melodiesoflife | Hidden Truth [Log]

Hidden Truth [Log]

What: A log for everyone to gain the information in the Hidden Truth video tape.
Where: The Observatory.

There had been a flurry of letters sent out from Jack and Chiaki, first to Zelda to ask to borrow the Observatory, and then to every Hero of Light, alerting them that they had uncovered some intelligence received in the Heran Empire before the Capital had fallen to Crystal, and that everyone needed to see it immediately.

Jack, Chiaki, and a few others brought in a screen connected to a machine that some would recognize as a VCR. "With our peace mission to the Imperial Capital over Christmas, we returned with a recording made on 20th-century Earth technology, the kind that doesn't have an analogue on Crystallis. It took us time to build a machine to be able to play it. This information comes from Kalki, recorded what appears to be years ago. We obtained it from the Imperial Spy, Jenni. As of right now, we still have no reason to believe that Kalki is alive. But this comes from her, and I apologize to everyone who might be upset by seeing her again."

With that, Jack plays the recording. He stands by the screen and repeats the words for everyone to hear, for those who cannot understand English. Since Kalki's first words are to explain why she is recording it this way, it makes sense why he has to do this. He keeps his own emotions in check throughout, until the explanation of the Bard song that everyone gets to hear. That seems to upset Jack.

Once the recording is over, Jack pauses. "We will need some help from any other English speakers to create a written transcript of the recording so that anyone can access this information at any time. The tape and player will remain here for any Heroes to review. We ask that you please be careful with the machine."

Finally, Jack sits down to let the room descend into the inevitable chaos.

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With the video playing, Twilight was busy scribbling notes. This was something that was both amazing and incredibly worrying. She would have to go over this more on her own time. The first thing that Twilight noticed was the mentioning of the "Interdimensional Rift". There was a project that hadn't been touched about a portal to there. Could that be a portal INSIDE the Calamity?

The next thing that Twilight noted was the continual mentioning of becoming a God. Gods... Gods were bad things, if being messed with Discord is of any note. She knew that Princesses Celestia and Luna are looked up to as such by a few, but many of them just see them as rulers. Had to be another way that playing God.

Next was talking about Palitutu. Of course she would be a master of the Job System, so much so she would be able to shut theirs down easily. She's starting to see that now - she most likely got to everypony first with the intent on using them and being unable to be stopped because they wouldn't have access to their abilities. But, wouldn't that be counterintuitive if they struck without powers? They wouldn't of lost skills they learned on their own, wouldn't they?

Then, there was tthe talk of Garland. There was something sealed in a cave back in the Continent of Ruin. "Master the O--" It had to be the Onion Knight job. No pony ever used the blasted job because everyone was afraid of what could happen. Now, they knew - there was something locked in there that could stop Garland. They would have to stop Palitutu before they did that, though.

She made darn sure that she forgot that blasted tune, even if she didn't have Bard.

With the video ended, the princess began trotting around, hoping to compare notes here.

Edited 2016-03-15 18:28 (UTC)

Seeing the pony trotting towards her, Sheena waved her over. She already knew Twilight was smarter than her, maybe she could help her figure something out.

After her talk with Jack, she couldn't stop thinking about the Interdimensional Rift, and her own experiences with dimensions. Not to mention her experiences here.

"Twilight. Could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course, Sheena." Twilight said, moving over to join the ninja. "Is something wrong?"

"Thanks." She made room so the pony could get comfortable. With Sheena trying to understand things, this conversation could take a while.

"Well, not 'wrong' exactly. More like confusing. About the Interdimensional Rift." She took a moment before continuing. "If I'm understanding the name right, it's a tear in dimensions? Or...a break?"

"That's about right, yes." Twilight said. "It's more or less a portal between dimensions... if it's like anything like the one I have back home. Long story."

Sheena quirked an eyebrow before smiling. "You, too? Although ours no longer works. Also a long story." So, she's not completely unfamiliar with dimnesional travel.

