Disclaimer: All Disney works are the property of The Walt Disney Company. All other characters and settings are the property of their respective legal owners.

Author's note: Originally posted by Anon e Mouse Jr. on 2017-12-23. This is the first of five chapters posted today.

Disney/Kingdom Hearts Loops, Chapter Twenty-Three, Part One of Five

23.1 (GMBlackjack): [My Little Pony] / [Gravity Falls] - also compiled in MLP Time Loops as part of a single chapter, Gravity Falls Finale.

The Infinite Loops: Weirdmageddon, part 1

Conclusion to Gravity Falls: Friendship is Magic

The gash across the sky reflected in the eyes of all present, almost like it was suggesting they were blind to the ways of the cosmos. In the center of the cross-shaped hole, there was an ethereal triangle shape in the tallest of top hats and the most cool of bowties. He adjusted said bowtie, chuckling.

"AT LONG LAST… THE DAY WELL OVER ONE BILLION YEARS PROPHESIED HAS COME TO PASS! PHYSICAL FORM? DON'T MIND IF I DO!"

His ethereal body began to gain depth, translating from a simple geometric shape to a solid worthy of this plane of existence. He began to glow at all angles as living flesh wrapped around his entire form, leaving only the eye visible. Even that singular portal of vision was covered up as an exoskeleton of metal formed around the flesh, sparking with power. The entire shape went crystalline, flashing energy specks across the horizon. He soon became black as night, taking a pyramidal shape. Innumerable limbs sprouted from his body as each section rotated independently, his one eye looking down on the world below in judgment. His entrance into the physical world was complete.

The first thing he did was adjust the form to something more comfortable. He flattened it back to a nice, manageable triangle, not unlike the form he appeared in. But it seemed to have more substance to it, as if it was no longer something from out of a dream… or nightmare.

He turned to his adversaries, beings of indeterminate age alongside puny mortals. He laughed.

"THIS. IS. GOING. TO. BE. SO. FUN!"

"BILL!" Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Element of Magic yelled. "Stop this right now or-"

"OR WHAT, MAGIC?" He taunted. "YOU MAY BE OUTRAGEOUSLY OLD AND WISE, BUT I WAS TRILLIONS OF YEARS OLD BEFORE IT WAS COOL!" He generated some sunglasses with a single lens. "DEAL WITH IT!"

Twilight reached into her Pocket, bringing out a tiara fixed with a sparkling magical crystal. Five of her friends did the same, producing necklaces each bearing their own crystal. Twilight's eyes went white. "We will deal with it, Bill Cipher. We won't let you run rampant." The energies of the crystals combined, firing a rainbow of colors at Bill.

Bill squinted, focusing his power into a highly-complex spell. A beam of energy shot out of his eye and encircled the Harmonious energy beam. It was stopped in midair, collecting into a sphere of energy.

Bill laughed. "DID YOU REALLY THINK I DIDN'T HAVE A PLAN FOR THAT MAGIC? I'VE BEEN PLOTTING THIS FOR ETERNITY. JUST BECAUSE I DIDN'T EXPECT TO HAVE TIME TO RUN AROUND DOESN'T MEAN I'M NOT PREPARED TO!"

"We'll just find a way to hit you." Twilight said. "Nothing is immune to the power of friendship!"

"NOT EVEN YOU!" Bill said, pointing right at them. As he said it, the ball of Harmonious energy shot at the six Element bearers, encircling them in a Bubble of energy. Their symbols - balloons, clouds, diamonds, apples, butterflies, and stars - swirled around the edges of the unnatural magic. A dark chain wrapped around the Bubble, encasing them inside. Bill waved his hand, sending the Bubble far, far away.

He dusted his hands off, turning to the rest of the people who stood against him. He laughed as he saw their utterly horrified faces.

"NOW YOU'RE ALL WELCOME TO TRY AND STOP ME, BUT RIGHT NOW I'VE GOT TO PAY A VISIT TO TOWN. LET THEM KNOW IT'S UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT…" And with that, he was gone.

Government Agent Sweetie Drops, codename Bon Bon, ran after him, radioing in for backup.

Lyra, Looper with a split-personality disorder, stood up. She was ready to charge with her lifelong friend into danger, but she felt a six-fingered hand grab he shoulder.

