Later, dawg [Open!]

[meat_mooks]

|| Attention, crew. Those who wish to attend the funeral of Matthew O'Connor, please report to the Observation Deck. ||

Another death announcement so soon after the last. It's a sad day.

Once again, the Observation Deck is arranged for the launch. The departed crew member, better known as Punchy in his lifetime, is encased in a central pod. The deck is lit by the starlight pouring in from the open window, a blazing blue star that will soon be Punchy's final resting place.

Another life lost. Time to say farewell once more.

Comments

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Don't be. That man expected the best from me. If I sat and cried about him all the time I'd only be dishonoring his memory. I'm better than that. He'll know that, wherever he is."

She nodded. "That's the ideal, if we can manage it."

[elementofloyalty]

"I don't get what you mean. Everybody so far has been pretty nice..." She'd gladly follow this conversational math if it meant not thinking about Punchy and everything related.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I didn't say they weren't nice, though not all of 'em are. I'm saying that we don't know how many of them would fight with us if we had to do something that involved fighting. Like I said, everyone is different."

[elementofloyalty]

"That doesn't make any sense. If the bugs showed up tomorrow and started attacking us, who wouldn't fight?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"People who can't fight, of course," Hit Girl said. "But then again, that begs the question: if were WERE to fight, and let's say we win, are we actually the good guys, or were we being used too? This is the thing that causing all the divisions in the crew: we were used to the Ohm being our bad guys for so long, the it might be all a lie is a scary one."

[elementofloyalty]

"Oh, well, people who can't fight don't count... unless they have to fight. But then they WOULD fight, anyway, right?" It made sense in the pony's mind. "Why would fighting the bad guys make up the bad guys?"

[hit_girl_mindy]

"Let's hope so," Hit girl said, who would still have a plan even if they didn't have all the people helping. At the very least they would have some of them, right?

"Because of how little we know, about anything. When you're told you have to beat the bad guy that blew up your world? You get resigned to it. When you realize its possible someone else might be pulling the strings to make this fight happen, then you start to wonder."

[elementofloyalty]

"So they didn't destroy our worlds?" The overall logic of this was becoming quite confusing.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"No one knows if they can be brought back," Hit Girl replied honestly. "All we know is that we might be able to do something after this is over, maybe. It's all a big 'if,' you know?"

And this one too *flips tables*

[thewunderkind]

"Yeah..." She understood what he meant. It still annoyed her how attached she'd grown to some people. Why she even cared about someone's funeral at all, but here she was, being a bit emotional.

The way there was mostly silent after that.

When they arrived at the door, and she opened it, not even bothering to see if someone else was in there. Good thing there wasn't. The room didn't really change; it was just pure white of an empty mind. Didn't really feel like thinking at that moment, really. Lash sat on the floor and looked at the nothing before her.

[elementofloyalty]

"Sure we can," Rainbow Dash said. "If the Elements of Harmony could undo everything Discord did to Equestria, then they can undo this."

[hit_girl_mindy]

Yup, you lost her with the talk of Elements of Harmony and Discord, even if she was sure AJ mentioned it before.

"Yeah, you really don't get how actual universes and dimensions work. being able to do something like that is a power neither of us really get. I mean, even coming here, you've seen how many different people there are, and can imagine how we're pretty much specks in the scheme of things. What the fuck would be powerful enough to recreate our worlds from scratch, with all the same people and everything?"

[badassfreakingoverlord]

A moment later -- coincidentally, the amount of time it took for Zetta to imagine himself a body -- the Overlord dropped to his knees behind her, reaching around to pull her in against his chest. It wasn't explosions or Prinnies or making out, but some deep, long-suppressed part of Zetta knew it was the Right Thing To Do.

[elementofloyalty]

That finally snapped Rainbow Dash's patience.

"YOU know what?" she said, jabbing a hoof at the girl. "YOU talk big about a lot of stuff you don't know a thing about either, but you're sure quick to shut down anything I say. You're just the sort that HAS to be right about everything."

Dismissively, she lifted a couple of feet in the air to turn and fly off.

