraceable wasn’t a good idea?” I chuckled. “And good thing I figured out how to reverse it to find our enemies if their trying to hide.” I mentioned.

"Glad this thing is getting some use too." Cript said, knocking Lyra off of them. "Haven't used it in so damn long, I had already ripped out the timedrive so it's already a regular space ship with an infinite pocket dimension. Also food at will. Pizza." They said, in a flash a simple cheese pizza appearing before them.

“Sweet.” I said happily. “This is amazing...all the kids will be safe and happy with those they love.”

"And I am going to be a bit more lenient on the Starfish clones rule, but I also feel I should mention that while you can have sex out there the babies will always be born and sent here, so incase you croak as a Starfish clone out there, you and they are safe here. But be careful if you see Max… Don't confront him. Something about how he killed those Admins was off and I don't like it at all."

“John’s gonna beat him that’s for sure.” I said honestly. “But I’m sure Max will do something that will involve all of us.”

"Likely, but not anytime soon. He likes to prepare… but, one issue at a time and this seems to solve our safety issue. Now, for something I've been waiting for, for a long time." Cript said happily as I saw The Mother nod.

“What?” I asked curiously.

"With the Mother of another creation here, we can merge hers and our creation together, making both a much more fun existence and a bigger, more defensible one. More Allies in the fight and more various information and such. A foot up from Nexus."

“Except that foot up would be a foot back because Nexus would also be getting allies from them...also wouldn’t Void Mother be absolutely pissed Belief is back?” I asked curiously.

"She has long since lost her own emotions, pouring them all into the blackness that is the void today. She might not care. Besides, she can't do anything."

“Why can’t she do anything? I thought that the moment she exits whatever hole she’s in all of existence kind of stops…”

"While true she would immediately taint all around here, much like how I can pacify anyone no matter how the rage they feel burns, I also can no longer fight. This rule, still applies to her. It's why she gathers followers. She is bound by the rules of the Mother, because she founded them. Even corrupted she follows them, in a twisted way."

“Alrighty then…” I nodded. “That’s...something that seems easily broken to be honest.” I said. “But as long as they don’t actively just destroy everything…”

"They are not. These rules make up what we are as The Mother. Should she break them, she would become killable. Her immortality is tied to her following these rules."

“Wouldn’t killing herself be the answer to what she wants though?” I asked honestly. “She breaks the rules, she then kills herself, and then existence ends right?” I pointed out. “Or is that just what Vincent wants?”

"Her death would only lead to the end of void. Not existence. If a Mother dies only the reality we made and sustain will die, so her here, it will only be the void that goes."

“And then Nothingness goes and then Light and Dark goes and then everything goes in a massive chain reaction cause one of the key parts of reality just ceased to exist.” I said. “I’m glad our enemies are too brain dead to realize that but still.”

"Not exactly. If she is to die that does not mean the rest of reality does. So long as there is at least one Mother, and one Belief, existence will live on."

“Even when a literal piece of existence just isn’t there anymore?” I asked curiously.

"While the void has proven… unique, in its newfound form it was originally energy like magic or life energy. This void is just corruption at its purest. Without her it would all begin to revert back to its original forms."

“Okay then.” I nodded. “Thank you...good to know that Vincent was just lying then…”

"He might not have known. As smart as he is this information is little known."

“And yet he can time travel without any consequences.” I frowned.

"There's always consequences." Cript muttered lowly.

“Not from my one nightmare.” I frowned. “This nightmare showed me that Vincent planned for you to kill him just so his past self could make some grand entrance as Zeke’s brother, just so when we finally get to fight Jericho the fucker swaps bodies and then kills himself as Jericho.” I frowned. “His future self and past self even talked about it...which is how do I know this? Because myself in that timeline found an orb that told me everything.”

"... I hate the fucking forth wall…" Cript groaned.

“There is no Fourth Wall, that was just Nothingness showing me a possible timeline that stopped abruptly.” I said. “Remember, Nothingness has a special hold on Time itself...as Diane puts it, it’s the ‘Recycling Bin’ for all Timelines that either never happened because of events or was destroyed due to Nexus.”

"Either way. So, looks like you have to learn to hone that power so we know who and where to get the most aid from." Cript yawned. "From there we help the good guys there deal with the bad guys they have then get them to help us."

“And that’s where Ophelia comes in.” I said honestly. “Given that...she’s probably sixty thousand or more years old given what she said about you being dead.”

"It will go quicker once you have some training as well." Ophelia said with a nod. "It will let us sort them out from best to worst timelines."

“Alrighty then...even though I have constantly trained as much as I could, sadly off screen yet again, right now actual training would help…just need this stupid thing off.” I said while pointing to the necklace Lyra forced me to wear.

“Relax. This isn’t combat, this is using Nothingness to witness what no longer exists through the you that walks that timeline.” Ophelia said, placing a paw to my own. “We will explore that world through their eyes, but there is one downside. While we… possess, for lack of a better word, we are restricted to the powers and abilities they have. This connection sends our minds and not out power. Once we have analyzed it, we can determine its value in reaching first or save it for later if it is bad.”

“Alrighty then.” I nodded. “This is going to be a nightmare and a half...I just know it…”

“Let’s try a timeline that is peaceful then. We can determine which is bad and which is good. I’ll guide you to the peaceful timeline, then you can try it alone once you explore it, alright?” Ophelia said.

“Alright...so let’s try to do this without me being flung into whatever timeline Nothingness wanted to throw me in…” I sighed out.

Ophelia allowed the Nothingness to completely cover her, flowing it over me. Closing my eyes, I felt Ophelia and myself soon dive into Nothingness itself, the energy felt stagnant, but at the same time flowing. I began seeing the multiple countless streams of nonexistent timelines. Some flowing calmly with no worry, others chaotic and shifting violently. I could feel Ophelia guide me towards the calmer ones. Soon she let go as I fell into it.

Once I woke up I noticed something was odd. I was… a pony? Fully equine? “Uh...sure, why not…” I muttered while looking myself over to see who I was.

I had an eggshell white coat, dark grey mane and a Thorn Vine as a cutie mark. Thankfully moving like this is a lot like my feral form. I was an adult, as far as I could tell. Looking out the window I was in… what city is this? Manehattan?

“Okay...so far there’s Deja Vu with me starting a journey in Manehattan…” I chuckled to myself while looking around to see if there was any other distinct things about where I was at the moment. I tried summoning my weapons. Nothing sadly, not even Nothingness. Ophelia was right then. Looking around I noticed two things. One, I was an earth pony, and two, for an earth pony I have a lot of arcane books. “Hmm...that’s interesting…” I hummed while trotting over and picking up one of the arcane books.

Most seemed to be on ancient spells and theoretical magics. Though one here made mention to something I am familiar with.

By fifth Discordian era the two sisters were faced with dire choices in their battle against the spirit of chaos Discord. In their battles it was said they turned him to stone first in an attempt to force his very essence to sleep eternally so his physical body would become hollow and motionless.

That sounds like what happened to Ventus, when his heart went to rest within Sora’s.

“Well that’s a curious thing…” I hummed.

The Princesses were said to accomplish this using an ancient relic recovered from an unknown land far within the badlands. The relic did not work however, so they turned to the elements of harmony, and victory was achieved.

The next image displayed the relic in question. There was clear alterations, but this was a spot on match for a Starlight Keyblade of the Keyblade Graveyard.

“Oh damn...that’s a thing.” I said. “Wonder how they found that thing...and if the Keyblade Graveyard is somehow apart of the Badlands…”

There was a sudden knock at my door. “Wolf Thorn! You there?” Someone’s voice called out. Wolf Thorn? Is that my pony name here? Huh… not bad. That voice though… it sounds familiar.

