The pair of doors lay in front of her, and now that it was unprotected by the Fairy Godmother's magic, Weiss pushed them open.

"What is this place?" Ruby asked.

Before them was a large, circular control room, whose overhead lights gave the room a deep, bluish glow. A single, leather-bound seat stood on a high column overlooking the rest of the room, with a keyboard control panel jutting out from one of the armrests. Television-like screens lined the circumference of the chamber, though at the bottom of the pit, there were more specialized workstations, accessible via ladders lining the central column. What these stations were for was an even bigger question, but then again Weiss wasn't familiar with the nuances of inter-dimensional travel. The only ways in and out of this room, aside from trying to break through the walls and screens, were through the way they came in or through two side entrances, all three of which were connected to the central column via metal bridges. Both of these side exits also had a simple digital display screen similar to those used for listings in movie theaters.

The group began to cautiously walk towards the center, the sounds of metal clanking underneath them.

"This setup kinda looks like a TARDIS," Yang remarked.

"It's a lot cleaner, that's for sure," said Melanie.

When they all got to the central pillar, Ruby bolted ahead of Weiss and then leaped into the seat.

"Ruby, don't touch anything!"

"What, it's not like anything bad is going to happen now that the main bad guy is out of the picture. Besides, we've got Doctor Shrek here to help us."

Shrek waved.

"Good point."

"Isn't story logic great?" said Nora.

Ruby pressed what appeared to be the console's power button, prompting all of the screens in the room to light up. No sound came out of them, though one of the armrests opened up to reveal a pair of ear-buds.

"Damn," said Roman, "if I knew how to run this inter-dimensional traveling machine or whatever it's called, this would make a sweet getaway vehicle."

"Don't even think about it," said Blake.

"Jealous?"

"Yeah," Eddy added, "just think about all the cash we could make with this thing."

"I like the way you think."

"Huh," remarked Weiss, as she used her glyphs to approach some of the screens. She had nearly forgotten forgotten about the Ed boys during her fight with Winter, but it seemed they were still here, and alive.

Many of the screens depicted landscapes and places that Weiss was unfamiliar with, though every so often, she recognized a few faces. Occasionally, she would recognize a scene she had seen in a movie or video game. The screens would flicker whenever Ruby flipped through the list of possible options to view, and often times screens depicting the same universe under different circumstances would cluster up together.

However, there was one group of screens in particular that caught her interest.

"Ruby, go back to that last one! There!"

The rest of the group began to gather around the edge of the walkway to get a better look at the screens Weiss was pointing to, though Miltia had conjured a vine to help people cross. Ruby too, leaped off her seat, but as she approached many of the screens within that sector of the room began to change as well.

All of those screens displayed what was recognizably Remnant, though not quite the Remnant they were familiar with.

There was something surreal about watching themselves on screen. In many cases, their personalities had remained largely intact, though in others they acted quite differently. Many screens recounted the experiences from the girls' initial trials at Beacon, though in many of these cases there was an outsider or more than one outsider. Some of these screens were outright pornographic, so Ruby quickly switched these instances to other potentialities. Others displayed more mundane happenings, such as shopping or looking at a computer screen, though occasionally there were flares of chaos similar to what Weiss had experienced in the past few weeks.

"There's so many of them," remarked Miltia.

"But how?" asked Melanie. "I thought there was just one Remnant."

"Parallel universes," replied Shrek. "For every dark dinghy hole in the galaxy, you've got million more just like them. Sure, they might look similar, but no two are ever quite the same, unless you want to get into all that theoretical nonsense."

"Look guys!" Ed called out from the other side of the chamber, "We're on TV!"

While the Ed boys were walking over to the screens displaying their humble cul-de-sac, Ruby turned to Shrek and said, "So can we go visit them?"

"It ain't that easy," said Shrek. "You see, whenever you try to interfere in the affairs of one universe, it instead sort of verges off to form its own parallel universe. Sometimes things get muddied in the split, sometimes things don't go as planned, but usually you can try to make things better. But, no matter how hard you try, you can never actually change what happens in the universe you want to change; you can only hope to make the best with what you've got."

"Oh," said Ruby.

Double-D turned away from the screens of the cul-de-sac and began approaching the rest of the group. "Very interesting. I believe I am somewhat familiar with the subject, but would you have any recommendations for books or papers on the subject?"

"Eh, I just figured these things on the fly. There's plenty of time to learn all this stuff when you've been locked in some crazy lady's sex dungeon for six-and-a-half years, plus I've got my own time machine."

Shrek tapped one of the screens, causing it to flip over to a series of footage where Beacon and Vale were under attack by the Grimm, the White Fang, and Cinder's underlings. Yang, who was standing near the chair, pushed a button to allow the audio feed from the screen in question to echo throughout the room.

"Huh," remarked Roman.