"No, she can't do anything to him." Ford, her grandfather for this Loop, said. "We need to think this through rationally. We need to use our heads."

The vote within Lyra's head came out 3 to 2, the verdict being remain calm and (relatively) sane. She nodded. "What's the plan?"

"I've been preparing for this scenario for a while now… I have an invention that just might do it. We just have to hope Bill hasn't managed to find a way to completely negate it. Come with me. Stan, you watch the Shack. It's probably the only safe place in this Weirdmageddon."

Stan, Ford's almost identical twin brother nodded, grinning. "I'll make a killing charging people rent! Only safe place on earth!"

Ford sighed, but smiled nonetheless. "Come on, we don't have any time to lose."

"But time is dead."

Ford, Lyra, and Stan all stopped, silent, slowly remembering that there was another among them. Starlight Glimmer McGucket, Receiver of Memory for the Society of the Blind Eye. She was obviously emotionally burnt out, a hollow look on her face. She held her hand close to her chest. "How can you lose time if it is dead? There's none to be had… Nothing to save…"

Ford turned to her. "We must have hope that we can do something. For if we don't, all is lost. The world will become Bill's playground, something we simply cannot allow to happen. We must have hope that fighting back will do some good."

Starlight glared. "What good has hope done any of us? I thought I could stop the future from coming, and look what's happened! I've unleashed the One Eyed Beast upon reality! Look what hope got us!"

Ford shook his head. "Bill is known to twist and warp all our virtues. Being fooled by him is nothing to be ashamed of. I've been fooled more times than I can count-"

"My hope is what let him fool me!" Starlight yelled. "You think you are wise beyond your years, old man, but you are still naive!"

Ford backed up a few steps, startled. "Then tell me, what are you going to do now? Just give up? Sit here and die?"

Starlight's anger faltered. She took a step back, pondering her existence. "...No. I swore an oath long ago to fight the One Eyed Beast. I will not lay down and let him conquer."

"Then come with us, regain your hope." Ford smiled. "We can defeat him."

"Together." Lyra smiled. "After all, the magic of friendship has to fit into all this somehow."

Ford shrugged. "I suppose it does. Now come along, we've got an eldritch abomination to banish."

"WHY HELLO THERE YOU THREE-DIMENSIONAL, ONE-LIFE, LINEAR TIMELINE, DUAL-EYED, UNSTABLE, IDIOTIC, FRAGILE, RANDOM-FINGERED, DUAL-GENDERED, SKIN-PUPPETS! FOR ONE TRILLION YEARS I'VE BEEN- YOU KNOW WHAT NEVERMIND. I'M BILL CIPHER AND I AM YOUR LORD AND MASTER FOR ALL OF ETERNITY. SUBMIT AND-"

"BILL CIPHER!"

Bill paused, turning around to see two women standing behind him. The townspeople cheered at the two towering women whose hair was flowing magically.

"CELESTIA AND LUNA. I SORTA EXPECTED YOU TWO TO BE EATING CAKE AND PLAYING VIDEO GAMES."

Luna and Celestia's faces were unwavering, their eyes fixated on Bill. Luna spoke once more, her voice shaking the earth. "YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE, BEING OF DREAMS. LEAVE NOW OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO USE WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY TO THROW YOU BACK FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!"

"OH REALLY? YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN STOP ME? JUST WATCH!" Bill snapped his fingers and the church floated into the air, turned into a vampiric butterfly, and started eating clouds. "NONE OF YOU HAVE ANY POWER!"

Then, to Bill's surprise, a pink pony appeared wearing a top hat and eyepatch. She pointed her cane at him. "AS MAYOR I STRONGLY URGE YOU TO GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I UNLEASH A PARTY!"

Bill squinted. "DIDN'T I IMPRISON YOU?" He quickly scanned the pony's mind. "OH. YOU'RE JUST A SHELL SHE USES TO RUN THE TOWN. HA. WHAT KIND OF POWER COULD YOU POSSIBLY HAVE?"

The Pinkie shell grinned. "PEOPLE OF GRAVITY FALLS! UNLEASH THE PARTY!"

Bill blinked as he heard several dozen large clunking noises, the sounds of heavy machinery. To his amusement he saw as several dozen buildings revealed holes in their roofs, bluish cannons appearing out of the tops. They all turned to aim at Bill.