“Uh, one moment!” I called out while putting the book down. “Sorry, was just doing some light reading.” I said while trotting over and opening the door.

I was met by a Pegasus… who kissed me deeply… they were also a stallion. “Morning lovely~” They cooed to me while using their wings to hand me flowers… Wait, that mane color… those red eyes… ZEKE, er, Heart?! “Miss me?” Looking more at them… yeah. It was them. Their cutie mark was even a bullseye target.

“Even your kisses always hit the mark.” I chuckled, trying to see if I could ‘remember’ this pegasi’s name from Wolf Thorn’s memories.

… I could not. Need to learn that soon! Glancing quickly at the flowers I saw a note.

‘Happy three year Anniversary, Heart Shot.’

Oh thank god… Wait… Anniversary?

“I must have been reading too much...but Anniversary?” I asked, playing the ‘forgetful nerd’ card here given there was a lot of arcane and history books here.

He chuckled, smiling at me. “Silly book worm.” They pat my head. “This day three years ago, I bumped into you at Magic Point Park waiting for the new Daring Do book and had our first date. Tonight I was thinking museum trip first, check out your favorite exhibits then the Archery Team’s practice then end it all with a lovely picnic as Princess Celestia lowers the sun and Luna raises the moon.”

So Luna isn’t Nightmare Moon here. That’s good.

“And by ‘archery team’s practice’ you mean ‘showing off’ again right?” I asked, having a feeling that, given this is Zeke, he would do some showing off in front of his stallion.

“Not my fault I’m that good Besides, I know you’re little pervy mind constantly thinks of how lewd it can become.”

“Not my fault you got a nice plot.” I chuckled. “So anyways, shall we get going or you need to get something?”

"Just picking your hot self up."

This version of Heart seems… so happy. How different were their lives? He took me to a nice dinner for breakfast before we headed off to the museum.

“Ah the museum.” I sighed out happily, enjoying the history that was within the building.

As I was looking around I remembered when I went to a museum with Twilight. As we looked around I saw something. It was an old piece of armor… not equine. That's Keyblade armor.

Looking up this exhibit hall was labeled "Mystery of The Badlands Far South." Here pieces of Keyblade armor were on display. Even… the Starlight Keyblade. It was heavily rusted over. There was one piece of attire here that was whole and fairly clean… a Unicorn mask. Is this Equestria and the Keyblade Graveyard the same world?

“Something’s...not right…” I muttered to myself, thinking about all the possibilities of what this could mean.

"I never understood why you liked this wing so much. All this stuff creeps me out." Heart Shot said, looking over a half broken gauntlet of Keyblade armor.

“That’s because this is ancient history, of civilization and of a race long forgotten...or…” I looked at the Unicorn mask and all the rusted weapons. “A civilization and a race that killed each other for some...unknown reason.”

"Either way they had weird fashion sense. Plus isn't it weird that if they did kill each other, why isn't there a single bone or fossil?"

“I don’t know...but it has to do with this weird weapon.” I said while pointing to Starlight. “It’s unlike any weapon we’ve seen, and it’s unlike any magic anyone’s ever seen.”

"How? Doubt it has any magic left given the story about the Princesses and Discord." They said, looking over various other items.

“And yet both princesses believed it held power, even in it’s rusted state…” I said. “And their both Alicorn’s, so if they could sense long lost magic in these items then they should still have power...I just don’t know how to bring it out…” I sighed out.

"You really should have been born a unicorn." Heart said with a half laugh, hugging me with their wing. "I heard they added a new piece to this exhibit, figured you'd go crazy over it."

“Wait really!?” I asked in surprise. “Where is it?”

"Should be at the end of the hall. All I know about it is that it is apparently huge."

“Well then let’s get going.” I said while practically dragging him off to the new exhibit. “Can’t wait to see what huge thing is here.”

As I dragged them down to the new exhibit, upon finally seeing it… my heart sank. There is rusted, dust encased glory was… The Lingering Will… "Okay… that's cool." Heart said.

“The Lingering Will…” I muttered, seeing it still in that same position.

"Hmm." Heart hummed, not hearing what I said and looking at the plack before it. "This statue was discovered atop The highest rock tower within the location of the Badlands. It is hollow and seems to give off faint unidentifiable magic. This figure has been dubbed 'Hollow Knight'."

“I mean...their technically correct.” I said, gently reaching out to the armor. “There’s...someone still in this Armor…”

"It says it's hollow." Heart said, looking at me. "You alright?"

“It also says it gives off faint unidentifiable magic...yet look at it, it’s stuck in this pose like...it’s waiting for someone.”

"What? Like a golem or something?"

“No...like a Lingering Will.” I said. “Damn not being a Unicorn…” I grumbled as I put a hoof on the ground. “If only I could channel some form of magic...maybe I could do something to unlock these damned these secrets.” I growled and stomped on the ground.

"Why not ask your boss?" Heart asked.

“Today is our anniversary…” I said while looking at him sadly. “I don’t want to get caught up in work on our special day…”

"Awh." They cooed, kissing me with a hug. "And you say you can't be romantic."

“I’m not really.” I said honestly. “Sorry for...getting a little overzealous with work.”

"It's kinda cute when you do that."

“Oh yeah?” I asked curiously.

"Yeah. You're little nerd outs are always cute. So, now that we saw this thing how about we head off to the other exhibits."

“Sure…” I said while looking at Lingering Will again. “I don’t know who you are, but I know you're in there.”

We began exploring the rest of the museum. It was all fairly standard. But fun.

“Well this was fun.” I said warmly.

"Glad you like it." Heart said as we exited. "Now onto the archery team for a bit of practice and show off to you, then onto our picnic."

“Alright.” I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” I said, kind of hoping Wolf Thorn was going to remember all of this.

We took a trolley some ways downtown to the archery teams training area. A community center. I sat in the benches with some other viewers while Heart and the others took practice shots at moving targets a unicorn was moving around. Like my Heart, Heart Shot had impeccable aim. His teammates were doing good too. “So, how’s it going Wolf?” Looking to my left, I saw a thin earth pony mare was now sitting next to me. She had the same coat color as me, but a dark brown mane and her cutie mark was a sword in the stone… huh.

"Oh nothing much. How about you...uh…" I tried to think of her name. "Sorry, too many things on my mind…"

She gave me a fairly good whack across the back of my head. “Oh let me guess, did Heart rutt your brains out again? It’s me dummy, Stone Thorn, your sister.” She said, rolling her eyes.

… I have siblings here?!

"I'm sorry sis, I just got done with seeing the new exhibits at the museum." I said sheepishly. "And no, he didn't do that."

“Huh, surprising.” She chuckled. “I got back from seeing that too. I can’t wait for my night shift tonight. I’m gonna run every examination test on that statue to try and identify that magic, but that’s not all I came here to tell you.” She said, looking around real quick. “I just got word back from the crew at the badlands that the statue was not all they found!” She said in a hushed whisper yell. “They found bones! An intact skeleton that was next to the statue! They’ll be shipping it out here by next week.”

"Really?" I whispered. "But...the armor felt like it still had someone in it. You sure?"

“Hm? Well yeah, check it out. I got a sketch of the bones and their still intact attire and weapon!” She said, fetching a letter from her saddle bags and showing me… The skeleton was human… and wore Terra’s old clothing… even the Gazing Eye was still in their grip. “They’ve already sent the weapon but it’s in research still. They want to examine it before displaying it to the public. It’s in AMAZING condition!”

"That's… really interesting." I said honestly.