"Oh wow," said Blake. "Damn we look weak."

"I'm calling bullshit," said Melanie. "Since when were the Grrm an actual threat?"

"Dear god, I look like a demented creep," Adam commented.

Ozpin stepped forth, adjusting his glasses, "This is what would have happened, had Shrek not graced this world with his blessing."

Shrek knocked on the screen a few times more. "Yes Ozpin, this was the world I saw when I came here. So much of this world was filled with hate, fear, and mistrust. I saw how fragile this world really was, and like the good Doctor I am, I tried to change it. I worked to wash away the dark malice that lurked deep in Remnant's depths and spread my love to everyone. I wanted to make this world's people tough, like ogres, so they could fight back against the boundless hordes of evil."

Pyrrha's death flashed on the screen, though after all the bloodshed Weiss had been through, it didn't particularly faze her. A few screens over, there was footage of Qrow, Cinder, and Shrek having a three-way in a cheap motel, all three of them having the time of their lives. The screen immediately next to it depicted a similar scene, except Qrow seemed to be fleeing from Shrek, with a strange glint in his eye. For a brief second, Weiss thought she saw Winter peering in from one of the windows, though she quickly dismissed the thought.

The heiress promptly tried erasing these images from her mind. Yet, watching the screens each play their own different narratives, Weiss couldn't help but wonder if Shrek's intervention had ultimately been a good thing.

"But are we truly better off?"

"I don't really know the answer to that, Weiss," Shrek answered. "Maybe in some far-off, distant universe, things went over more smoothly. But here, something went wrong. I don't know how the Fairy Godmother got her hands on a time machine of her own, or how she was able to imprison me and steal my sonic screwdriver, but I get the feeling that I may have somehow contributed to her rise in power."

"I guess it's possible," said Blake.

"But hopefully that problem is now past us. We might not be able to change the past without her interfering, but maybe now we can finally let this world heal in peace." He then placed his heavy ogre hand on Weiss's shoulder. "Let's head back home. The universe isn't going to fix itself you know."

Everyone watched as Shrek headed out of the chamber. Even though the Ogrelord had given the call to go, there were still many questions about this place. Although Weiss had been exhausted from her adventures, the ability to look into alternate universes wasn't something that could so easily be dismissed. Weiss and her friends would continue examining the features of Winter's dimension-traveling machine, eventually discovering the controls for accessing other dimensions directly. After some time, everyone eventually filed out and returned to Shrek's TARDIS, ready for the journey home.

"Alright," said Shrek, "that should be the last of them."

As the TARDIS hovered itself just a few feet above the ground, a fully recovered King Harkinian and Snoopy jumped out of it.

"King!"

"Mah Boi!"

The hero of Hyrule ran up to King Harkinian and gave him a great hug. Within the span of an hour, many of Weiss's allies who had long since been dead were now fully breathing with life, thanks to Shrek's ogre love.

However, even at the rate at which Shrek was proceeding, there were a few noticeable absences.

"What about Neo?" asked Ruby.

Although it took some time for her to remember, many of those Weiss had met in the Al Qaeda base had not been resurrected, even though Shrek could have easily done so while he was there. Furthermore, even though Leonidas and Pyrrha had been brought back to life, Chuckie Chan and Gwonam were nowhere to be seen, along with many other minor players.

Shrek sighed, and then gave Ruby a stern look. "She ain't coming back."

"What do you mean?" said Ruby. "I mean, you have the power to resurrect people, right?"

"I don't think it's that simple," said Weiss.

"Your friend's got it right," Shrek answered. "Sure I can bring your friend back to life, but that doesn't mean she'll come out alright. When I went to pick up her pieces, I saw a deep taint in her soul, almost as strong as that of the Fairy Godmother. My love might be powerful, but even the power of True Love's First Kiss has its limits. If I let her live once more, there's no telling what sort of havoc she would bring."

"But she's our friend," Ruby objected.

"I have to agree with Shrek here," said Blake. "She's too dangerous to let back into the world of the living, and Shrek might not always be here to clean up the mess."

"It might not be the right thing to do," Shrek continued, "but someone's got to make the judgment call. I might have the strength to rival gods, but there's only so much that a single ogre can do. There's a whole universe that needs fixing, and I can't be at every single place at once."

"So Jaune is gone forever?" Pyrrha asked as she approached.

"Jaune's got it as well, I'm afraid. I could bring him back, but he'd be nothing more than an empty husk. It's the same case with Glynda and the others."

"I understand."

Pyrrha looked back at the corpse her father held in his arms. Even if she did not understand the full nature of the taint that afflicted Jaune's soul, she could understand why Shrek would be reluctant to use his powers on him.

"Well," said Weiss, "it looks like those Minions are fixing things up rather quickly."

