The chapter begins with everybody quickly evacuating onboard the Invincible before they leave this country. The remaining personal is already here as well since the country did declare a state of war because of internal instability. Every foreign diplomat who didn’t have to stay was asked to leave. This battle however was not the starting point of a war of the Hooviets with either Equestria or the local country. Twice the Hooviets did attack other countries without provocation which would have started a larger war under most normal circumstances. And it was definitely not averted because Makarov was subtle, quite the opposite.
They openly wonder why he didn’t create more of these fake Alicorns but he may lack the resources to do so or his own ego makes him limit these cyborgs to being his personal bodyguards. On the other side by one of the rules of narrative, also known as Conservation of Ninjutsu, these cyborgs would end up being less effective if he had more of them. But for now Shining is in such a weakened state that he is instantly led to the infirmary. There he can hear the wolf telling him that he will be erased to restore existence to its correct state. Considering that it calls this act opposing entropy, the entire existence of this timeline might be at risk with Shining’s continued existence.
Then Shining awakens in the infirmary and notices something strange about the Naval Cavalrypony that is leaving. Maybe someone had just protected his life without him even knowing it. At the same time a doctor enters, a Donkey named Ulshade and to his (and Shining’s) relief this time the unicorn doesn’t have the same rather embarrassing injury. The mana overload is likely the bigger problem and soon the medical terms become so complicated that not even Running Gag can translate them. He is also unable to understand technobabble and magicbabble but nobody really understands those. Soon enough Mother Deer and Dima enter and wish to talk to Shining privately.
The Deer Goddess thanks him for his efforts but admits that none of these events should have ever happened. He already does know some bits about Makarov’s real nature but Reznov wasn’t able to tell him the full story. Dima reveals that the followers of Mother Deer are directly protected by their goddess. Many of them would already be dead without her. Then again IF Solomon never had existed many wouldn’t have been in this danger at all. For example Dima was meant to be Makarov’s expendable pawn but he ruined that plan by faking his death after being warned.
Afterwards Mother Deer explains that Solomon was an experiment of Pandora, an attempt to create a being of imagination, something that could actually exist in reality without losing its fantastic traits. There were however a few VERY dangerous flaws about this thing. It had no name or identity so it stole these from everybody around it. Soon it tried to force all stories to focus exclusively on it. It basically became a Black Hole Sue but with all the nightmarish consequences of others suffering under its whims. So Pandora did seal it in her box. It is not mentioned if she could have destroyed it at this point herself or if she chose to seal it away because she still didn’t want to kill it.
And there it stayed until the Hooviets foolishly used their Imagination Engine to literally tear into Pandora’s being and this combined with another surge did break the seal on this imagination monster. This surge is likely closely connected to Shining himself. At this point the unicorn wonders if even Makarov might have a reason and motivation for what he does. Something that goes beyond simply being a complete monster but it doesn’t need to contradict this title. Many complete monsters still have reasons and motivations. Not that it matters for Shining, since the imagination thing needs to be stopped from his continued mass murder. It had already two chances and two times it chose to be a monster instead of becoming part of these stories in a constructive way. It is not insane, it did everything of its own choice. Right now it gathers power to be able to even force its will onto the gods themselves. If it succeeds then this entire universe might be on its way to total oblivion. Entropy would love this excuse to erase everything from existence in this universe.
But there is still a way to restore reality to how it should be. Even Mother Deer can’t tell Shining why the stalker is chasing him but a Pony Goddess can tell him the truth. Now that is actually pretty easy to do, since he could just ask Princess Celestia, who is a fully powered Alicorn, by writing a letter to her. Hopefully Shining realises that he is in contact with an Alicorn and could just ask her this important question. Besides that he might be the only one who is able to end all of Makarov’s evil. The way the Goddess suggests is the total erasure of Solomon from existence, basically by leading the stalker to it and let the wolf obliterate the imagination thing. She suggests hurting and annoying Makarov to weaken it enough so that the wolf can finally target it. Shining is the right unicorn for that job, annoying Solomon is his specialty.
His sacrifice would save so many, many lives but that would come at the cost of the only thing he ever wanted in return for a possible sacrifice. Shining wouldn’t be remembered, his sacrifice would be forgotten by the ponies he protected. Only a select few like the gods and maybe Twilight would even know that he existed. He knows it would hurt her more then anything to remember a brother that doesn’t even exist anymore. But in the end the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. So he agrees to this sacrifice plan.