The multicolored confetti shot out of the cannons with a festive PAWOO, racing towards Bill at speeds insanely fast. Bill simply cackled, clapping his hands. All the confetti flew into the air, collecting into a large sphere of multicolored terror. The ball quickly took the form of a gigantic bat with three heads, which began to breathe confetti-colored fire on the population.

"AHAHAHAH! MAN I LOVE FLAMING RAINBOWS!"

Celestia raised her hand, causing the confetti-bat to ignite in a blaze of glory. The confetti turned to cinders, and it began to snow ash. Celestia's face was firm. "We will protect this town. And there is nothing you can do to stop us."

Luna nodded, her eyes glowing with a kind of dark energy. A sphere of power appeared before her, sprinkled with the essence of the stars. It seemed to emanate fear and darkness. Several townsfolk turned and ran from it. Bill just rolled his eye. "YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU AREN'T WORTH IT. I'VE GOT SOME "FRIENDS" I WANT YOU TO MEET." He looked up to the tear in the sky. "COME ON DOWN HENCHMANIACS!"

Luna unleashed the spell just as a strange goblin-like creature with 8-balls for eyes descended from the horrid tear in reality. The spell hit this being head on, knocking him into a nearby building. The building collapsed in on the creature, causing its body to twitch before ceasing all movement.

Bill sighed. "8-BALL YOU WERE ALWAYS THE DUMB ONE… CAN THE REST OF YOU ACTUALLY BE SMART?"

A pink, fiery one-eyed female descended from the sky, landing with grace. "Of course, Bill. Do you want me to take care of sunbutt?"

Despite herself, Luna let out a giggle. Celestia's face darkened, literal smoke starting to emanate from her body. "What did you just call me?"

"Sunbutt. It's his nickname for you." The succubus-like being said, grinning. "He thinks you're funny."

Bill laughed. "NOW NOW PYRONICA, NO NEED TO TICK HER OFF FOR NO GOOD REASON. NOW LET ME INTRODUCE THE REST OF MY FRIENDS. WE HAVE TEETH, EXACTLY LIKE HE SOUNDS; THE BEING WHOSE NAME MUST NEVER BE SAID, XANTHAR; KRYPTOS, MYSTERIOUS SYMBOL OF WHATEVER; KEYHOLE, THE ONE WITH NO BRAIN AT ALL; HECTORGON, AMORPHOUS SHAPE, PACI-FIRE, THE SMOOZE, AND THESE GUYS."

Bill held his hands high as his "friends" appeared behind him. From geometric shapes to eldritch horrors, from strange looking babies to demonic beings with symbols all over their body, these creatures had it all.

The most numerous of them, the eye-bats, began to fly around in formation, scanning the entire town.

"OH AND WE MUSTN'T FORGET DISCORD!" Bill said, clapping as a creature who was nothing so much as a mish-mash of random animal parts appeared. The spirit of chaos, Discord, cackled. This was going to be so entertaining.

Celestia, Luna, and the Pinkie shell had had enough. "COME, MY TOWNSFOLK! FOLLOW YOUR MAYOR INTO BATTLE!"

Xanthar, who looked like a giant purple loaf of bread, charged into her, knocking her hat off. It then blasted her with some kind of energy from the place it's face should have been, causing her to explode. Where her body had once been, only a spark of magic remained, and that spark of magic got the heck out of dodge.

"BYE BYE!" Bill said before laughing. "NOW WHAT ABOUT YOU TWO?"

Luna tried firing another one of her giant spells, only to have Keyhole absorb it through the hole in his skull. He shot it back, knocking Luna to the side. She landed, an audible crack echoing throughout the area.

Celestia's pupils shrunk. She turned, her rage boiling into fire. Her body was a raging inferno, burning everything around her. "Nobody. Gets. To. Touch. My. Sister!" She punched forward, fires consuming Keyhole completely. She turned to face the others, the strength of the sun on her side. She sent a raging inferno at the other Henchmaniacs, catching many of them with bright solar flames. She roared in rage, grabbing the Amorphous Shape and melting it into pixelated oblivion. Then she turned to Pyronica.

"CALL ME SUNBUTT DO YOU? DO YOU?"

Pyronica held her hands up as the solar flames hit her, the heat blowing her hair. She smirked, breathing in. Now this was some really intense fire. She snapped her fingers, absorbing the inferno into her body. She charged, punching Celestia right in the jaw, knocking her unconscious and several feet away.