All around the city, Minions were busy at work, leveling the ruined wreckage to make room for new infrastructure. Now that their leader Bernie Sanders had long since perished, the Minions now flocked under Weiss's command. One of the first things they did was haul all the Minion corpses into a common cremation center, since Shrek's love didn't seem to have much of an effect on them. Soon after that, they began recycling whatever scraps they could find and began collecting a stockpile over by the industrial district. There were also a number of dead Atlasian soldiers and Britannian mecha pilots found in the rubble, who Shrek quickly revived whenever he saw them.

Strangely enough, they didn't find many common citizens in the wreckage, even though Vale supposedly had a population of at least a few million.

"Yeah," said Yang, "but where is everybody?"

"Probably holed up on south side," replied Roman, who was being escorted by at least twelve Minions. "Anyone with half a brain would have fled the city than deal with this shitstorm, especially with what happened after the Cataclysm. Once things are back to normal, they'll start moving back in. In the meantime, I'm gonna set up my own casino. See ya!"

As Roman walked away, looking over a floor plan that one of the Minions had come up with, a fully revived, ogre-fied Ironwood took his place.

"The boy knows where the money is at."

"Is there anything else we need to do?" asked Melanie. "I for one think Mr. Torchwick's casino would be a worthy investment of our time."

"Even more than our… space ship enterprise?" Eddy leaned in close as he said this.

"But we could be showgirls!" said Miltia. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"Really?" said Weiss. "That kind of work sounds exceptionally degrading."

"The pay is good; that's all I care about," Melanie answered.

Weiss groaned. "Knock yourself out."

The Malachite sisters then waved goodbye and headed off after Roman, who was halfway down the block by this point.

"So is there anything else I need to stick around for?" said Shrek. "I'm not really good at this city-building mumbo-jumbo, so if there's anything else you need, feel free to ask it."

"Have you seen Arslan or Gendo?" Ruby asked.

"The boy should be safe with the prince of Britannia for the time being. As for the old man, I think he's still in the factory."

There was a lull in the conversation. Even though the rebuilding process seemed to be going smoothly, Weiss didn't really have the slightest idea of how to run or reestablish a city, though Ironwood could probably be of assistance in that area.

"Actually," said King Harkinian, "there are still a number of issues that need to be taken care of. The matter of who shall inherit the Iron Throne is still in question, and if what I have heard is correct, we still have the issue of the invaders to deal with."

"Yes," added King Leonidas. "My daughter and I must also return to our homeland to reestablish order, so that we may be ready should the Serbs or godless Turks try to take away our freedoms."

"Speaking of which," said Cinder, "whatever happened to Stannis?"

"He's alive… and well," Shrek replied. He then looked at Leonidas and said, "I shall take you back home as soon as this is ogre, but I still haven't figured out how to deal with this Iron Throne bullcrap without making a mess of things."

"Why not just let King Harkinian have it?" said Ruby.

"Or Nora!" Nora said, suddenly appearing right in between Ruby and Weiss. "Actually maybe that might be a bad idea because running a whole kingdom is a whole lot of work, and I know because I've actually had to run stuff even though Winter actually did most of the work."

"It's complicated," Shrek responded. "Stannis's forces already occupy the city, and having anyone else would create another clusterfuck."

"Perhaps I could offer a suggestion."

President Underwood, escorted by Meechum and a number of elite FaZe clan members, approached the rest of the group.

"Mr. President, what a surprise to see you."

"Please, call me Frank." The two of them shook hands. "As for my proposal, why not have the people of King's Landing decide for themselves? We must introduce the spirit of democracy and republican tradition to the peoples of the Iron Throne. If they are going to have a king, then by all means let them decide, and whoever is elected shall have my full support as the American President."

"Eh, works for me," said Shrek.

The other two kings present nodded in agreement.

The President turned to the others and said, "Weiss Schnee, I thank you for eliminating the perpetrator who gave Gandhi the codes to the Pentagon Defense system. It would have been preferable if we could have tried Winter before an international court of law, but you did what you had to do. And Nora, I apologize if I may have judged you earlier, but now I realize that you had no power to prevent what had happened, considering what Winter was capable of."

"Yeah," said Nora. "Maybe I shouldn't have taken on such a big and important role. It was way too much work."

"If it is any consolation to you, Mr. President," said Shrek, "I will try to save as many people who died from the radiation as I can, even though it might cause some other problems down the line."

"I appreciate your concern," President Underwood replied. "In the meantime, I shall be returning to the White House. But know that you have full U.S. support if you are in need of any aid. I guarantee it."

Everyone watched as the President returned to his transport copter.

Soon after, Ozpin cleared his throat and said, "Well, I guess now we'll be on our way."

"Yes," said a fully revived Mercury. "It is time that we fulfilled our calling."

Shrek nodded his head and said, "There is much that still needs to be done. It's a shame I couldn't find Russel for ya."