“If you want, just say the word I will get you in the lab tonight. I’m sure you and Heart will be done by midnight, just show up around then and I’ll let you see them.” She said, placing the papers back into her bag. “You have to apply for a send out there someday bro. I know you don’t want to be so far away from Heart Shot but it will be totally worth it.”

"I know I know..." I sighed out. "But I'll try to be there by midnight."

“Great! Happy Anniversary, and happy future!” She said, taking off.

After about three hours of watching Heart Shot make some rather impressive trick shots, we headed out for the picnic. The part was fairly lively but now crowded. The blanket was set, food and wine poured. “And, enjoy.”Heart said, feeding me a sunflower sandwich… huh, not bad. Pony tastebuds.

"I am enjoying it." I said warmly.

“I’m glad. Been planning this for a while. It’s not that big but I know you’re not that big on the extravagant.” Heart said, munching on their own sandwich.

"As long as it's with you it's more than enough." I said lovingly. As we ate we watched as day shifted to night, began stargazing and just had fun. Part of me wondered though… is this considered cheating? I hope it doesn't, I'd rather not have taken Wolf Thorns boyfriend away. "Stargazing is nice." I said warmly.

"So love, I've been thinking… your apartment is kinda snug and my place is… big enough for two…"

"Oh?" I asked. "Are you..asking what I think your asking?"

"I mean, we've been dating for three years. Most ponies are already married at this point in a relationship. I know you want to take it slowly but I want to know that this will… lead to something more."

"Trust me...I want to take the best step." I said gently. "But it's gonna be a nightmare getting all my stuff out of my place and into yours."

"First challenge as a committed couple?" They asked nervously.

"A challenge we'll both get through." I said warmly.

They happily tackled me. Nuzzling into my neck. Hmm… Just how different did this Heart live compared to mine? Maybe some questions are in order will also give me needed into on my apparent boyfriend… hard to believe at one point I identify sexually as straight.

"Love you." I said while wrapping my hooves around my boyfriend.

The night ended lovely. Heart said that if I left them a key they'd start packing some of my things. Once we parted ways I made my way to the museum. It was eleven thirty.

"What was the point of me being here again?" I muttered to myself curiously. "I know I was supposed to check other times but...where's the end point?"

I walked over to the museum, seeing my… sister waiting for me. "You're early." She said with a nod.

"Better to be early than late." I said honestly.

"Come on, the tests are just starting!" She said happily.

"Hooray." I said happily while heading into the museum with my sis.

Inside the Laboratory, I saw the Gazing Eye Keyblade laid out on the table. Several magical analyzers looking it over.

"So what have they figured out so far?" I asked.

"It has an extremely complex inner spell matrix. It's unlike anything in all the world's libraries and best schools. We can't even rub it's surface that's how complex it is! It's metals are unknown by any of the known magic or standard ores, and most interesting of all is this." She took out a small box with a lock on it, tapping it against the Keyblade and it opened immediately. "Any lock magic or not unlocks with just a touch."

"So it's a Key...blade?" I questioned, acting dumb cause I knew what it was. "Cause while it's a key in nature, its design looks more like it's used to fight."

"That's what I theorized!" She said. "given the armor and everything I am curious as to why this weapon is in such remarkable condition…" She looked over the Keyblade before a machine, looking up a fax machine, started printing. "Oh! It's here!" She said giddily.

"Wonder what it'll say." I said curiously.

"It's the Badlands team. They finished carbon dating the bones!" She said, looking over the paper. "Wow! This is amazing! According to this the normal armor and artifacts there date back to before the Alicornian era, but these bones and that statue date back to just 50,000 years old!"

50,000… that much time since…

"So it's been that long? Then why does it feel like...the armor still has someone living inside them?" I asked. "You could tell as well that that armor was...waiting."

"Well if it's a golem like we think maybe. Perhaps it's a trigger word? Spell maybe?"

Trigger word? Huh….

"Maybe...if we mention the weapons name, maybe it'll do something?" I asked curiously.

"Oh! Maybe. Let's try before the boss shows up!" She said, almost pushing me towards Lingering Will.

"If this works the boss is gonna flip." I said while heading over.

"No kidding, but I'll be damned if Curator Rune is gonna stop this chance!"

Wait… my boss is… Rune?! But… is she like mine… or Hearts…?

We arrived and Keyblade didn't work. Nor did some other words Stone Thorn tried. As she was pondering in the corner I was gonna try some I know have to work.

"Xehanort…" I muttered to the armor.

It shifted. Suddenly, there was a blast, knocking me and stone back quite the distance as all their rust and dirt came off. They looked like new… an pissed… "X...Xeh...Xeh...an...Xehano... Xehanort… Xehanort!" The Lingering Will screamed.

"It talks?!" Stone said in panic as we both hid from it.

"Xehanort!" It shouted as someone crashed in the museum.

"Oh buck me we are so fired…" Stone huffed in fear.

"Wait here." I said as I made my way closer to it. "Whoever this Xehanort is, he's dead." I called out to Terra's Lingering Will, knowing he'll react if he heard the old mans dead maybe he'll calm down. "Its been fifty thousand years, the persons dead!"

"Xehanort…" He seemed to be calming, then his Keyblade flashed. "Xehanort… his heart lives… I will shatter it!!" He screamed, slashing again and destroying millions in irreplaceable artifacts… yeah we are so fired…

His heart- Gazing Eye! That must be why it was so pristine!

"Aw shit…" I muttered while rushing off to find Gazing Eye before it was too late. "Need to get to Gazing Eye before it's too late…"

As I was rushing back to the lab I saw the Starlight Keyblade here, it's rust cracked off, showing that underneath it was still alive. It's colors bright and vibrant.

I tried to pick up Starlight. "Gonna need your help here…" I said worriedly. Taking Starlight in my mouth, cause no hands or horn sucks, and it flashed, it's long caked on rust and grime gone. “Thank you.” I said with it in my mouth as I prepared to face off against Lingering Will. “God this is gonna suck…”

As I ran off towards Lingering Will I noticed everything got… quiet… too quiet. Finding an odd sight, I saw Lingering Will, frozen still, unmoving. Neither was the debris still floating in the air. "Wow. Not bad." Turning, I saw Ophelia walking over to me. "So, how's it going from your perspective?"

“Uh...I’m kind of messing up?” I said sheepishly. “I don’t know…”

"It's better than it could be." She chuckled. "Do you know why I picked this timeline for you to practice and experience first?"

“Because I had the highest chance of screwing something up like getting poor Wolf Thorn fired?” I asked.

"Because In this reality you, and Heart, both asked to be reborn, without the weight of your past lives memories. You two found each other, found happiness, and you can't lie, even though it's an alternate version, you do love them. Right?"

“Of course.” I said. “That hasn’t changed at all...but I’ve...noticed a distinct lack..of Eclipsa…” I said sadly.

"You don't have to look that far." She motioned towards… Stone Thorn… she was running out the door. "You were both siblings in this timeline, but both forgot by choice, but wanted to remain siblings. The two of you here never formed a spark of love, but you held a strong fire for each other as brother and sister. You see, in every but a very minute group of timelines, you three are always together in some way, shape or form."

“Alrighty then…” I nodded. “That’s...good to know.”

"The point of this was to show you that even in the near endless timelines, you three belong together. I lost faith in that when Eclipsa… passed. I want to make sure that no matter what happens you don't make my mistakes."

“I mean, so far that wasn’t going to happen.” I said. “Even though I would have went bonkers if anyone of my family died…”

"I just want to make sure. I mean, I am you still after all, wiser and more mature… more sexy, but still you, so, still paranoid." Ophelia said with a chuckle.

