Xat RP Season 2

The second season of the episodic Xat RP began in many ways similarly to the first. But as the storyline progressed, it became much more coherent, and took a much darker turn around the midpoint.

Plot Summary
Alternate universes became a very prominent element during this season, so for the sake of convenience this season's summary has been further divided into each of the four Equestrias.

Crisis of Faith
An uncertain amount of time after Hellgate made himself known to the public, his plan stagnated for an unknown reason. Back in Equestria, The Factory had been elaborating on the corporate structure of the Rainbow Factory, including its parent conglomerate, Rainbow Factory Industries (RFI). RFI held many subsidiaries, including the Rainbow Factory itself, and much like how the Factory ran Equestria from the shadows, RFI had stakes in almost every major nation on Earth as well. Essentially, the CEO of RFI was the true ruler of two separate worlds.

They would learn who this mysterious CEO was fairly quickly, when Hellgate spontaneously appeared. Not even the Factory was expecting his arrival, and asked what his Boss was doing. The word "Boss" confused and enraged Kanako (who presumably was in human form thanks to Mr. Hood) and Arachnos most of all. The truth had come out: The CEO of RFI and the shadow master of the two worlds was none other than Hellgate. Hellgate explained that he and Factory had been working together since the annexation, including the Canterlot assassinations. However, Hellgate had "changed his mind" on that plan, deciding instead to start a new project.

Arachnos, meanwhile, had had enough. His hatred for Hellgate made him question everything he had ever done, to which both Factory and Hellgate said that he really should have expected this. After all, the Rainbow Factory was a company that put living creatures through a tortuous process to turn them into fuel. The Factory had let slip several times that he and RFI were the true rulers of Equestria, and Hellgate used that against Arachnos, saying he couldn't have not known the truth. Hellgate then went on to say that at some level, Arachnos had a black heart like his superiors, as there was no other way he would have supported the Factory's actions. He was too smart to have not pieced it together.

Shattered and unwilling to face Hellgate any longer, Arachnos fled. Another agent of the Brood named Skitter was sent as his replacement, and the new project was forwarded to him.

Around this time, Mr. Hood had to leave Equestria for undisclosed reasons, and left Lynna in his place. Lynna said she was there on behalf of Mr. Hood to keep watch of the place. This action convinced Hellgate that Hood was, in fact, making a move for Equestria. Hellgate labelled Mr. Hood as the "Fourth Power," in a perceived power struggle between RFI, the Equestrian Royalty, and the Brood. This would lead to many a bickerings between Lynna and Hellgate or Factory.

Arachna herself later arrived to confirm what had made Arachnos flee his assigned world. She then learned of RFI and Hellgate's global domination. Hellgate managed to convince her that Arachnos would be best returned to him, saying that, for all intents and purposes, he's already won. He ruled two worlds already, and as such disposing him would lead to chaos, something Arachna is known to despise. Furthermore, since he already has the top position, he has no need to go out of his way to get any more powerful. Arachna conceded Hellgate the point and returned Arachnos to the Factory, altering his mind so as to tolerate Hellgate's authority. With this, Hellgate managed to eliminate one of the competing powers.

But another would soon take its place.

The Red Brother
For several weeks, stranger events began to happen around Equestria. A rust-like substance had begun to appear around the world, corroding whatever was nearby and growing, even if it wasn't metal. The planet had begun to decay from within, and the cause could not be identified for some time. Also into this, Lynna began to hear the voice of someone in her head, taunting her and warning about the world's impending rot. Eventually it became too much and she screamed at the voice, getting the attention of Hellgate.

Hellgate inquired to her outburst, and she told him what had been going on. Hellgate was convinced the voice was none other than Mr. Hood, ready to make his move. He demanded Hood's presence, and Hood arrived to try and convince Hellgate that he wasn't responsible. Unfortunately, Hood wasn't willing to dispense the entire truth of the matter either, and so Hellgate resorted to drastic measures. Taking Lynna into his giant hand, he threatened to kill her if Hood did not give the answers Hellgate desired. Hood hesitated, but a slip of the tongue on his part resulted in Hellgate following through with his threat.

Just then, the true party responsible revealed itself. Calling himself the Brother, he introduced himself as the son of the Black Mother and White Father, and that decay was his domain. Equestria would rot away into nothing, and there was nothing that could be done about it. Any attempts to hurt the Brother only resulted in the attacker being infected with the rust. This was found out the hard way by certain members.

With the Brother able to roam unopposed, his first major target was none other than Ponyville. The entire city rotted away, and the Factory was forced to engage in evacuation procedures. Only five of the six Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were able to be saved, according to the Factory, with the one unknown being Fluttershy.