"I'm sure we'll find him some day," said Ozpin.

As the two of them moved to step into Shrek's TARDIS, Ruby pushed her way through the group and said, "But wait, who's going to run Beacon? Who's going to train the next generation of hunters?"

Ozpin briefly turned around, adjusting his glasses. "That will be up to you to decide."

Lie Ren, now a full-sized ogre instead of a sloth animatronic, circled his way to the front of the group and said, "Perhaps I could volunteer for that position."

"I used to run the academy over in Atlas," Ironwood added. "Actually, now that I think of it, whatever did happen to Atlas?"

King Harkinian made an audible "Hmmm…" in contemplation, though the answer seemed apparent to those who had visited Winter's demiplane.

Leonidas tugged on his daughter's arm. "Let's go."

Pyrrha nodded, and then the two of them jumped into Shrek's floating blue police box. It was a shame that they wouldn't be able to make much use of the dimension-crossing features of Winter's demiplane, now that it was fused to Shrek's time machine, but the Ogrelord likely had his reasons.

"Farewell," said Shrek.

"So long, Shrek," said Yang.

"Thanks for bringing back my boyfriend!" Nora added.

As Shrek waved goodbye, many others waved back, and Ruby broke down crying.

Shortly after the TARDIS had disappeared from existence, Link rolled his eyes and said, "Boy am I starving!"

"Who wants some meatballs and lasagna?"

Right on cue, the Mario brothers came forth with a large tray of Italian cuisine. Almost everyone rushed forth, including Ruby, though Adam quickly organized everyone into a line before the chaos caused one of the dishes to spill over.

"Man," said Yang, "all this talk of politics and city planning is making me hungry." She then wrapped her arm around Weiss's shoulder and said, "Say Weiss, wanna bang after all this is ogre?"

Weiss, evading the glare from Yang's wink and smile, briefly glanced toward Ruby before responding. "Eh, sure, why not?"

And so the Great Shrekoning had come to pass, but even though Weiss's journey had come to an end, life continued on Remnant in its endless web of intrigue, politics, and mayhem.

To everyone's surprise, the people of King's Landing had elected neither Stannis nor Harkinian, but General Jericho Swain instead. This upset prompted outrage from Lord Baratheon, who returned to his homeland and assembled the Nords of Skyrim to invade King's Landing. But in spite of his claim to the throne, his foreign intervention was widely unpopular back at home, leading to widespread protest outside of Windhelm and Dragon's Reach. After Stannis's crushing defeat in the Battle of Antlers, Queen Elsa of Arendelle seized this opportunity to unite the crowns of Norway and Skyrim. Cries of witch-hood abounded, but her widespread popularity vastly outweighed whatever dissent there was.

Shortly after Leonidas and his daughter returned home, Sparta too faced its own dilemmas. Seeing the royal family's absence as a sign of weakness, the Serbian Empire attacked Sparta. But even with their control of the seas, the Serbians soon realized that Sparta was much too strong for them to handle. On top of that, the Turkish Sultanate followed up with a declaration of its own, using Serbia's unwarranted aggression as justification for its intervention. While Sparta had managed to make some gains on the Serbian homeland, the Kebab menace emerged much stronger than before, adding the lands of Moria, Syria, and the Caucasus to its domains. Turkey's now dominant position prompted the Spartan Kingdom, Egypt, and the Russian Confederation to form a defensive pact of their own, but only time would tell if this pact would be effective in deterring the growing threat of the Kebab menace.

With the death of Fire Lord Ozai and Azula's disappearance, the Fire Nation erupted into turmoil. Although the newly instated Prince Zuko was able to restore order in the homeland, the navy's crippling defeat at the hands of Vale and Britannia left it unable to project power into its far flung tributary states. For instance, the death of Pajama Sam prompted a fanatic uprising within the provinces of Manchuria, especially after Zuko had condemned him as a Nazi sympathizer. Fire nation troops were able to contain some of the initial outbreaks, but prolonged gorilla warfare gradually drained at the Fire Nation's manpower, until Zuko formerly recognized the new Korean superstate, which encompassed Korea, Manchuria, and parts of northern China. China and Brazil seceded soon after, though the Fire Nation's territories in Bengal, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and Ireland remained firmly under Fire Nation dominion.

The Britannian Empire suffered a similar fate. Although Britannia had arguably emerged victorious from the Vale proxy conflict, the unexpected assassination of Prince Lelouch plunged the Empire into chaos. Without any clear successor to the throne, vying contestants to the throne drove the Empire into civil war. While some less reputable sources have argued that Lelouch had still been alive and had gone into hiding, there is little evidence to support this.

