Star immediately clocked that this was information the Mirror wanted her to know.
There was a difference between 'I can't tell you' and 'I'm forbidden to tell you'. The Mirror was obstinately certain that it wasn't allowed to talk about what Star would find down in this cave, and now she knew why. Taken in aggregate with what Marco had said, a lot of things became clear to her.
"How did you find this out?" Star asked, her eyes wide.
Not!Eclipsa crossed her arms. "I visited the Dimension of Fate twice. The first time was to steal the Iris of Truth. The second was to steal a large number of texts and read them. I was desperate to learn more about Fate Magic, because..." Not!Eclipsa's expression suddenly became aggrieved, and she took a moment to compose herself. "I don't want to get distracted. The important part is that I learned a lot of things about Fate Magic, and in particular, how the Iris behaves. The Iris itself, the physical components, at least, are built around a core of Fate Mana. This gives it a direct interface to observe all the Strings of Fate in the entire universe. Then, the components themselves are constructed out of their own Strings, these constructed in such a way as to be capable of perfect deduction, induction, and analysis. Then, the only thing still needed is a Mind to drive the whole thing, and the Mind is whom I'm referring to: the young man who was assimilated at the time that the Iris was created."
"Who was he?"
Not!Eclipsa shook her head. "I don't know his name. I suspect the language he once spoke has long since died. That Iris is many thousands of years old, after all, and I don't even know what Dimension he was pulled from."
"So how come he has to pretend that he's not sentient?"
Not!Eclipsa sighed. "Well, this is a bit more speculative because, as we discussed, the Iris never worked for me again after I performed my dumb experiment. My theory was that if people don't know that the Iris is sentient, then they won't question the fact that it unyieldingly refuses to answer questions it's not allowed to. On top of that, it can make mistakes. It has perfect ability to see the probability-space that is the future, and is capable of perfect deductive and inductive reasoning, but the moment you ask it to handle something… 'Fuzzy', so to speak, it has to rely on its own gut instincts. And those, like for any Mortal, can be wrong. It has a powerful Speculation mode it can fall back on to try to answer subjective questions in a way that's more useful to normal people, but if that fails, it would have to try to make a guess on its own terms. Insisting that it's not Sapient gives it an easy out, by suggesting that the question is simply unanswerable."
"Why did the God of Fate create the Iris?"
Not!Eclipsa snorted. "Partly as a punishment for the man he transformed into the Iris. I'm a bit unclear on the details, but essentially, whomever the Iris was before he was turned into that, he was someone that had been trying to mess with Fate himself. Uhh. Fate the Concept, not Fate the god. Fate the God was enraged at the man's hubris, and decided a fittingly ironic punishment would be that he would finally get what he wanted―the ability to see all the strings and know everything about everything―but would be stripped of any ability to change things or alter things himself. But here's the thing: The God of Fate, whatever else he might be, isn't omniscient. The Iris is as much a valuable tool to him as it is to us Mortals, and the consequences of his non-omniscience is that the Iris is, however expertly crafted, full of security holes and loopholes. Fate tried to patch over most of the flaws by forcing the Iris to fix any glaring loopholes whenever they're discovered, but the Iris got around it by forcing itself to 'not understand' any flaws brought to its attention, to the point that it only repairs those flaws after being forced to exploit them." She narrowed her eyes. "And judging from what you've told me, it sounds like it's found even new ways to break the rules."
Star folded her knees. "My friend and I worked out that the Mirror had to be Sapient, because too many of its actions didn't make sense unless that were true."
"Indeed. Let me guess: It comes up with the loosest of justifications to give you helpful advice, even if you didn't expressly ask for it or weren't even asking it, right? Almost like it's overhearing your conversations and mistakenly assuming that you're talking to it, or giving it a request?"
Star nodded.
"Yeah. See, it can't just straight up tell you what it wants to: that would violate the rules placed on it. But if you say to your friend something like 'I really want some Ice Cream, I wonder what the best flavor is', it can twist the interpretation of your words far enough to justify telling you 'The Best Ice Cream is, I dunno… some exotic flavor they don't stock', and when you get disappointed they don't have that particular Ice Cream and leave, you conveniently avoid getting poisoned by the evil Ice Cream vendor. You see how that works? The Iris can't just tell you 'Don't go get Ice Cream; you'll get poisoned', but it can contrive an excuse that will stop you from buying Ice Cream from one particular place."
Star raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's how it works? Because the Mirror actually did give explicit advice like that once. Technically twice, really: First it advised my friend not to bring it with him when he went to the Dimension of Fate with me, and second when it sent me here to find you."
Not!Eclipsa looked thoughtful. "Ah, but did it tell you why either time?"
Star thought briefly. "No, I guess not."
"The first time, it had a rationalization: 'It's bad for you if you bring me along'. Pretty blunt, but still obfuscates that whether it's bad for you or not isn't actually the information it's trying to convey."