The battle was over.

Discord gave them some petty claps. "That… wasn't that impressive to be honest. You Henchmaniacs need to get a bit better at this."

"YOU'RE A HENCHMANIAC."

"Ah, but oh great triangular overlord, I am the over-Henchmaniac." The draconequus grinned. Bill simply shrugged. "JUST REMEMBER YOUR PLACE, DISCORD. NOW, A-ONE, A-TWO, A-ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR-"

OH IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING

THE WORLD IS FINALLY MINE!

I'LL DO A BIT OF DECORATING,

THE FEELING'S SO DIVINE!

A FEARAMID, SOME WEIRDNESS BUBBLES,

THAT TORTURE ALL MANKIND

TILL ALL AT ONCE, THE FEELING'S LOST,

OF CONTROL OVER THEIR MINDS

NOW GO AHEAD AND STOP ME

I'D LOVE TO SEE YOU TRY!

UGH, THIS IS GETTING BORING-

I'D RATHER SEE YOU DIE-

HAH!

OH, THIS IS THE DAY WHERE IT ALL COMES TO AN END

MY POWER IS GROWING

TRUE POTENTIAL IS SHOWING

AND I AM THE KING!

AHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHH!

WELCOME, ONE AND ALL...

TO WEIRDMAGEDDON!

Bill and his Henchmaniacs laughed at the carnage they had just caused in the musical number. It was so amazing, at long last chaos reigned supreme! The bubbles of weirdness floated around, driving all to insanity. Above it all, the Fearamid stood, dominating the skyline with its sheer bulk. The Weirdmageddon was going in full force! Nothing could stop it now…

In the town bell tower, Ford took a large case out of his Pocket. He unlatched the container, revealing one truly tremendous gun.

"This is a dimensional destabilizer. It can seal the crack in spacetime easily. But there's a catch…"

Lyra sighed. "Bill can reopen the crack can't he?"

"Yes. At any time he wished. Which is why we have to hit him dead on and toss him back through it as it closes." Ford squinted. "He probably knows all about this destabilizer though… we have to wait for him to be distracted."

Starlight frowned. "How could one distract the Eye of Providence? He sees all."

"Just because he can see everywhere doesn't mean he can see everywhere at once. He still likes to focus on single areas."

Lyra frowned. "She does have a point… what could distract him?"

A sniper rifle gunshot rang out. Bill felt something small pass right through his body, driving a hole right through his eye. He roared in pain. "WHO DID THAT?"

Agent Sweetie Drops took aim and fired again, though this time Bill was ready. Even though his eye was damaged, he could still sense the path of the bullet through the air. He twirled around, the small metallic bit hitting his hat, impacting with a noise not unlike a bullet hitting day-old flesh. The hat quickly regenerated from the wound.

Sweetie Drops stood up, calling into her walkie-talkie. "Take him out."

Dozens of helicopters suddenly appeared over the horizon, their black forms being made more ominous by the red sky. Impassively, the helicopters launched several dozen missiles at Bill. Bill snapped his fingers, causing the missiles to simply explode before they reached their target.

Bill groaned. "HECTORGON… WHY DID YOU HAVE TO DIE RIGHT THERE?"

The remnants of Hectorgon made no response.

The helicopters began to open fire with more conventional weapons, but Discord simply held his hand up, reflecting all the bullets back. He did a moonwalk, smirking. "How was that, judges?"

As several helicopters exploded, a judging table staffed entirely with Discords held up cards displaying 42. They all clapped in amazement.

Bill laughed. "NICE ONE! I'M ALWAYS A FAN OF USING THEIR OWN WEAPONS AGAINST THEM! AHAHAHA-" Another sniper rifle bullet got his eye. Bill's coloration became red, and his size increased tenfold. "THAT'S IT. EYEBATS, START CONVERTING THE POPULATION. THESE AGENTS ARE GOING DOWN!"

Before Bill did anything, Discord snapped his fingers turning all the helicopters into waffles. The eyebats made quick work of the various agents, turning them to stone. They quickly grabbed the forms of Celestia and Luna, and many began to charge towards Sweetie Drops.