The conflict was further compounded by secession movements within the territories of Vacuo and California. While Vacuo's secession proceeded relatively peacefully, California's split was another story. While a small portion of the continent's population wanted a unified state, the sheer multitude of mutually antagonistic factions, namely The Order of the Iron Parrot, The Society of Good Christians, ISIS, The Disciples of Shrek, The Illuminati, and The Association Against White Cis-Male Hegemony, Patriarchy, and Privilege, made a unified independence movement quite difficult. In the end, a multi-state solution was proposed, dividing the state along the areas each major faction controlled.

Only through foreign intervention from America, Vale, and France was Britannia able to achieve stability and peace. Saxton Hale emerged as the clear victor from the conflict, but only through diplomatic input from outside powers was the Britannian Empire able to retain a semblance of a constitution. Outside support was also needed to help combat militant animal rights groups, who, with aid from a newly formed ISIS, committed violent acts of terrorism and caused the shedding of many manly tears. But in the end, Britannia was able to retain most of its holdings in England, Indonesia, Japan, and Australia.

The assassination of Prince Lelouch vi Britannia would have further repercussions beyond the Empire's borders. Crown Prince Arslan, who was under Lelouch's protection at the time, had also been killed in the immediate crossfire, though this fact was not established until long after the violence had settled. Shortly after the assassination, Crown Prince Hermes, who had long been thought dead, had usurped the throne of Iran as its only legitimate claimant, though some suggest he had been aided by Vale under Nora Valkyrie's directorate. Several other players in the region recognized the prince's legitimacy, due to his role in ousting Al Qaeda from the region. Shortly thereafter, Iran integrated portions of Iraq, Afghanistan, and western India into its domain, actions which would prompt sanctions from outside powers and contribute to the reemergence of ISIS in India and the rest of Remnant.

After the ascendancy of Weiss Schnee to the seat of Queen-Mayor, Vale would reemerge as the world's leading Dust and sugar supplier, while also developing one of the world's most lucrative spaceship industries. Furthermore, Vale city itself overtook Las Vegas as the world's leading capital for casinos and gambling. Vale's ties with the United States, the Iron Throne, France, Sparta, and Hell allowed it to emerge as one of the leading economies of the world, in part aided by the South Vytal Agreement Pact and Vale's renewed infrastructure investments, particularly the underworld lift transit system. While Vale itself was rarely attacked under Weiss's rule, the kingdom would play a major role in conflicts abroad, due to its long established hunter tradition.

Although Gandhi's nuclear strikes had destroyed most of the American heartland, America was able to recover thanks to Shrek's aid, though the Subterranean Development Initiative had performed a major role in mitigating most of the damages. President Underwood's role in defeating the Fairy Godmother and subduing Adolf Hitler allowed him to stay in office for another term. The signing of the SVAP, combined with renewed ties to Britannia and the Silicon Valley Directorate would ensure America's continued status as a world power. While the fallout from Gandhi's attacks would have unintended consequences in the future, America would continue to prosper under President Underwood, though it would not be until the presidency of Cory Baxter that America would reach the height of its power.

The unexpected resurrection and defeat of Adolf Hitler would put an end to Nazism and Aryan Supremacy for many years to come. Morale among Nazi sympathizers shattered after Adolf Hitler's death, allowing combined American and Vale forces to inflict crushing defeat after defeat, until they were finally no more. Some would turn their energies towards one of the many Shrek cults that emerged after the Great Shrekoning, but most were unable to adapt to the demands of the modern world.

Furthermore, the disappearance of Lord Farquaad led to the subsequent collapse of Disney World, as many of its inhabitants had entered into the Nazi coalition after Hitler's resurrection. Once the Nazis were defeated, Disney World returned to its rightful place as Shrek's Swamp. Although Shrek would not return for many years to come, the lands were declared a site of utmost holiness. Believers could come and go as they wished as they liked, so that they may please and give thanks to the Ogrelord, but no nation or country could ever encroach on its borders. Most nations simply chose to abide by this agreement, as they did not want to incur the wrath of the great Ogrelord.

Indeed, the years after the Great Shrekoning were quite hectic and hectic, yet even so, no one had anticipated what would happen in the years to come…

The forests north of Shrek's swamp glistened with an almost heavenly serenity. Only the occasional bird calls and cries of locusts broke through the silence, but the tranquil peace that hung over the lands felt like something out of a Miyazaki film.

Remnant was pure once more.

Kirei Kotomine wandered through these woods as if he had stumbled upon some grand cathedral. He was once a more violent man, prone to deeds most ill and foul, but since then, he had found his true calling in life.

Far ahead, a small cliff broke through the landscape. As alone as he seemed, he could call both Lancers to his side whenever he wished, limited only by the number of Command Seals embedded into his body. The vessel of the true Holy Grail had long since disappeared, though perhaps things were meant to be that way.

Although he did not see what events had transpired with his own eyes, he had lived to bear witness to the Great Shrekoning.

