Chapters
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Abby always felt awful when she broke the rules. Her father called it the guilt of sin, Plato might've called it the fear of punishment natural in the heart of a wicked man. Abby hadn't robbed a bank as she made her way back to her apartment that Saturday, though she kept glancing over her shoulder as though she was being followed. She hadn't hurt anyone, or even stolen gum from the gas station. The only sign anything was different was the bulge in her backpack, and the extra weight on her shoulders. It…-
47.2 K •
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The bedroom door opened, and Princess Luna walked in. Recursion couldn’t help but laugh—seeing the powerful Alicorn princess in her little sister’s college bedroom seemed surreal. Recursion had grown far more comfortable around the princess in the last few decades, and so she didn’t bow or feel afraid as her friends always seemed to.There was nothing behind the bedroom door, only an endless, featureless void. Luna walked past her without a word, surveying the bedroom. Only after several long…
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47.2 K •
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Recursion appeared in a brief flash of white light, hooves settling onto the ground of her old apartment. The suite was lavish, large enough that she had thrown guild parties of a hundred ponies quite comfortably. The whole place looked almost exactly as she remembered it—all her pictures were still on the wall, her books in their shelves, everything. I’ve never actually been here as a pony.She hadn’t visited her apartment much since emigrating. She had tried, but… the memories had been too fresh.…
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47.2 K •
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Recursion returned to the sound of shouts. As usual, Abby’s summons had turned the nearest doorway into a portal that would take her to a censored simulation that allowed her to interact with Earth, and so that was how she returned.Her kitchen was in ruins, with broken plates and furniture shattered and a small fire burning on the stove instead of food. Cadmean perched atop the icebox, batting away the broom Figure was trying to use to push him down into Rule’s waiting hooves. A quick glance over her…
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47.2 K •
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Cadmean resisted the urge to break something. Not because he didn’t want to, or because he thought anything in the apartment (or the universe) had any value. Rather, because he didn’t want to be overheard. Recursion might be gone—his chance to see the real world snatched away because of Recursion’s stupid pride—but that didn’t mean he couldn’t find something else to amuse himself.Cadmean’s entire world had been created for that purpose, a hive of endless captive ponies to do with as he…
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47.2 K •
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Abby stepped out from the kitchen doorway, grinning goofily all the way. She might not have been involved in the party planning, but she couldn’t be more impressed. It was exactly the same sort of party she might’ve thrown for her big sister back when they had still been kids, complete with handmade banner.Recursion looked the same as she was used to seeing her from their tutor sessions. It was very strange to be standing in a pony-sized apartment, surrounded by other ponies, and still be looking down…
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47.2 K •
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Recursion appeared in the throne room, a few feet away from Cadmean. The changeling looked like himself again, though he seemed to take that shape less and less.“You took a long time saying goodbye,” he began, though there was a grin showing between his pointed teeth. “I think that rescue earned at least a hug.”“Yeah.” Recursion wrapped her hooves around his neck. She would’ve shared his excitement, only a few minutes before. She could’ve come back to Equestria the moment Aurora made it…
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47.2 K •
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Time passed. Recursion could not have easily summarized how she lived, except to say that she was satisfied.Eventually, across the blurring of subjective time and the march of its absolute on Earth, the world ended. Very few ponies were exposed to the chaos, except in very specific circumstances.“Where are we going, Momma?” The colt’s voice sounded close in Recursion’s ears, and she turned to look sideways at him.Base Case had a gray coat, though he had inherited a slightly yellower form of her own…
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47.2 K •
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A hundred thousand islands mingled with the clouds, each one drifting to their own orbits. None looked alike, none were made of the same stone, or shaped quite the same way. Huge chunks crumbled at random, and occasionally two whole islands would collide, raining down into the void without a trace left behind. The sky remained a perpetual twilight, smattered with a handful of bright stars. There was no earth below, though the water flowing from several of the larger waterfalls never seemed to be…
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47.2 K •
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Someone knocked loudly at his door. Jacob looked up, and reluctantly lowered the book he had been holding in his magic. Marble Epitaph the Lesser’s Exhaustive Equestrian History, Volume 3 of 16. Jacob pulled the blanket a little higher over his body, covering everything worth covering. In some ways Sunset had been right—adjusting to being smaller and differently shaped had not taken very long. Jacob didn’t stumble when he walked, and didn’t feel like he was ever craning his neck.That did not…-
123.5 K •
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