An Uncomfortable Alliance
For all the power and influence Hellgate held, he knew that he couldn't stand a chance against the Brother by himself. A being divine in nature such as that could not be tackled alone. After Ponyville fell, Hellgate offered an olive branch to Mr. Hood. Hood obviously had some degree of interest in Equestria, and at the same time held some information about the Brother. Hellgate suggested that the two join forces, with Hellgate making Mr. Hood his second-in-command in RFI, superseding even the Factory himself. Lynna was also resurrected (albeit much more bitter).

Hellgate's next move was to open discussions with Arachna. Despite their mutual animosity, Hellgate believed he and her could agree that the Brother was an even bigger threat. Convincing her was not as difficult as Hellgate was ready to face, and Arachna offered to help produce the Brood's finest soldiers.

Hellgate had a plan for dealing with the Brother, and with the support from both Hood and Arachna, he set it into motion. The first component to his plan was to stop the corrosion of the planet. To this end, Hellgate was forced to reveal his project: the Metal Generator. The Metal Generator was a device that, as its name implied, spontaneously generated metal continuously, coating whatever was around it in a metal coat (how this device was supposed to work is never elaborated upon). Hellgate remained silent on what the original purpose of the device was, but nevertheless he believed it could be used to counter the Brother's rust, halting it in its tracks. Hellgate immediately had the Factory's R&D division, led by Arachnos, to produce smaller versions of the Generator so that it may be placed in various cities around the world to protect them from the rust.

A powerful force was also necessary if they were to take on a deity. Hellgate commissioned a smaller version of the Generator that could be used as a piece of armor, allowing any who wore this armor to physically attack the Brother without recourse. Kanako was chosen as the test subject for this, having lost his arm already. His arm was replaced with a metal synthetic limb equipped with the generator prototype. during their next encounter with the Brother, this generator was put to the test and yielded a successful result. The Generator did indeed halt the corrosion.

With this information, the Factory immediately set about equipping all its forces with the generator. Arachnos also came up with an idea known as the Icarus Device, allowing flightless Factory agents to join the pegasi in aerial combat. This project was approved and the Factory prepared itself for war. Arachna also mated with Arachnos to help produce the Brood's Chosen. Combined with Hood's own troops, Hellgate had amassed a sizable army behind him.

As Hellgate was busy building the army and planting protective metal generators around the world, Factory had his own project to unveil. He summoned all to the exhibition room, where he showed off a special Factory agent wearing the special armor. The armor completely covered the face and any identifying features, and Factory did not even address the agent by name; only referring to her as Agent F. This was symbolic, as Factory then went on to prove that Agent F was little more than a machine in flesh form, having surrendered all identity to the Factory and becoming a ruthlessly efficient killer. Agent F was presented as a successful test drive of a new program to create special agents through brutal psyche shattering and physical training, turning them into instruments of death.

Agent F was, of course, none other than the missing Fluttershy, of whom the safety of which was kept secret by the Factory. This fact was figured out rather quickly by his top agents. They would soon find themselves working alongside Agent F and another special agent from RFI known as Agent Zan. Zan was a human, very rare, but was as ruthless as F. Factory employed both in the campaigns against the Brother alongside his other top agents.

With the Metal Generators in place and the army complete, the stage was set for a decisive battle...

Darkness Above All
The Brother himself initiated the fight, coming to the Factory directly. His decay held back, the Brother wanted to try and root out the problem at the source. Hellgate met the Brother and engaged in a verbal battle. The Brother boasted about being the decay that will take everything, and Hellgate countered with the power of Nihility. Hellgate warned the Brother of a far more powerful god, one that dwarfed even his parents. His decay meant nothing to this god, and Hellgate himself carried a piece of the deity. The Brother's haughty attitude led him to challenge the god, to challenge Anathemus. Hellgate summoned a portal to the End, and the Brother went in. He did not come back out.

The world itself shook as the Dark One seemed to awaken in answer to this pest. When the rumbling and grinding didn't stop, the Factory realized that He was mad. The Dark One would come to consume the world that allowed the Brother to disturb His slumber. They had some time before then so there was a chance they could be saved, and so the Factory requested that Arachna create an identical copy world in another universe so that they may escape to safety. Arachna accepted, and immediately sent her brood weavers to construct the new world.

Not everyone was so eager to go, however. Hellgate, having built his company rooted firmly in both worlds, did not want to leave, as leaving would mean starting all over. All his assets would be erased, all the progress made on his grand project would be undone, and his ultimate goal would fail to be achieved.

