Spoiler: Entry: Planet Bloom
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"Masala turned 23 this year. She has grown into quite the young woman and protector, and she is already thinking that her style of Referential Cosplay is a different branch from our own- similar but doing its own thing. Beryl now walks around the ship in a mechanics jumpsuit half the time. Meanwhile I've taken upping my disguise game to try and walk around worlds without being immediately spotted as a celebrity by posing as a brenchite, as well a cosplay that I can stealthily sneak through places.
Since none of us know our true birthdays, we've decided to all just celebrate our birthdays all on the same day for ease of remembrance and enjoyment. For this we decided it was the day I first entered the timeline. If you want to celebrate to, just write me back and tell us we will be happy to teleport to you, and plan out some festivities."
The three Referas were by now appearing much like they were in the current day and celebrating over a cake that Masala had made because both her parents were bad at cooking. it said "Happy Birthday Referas!"
"To be honest, while I'm not yet sure how I feel about my new fame, I do feel more relaxed than I used to be. Things have been relatively quiet for some time now. Sure I've been keeping myself sharp, but I feel like I've had time enough to unwind, to settle, to chill out and just enjoy life. Those first two years just felt rushed and one of constant fear and paranoia to me. I always felt driven to keep moving towards the goal, to defeat Hailing as soon as possible. After ten years, I look back and I see my rough edges smoothed over. I feel different than who I was before, because I'm no longer that person operating as this secret rebel that nobody knows about fighting a battle known only to people like us.
Now people look up to me. They see me as a ray of hope. There are internet memes and videos about me. That last one is the most surreal part. For so long I've been I've been this referencing postmodern cool kid trying to joke around. Now people are referencing ME. People quote me out of context. They make up strange meme facts about me, like how I apparently “have a gaze so steely, it creates metal that constructors use to make buildings”. I've become some weird living internet myth. I mean I kind of expected the people to look up to me, but somehow its the internet memes that are throwing me off the most sometimes. At least I've used for good and now there are fighters all across the galaxy proclaiming they follow “The Way of the Protector” in my name. With a good amount of people swearing to uphold the optional eleventh rule, much more than I thought."
various images of people imitating her in style and fashion flashy by, fighters of Whytalites and Hyenans carrying her book on their person as they patrol searching for threats to defend against.
"For so long I thought of myself as just this person living on the edge of society, y'know? I never I'd have any influence on anything. Somehow when I was fighting against Hailing, I thought on some level that would continue. That I'd just somehow continue being that rebellious girl who got into fights with bullies. But now I have to watch what I say. Now I'm somehow the trendsetter. Like there are people out there who copy my style of dress or wear red heart locket replicas. Or wear rainbows somewhere on their clothes. Its all flattering but....I don't feel I deserve any of it, sometimes. Sometimes I feel as if I changed and sometimes I feel as if I haven't changed at all and its the world thats changed. Its confusing."
Images of two Jades appear: one where she is the same but the world has grown to praise her, and another where she has changed and grown more relaxed in the absence of threats.
"Planet Bloom is quite beautiful. You would like it here, the inhabitants never knew war before Hailing. Like the entire planet has never had physical conflict on even a biological level. Everything is incredibly symbiotic here. The Aphrodans are dual-sexed natural empaths, they all eat fruit from trees, even their buildings are designed to work together. However they are even less violent than ponies and now live in constant fear of being attacked from off-world sources, and are also working to try and get rid of diseases introduced by aliens that could wreck their ecosystem. Turns out when ones entire planet is peaceful from its very evolutionary beginnings, ones biochemistry ends up being very weak compared to everyone else since none of their cells ever had to develop defenses against things that could attack it. Meaning like the Whytalites, they keep everything very clean out of fear of disease and infection."
Images of their architecture spring to life, the buildings flowing into each other and supporting one another, all built to work with the trees and plants around to not interfere. The Aphrodans themselves had flowers and leaves on their head for hair, and were green skinned with yellow eyes. None of them looked like fighters and they all wore colorful clothing, not caring what the others wore no matter how ridiculous or muted they were. The nature of Bloom was majestic, with giant trees full of various leaves of many colors, great plants all inter connected with one another in some way, not seeing a single that wasn't in some connected or cooperating with something else.
"They're so cooperative and such great empaths the concept of competition and deception are foreign if not alien to them, and they've gotten scammed in the past because of it, because they never think to read the fine print on contracts because the concept of intentionally wording a deal to benefit oneself more than the other never occurred to them. I'm trying my best to teach them how to fight, but every time someone experiences any form of pain, their psychic empathy makes them all feel it which hurts their effectiveness. We discovered certain during, lets say an “happy incident” between Beryl and myself that they do not have a conception of privacy or jealousy, and do not view relationships in any monogamous or permanent light. In fact private property is fuzzy to nonexistent to them in general."
An image of Jade frowning as punched Aphrodan she was training doubles over in pain- as well as all the Aphrodans around them, all of them affected by the punch she inflicted.
"Once before Hailing they were united, but now there is a minority of them who now have a conception of hate and given that Aphrodans have never felt hate they go real out of control with it and have formed an incredibly xenophobic group that believes that all other forms of biology are unclean and should be wiped out, though its not very successful, their own hate through the empathic links bounces around and make weakens them, making them unable to work together or muster up the morale needed to do anything because they're too busy being bitter and angry at each other. The emotions that would be unifying in humans on some level are just weakening and painful to Aphrodans."
An image of these xenophobic Aphrodan appear: they seem wilted in some ways, in pain, angry and didn't seem to work right. Their own empathy just made their hate and anger echo back upon each other and divided them. It is unlikely they'd ever be threat.
"I'm trying to teach the ones trying to protect their own planet. While they're not ideal fighters, I'm not giving up hope on them- all the volunteers pledged to the eleventh principle without hesitation, and there is determination in their eyes. Realistically they're going to have to go forth to fight in space suits that protect their immune systems as well as their bodies, and figure out how to shield off their minds from their empathy to actually fight anyone without feeling the other fighters pain or the pain of their comrades.
At this point it was only a few months ago and then I bid the Aphrodans farewell."
The final image is of hopeful Aphrodan protectors in space suits saluting to the Referas as they leave.