“Well either way…” I said, keeping lewd thoughts to myself .”So...currently things have gone to shit...how do I fix it?”

"Of course. Do you think this timeline is worth us adding it and fixing it's issues?" Ophelia asked almost knowingly.

“You already know the answer, I’d say yes.” I said honestly. “Oh but uh...does Wolf Thorn remember what...I’ve been doing?”

"Yes and no. They will remember things you did as if it was them doing/saying it. But your inner thought/certain words and such you'd rather not say or have anyone in the timeline know about he will forget about completely. Now then, time to merge." She said, taking my hood as all began to glow with an almost rainbow of colors.

I woke up and… was still hugging Heart as a baby… "Time difference." Ophelia said, still next to me. "In the realm of Nothingness, time holds almost no true meaning. You were there for a day, here is was barely a minute."

“Sounds about right…” I nodded while nuzzling Heart gently.

"It will day a whole week for all of that timeline to merge here successfully." Cript added. Still here with his Lyra laying across their back. "Also, Ophelia."

"Hm?"

"As I promised myself, if I can make anyone's life better, I will do it no matter how much or who it might piss off. Fuck sad ending I prefer the happy ones… so…"

"Hi Ben… or is it Ophelia?" Even I froze at that voice… that lovely, heartwarming sexy voice… Ophelia and I both turned. It was… Eclipsa. But she was easily twice or even three times her normal size, both in body and bust… she had a few streaks of gray hair, and even a few grey scales across her snake half.

"H-h-how?" Ophelia asked, crying as she jumped into the Naga's arms.

"Like I said, I only do happy endings. I found out your timeline still had a Mother, so I just paid her a visit and what was a minute for you all was about six hundred years of my figuring out how to truly revive an Admin from death after they have returned to their Mother." Cript stated matter-of-factly.

"Well...that’s quite an accomplishment and hot damn is older Eclipsa hot as hell…” I blushed.

"Call me Grey." She chuckled, hugging her Ophelia as well. "I also see you used our egg to heal Ezekiel."

Ophelia blushed. "I did… I made a lot of mistakes when you…"

She kissed Ophelia. "My wolf. You never really change huh?"

"The rest of your timeline will take a good two weeks to catch up with you Grey." Cript stated. "Since yours is technically of the future I had to do a lot of extra work to allow it in here and the Time Walkers are pissed at the excess labor and paperwork."

“Hey Grey, look at Heart as a Floof Noodle.” I said while holding Heart up by his armpits like one would with a cat.

"That's adorable. So is that how Ezekiel will look when they are healed? Cute!" She cooed, petting Heart.

“Most likely yes, and yes they are absolutely adorable.” I said with a warm smile.

With the Starfish clone limit thing now not as harsh, I was in my office while also doing a photo shoot while also with the family in the hidden safe baby room and a lot of other stuff. Man it feels good to have Starfish clones all over the place again. Today was a bit different through for me in the office. I was helping Leon S. Kennedy established some pittishioned laws. I never really spent a lot of time around the others from Zeke's little fusion thing so this was new. "Lastly the Factory district wants a mandatory vaccination of all employees, as to keep both product and employee health from becoming compromised." Leon said.

“Okay, that should have just been standard procedure to begin with.” I said bluntly.

"You'd think but this world is made up of both Cript's main world, as well as yours and Eclipsa's Equestria's, who to their blessed luck never really needed vaccines since majority of their illnesses could be cured via magic. With the mixing of all these races and other worlds a whole new potential outbreak crisis is at risk of hitting the equestrians."

“Yeah, that is true…” I nodded. “Well better get those vaccine’s out to the people before an actual crisis occurs.”

With a signature and a send off the law was legal. "That about covers them all now. Shall we talk about the front lines or later?" Leon asked.

“Might as well get it done now.” I said honestly. “So, what about the front line?”

"So far they have begun using Void Beasts. The results are regrettably effective. However thanks to Nothingness infused weapons and spell casualties are being kept at a minimum. Cript's Freak Inc is looking through more ways to weaponize it. This includes having sent out Nobodies to help deal with the void beast. So far it's lately the same stalemate."

“And it’s going to keep being a stalemate with more and more lives lost unless we do something…” I sighed out.

"The enemy has the advantage of being in the void. For us to enter it is suicide. We can't navigate or explore it. For all we know all of void is their territory."

“We know it’s not, and sadly I haven’t found John yet to give us an edge in this…” I sighed out.

"If we could at least somehow get eyes in the void, news of some kind then we'd be able to better prepare and defend."

“I...sadly have...wait…” I took a deep breath. “I need to kill Void Key first...fuck, I had an idea that involved a...D-Link with Coco, but she’s still in a coma and I don’t know where the main body of Void Key is...damn it…” I growled. “Cause when I tested that, apparently I went full Void with Coco’s D-Link and...even made Void Nobodies.”

"That's… interesting… were you able to control it still?"

“Yep.” I nodded. “Full control, basically my D-Link with Coco swapped all my Nothingness with Void...it was a little surreal to be honest.”

"Do you think there is a way to form that Void Nothingness outside of a D-Link?"

“I doubt it because I don’t have any Void abilities, and I haven’t gotten any through family like Balance and Grey.” I said honestly. “Unless...I forgot about something.” I said while checking my character screen with my Assistant to see how many abilities I forgot to equip and many many skills I might not know about. What the? The skills list was all different now. It looked more like a mix of Skyrim and Shield Heroes leveling skill system. There was a lot of categories too.

“Jesus fuck…” I muttered while also noting...HOLY HELL! That’s a lot of Skill Points I need to put down. “Uh...okay fuck...sometimes I completely forget that game logic still works here…” I said with a frown. “Hey Leon...ever had that feeling you were unknowingly crippling yourself in several ways?”

"Only when I realized/discovered Magic was real. Before that, not often."

“Magic being real, and then the crippling alcoholism you suffered for a while.” I said honestly.

"The only good side to what happened to me is that I can't get drunk now. Though that's also kind of bad since hangovers are what dulled my brain from the paranoia."

As I saw the Dire Wolf and Den Mother Dire wolf categories, of which I found off those were different, I saw there was more than one type of Dire wolf, most I had unlocked but there were some that were still locked. One looked interesting. All I got off it was the title. Void Wolf. Next to that though was Nothingness Wolf, which was unlocked and ready for Upgrades.

“Alrighty then…” I said while dumping so many points into all of these skill trees I was finding and unlocking damn near everything I could with all the skill points I have neglected for god knows how long.

Needless to say, I felt… way better, not like I wasn't feeling good before but I felt great. I was looking over the Nothingness Wolf skills and abilities when I noticed a guide book option. Yes please., oh and there’s a Void Wolf guide book option? Fucking sweet, this is gonna make this a hell of a lot easier as Leon could immediatly tell my own power was going through the god damn roof. “So many skills...so many buffs...holy hell this is gonna take a while…”

He began doing the same. Turns out this didn't just apply to me.

As I tried to look up on void wolf, I got this.

Access Denied. Refer to General Leveling Guide Book for learning to unlock skill branches.

“Well then what’s the leveling guide…” I frowned while trying to find the leveling guide book. “It better not be I’m locked out of certain paths…” I grumbled.

As ai found the General Leveling Guide book, I flipped to the first page.

Welcome to your Freak Inc. Assistant Skill Leveling Trees!

The Skill Leveling paths are decided into different branches, these branches can intersect, creating new mixed branch pathways. You unlock these with Skill points, earned for using skills a certain amount of times. There are two ways to earn these skills, passively or Actively. For example. To gain a single skill point by jumping, you must jump a minimum of five hundred times. This is an active Skill Point Grind. A passive skill point grind is like using passive abilities, such as HP UP, active, and leaving it so for one hundred thousand hours. This earns you a skillpoint passively.