Sweetie Drops stood up, her face impassive. "Bring it." She whipped out two machine guns, filling the eyebats with dozens of bullets per second. Hundreds fell to her onslaught, but there were simply too many. They kept pouring out of the tear in ever-increasing numbers, continually getting closer to her. Sweat began to literally pour of Sweetie Drops.

She knew she was doomed, but she was going to take out as many of them as she possibly could.

She survived a full two minutes before she was petrified. Bill laughed. "AHAHAHHA! VALIANT EFFORT AGENT, BUT NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH!"

Ford's finger was on the trigger. "I've almost got a shot… steady… steady…"

Then the bell came to life. "EHEHEHEH I'M ALIVE NOW!" DING! The resounding noise caused Ford to jump, his itchy trigger finger firing the gun. Visions of brutally murdering that bell crossed his mind, but were dispelled when he realized the targeting system had compensated.

The panic returned when he noticed the beam of dimensional energy had been directed back at them. "DUCK!" He yelled as the entire bell tower exploded.

Bill floated up to them, slowly clapping his hands. "THAT WAS A NICE TRY FORD, BUT I'VE SET UP AN ANCHOR SPELL. THAT GUN OF YOURS ISN'T GOING TO DO JACK SQUAT." He laughed.

Ford backed away, tossing Journal 1 to Lyra. "Run." Was all he said.

Lyra grabbed Starlight and they high tailed it out of the bell tower as Bill grabbed Ford by the sweater. "ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BETTER IDEAS?"

"Well I have a fe-" His eyes lit up. "LYRA! YOU HAVE TO GATH-"

Bill blasted Ford with a beam of energy, turning him into a golden statue. "AHAHAHAHAHA AND NOW THEY'LL NEVER KNOW. I BET YOU WISH YOU'D TOLD THEM EARLIER!"

Something in Lyra broke. She got a crazed look in her eye. Starlight took a step back from the twitchy girl. "BILL! You are going to give Grandpa Ford back RIGHT THIS INSTANT! OR YOU WON'T LIKE WHAT COMES NEXT!"

Bill paused for a moment. "WELL ISN'T. THIS. INTERESTING." He appeared before them, large as a building, his eye a gigantic spotlight showcasing their inferiority. He laughed. "COME ON HANDS, DO SOME BRILLIANT THING THAT STOPS ME RIGHT NOW!"

Lyra smirked, her eyes burning with a desire for destruction. "Of course." She leapt forth, encasing her hand in magical energy and punching Bill right in the eye. "Fidentus omnium. Magister mentium. Magnesium ad hominem. Magnum opus. Habeas corpus. Inceptus Nolanus overratus. Magister mentium. Magister mentium. MAGISTER MENTIUM."

Seapony Lyra transmitted herself into the mindscape of Bill Cipher, ready to cause havoc.

"THAT WAS THE MOST STUPID THING YOU'VE EVER DONE."

Seapony, the personality that took joy in pointless destruction, the personality that was known for probably being the most insane, took one look around and screamed. Her psyche shattered, becoming nothing more than shards in the dreamscape.

Back in reality, Lyra was launched back from Bill, a look of horror plastered on her face. Starlight caught her.

Inside Lyra's mindscape, there was panic.

"Where'd Seapony go?" Human demanded.

"I… I don't know." Pony responded. "She… she has to be here somewhere right?"

Thief grunted. "Subconscious, maybe. She's been shattered. Three to four more hits like that and we can basically consider ourselves brain-dead."

"HEY!" Sweetroll objected to the implication.

"Have we regained control yet?" Pony asked, ignoring Sweetroll.

Human stood up, taking control of the body. "Vision is fuzzy… we can't see much… wait- something's being taken out of our pack."

Lyra regained control, standing up. The first thing she noticed was Journal 1 and her personal Journal floating in the air above Bill Cipher's hand. Bill laughed. "NOW TO GATHER THE OTHERS FROM YOUR FRIENDS…" He snapped his fingers, teleporting Journals 2 and 3 to him. Then he laughed as he burned the books. "I'VE WANTED TO DO THAT FOR A LONG TIME!"

Starlight and Lyra leaned on each other, fixing Bill with death glares. The journals had just been destroyed, and the j-pad was in Ford's Pocket… They had no guides anymore. Lyra tried hard to remember as much as she could, but her mind was still in a jumble since 20% had just been lost.