It had pained him to serve under Lord Farquaad, but in the end, the world was better off for it. By summoning Hitler into this world, he was able to bridge the layers between Hell and Remnant, and thereby allow Shrek to escape from the Fairy Godmother's grasp. He would have gone into Hell himself, or he would have sent a specialized team to do the work for him, but in the end circumstance was fortunate to him. Hitler's reappearance had also paved the way to end Nazism for good.

He would have liked to reap some more profits of his own, and use the Holy Grail's powers to fulfill his own desires, but the chaos wrought during the Great Shrekoning was more than enough to satisfy him for now.

For once, Kirei had done good.

Now that he had reached his destination, the priest entered the dimly lit cave embedded into the rock.

In the far back end of the cave was a makeshift shrine, with a small stone statue that had been preserved since the days of the ancient Indian chiefs.

The false priest knelt before it, closing his eyes. It was said there were many prophesies about the Great Shrekoning, many of which contradicted each other. The diverse amount of literature made it difficult to determine what was certain and what was not, but in the end there was only one truth.

Prophesies did not come about simply because one believed them to be true; prophesies could only come about through one's direct actions. Kirei made his prophesy come true.

Although he may have aided Shrek's enemies by bringing about the second set of Servants, in the end he had aided Weiss in her quest to defeat the Fairy Godmother. Kirei had not anticipated all that would happen, but in the end, he was able to make most of his hopes become reality. Not many would recognize his contribution to the Great Shrekoning, but he had played a vital role all the same.

This knowledge satisfied him.

Kirei Kotomine got down on his hands and knees, and prostrated himself before the statue of Shrek. Some people could claim that they were more devoted to Shrek than he was, or that their faith was more pure, but that did not invalidate his own deep devotion to the Ogrelord.

"Thank you, Shrek."

Emerald Sustrai and her companion entered the great palace of Ecbatana. It had been a week or two since the two of them had left Vale for Iran, but in the end they had made it all the same. In spite of their involvement in Winter's dark enterprise, no one seemed to recognize or care who they were. Vale's troubles were long gone.

The two of them had entered the palace with little resistance, as some of the guards seemed to recognize they were coming. How the guards were able to anticipate the girls' arrival was anyone's guess, though considering both Port and Red Spy were missing, there were few places where they could find help.

They passed through a long, column-lined corridor, illuminated only by the light fanning in from the open courtyard to the right. White-robed handmaidens, dressed in local attire, passed by along the way, gossiping among themselves. Emerald didn't speak their language, but it was clear they were commenting on the newcomer's strange attire.

Emerald should have adapted herself to some of the local customs, having lived in Egypt for most of her early life, but custom didn't really suit her, especially when she much preferred the life of a street rat to noble etiquette. Beato obviously looked out of place, even though she could change her outfit at will. It was a shame they weren't able to bring Neo along as a pet, though reviving her wouldn't be too hard if they could secure her remains.

They ascended a flight of stairs once they reached the far end of the court. Although they had already passed one of the entrances to the throne, Hermes's main office was on a much higher level.

The room itself wasn't too difficult to find, seeing it was guarded by two heavy cedar doors littered with motifs of Persian design and two foot soldiers wearing heavy plate armor.

"You two are the associates from Nora's Enterprise I presume?" one of the guards asked.

Emerald didn't bother to ask how Hermes or anyone else knew they were coming, seeing as she would probably have her answers very soon.

"We are."

"Er… We would like to speak with Lord Silver Mask, if that wouldn't be too much to ask." Beato was currently using her 'Shannon' persona, which was much better at not pissing people off.

"His majesty is currently meeting with some very important guests at the moment, but I shall see when he will be ready to receive you."

The guard slipped inside, but after only a few seconds, the guard pushed the door back open and said, "Lord Silver Mask will see you right now."

"That was easy," remarked Emerald.

The two of them stepped into the office as the doors opened wide, but what they saw inside was well beyond their expectations.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Would either of you like a glass of martini?"

Brian Griffin, author of the bestselling novel Faster than the Speed of Love and Sultan of the Turkish Empire, sat across from Hermes on a warm green sofa, with his bodyguards Wreck-It Ralph and Nep-Nep standing by his side, both of whom were wearing fezzes. Although few had ever seen him in person, he was the most serene of all doges, his head adorned with the turban from his time at Peter's Playhouse. Standing clockwise from him was the Red Spy and Professor Ratigan, much larger than his film debut would suggest. The two of them blocked the sunlight coming in from the window behind them, though it was likely the window itself was an illusion.

Hermes sat by his lonesome self, breathing heavily with his hands planted firmly on his knees. A guard stood watch from the corner, but there was not much he could do in the face of such giants.

"Your… holiness?" stuttered Beato.

"Red Spy?" said Emerald. "What is going on here?"