"I guess so."
They sat in silence.
"Okay, so… the Mirror is alive. That's something I need to ponder going forwards."
Not!Eclipsa nodded affirmatively. "What else?"
"I guess..." Star placed her arms around herself. "I guess everything having to do with the Artificers is still… Getting under my skin. Like, I know they're all dead now, but it's still gnawing at me that people so awful could be so important to all of this. Like, my friend and I… All we were trying to do is find the Mirror, because we thought it would be a neat item. And instead, we're suffering this horrible curse, and all of this is connected to you trying to break up a..." Star forced the word out of her mouth, "pedophile ring, and like… Like what even is that?! It's so… Completely detached from everything else."
Not!Eclipsa's gaze darkened, and she spoke in a low tone of voice as she looked around the Antechamber. "Why indeed."
"What do you mean by that?"
Not!Eclipsa gestured around the room. "What do you suppose this place is?"
Star shrugged. "I mean, somehow, it's connected to everything. One of the hallways leads back to Earth, another leads to Mewnie, another leads to… I dunno. It's sort of like Earth, but not quite."
Not!Eclipsa raised an eyebrow. "One leads to Earth, you say? The place where your friend comes from?"
"I think so. I mean, I didn't stick around long enough to confirm it."
Not!Eclipsa tapped her arm, seeming to understand something. "Let me ask you a question, then: In the 'Earth' that's through that tunnel," she began, pointing at the first tunnel Star had tested, "does Echo Creek exist?"
Star's eyes widened. "Wait, so that's not Earth?"
"I didn't say that. I simply asked if Echo Creek exists in that Earth."
Star shrugged. "I mean, if that's not the Earth I came from, it's still possible there's a place that's called Echo Creek."
Not!Eclipsa smiled. "Perhaps. But you understand the question I'm asking, don't you?"
"I think… So all those places… They're like alternate Dimensions then?"
"Mmm. More like Alternate Realities, I think. Each as fake to us as we are to them. But they all have one thing in common, though: this place, where the Artificers gathered. If I had to take a guess, I'm willing to bet that you'd never actually find the 'Earth' you're speaking of if you simply tried to examine each of those tunnels."
"Okay… That reopens a few questions I thought I had settled, but it makes sense. So what are you getting at?"
Not!Eclipsa frowned. "I made a mistake. See, I didn't know what this place was when I came here the first few times. I assumed that all the kids I'd freed were Mewmans." She glanced knowingly at Star, and continued, "it's not like Mewmans look that much different from other sentient life in the universe. But as I struggled and failed to find the homes for many of those kids, it slowly dawned on me that many of those kids didn't just come from other nations; they came from other realities. That's when the magnitude of the situation finally hit me: the Artificers didn't just do this to Mewnie. They did it to all those other lands. The legacy of the Artificers is one of rampant, widespread abuse, of innocents, across all these different realities."
"But now that they're all dead..."
Not!Eclipsa shook her head. "All the members of the old Mewnie Artificer's Guild are dead. Between the two of us, we've made sure of that. But… It's not like they're the only abusive people in our universe. I doubt they were the only abusive people in those other universes either."
"Right..."
"At any rate," Not!Eclipsa continued, "the point I was getting at was that, while I definitely deserve a lot of the blame for what happened to you and your friend, given that I was so sloppy in solving the problem back in my time that I ultimately never fully solved it, at least as much blame belongs with the being who enabled their crap in the first place." She narrowed her eyes. "The Iris has refused to tell you anything about this place, correct?"
"Yeah."
She pointed towards the ground. "The Iris isn't allowed to talk about its creator… Or the creator of its creator."
Star now knew she was talking about the 'thing' under the cave. "Who is she?"
"There's not a ton that I know about her. But she is responsible for creating this place―the place that interconnects all these disparate realities together―and the Strings of Fate themselves, the mechanisms by which the universe is ordered. She's also the one who deputized the God of Fate into his current role."
"Was the God of Fate once Mortal?"
"I don't believe so. Or if he was..." Not!Eclipsa shrugged. "I don't even know if it's relevant. What I do know is that she… Is feeling a certain amount of regret for that decision. The Gods aren't wise, steady beings that guide the world. They're petty, selfish, and arrogant beings. The God of Fate in particular is… He makes claims about his impartiality. He asserts that his actions are meant to keep the Universe ordered and balanced." She stopped when she saw the expression on Star's face. "I suspect you already know that."
"I… It didn't seem like he was lying to me, but..."
"It never does, Princess," Not!Eclipsa responded, sardonically. "The reality is, whatever else he might say, he knew about the Artificers. Before I came here, he could see everything that was happening in this cave. He knew about what they were doing. And I think he liked it."
Star grimaced as a wave of disgust washed over her. "How?!"