"AND NOW NONE OF YOU ARE THREATENING. TEETH, HAVE THE TWO OF THEM FOR A SNACK. THE REST OF US ARE GOING TO PARTY IN THE FEARAMID! LET'S ROLLOUT!"

Bill snapped his fingers, changing one of the wrecked cars into a gigantic hot rod. Bill and most of his Henchmaniacs crawled into the car as it flew off towards the gigantic pyramid in the sky. As it went away, it blasted the countryside with weirdness energy, creating new monstrosities every second.

Teeth turned to look at Lyra and Starlight, though since he didn't have eyes it was a little hard to tell. Teeth cackled. "Totally gonna eatcha!"

Lyra took a rocket launcher out of her pocket and blew Teeth into orbit. "There. Now that that's taken care of, let's go rescue Ford from—"

Lyra was interrupted by a low rumbling.

"Earthquake?" Starlight said, confused. "Figured he'd do something more weird—"

A large, black, thorny tree sprouted out of the ground, magical energy radiating off of it. Large tentacle-like thorny vines invaded the town, their black color contrasting with the red light of the atmosphere. Blue flowers began to pop up everywhere, some of them growing unnatural vines.

"The Everfree Forest…" Starlight whispered.

Lyra blinked. "How would you know about- nevermind. That's just the name of the forest isn't it?"

Starlight nodded. "The Everfree Forest contains most of the anomalies in Gravity Falls… The town was just built inside the forest. Though it was never hostile. Except in…" Starlight stopped talking.

"Except in what?"

"Well- LOOK OUT A MANTICORE!"

Lyra whipped around, making quick work of the manticore, the lion-like creature burning to a crisp. Lyra let out a breath. "This… is going to be annoying… We need Seapony's violence for once and she's not here..."

Lyra devolved into conversation with herself, and Starlight followed her, remaining quiet.

The two made their way through the Everfree-overrun Gravity Falls. The surroundings were an eerily beautiful mixture of color: the Everfree itself was largely black and blue with a bit of green here and there while the light coming from the sky was red and yellow, making unnatural highlights. It was almost as if the forest was burning.

Lyra normally wouldn't be worried: she had braved the Everfree more times than she could count. The problem was this obviously wasn't just the Everfree. It wasn't just full of more death traps than usual, Bill's weirdness was also running rampant. The eyebats were flying around everywhere, turning survivors into stone and carrying them up to the Fearamid for some unknown, and probably horrific, purpose. Through this all, the two fought their way through the forest. One was unimaginably old, yet in a girl's body. The other was a full grown woman, but extremely young by comparison.

They continued on, trying to find something, anything, that could help them…

"This is Shandra Jimenez, reporting for Gravity Falls. We are entering day three of what some are calling Weirdmageddon, or the Oddpocalypse. Weather for today calls for a heavy chance of blood rain, eyebats turning more people into stone, and Gideon's Insanity Department prowling around for more victims. There have been rumors that the denizens of the forest are banding together to take up objections with Bill, we can only hope they will be successful.

And now, here is our very own Vinyl Scratch, with some apocalypse music."

"HEY! Hey HEY there Weirdmageddon Survivors! Vinyl Scratch here has a song here for you. One which I, of course, added lots of wubs too… Warriors!"

Starlight listened to the tune, smiling. It was good to know that she and Lyra weren't the only ones out here in the Everfree. The Forest had overtaken the town so much that there was hardly any town anymore. There were just trees, monsters, and the occasional glimpse of the red sky above them.

Lyra wished she knew how to combat the Everfree's natural "getting lost" magical aura. They'd been wandering for days, finding nothing that looked even remotely familiar. There were shambles of buildings, a few randomly strewn vehicles, and the occasional signpost mutated into some sort of horror.

Lyra was immensely glad she had food in her Pocket and they didn't have to resort to eating rats like Shandra and Vinyl…

Starlight eeped, pointing. For the first time in three days, there was something recognizable.

There was a dragon sitting on top of a mostly held-together building: the Gravity Malls. The dragon in question was sleeping on top of a hoard of eyebat corpses, and the Everfree had apparently decided to give the dragon a wide berth.

The two survivors entered the first clearing they had seen for three days, walking slowly forward. After all, they didn't want to wake the dragon…

They were halfway to the Malls when something charged out of the forest.