To unlock a skill branch, there are various ways or limitations depending on race. (Does not apply to Admins, Admins need only sample a code of another race to unlock their skill branches)

So that's it. I need to sample the code of a Void Wolf and I'll be able to use that branch skills… and hopefully, achieve that mix branch for the Void Nothingness.

“Alrighty then...so where the fuck are Void Wolve’s?” I questioned while bringing up another tab and searching for Void Wolves.

Void Wolves.

This long lost tribe of the Dire Wolf clans was said to have once ran between the Void and Creation freely as a means to hunt in every reality, and every plain of existence. The full extent of their powers is unknown and one has not been seen in five hundred thousand years. Many theorize they are extinct or even just still running through the void itself

“Well...shit…” I sighed out. “Okay...so who in the hell would know about the Void Wolves…” I muttered. “Can’t be Den cause she’s not old enough, Cript might but he’s probably busy making sure Ophelia’s timeline is still…” I sighed out. “Jericho, mind answering a question of mine if Ophelia hasn’t kicked your ass yet?” I called out, knowing the guy can hear me and would probably appear like Cript does if he’s not busy.

"Void wolves?" They asked, kicking open my office door. "I know a bit. Old Admin of war used them to hunt down game… people… or would just hunt them for fun."

"Asshole." I frowned. "But...are...are any left?" I asked worriedly.

"There was a few when I took over. I sent them back into the void to be free. Wild there should be a few dens. I know of one but it's not exactly in the nicest place, by void standards that's saying something."

"Well hasn't stopped me before." I said honestly. "I just need a bit of their code and I can start doing stuff...or maybe get their help whichever comes first."

"Knowing you, likely both." Sighed Jericho.

"But we need their help because we don't have any vision in the void...and so far that might help push this stalemate into our favor." I said. "Stalemates can only last so long before a side cracks."

"True. You can't navigate the Void without a special compass though. A Blind Man's Eye, they call it."

"Ironic all things considered." I said honestly. "But if we have beings that can see in the void without the compass then that would be a massive boon."

"But to find said being we need it." Jericho said. "The only issue is they are not exactly easy to find."

"So where can I find one? Black market? Dangerous world no one has traveled to in ages?" I asked curiously.

"I have no fucking clue." Jericho sighed.

"Know anyone who might?" I asked curiously.

"The outsider maybe. I know he can make a few artifacts but better to find one as making them requires… less than tasteful items."

"Anyone else besides the best artificer?" I asked.

"No one that comes to mind. Maybe one of those Nexus bases has one?"

"Maybe Ophelia knows." I said. "Cause I still cant fight."

"Huh. True. But if I recall she is spending time with Grey… Krott then." Jericho said.

"I guess I'll leave then." Leon said, still allocating skill points and leaving.

"Sorry Leon." I said sheepishly. "But Krott would probably know, let's go find him if he's not on the front lines…"

"Pretty sure he's in his office." Jericho said, motioning to… across my office. Yup. That's Krott's name… how have I never noticed that?

"Well okay then…" I sighed out as I knocked on the door. "You in there Krott?"

"Come in." They spoke. Opening the door I was met with a war room rather than an office. "Yes?" Krott asked.

"Do you know where I can find The Blind Man's Eye?" I asked curiously.

"Hmm. That's a void artifact right?" He asked, flipping the table top screen from battle plans to a search log. "The Nexus base we took over held an extensive collection of artifacts, as well as lists of other bases warehouse storages. Hmm… I remember Nexus in all it's lifetime had only even found six of those Blind Man's Eye artifacts. And it looks like… ah! There they are. There's two in the Agnumie base."

“And where would that be?” I asked. “Cause I’m gonna need that to find the Void Wolves.”

"It's on Agnumie. Quite the interesting world. Only one like it in all the multiverse or Cript's realm. No identifiable sentient life, but lots of artifacts from world's light-years away just, show up there. It's like the Multiverses lost and found."

"And Nexus hasn't been abusing the shit out of it, why?" I asked.

"They were more fascinated by the 'how it does this' rather than 'what is there'. Very rarely did they actually take an artifact from the planet. Only if it was of interest or it's function held value."

“Little did they know, they were about to have hindsight bite them in the ass so goddamn hard.” I said honestly.

"So I'll break in and you loot the item?" Jericho asked me.

“More like break in and take the entire planet.” I said honestly. “If possible cause honestly it would be wonderful to literally have Existance’s Lost and Found world.”

"True." Jericho nodded.

“Is there a way to bring it into our realm so Nexus doesn’t get their hands on it?” I asked curiously. “Or is it's own thing that can’t be ‘taken’?”

"Did you forget yours and Cript's realms are already fused as one?" Jericho asked.

“No, I didn’t forget. Sorry I thought this thing was…’outside’ anyone’s realm technically because of how special it is.” I pointed out.

"Okay so you loot and look around and I'll deal with Nexus. Sound like a plan?" Jericho asked.

“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded. “But uh...have you and Ophelia…’met’?” I asked sheepishly.

"Yeah. And?"

“I’m surprised to hear that Ophelia didn’t kick your ass…” I said honestly. “I kind of thought that would have been one of the first things she did after seeing you to be honest given her...experiences.”

"She knows I'm not her timelines Jericho. Besides, she actually could care less now that her Eclipsa, er, Grey, is back and alive."

“I mean...her entire point of being here was to make sure this timeline’s Eclipsa didn’t die from...killing you.” I said honestly. “But alrighty then, good to know that didn’t cause problems…”

"Alright, let's go then." Jericho said, opening up a portal to this unique world.

Once we exited I nearly tripped over… socks… a lot of them. "Where is that base…" Jericho hummed, not caring about the landscape socks around us.

“Is this literally where everyone’s lost socks go?” I asked honestly, seeing that there was a crap ton of socks...and why were a majority of them lefties?

"Don't care that much." Jericho said, looking around. "Must be where the more rare lost items get dropped. If I remember that's more north of here." Jericho thought aloud.

“Alrighty then…” I said, continuing to follow along. “I can only imagine what’s been lost here…”

"I'll go hit the base. You explore, have some fun." Jericho, snapping his fingers as a chunk of dirt broke free from the sock ground and he rode it north.

I was left alone in all this… but… I snapped my fingers, bringing Baby Heart here with me. This will be fun. “Alright my little Floof Noodle, let’s go find us some lost treasures.” I said with a smile.

'You are enjoying this a lot aren't you?' Heart asked as we began looking through stuff once we got out of the socks area.

“I’m going to enjoy it more with you here.” I said honestly. “Cause now we get to loot Existance’s lost and found world.”

'That's kinda cool.' Heart said, tail half wrapped around my arm as to not fall off.

“It really is.” I said while flying up to find a good spot to start searching in what might be an infinite space. “See anything Heart?”

'Aside from a lot of junk, no.'

“There has to be something here besides junk, if an ancient Void Compass is here than there has to be something special…” I said honestly.

'... Like that?' Heart asked, pointing towards… hey, isn't that part of The World That Never Was? One of the buildings?

“Huh...wonder what that’s doing here.” I said while flying towards the building. “I mean...I don’t think the city should exist because The World That Never Was was made by Xemnas and the Organization right?”

'While working as the Daybreak Scouts leader there was lots of that world around. Some artificial, others that were always there.'

“Huh, interesting.” I said honestly. “I sadly never got out much because I was too busy on my Equestria...I think I only world hopped about...maybe eight times?”