"If it's a portal between dimensions, does that mean it's also a door to different times, as well? Or maybe I should say 'doors'?" Yeah, she was totally fixated on the whole time thing.

Twilight swung a wing over to her chin in thoughtfulness as she mused that question over a bit.

"It just might, but interdimensional rifts are always so tricky." she admitted. "They could be open, closed, to somewhere else entirely... It's probably why I'm not too keen on something I realized - in Palitutu's Laboratory, there's a project for something like it, but..."

Her voice goes tense. Something about that vision the Sage showed everyone a few months back makes her feel uneasy.

"...I don't like it. At all."

"That's where my confusion comes in. We have the Time Mage job and we also went back in time. Was that caused by tapping into the Rift?" And Twilight was thinking about the same thing she was, but maybe for not the same reasons.

"When the other Heroes were here, one of them was someone from my home. But...his history was different than the one I remember. He was pulled from a different dimension but not really from too different of a time."

So, could that vision have been a "what if"? And could that be something Kalki was mistakenly going by? After all, she was the one who had sent them back in time in the first place--perhaps thinking that future was absolute and couldn't be changed? And they were drawing closer to that time where everything began to change.

"Neither do I."

"We... just might be tapping into the Rift." Twilight said. "Now, I have to wonder about what exactly it does... However, your friend..."

Okay, now you got Twilight thinking. "If it wasn't for an incident that happened back home, I would think that sort of thing wasn't possible, but... ah, hold on. I'm going to need something to show this because I'm certain it'll go over your head. Or anypony else's if they're listening."

It takes a moment, but Twilight returns with some paper and a bunch of pens. And as she talks to Sheena, she starts to draw a little crudely, numbering the pages as she did.

"Before, I thought time travel wasn't entirely possible. Nothing but perhaps a simple loop. I saw myself from the future, but she could only tell me something real fast before disappearing. In hindsight, it was my fault for not listening and not not worrying in the first place."

As she did that, she drew a picture of herself and her eyepatch-wearing, crazy-maned self with two arrows circling around.

"But, there was another time travel spell that could make further, even devastating changes. A unicorn named Starlight Glimmer found one in an attempt to get back at me and my friends for ruining a plot of hers. She tried to interrupt a specific moment in our lives and, in doing so, turned our world into one of disaster."

With that, Twilight began making multiple sketches of angry unicorn interrupting the Sonic Rainboom and causing the various threats to Equestria - Lord Sombra, the Changelings, Nightmare Moon, Tirek, Discord and the Flim-Flam Brothers - to be the end result before ending with a barren wasteland.

"I was able to stop her, but it's highly possible that all of those timelines exist as a different dimension in some sort, but I'm not too keen on checking it out. It's highly possible that your friend came from something like that - a timeline where something was altered so that things happened different."

And now, Twilight's beginning to ponder about the here and now with Crystallis.

"But, now that makes me wonder about this world. They say that what we go through is a cycle. A continuous one. What if it isn't a cycle of birth, life and death, but instead a reboot? I wasn't here for that incident, but I heard that someone tried to stop Palitutu when everyone was sent back in time, but couldn't because altering the timeline would put someone into Crystal Stasis. Of course, there's going to be some things that need to happen, but I have a feeling that we'll be repeating some of the things that went wrong if we followed through with some suggestions..."

Aaaaaand Twilight came to a stop, grinning sheepishly as she giggled. "Sorry, I guess I got too caught up in all of this."

Wow. Gee, thanks Twilight. Sheena knew she wasn't too bright, but you didn't have to rub it in...

Still, the ninja watched as the pony spoke and drew at the same time, her eyes widening at the second group of pictures. Reaching out, she slid the finished pictures towards herself and stared at it as she spoke to Twilight.

"One incident. That one that had an impact on all of you. The one that changed everything." She was talking slowly, gathering her thoughts before turning to her friend.

"Twilight, you're probably right about Zelos, since we have different memories, but doesn't this strike you as familiar? Not because you went through it at home, but because of that vision?"