"Ah, don't mind us gentlemen," Brian said as he placed his glass on the table in front of him, "we were just discussing the ethics of gaming journalism. You know how touchy gamers can get when their favorite hobby is under threat."

"I got free pudding!" shouted Neptune.

"You goddamn extortionist!" The King of Pars stood up, pointing at Brian in accusation, but a swift palm from Professor Ratigan pushed him back in his seat. Ralph also clenched his fists menacingly.

Hermes briefly looked at Beato and Emerald, hoping their combined power could relieve him from his situation, but Brian made a swift gesture to diffuse the tension.

"I have been watching the conflict for quite some time now, and I've gotta say, I'm quite impressed with the skills you two possess."

"So it was you who foresaw our arrival?" Emerald asked.

"My nose knows everything, and my eyes are everywhere. So yes, as a matter of fact."

Hermes looked away, angry at the fact he was just another pawn in the game of thrones.

"But let us not dwindle on such questions for much longer. Come, have a drink."

"Indeed," said the Red Spy, "there is much business to discuss."

Emerald and her companion approached the large tray sprawled out on the table. Emerald picked up one of the glasses and examined it with caution. On one hand, the drink could have been laced with poison or some other strange substances, but on the other hand, it was free.

In spite of being in her gentler persona, Beato gulped down her drink instantly, causing her to let out a great roar of laughter.

Before her companion started going on a drunken rampage, Emerald quietly sat down on the adjacent sofa, a few seats away from the Iranian Lord.

The Turkish sultan fished out a pair of reading glasses, and then began looking over a journal he pulled out from some invisible space.

"As many of you well know, the Fairy Godmother is dead, and as people of calamitous intent, you no longer have a sponsor."

"I do not need help from the likes of you," hissed Hermes.

"But you would find it beneficial, would you not? Think about it. Shrek has appeared in this world. The good guys have won. Now that you no longer have a demi-god to back you up, the world isn't safe for hooligans like you, and you're going to need all the help you can get."

"I'm all open for business," said Emerald, examining her glass, "but why would you want to help all of us?"

"I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for the Fairy Godmother, and I intend to return her the favor. If you are willing to work with me, I can grant you whatever power or fortune you may desire.

"It is often said that the pen is mightier than the sword, but if a half-assed article based on the sexual escapades of Lois Griffin can incite the world into global warfare, then who knows what we can accomplish if we work together."

"Even Shrek may fall if our timing and coordination is right," added the Red Spy.

Emerald looked up at Ralph's raw, burly strength, and then turned towards Neptune, whose childish appearance disguised her inner strength. Even the Sultan himself, who was arguably the weakest of the three, was a political force to be reckoned with.

"I'm interested," said Emerald. "Just as long as the pay is good, I'll tag along with your little scheme."

"Of course we'll join!" Beato shouted from behind he sofa. "What kind of incompetent moron would skimp out on an opportunity like this? Weiss shall suffer for refusing to kneel before our authority! The whole Kingdom of Vale shall burn in the fires of Hell, and Battler-kun shall be mine once again! WAHAHAHAHAHA…!"

Everyone watched as Beato tumbled onto the floor in a drunken stupor. Ralph took this moment to transfer the tray to the side.

"Should I…"

"Don't worry, this is normal," responded Emerald to Brian's utterance. "So, what is it we have to do?"

Brian turned to the Red Spy, who now held a large, metal briefcase in his arms.

"Ahem," said the Red Spy, "ladies and gentlemen, I have a proposition to make."

The cunning saboteur laid the briefcase onto the table in front, opening it up for everyone to see.

"What the…" Hermes uttered.

"Provided that everything goes according to plan," continued the Red Spy, "not even Shrek can stop us, for with this, we shall become masters of the universe."

A/N: Holy cow, I am finally done with this story. I hope the ending was alright, as I was kinda sleep-deprived while writing some of the last parts. Despite the sequel hook, I do not intend to write a sequel to this story or a continuation of it.

I hope this was a satisfying enough conclusion to the story, and I hope I was able to tie up most loose ends. I didn't want for Shrek to just simply revive everyone and solve everyone's problems just because of his abilities, as I kinda wanted to make some of the losses a bit more meaningful. I hope that the reasons and explanations for stuff are acceptable enough. I don't really know whether this chapter offers a truly complete conclusion to this story, or if I should have expanded on some parts. Some of the stuff might seem cynical, but I do want to note that the heroes and Vale are arguably better off, even though bad things still happen and some of the damage might be difficult to repair.

I was planning on introducing Brian Griffin sometime earlier in the story, but I couldn't find a good way to incorporate him into the main plot. I don't know if I conveyed this well enough, but it's kinda implied he was a primary instigator of the GamerGate Fiasco in this story.