'After a while, I stopped visiting world's. Got kinda repetitive.' Heart said, the two of us looking over the chunk of building. It wasn't a building, just made to look like one. The inside was all computer hardware. 'Oh my God…'

“I feel like I’m missing something...but what’s all this doing here?” I asked worriedly.

'I remember a few of those world's we destroyed since the data they had stored was… not legal, so we destroyed it so it could not be recovered. Might be one of them.'

“Well...alrighty then.” I nodded. “Since I don’t know what the data here is...

'It all varied from what I remember. Mostly it all centered around Nobodies like Organization 13 and the sparks of new hearts they were forming to replace the lost ones grew and solidified. Among other things…'

We looked around more, and found a few interesting things. Even a few Keyblades that were lost it seems.

“Well...this is all interesting…” I said honestly.

Heart was mostly just watching. As we looked around I sometimes heard an explosion in the far north. Jericho dealing with that base here, I guess. There was mostly random things but also the occasional treasure chest.

“So what did Eclipsa think of your...current form?” I asked curiously.

'I shifted mid battle with one of my heartless copies so… she was taken by surprise. Thankfully Erin showed up and helped us out. Those things are getting dangerous. This one used Code!'

“Well that’s not good…” I said worriedly. “Looks like those copies can even get the same power boosts you get...that’s not good.” I sighed out. “Plus what Core...figured out…” I grumbled, given that Core was apart of all of us so we shared memories.

'It didn't shift like I did, so they are also becoming their own beings at this rate.'

“So we need to kill them before they...get too far in their progress.” I said honestly.

'Yeah. That one didn't have Discord though. Just Way to Dawn. But there are only two left.'

“Where is your world’s Discord anyway? I...tend to have an asston of things to think about so I kind of forgot.” I said sheepishly.

'He was turned into a Keyblade by Bars and one of these Heartless copies has him now.' Heart sighed. 'There's the one in Traverse Town left and one that's wandering the lanes between.'

“So one’s in Traverse Town and the other is god knows where...wonderful.” I grumbled.

'At this rate Discord is likely with the one roaming the lanes between. How in the fuck are we going to find it though?'

“Remember, while Nothingness can hide something away even the likes of Nexus can’t find…” I started. “Nothingness can also be the best tracker for those that hide from Light and Dark, it’ll take some time though.” I said before a small portal up as a dart made of Nothingness was formed as I threw it into the lanes between. “There, that Dart will hunt down it’s target till the end of existence and when it connects with its proper target we’ll know where they are.”

'One worry down at least. Also, on a side note, when I'm no longer a baby, uh, how in the fuck do you get used to this many boobs on your entire torso?'

“Mostly just time.” I shrugged. “But the magical bra’s that Rarity and...Coco made help a bit.” I said, trying not to feel regret just by saying Coco’s name.

'Hey, once we get that compass and you get help or something from those Void wolf's, we can use it to try and track down Void Keys real form.'

“And I’m going to shove every single copy of it’s damned Key form into that giant eye as I take great pleasure in hearing it’s screams.” I growled. “But side note before I let Psychopath wake up...check your Skill’s, you probably have a metric fuck ton of skill points to put into things.”

'Can't exactly access my assistant as a baby…'

“Well when you grow up at weeks end.” I said honestly.

'So biology wise… how bizarre are we going to be if we took a DNA test?'

“Honestly, does it really matter?” I asked curiously. “We’re Admins so we can technically be whoever we want, and because of Cript’s curse any inbreeding means fuck all.” I explained.

'Yeah… Yeah this is all quite… different than what I had planned originally. Figured I'd just have my family and eventually stop Core after I stopped screwing around and losing.'

"Don’t you mean ‘throwing the fight’?” I asked. “Cause honestly the only times I saw you losing in my dreams of possible timelines was like...six, and two of them involved me and the rest of our merry band of Mayan Survivors.” I said. “Christ, remember when that was actually an important point in our lives?”

'Heh. Once upon a time.'

“Yeah...it’s been forever.” I said honestly. "But I just wanted to point out two of your ‘losing’ timelines involved you throwing a massive hissy fit...like jesus dude, I can go into more detail if you want to give some proper context.”

'Sure.'

“Okay so basically you were on some weird depressed ‘quest’ about ‘power corrupts’...completely missing that you were being corrupted by power, and in one version of this tale you beat us all then we soundly kicked your ass, which makes no sense in context of it all, and the other is we all kick your ass in several different ways, then when we all wanted to help you you beat us all, only for you to realize in the end what you were doing was rather retarded and the exact opposite of what you set out to do.”

'... None of that made much sense. In any case I know at this point I should be happy and accept that this is my life, but I just don't know how to. It's like having the 10,000 piece puzzle complete before you, but there's that one centerpiece that's always missing.'

“I can probably guess that centerpiece is Acceptance.” I said honestly. “Cause while you may have everything else sorted out, you yourself still can’t accept everything as it is. I should know, even after everything I still fear acceptance cause if I do, something bad might happen.”

'I don't think I can accept myself because of my family. I mean, yeah I love them… I think…?'

“Which family?” I asked honestly. “Cause you have more than one family.”

'My original, the Ventrals.'

“Does it matter at this point?” I asked curiously. “Cause seriously, none of you are the ‘bad guys’ you used to be now that you have another chance at life.”

'That doesn't exactly make my past upbringings and their rather forceful methods of trying to make me the new head of the family justified.'

“And does any of that matter right here, right now?” I asked honestly. “You are so far away from what you used to be that I’m surprised your having a problem with moving on. And I’m the guy that wants to know who the fuck he is.”

'It's kinda hard to just move on from something that was nineteen years of my life.'

"So everything you've done so far is still overshadowed by your past on earth?" I asked.

'To me it is at least. It's just really personal.'

"And here I thought I had problems moving on." I said simply.

'Aside from my issues, wonder If there are any lost books and such here?'

"There should be." I said while continuing to search. "There should be damn near anything in this world that's been 'lost'."

'That include my childhood innocence?' Heart joked.

"Oh your getting your childhood innocence here." I said honestly.

'Heheh. Hmm… I wonder…' Heart hummed though as a baby it came out quite adorable. 'Would places also be here? Like Atlantis or locations like that?'

"Maybe." I said honestly. "Want to find out?"

'Sure. If I connect to this worlds Heart, assuming it has one given this came from Cript's realm, I should be able to get a general idea of where locations are here.'

"Alrighty then. Let's go find this heart then." I nodded. "Know where to start?"

'Kinda small so… you'll have to summon X for this.'

"Alright." I said while raising my hand and bringing out X. "Hey X, how ya doing?"

"Bored mostly but eh, that's life. So why did you summon me?"

"Can you help us find the heart of this world?" I asked curiously. "Also look at Heart the Floof Noodle." I said while bringing Heart up.

"Yeah I knew that already. As for what you are asking this actually gives me an idea for something I've been wanting to try."

'What?' Heart asked.

"Well what's the thing you want to try?" I asked curiously.

"I've been thinking. Once, Kexez managed to change into their X-Blade form, and Heart was able to do so also. Ever since they became the new Kingdom Hearts, Keyblades, myself included, have been getting stronger and even unlocking, no pun intended, abilities, powers and transformations they never had before. And their wielders have also been unlocking and far exceeding their expected potential and limits. In short, I might be able to shift into a human form."

"That's cool, so where are you getting at?" I asked curiously.

"I'm saying that, A, this could apply to all Keyblades and shows that there is still lots to uncover we didn't even know about."

"I wonder what your human form is X." I wondered.

”Place me in the ground and I’ll figure out the rest. From the time Heart did it I should be able to do the same.”

"Okay." I said while taking X and stabbing them into the ground. "Let's hope this works."