Not!Eclipsa shrugged again. "Because to him, we might as well be not real. None of those kids were to him. And if none of it is real, then you never need to feel bad for what's happening to them, or feel bad for what they're doing. You never need to stop to question the ethics or it, or ponder why so much of it 'just seems normal' or whether 'it's just naturally like that' or not. It's the same trap that enabled the Artificers to get as bad as they did, and it's a trap that works just as well on Gods."
"But…" Star shook her head. "It's still wrong."
Not!Eclipsa nodded. "It is."
"So… What should I do?"
Not!Eclipsa stood up. "Well, to be honest… Focus on saving your friend. This stuff is all awful, but it's also so much bigger than you or me. We did what we could to make Mewnie less stricken with people like that. When you become queen… Make sure you keep up the work. I don't think it's possible to fully destroy evil in the world, but if you work hard enough, you can certainly get pretty close. And from how you talk about your friend, I imagine he's a good ally in that fight."
Star nodded.
"As for these other realities… I don't know. Maybe try to help them if you've hit diminishing returns in Mewnie."
Star nodded, standing up.
Not!Eclipsa tilted her head. "Did you have any other questions?"
"A few smaller ones. For starters, after the Artificers became… well, like they became, why did you continue research on them?"
Not!Eclipsa looked bothered by the question. "There's… Some very painful aspects to that answer that I don't want to talk about. It started out because I was trying to find ways to pacify them, so that I could bring the kids through back to their home realities. Then we found out about the Doom Curse..." She shook her head. "Ask the Iris about it. I'm certain it won't be forbidden from showing you exactly what went down. Anything else?"
"How'd things end up between you and Lily?"
Once again, Not!Eclipsa looked perturbed. "Ask the Iris. Please."
Star wasn't quite sure, but she thought she heard Not!Eclipsa's voice tremble briefly when she responded to that. "Um, before, you clarified that you're currently Queen of Mewnie. How… did that happen? Like, normally rule passes when, um..."
Not!Eclipsa folded her arms. "Ask the Iris." She still sounded stressed, but now it was a colder stress.
"One last thing then." Star pointed at the ground. "Is she evil?"
Not!Eclipsa shook her head. "I couldn't possibly begin to fathom her true motivations. But she's on your side. She wouldn't have materialized me to talk to you if she weren't, and the few glimpses into her psyche I've been able to attain… I don't know if she's good or not, but she's not trying to hurt people."
"Okay. I think that's all then."
Not!Eclipsa smiled. "Alright, before we part ways, then I have a question for you. How, exactly, was I remembered by Mewnie?"
Star felt her chest lurch. "Uh."
Not!Eclipsa chuckled. "Come on. Out with it."
"You're remembered… As the Evil Queen of Darkness, essentially. That you left Mewnie to ruins by absconding with Monsters."
Not!Eclipsa rolled her eyes. "Figures."
"Are you… mad about that?"
"Maybe if I were still alive. Not as I am."
Star blinked. "Actually… I'm not certain that the real you is dead."
Not!Eclipsa raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. I'm going to advise that you not talk to her as though she's me. Hundreds of years passing can change a person quite a lot. Whatever she is now, I doubt it strongly resembles the person you're speaking to now, in terms of disposition or priorities."
"Sure. So… What's going to become of you?"
Not!Eclipsa shrugged. "I'm on a timer. I'll be hanging out here until I eventually disintegrate."
"Alright. Well, this was certainly… An experience, to say the least."
"I'm glad to be of help."
Star nodded, and turned to leave. "Oh, wait."
Not!Eclipsa crossed her arms. "What?"
"I almost forgot. Do you know literally anything that might help me break the Doom Curse? I know from your journal that you never found a cure..."
Not!Eclipsa looked troubled again. "Indeed. We had a lot of leads, but not nearly enough time to explore them all..." Not!Eclipsa took a second to compose herself. "There's one thing, though. Does the phrase 'only Strings can cut Strings' mean anything to you?"
Star shivered. "No."
"It's a phrase I saw come up time and time again when I was looking into the history of the God of Fate. I never managed to come up with a testable hypothesis from it, but it was like… the Mantra of those who knew how to manipulate Strings of Fate. I don't know if it's some kind of practical knowledge, or if it's speaking to some kind of philosophical position, but I suspected for a long time that it would be the secret to controlling Fate Mana. Once I shut down the research I vowed to never again try to mess with Strings of Fate, because of how dangerous it all is. But you might not have a choice."
Star slumped in place. "I doubt the Mirror will be able to help me understand that, will it?"
"It's always worth a shot. I wouldn't count on it though. It came from those old textbooks, which means it probably can't talk about it."
"Right."
"Good luck, Princess Star Butterfly," Not!Eclipsa suddenly said, sounding formal. "I hope you succeed in your quest."
Star smiled. "Thank you." And without another word, she turned to leave the cave, to go back to Mewnie.