[hit_girl_mindy]

"I thought we were talking," Hit Girl said flippantly. "But if you wanna get technical? Yeah, maybe I am shutting down what you say. If you think about it though, I might have a reason. Otherwise, why the fuck would I even bother?"

And that was Hit Girl, bare bones, telling it like it was.

"You think most people on the ship don't think like you? Well they do, or they want to, anyway. I'm just saying if you do that, you're just gonna set yourself up for something really bad hitting you. I know what I'm talking about, ok?"

[elementofloyalty]

"I told you the reason: you always have to be right. Well, be right by yourself!" she snapped, then flew off.

[hit_girl_mindy]

Damn. She thought she liked that pony. Whatever. If she wanted to be an ass like everyone else and believe in the divine to save them, she could be useless by herself. If something bad happened, like if Applejack...

"No," she said aloud, firmly. "That ain't happening."

This was what happens, she thought to herself, when I'm surrounded by bleeding heart heroes. They actually start making me believe happy thoughts and bullshit will save everyone.

[thewunderkind]

It was warmth regardless, and she was glad for it. She let out a small sigh and Lash realized that her lip was trembling. Damn it I don't want to cry that's pathetic. She managed to hold it back and leaned a little closer to him, closing her eyes and saying nothing for a long time, before finally breaking the silence.

"...Thanks."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Claiming Zetta spent the entire time holding her and being supportive in thought would be a stretch at best. Honestly, he'd gotten bored pretty quickly, and had drifted off into his own thoughts -- but he hadn't let that slip, because he hadn't forgotten that she needed him. Love could, it seemed, override his selfish and egocentric nature in need, if not entirely.

"This did really get to you, huh," he said quietly.

[thewunderkind]

That was fine. Lash's own mind had gone off wandering as well, unable to keep even keep her thoughts completely just about the friends she had lost. The rebellion, the planning, the weapons she had to make.

There were huge tasks ahead. It would keep her occupied and off this mindset. It was only when Zetta spoke again did she realize that she'd been completely lost in her thoughts.

"...yeah," she admitted, looking at the floor. "Dying before we got everything going? What an asshole." She said it in a caring way, however. like a friend. "Why does everyone always try to be the big hero..."

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"That's pretty much who this ship attracts, y'know," he said, giving her a little squeeze. Actually a little squeeze; for all his strength, Zetta could be surprisingly gentle. "Heroes like them, villains like me... But there're upsides, right?"

wow I didn't send this out this morning.

[thewunderkind]

"Yeah I guess they wouldn't have bothered trying to save the more normal ones, huh? Everyone on the ship's got some use." She pouted a little. "Sooo annoying!" But they couldn't really talk like that in here. It was a public area, least she start badmouthing some of the Daligig and they heard her.

Shepushed herself more into his hug and stayed quiet again after that.

"...yeah there are upsides." They just seemed a little farther away due to what had happened. Unspoken, of course, but Zetta was a big one.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"If you need a strong soul, or whatever, to get out of the pod, then it's not surprising it's the people most used to fighting and with strong beliefs that manage it," Zetta said, in a (very) rare flash of insight.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you for a fact that there's an afterlife AND a reincarnation cycle. The guy's probably up in Celestia hitting on hot angel chicks and having the damn time of his life-- Uh, so to speak."

[thewunderkind]

It did make sense. They wouldn't rescue the weaker guys that couldn't help them out fight their glorious little battle, they'd need warriors or people who had useful skills.

And...wow that was a mental image that needed to leave out of her mind as soon as possible.

"...I'm not sure even the hot angel chicks deserve that," she replied, deadpan, suddenly thinking about how it would have to end up with all of them learning his lingo. Somehow.

[badassfreakingoverlord]

"Oh, don't worry, they can take care of themselves," Zetta said, demonstrating that either he didn't think Lash would wonder how he knew that, or that he was too stupid to not give hints about his past history to his girlfriend. "Plus some of the guy angels are so girly-looking he's bound to have a horrible realization or two in the course of it..."