There was a short period of just X flashing white and blue. Finally the blue light covered them as their form began to morph. Soon they were human, human looking. They looked like Heart when they were human, but eyes were pale as if blind, and hair glowing the same blue of Kingdom Hearts moon. "It worked!" X said, they even had clothes, simple white pants and shirt. "So this is what a human form feels like. Reminds me when I'd take over hearts body to talk." They said, looking over their arms.

"Alrighty then." I said while looking over them carefully. "Glad to see you in a human form."

‘Okay… why do you look like me though?’ Heart asked. ‘Or rather, how I used to look?’

“Must be because while technically Ben, Eclipsa and those others can wield me, I was forged by your Balance heart.”

‘That makes enough sense.’

"Sounds about right." I nodded. "So, what can you tell us about where the heart is?"

“Let’s see…” X said, lifting a hand as they pulsated a wave of blue. "Reveal yourself to me, the lock that hides this worlds heart. Show yourself before me, the key that sets all free." X said, the keyhole of the world forming above them til it began to shine a bright white. X shot a beam of light from their hand to it. While there wasn't the typical lock noises that often accompany, it did shoot a beam back to X, who grabbed it as it began to take form. A fair sized book. The keyhole vanished.

"Oh?" I asked curiously. "What is that?"

"This worlds Almanac. Maps of every place and even every building."

'And you never told me this because? That would have been helpful information!' Heart huffed.

"You never asked. Besides, raving the map to everything of a world takes the fun out of exploring for Keyblade wielders."

'Wait… so every Keyblade wielders can do what you just did?!'

"Only once they have been made a Keyblade master." X said. They opened the almanac. "So, where to first?"

Sighing, Heart simply said. 'A library I guess.'

"Hmm… there is one way South of this planet. Oh. Oh! So that's where that went…"

"Where did what go?" I asked curiously.

"Back when all the world's and reflections were one, there was a library the first Kingdom Hearts made. It held EVERYTHING. Everything in their realm at least. When the world's were split and the reflections formed it went missing completely. It's had many names, we knew it as The Truth Texts, others have called it the Arcanum, Or The Library of Babel."

"Holy shit it's the Library of Alexandria!" I said in excitement. "We need to go find this place."

‘I remember some vatican scriptures that mention it back on earth.’ Heart said, gaining a look from myself and X. ‘My family broke into the vatican quite often. It’s mostly just some old texts, the cross and iron spikes christ was crucified with, the body of Adam, Eve, Noa, Christ, a few angels, the ten commandments, and a few other things.’

“Excuse me what? Are you saying the Vatican literally held the corpses of major religious beings?” I asked in surprise.

‘Yeah. Their bones when ground to powder then made into bread or drink cured all diseases. And Christ’s body still bled. why do you think my family was able to keep doing the shit we did for up into our eighties? Drop of savior blood keeps you young for about… fifty years. A cup is immortality, well, longevity, can’t age after a cup but can still be killed. While the Psychopath blood was a likely factor, that shit was some magic shit. We just never told anybody cause of a deal we made with one of the popes I forget which.’

“Oh...well I suppose Dracula had the right idea when he had kegs of Christ’s blood in his castle...and you probably don’t know what Castlevania is do you?” I asked.

‘Bits and pieces but he was there too. Worked as the janitor. Nice guy, Metallica nut.’

“Cause of course he was a Metallica nut…” I sighed out. “And who said that Earth wasn’t full of magical crap?”

‘Who are the people who hid all of it?’ Heart asked with a sarcastic raised brow. ‘Where are the dragons? Ventrals killed them. Mermaids? That was also Ventrals. The actual magic and spells from earth? Burned by Ventrals, all magical texts. Merlins corpse, ashes. Excalber, my dad has it.’

“I hate your family more now cause they ruined all the cool shit that could have happened.” I frowned.

‘Hey, kings and world government paid us to hide or destroy all that shit. Jobs are jobs. Blame them, we were just the labor.’

“That’s not really what the World Government would do to be honest...they would have either used and abused the fact that magic exists and tried to make it wide spread, or done other things with it...now King’s I can understand but...still.” I frowned.

‘You’d think but no.’ Heart shrugged. ‘So off to that library!’

A short DTN later, we were all in front of what looked like a simple, small stone and marble building. ‘This is it?’ Heart aked.

“This is it.” X confirmed.

“You said that Earth was magic, so of course the place is going to be bigger on the inside.” I said honestly.

‘Doctor who much?’

We opened the doors… and saw nothing but towering, endless rows of bookshelves. “Ah, I haven’t seen this place in eternity.” X said happily.

‘Point Ben in the direction of the porn.’ Heart joked.

“You don’t understand Heart…” I shook my head as I looked at all the books here. “This place is ancient...holding so much history and tech that it’s not even funny...and it’s all right here…” I said, Heart and X noticing my tail was wagging so god damn hard I might accidentally become Tails from Sonic the Hedgehog.

‘...Again, show them the porn.’ Heart repeated.

“Visitors!” Someone… somewhere screamed, suddenly a… an elderly lady appeared before us. “It’s been so long! Would you three like a library card?”

“Cat!” X said, hugging the lady. “Gods it’s been eternity!”

“Wait… X is that you! Haha! Oh good to see you again.” The elderly lady said, hugging them back.

‘This is...Cat? Who is cat?’

“And can I please get a Library Card from her cause it would be a god send to have one.” I brought up. “But uh...yeah who are you ma’am? I can tell you and X are friends but uh...we don’t know.”

“Heart, Ben, this is Cat, the Librarian. Also, the Admin of Written text. Anything that is written down by anyone at any point in time ends up here in her library.” X said.

“Oh I started off recording all of the others progress but a few special scripts here and auto run programs here and I had my code do that work for me. Spent my time building this place where I read and keep it all up to date.” She said with a nod.

“Will you marry me?” I asked, only to shake my head. “Oh god, I’m sorry…” I said sheepishly. “Just uh…” I trailed off, not sure what to say to fix this.

“Cute, but no.” She laughed. “I can do you a second best, and get you that card.”

“That would be perfect.” I nodded with a smile.

“Right this way then.” Cat said, leading us all to an office room. She took our photos then printed out the cards. “these cards let you check out books from here for up to sixty two million years, if you lose them the card can locate them for you and if they are damaged it’s a small fee of ten code strands.” She informed.

“Code strands?” I asked curiously. “Don’t...think I’ve heard that one before.”

“Oh you must be new then. Code strands are the equivalent to money for Admins. Each strand of code rather than financial value has actual power. I use this to repair the books and expand the library further.” Cat stated. “Well go and look around then. Just think of what kind of book you want or need and pull one off the shelf.”

“I...legit don’t know where to start.” I said honestly, Cat seeing I was more like a kid in a candy store with all these books and knowledge just waiting to be read.

‘Show them the porn.’ Heart chuckled.

Cat nodded, walked up to the shelf and pulled out a book, and tossed it to me. ‘All the uncut, unedted detailed sex scenes removed from Life of a Nobody’ The book was titled…

‘Huh. Do not show that to Lyra.’

I blushed and flipped all the way to the back of the book to see how many pages there were. “I’m...a little nervous to see how much unedited stuff is here…” ...463,973,321,090… pages…

‘Looks like our retirement is an endless orgy…’ Heart said.

“I mean...is that a problem?” I asked sheepishly.

After a while I began to look through books that detailed features of my weapons, their upgrade abilities and even a book on Void locations to help determine where the Void Dire Wolves are.

X was reading up on how to forge and enhance Keyblades with all the metals in every existence.

Heart was reading The Hunger Games.