It was… A Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity. it was literally just a gigantic red-haired head with a single hand coming out of it. And it was coming at them, dragging itself along with its giant limb. "Hey there, you two. I'd really like it if you would get in my mouth. I-I think you'll like it in there. It's soft, and moist, and-and—"

Lyra and Starlight bolted towards the Malls, running as fast as they could.

"HEY! I'm talkin here! Stop ignoring me! That's so rude!"

The two ran right into the Malls, the Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity right behind them. "I'm getting really upset here. Really, don't you care about what I want? What if—"

Suddenly the outside of the Malls lit up with dragon fire, the Horrifying Sweaty One-Armed Monstrosity being reduced to ashes in under a second. The dragon poked its head out, looking through the Malls door. "You're welcome." It said, before going back to sleep.

Lyra and Starlight blinked. Lyra just shrugged. The two of them looked into the Malls. The building seemed completely wrecked, all the color and life having gone from the place.

"Pacifica would freak." Lyra muttered to herself.

Starlight furrowed her brow. "There's evidence of people here.. Look. Footprints."

"Footprints?" Lyra said. "Who would-" Then she saw them the nachos basking in the light.

"Pfft." She said, looking at the conveniently placed food item. "Yeah I'm not falling for that-" At that point Sweetroll took over and bounded towards the Nachos like they were the best thing on earth.

Starlight facepalmed as Lyra was caught in the net trap. Lyra began to have a four way argument about how stupid that was, which was instantly stopped as Wendy stepped out of a nearby potted plant. "Lyra?"

"Wendy?" Lyra said, blinking. Wendy nodded, cutting Lyra down from the trap. "It's good to see you! Everyone we usually see is either dead, insane, or being carried off by Eyebats!"

Starlight nodded. "It's a bleak world out there in the Wasteland…"

"It's not really a Wasteland… more like a Forest…" Lyra observed.

Wendy shrugged. "Well come on, I've got a hideout. Right now it's just me and Toby, but we can accommodate you two. You're all welcome."

The three began to go deeper into the Malls. "So Wendy…" Lyra began. "What's with the dragon?"

"Oh you mean ol' Blaze? He's a nice guy. Let's us stay here and keeps the Forest at bay. Says one of these days he wants to go see how Bill likes dragon fire. Of course, he's never left the Malls yet. Likes his hoard of eyebat corpses. He's also got some sort of cockatrice extract that fixes any petrification they manage to get him with."

Lyra pondered this. That'd certainly be useful.

Wendy looked back at Starlight. She whispered to Lyra. "You sure she's okay?"

"She's good." Lyra responded. "Trust me."

The three of them arrived in the hideout, which looked just about as trashed as one would expect from Wendy. Which would actually mean it looked worse than the rest of the Malls. Wendy had become a hoarder.

In the corner was Toby Determined, speaking in his nasally voice as usual. "Bodacious T does not approve of more visitors!"

"Toby, nobody is ever going to call you Bodacious T. Get over it."

"Aw… But I got Shandra to say it in the interview!"

"She was mocking you Toby."

Toby sighed, walking behind the curtain to mope.

"Speaking of Shandra... " Wendy said, turning the radio on.

"This just in, Gideon's Insanity Department has been spotted around the strange crystal tree we've found out in the forest. No more using it as a landmark, the Insanity Department will likely get you if you do. It is suggested you avoid the glimmering tree and instead follow the river—"

Lyra blinked. "The Tree of Harmony." She turned to Starlight. "Maybe… Maybe we can use the Elements of Harmony. We can harvest them from the tree. Use them to defeat Bill."

Wendy frowned. "Didn't that fail miserably last time?"

"We have to try something... " Lyra said, frowning.

Starlight sighed. "Why on earth would we try a plan that already failed, again? What's the point? It's just going to end in fire anyway…"

"Because if he was so worried about making sure it didn't hit him, it must do SOMETHING he doesn't like." Lyra responded. She bit her lip. "Can I pull off a Celestia and use all six of them… I'm not sure… Can we even become Lyra Heartsong without Seapony? Do we have to become her to use them?"

Wendy smiled. "It's worth a shot. Perhaps we can help you. Maybe we'll find more survivors to help as well."

"BODACIOUS T IS COMING TOO!"

"Yes, Toby, you are coming. But you are not Bodacious T."

Starlight nodded slowly, but she didn't like this idea. Not one bit.

Compiler's note: And so it begins…