I was also considering doing a scene where Roman chats with Coco and Grif, though I kinda felt writing it would be unnecessary. I was considering putting Coco into a faction with some schmuck from Psycho Pass, but I never really took the thought seriously, and I didn't really have a role planned for her in the story. Nor did I ever have any serious plans for Professor Oobleck or the other members of team CFVY.

So, now that I'm done with this story, I'm not sure what I'll do next. Maybe I'll actually get to reviewing other stories once again, but I probably won't be writing that much fanfic for a while. Maybe stuff for other fandoms, but probably not as much RWBY stuff unless I get random ideas for troll/crack fics.

I'm not really sure what else I've got to say right now. If you've got any questions, I can probably answer them through PM. I was thinking of making a map of the world for this story, but I haven't gotten around to actually making it.

So, considering all the crap I've crammed into this story, I've made a final disclaimer for this story below. I'm not really sure who I'm supposed to credit for each franchise, and I probably didn't list everything that was crossed over in this fic, but I've made a semi-comprehensive list below. I don't know who the original creators were for the Navy Seals copypasta or Jeff the Killer, so I didn't list them below. I've also previously mentioned the Charles Barkley/Space Jam game a few chapters ago, so I didn't feel the need to include it.

So anyway, I'm spent right now. I hope you were all satisfied with how I ended this story. I probably could have said more, but even though this story might not be as popular as stories of comparative size, I'm glad you all took the time to read through this. Thank you all once again.

Final Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following:

300 (Frank Miller/Zack Snyder); Aladdin (Disney); Arpeggio of Blue Steel (Ark Performance); Arslan Senki (Yoshiki Tanaka/Hiromu Arakawa); Asura's Wrath (Capcom); Avatar: The Last Airbender (Nickelodeon); Banjo-Kazooie (Rare); Barney & Friends (Sheryl Leach); Batman (DC Comics); Bear in the Big Blue House (Mitchell Kriegman); Beauty and the Beast (Disney); Black Lagoon (Rei Hiroe); Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (Yoshio Sawai); Call of Duty (EA); Civilization (Sid Meier); Code Geass (Goro Taniguchi/Ichiro Okouchi); Codename: Kid's Next Door (Tom Warburton); Command & Conquer (EA); Cory in the House (Disney); Death Note (Tsugumi Ohba); Despicable Me (Universal); Doctor Who (BBC); Downfall (Oliver Hirschbiegel/Bernd Eischinger); Dungeons & Dragons (Gary Gygax/TSR/Wizards of the Coast); Ed, Edd n Eddy (Danny Antonucci); The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda); Family Guy (Seth MacFarlane); Fate/stay night (Type-Moon); Five Nights at Freddy's (Scott Cawthon); Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Craig McCracken); Frozen (Disney); Full Metal Panic (Shoji Gatoh/Gonzo); Girls und Panzer (Actas); The Great Mouse Detective (Disney); Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling); Hercules (Disney); Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (07th Expansion); House of Cards (Netflix); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo/Disney); Hyperdimension Neptunia (Idea Factory); I. M. Meen (Animation Magic); Italian Spiderman (Alrugo Entertainment); Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (Hirohiko Araki); Kirby (Nintendo/HAL Laboratory); League of Legends (Riot Games); The Legend of Zelda CDi games (Animation Magic/Nintendo/Philips); The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien); Mirai Nikki (Sakae Esuno); Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Monty Python); My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Lauren Faust/Hasbro); Nanatsu no Taizai (Suzuki Nakaba/A-1 Pictures); Neon Genesis Evangelion (Hideaki Anno/Gainax); OFF (Mortis Ghost); One Punch Man (ONE); Pajama Sam (Humongous Entertainment); Peanuts (Charles M Shulz); Pokémon (Satoshi Tajiri/The Pokemon Company); Putt-Putt (Humongous Entertainment); Red vs. Blue (Rooster Teeth); Rozen Maiden (Peach-Pit); Rugrats (Klasky-Csupo); RWBY (Monty Oum/Rooster Teeth); Shrek (Dreamworks); Sleeping Beauty (Disney); A Song of Ice and Fire (George R. R. Martin); Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega); Space Jam (Warner Bros.); Spongebob Squarepants (Stephen Hillenburg); SPY Fox (Humongous Entertainment); Starcraft (Blizzard Entertainment); Star Fox (Nintendo); Star Wars (George Lucas/Disney); Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo); Team Fortress 2 (Valve); Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (Gainax); Thomas the Tank Engine (Britt Alcroft/Wilbert Awdry/Christopher Awdry); Transformers (Hasbro/Takara Tomy); Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (07th Expansion); Undertale (Toby Fox); The Venture Brothers (Doc Hammer/Chris McCulloch); Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby (Disney); Wreck-It Ralph (Disney); X-Ray and Vav (Rooster Teeth); Yellow Submarine (George Dunning); and Yu-Gi-Oh! (Kazuki Takahashi).