“Now...The Hunger Games trilogy is a good book series...but really?” I asked Heart was he was reading in my lap cause why not have a cute scene.

‘Eh. I mean, it’s kinda… seems pointless to me. It’s useful sure but all the knowledge ever will get old fast.’ Heart said simply.

“Not really.” I said honestly. “You just need to know what to look for, and knowledge can never get old fast, there’s always something new to learn.”

‘Hmm…’ Heart ummed, slithering up to a shelf then grabbing a book. For their size they sure can lift stuff well. Then then tossed it on my lap. The book was titled, ‘How much Kingdom Hearts (Formally Zeke Ventral) Gives A Shit.’ There was one page, and one word. ‘None.’

“Rude.” I frowned. They tossed me another book. ‘How other, ruder means Kingdom Hearts (Formally Zeke Ventral) Could have addressed their point.’ “Don’t you sass me.” They tossed another book. ‘Sassier ways Kingdom Hearts (Formally Zeke Ventral) Could have sassed you.’

‘I can do this all day.’ Heart said.

I immediately grabbed them by the tail and pulled them into a hug. “You know I can’t stay mad at you my dear little floof noodle.” I said while nuzzling Heart.

‘Affection! It burns!’ Heart joked.

“Oh you love it.” I chuckled. “But I managed to find something on Void Dire Wolves if your interested.”

‘There's actually something else I want to check out…’ Heart said, slithering back over to the shelf and taking another book. They shook their head at the title and proceeded to read through it. They skimmed through the pages until they found what they were looking for. ‘Oh… Okay then.’ They hummed, slithering back up my arm to my shoulder.

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

Without warning they shoved their entire upper held down my throat. Instinctually I swallowed, slurping the rest down… I picked up the book they were reading. ‘Floof Noodle facts and biology.’

“Heart the fuck?” I groaned. “I am not okay with that…”

They page they were reading said this.

Dire wolf Nagas, often referred to as Floof Noodles, due to their soft fur coats that cover their hard scales, have many unique biology traits of their species. Like a naga, they can be safely swallowed not just into a storage stomach, but also one that digests, the stomach acids there actually can both soften their fur more so, as well as be eaten by them when young as an alternative to milk.

When inside they release a natural magical aura that boosts the ‘hosts’ body health wise as well as their base states, this makes mothers of floof noodles who swallow them almost triple their natural abilities and combat stats. The floof Noodle can either come back out through the anus or back up the throat, which is the most common method.

“Slightly gross but also interesting…” I said. “Still not...a fan of this to be honest…” I sighed out. “Can you hear me in there Heart?”

‘Yes.’ Their muffled voice spoke through my belly. ‘Your stomach is… bigger than I expected. Also your stomach acid tastes like Cucumbers.’ The did not make much of budge at all, but I did feel them move around in there a bit and… While creepy, it’s almost like feeling a baby kick in the womb.

I put a gentle hand on my stomach. “Alright...didn’t really need or want to know that but okay…”

‘Ophelia’s fault I’m this now. You have to suffer as well.’ Heart declared. ‘Now I am going to nap cause surprisingly… It’s cozy in here. Like taking a nap in a hot bath.’

“It’s also your fault for not just changing back into a human like you could have and like I pointed out three other times.” I said honestly.

‘Did you when you became a Dire Wolf? Or Eclipsa when she became a naga? Nope. So I’m not either.’

“You do know that counter argument holds literally no grounds right?” I asked honestly. “Like me, I was literally born a dire wolf when I got my soul back.” I said honestly.

‘And future me is getting born as yours and future Eclipsa’s kid. Point? And correct me if I’m wrong but didn't you cum into Ophelia to fertilizes that special egg DAD/MOM?’ Heart pointed out… Shit.

“You yourself were not ‘reborn’ as this, hell I still don’t even know why you changed like this to be honest.” I said honestly.

‘Well I changed, and I am going to embrace it like you and Eclipsa did. End of argument because I have never embraced anything before!’

“Okay okay fine.” I said. “Just calm down in there okay?”

‘Hence I said, taking a nap.’ Heart said, finally settling down.

Huh… They have a point. Fought their Ventral family destiny, fought becoming Kingdom Hearts… Maybe they just need to accept themselves as something. “Well...you finally have something to accept about yourself…”

I kept on reading, almost forgetting Heart was in my belly after a few hours. I found a possible location where the Void Dire Wolf's might be. A place called the Forest of Roots. The book states that there are a lot of sightings in that area.

"Hey." Jericho said, showing up and falling into the chair across the table from me.

“Yo.” I nodded. “How was your trip to the Nexus base? And did you get it?”

He slid over to me… a still flesh covered open eyeball in its eye socket, bone and all like it was ripped off the face of someone. The markings for North, South, East and West were tattooed around the eyeball socket. "got it. All of those Nexus assholes are dead and I called Krott to take the rest over."

“Cool...and is it wrong that I thought this thing wouldn’t actually be a person’s eye?” I asked while picking up the Void Compass.

"Void artifacts are almost always made out of living flesh and bone." Jericho said.

“Yeah...makes sense.” I nodded. “So, now I’m off to find the Forest of Roots...whatever the hell special thing that place is.” I said.

"Where's Heart? I felt you summon them?"

“In here.” I said while pointing at my stomach. “You know, Naga genetics and stuff given Heart is now a Floof Noodle.”

"That's a cute name. So they're accepting themselves?"

“Starting to hopefully.” I said honestly. “It’s a start at least...and thanks, I made up that name myself.”

"That's an issue damn near every Cript has. It takes something special to break this bad habit of theirs." Jericho said. "For Cript it was Lyra, as wild and kinky as she is, their love is true and pure. For Krit it was a sense of duty to the kingdom and his friends. For Zeke from the lost now returning timeline, it was you and Marcy."

“And yet it feels like there's a fourth Cript that either you don’t know about or is somewhere not even Nexus knows about.” I said, having this weird feeling that there’s a missing one.

"Stop reading ahead." Jericho laughed. "Huh… so every book or written text is here right?"

“So says the Admin of Written Text.” I said honestly. “And honestly I couldn’t be happier to be here all things considered.”

"Then perhaps we should take advantage." Jericho said, walking up to the shelf and grabbing a book. He placed it on the table. 'All Nexus Cript Projects Blueprints and Locations.'

“Yeah so basically we have free reign to just know everything.” I said honestly.

"Let's add to it then." Jericho said, grabbing another book, and placing it on the table. 'How to Make Void'

“Yeah that won’t be difficult as hell considering who I am.” I said honestly.

Jericho thought for a moment, snapping their fingers as they grabbed one last book and handed it to me. 'Where to find the first Belief, source of Nothingness.'

“I’ve been meaning to find the bastard, but either he’s literally everywhere or he’s so far deep into Nothingness I haven’t gotten there yet.” I said. “And no, I’m not reading ahead with that one.”

"Heh. So, where should we start then?"

“Well...I can do both finding the Void Wolves and helping you find...yourself.” I said honestly. “So which one do you want to do first?”

"The first to be honest." Jericho said, grabbing another book and placing it down.

'So you're exploring the Void for the first time and you and your Allies are Admins but good news, you have Nothingness! A safety guide to traversing the Void.'

“Well that’s...oddly specific.” I said honestly.

"Did you already forget where you are?" Jericho asked with a smile.

“No, I’m just thinking the book titles are about as ‘on point’ as an Isekai title.” I frowned.

At that moment, Cat walked by, pointing up. I looked up. A sign.

'On the Dot book titles section.'

“Yeah well...why is that?” I frowned.

"My system. My library. My rules." Cat said simply.

“Fine fine and fine.” I nodded. “So...where to start…”