Are they now caught up in heading in that direction thanks to Kalki and this whole recording?

Sorry, Twilight's still learning after all of this time. Old habits are hard to kill. However, hearing what Sheena said did get her thinking.

"Hmm... that's... that's disturbing." Twilight admitted. "But, at the same time, it doesn't feel like there's the air of despair coming in here, just that Kalki's... well... nuts."

She let out a sigh as she thought about this. "The only thing I have a problem with this is that Kalki is trying to push us in that direction. That she gave up after one try and decided to go the destructive route."

She looked up, an concerned look on her face. "My only problem is that, if we try anything here, we'll have everyone else trying to play it safe..."

So was Sheena; she just didn't think she was capable of it. She just saw things a certain way, using common sense and her emotions and experiences guide her.

Chuckling, she nods. "I have to agree. And not just about her not being all there. Why is she pushing for this? To erase her mistakes? To cover something up? What exactly did she learn from that one attempt that made her decide it wasn't worth trying again from a different angle?"

The ninja's brows creased together. "I'm not sure what you mean. Play it safe as in follow this? Or play it safe as in not doing anything at all?"

"I hate to say it, but I mean 'not doing anything at all'." Twilight admitted. "It's a very cynical point of view to really think, but seriously, I've heard how the explorers of the Tower argued over a button."

"Heard" as in 'having Sonic complain endlessly over "overprotective people with no sense of adventure"'. Twilight let out a sigh and shook her head.

"I understand the need for caution, but at the same time nothing really gets done without taking a few risks."

Sheena was quiet for a moment. "Sometimes not doing anything at all is tougher than you might imagine, Twilight." Especially for someone who wants to get out there and do something. Sighing, she nodded.

"I was one of the ones who argued to not push the button. It was for a barrier that no one knew anything about. I opted to not turn the barrier off because if it was the one thing that kept the Calamity at bay, then the tower is the only place with the answers." She tilted her head. "Did whoever tell you this also tell you the previous Heroes left us a note wishing us better luck than them? That they hoped we find the answer?"

Shaking her head, Sheena met her friend's gaze. "Twilight, if it were you, would you have wanted to risk losing what is possibly the only source of information we have?"

Cloud was a little lost while the video played. He could understand some of what Kalki was saying but the accent and some word use was throwing him off. He wound up instead peering over Twilight's shoulder as she took her notes, trying to keep up with everything that was going on.

"What was that she was saying? About Shadows? And...conquering the ourselves?" He wasn't so sure about all of her plan, what he was able to follow....but that part stuck with him.

Twilight looked over at the confused Cloud and tried to put the words plainly. "It sounds like she wants us to deal with the negative portions of ourselves... but, I think it might only have to do with those who want to merge with the Calamity." she said.

"But, at the same time, it might help us in the long run. I'm not sure, though..."

Cloud frowned as he listened to her explanation. It was pretty easy to tell what was going through his mind. "I don't know about this becoming a God or becoming part of the Calamity but..."

He looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers. This wasn't any sort of easy shortcut to being a hero. This perhaps wasn't even something he had to do to save the world. But facing himself was something that rang in his mind.

"She said it was the things we reject about ourselves right? It might be good for some of us to do that." Of course...there's the question of what happens to those who would fail.

"It might be good, yes, but..." Twilight began, before pondering it over. "I don't know. I'm still wary about it. Even if we're not going for Godhood, it's a risky proposition. And besides, how do we even do so?"

"I'm sure we'd find out one way or another...Given our luck probably next October." Mulling it over he furrowed his brow in thought. "I don't like Mograma but maybe he knows something about it."

He'd have to talk to Sephiroth about it later. And Sparks probably. He pushed the thought away for now. "Sorry...Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. All of what Kalki said is too risky to just jump into. Especially after everything she's done to the others here."

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Hidden Truth [Log]

Notes with Twilight Sparkle - Open

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