The Factory elaborated on exactly what that goal was. He revealed that the Metal Generators were originally designed to transform the entire planet into a giant metallic sphere, and use that as a new body for with which to resurrect Unicron. All along, Hellgate had been working towards Unicron's revival in order to destroy all that exists, using RFI as a means to achieve this. The attack on Gotham City was, in fact, done solely to eliminate Batman, the one who defeated Unicron in the first place. Originally they planned to use the moon, but then Hellgate decided the planet itself would make a better host for the Chaos Bringer. The Factory also understood that chances were high Unicron would be disobedient, and only went along with Hellgate's goals because he enjoyed being able to take revenge on the fleshy quadrupeds that abducted him in the first place.

Hellgate broke down and became rabid, unable to accept the impending end of the world. He frantically ordered his inferiors to stay behind, but with none other than Anathemus on the way, nobody obeyed. Not even Factory, who resigned from RFI right then and there. His entire plans undone and now without any of his influence, Hellgate fled the planet in rage, disappearing to parts unknown.

The Factory took charge of the evacuation procedures, gathering up all remaining citizens and preparing them to move for the new world when it was ready. In order to ensure a smooth transition, he also ordered that all Factory forces would be the last to go. When the time came however, Factory realized that someone was missing, and stayed behind to find her. The rest of the Factory employees moved on, and Factory told them to come back for him within 24 hours.

Now seemingly alone on the planet, The Factory was surprised to find Desmond had remained behind, having not made it to the mass evacuation and now willing to spend what time was left to help the Factory. The Factory told him he was looking for Milla, the last Blank who had gone missing since Hellgate removed her. The two eventually found her, and together they waited to be retrieved. Being the last three creatures on the planet, they each had a lot of time to reflect on the course their lives had taken, and were sad that Anathemus was coming to erase everyhting they had built.

The three of them waited, but those that had gone to the world never returned, and they were taken in silence by the overwhelming Nothing.

Black Showdown
Meanwhile, the refugees began to resume their normal lives in their copied world. However, the victory was bittersweet. Their army proved to be ultimately useless, and now their Factory was gone as well. Still, there was a sense of relief among them, for they had escaped the Dark One's wrath. Additionally, RFI was now in shambles due to the loss of the original world, the Factory, and Hellgate. Without RFI's dark influence, Equestria could return to peace once more.

...So it should have been, but then Hellgate arrived in the copy world. With his company in ruins, Hellgate looked to destroy the new world. Arachna, Arachnos, Mr. Hood, and Kanako engaged Hellgate in a final showdown. The fight took place in a pocket dimension eternally in the sky. Hellgate was evnetually knocked back into reality, where he then tapped into the full power of his god aura. This disturbed Anathemus, who had yet to fall back asleep. Hellgate quickly lost control, and the black power began to tear away at the world, as Hellgate was consumed by Anathemus' will. Intending to no longer be disturbed, Anathemus then began to swallow the entire world into Nihility, and wipe all He deemed responsible for the transgression. Hood frantically called on the White Father, and the god took him and the ex-Factory agents out of the realm.

Anathemus pursued, intending to ensure He wasn't disturbed again. All traces of the first world were to be removed, and many many others fell in His pursuit. It would not have been long before Anathemus caught up, so the White Father gave Anathemus what he was after, and they were taken to the End.

The three of them witnessed Anathemus in full, before their bodies and minds were taken into Nihility.

The Second Equestria
Arachna had managed to escape Anathemus' rampage. She fled to a parallel universe, which was just noticing the effects of His pursuit.

The New World
This version of Equestria was remarkably different from the first. The most noticeable change was RFI's ownership, as now it was under the control of a pony named James (a parallel version of one of the original Factory's lackeys). Hellgate in fact had nothing to do with RFI in this universe, instead playing a more classic role with the intent to become powerful and reduce the world to cinders.

This world's Factory was the same as far as organizational structure went, with the same employees, however the Factory himself was much less involved with his assignment. Having no personal stake in RFI, the Factory was just treated as a servant to James, who was fairly unpopular. James took on the role the original Factory held, being the true source of corruption in this universe.

Corruption would turn out to be the least of their concerns, however, when Anathemus began to stir. Before the Factory and company could investigate the pulse waves affecting their dimension, Arachna entered the realm and warned everyone to beware Hellgate. She said that if he was allowed to tap into his god aura, he would summon Anathemus. The events that ended the first realm were recounted by Arachna, and she told of that world's Hellgate being consumed by Anathemus along with everyone else once he tapped into the Aura's power. The only way to avoid this was to not let Hellgate use his Aura. And the only way to do that was to surrender to his demands.

Incidentally, Hellgate was preparing to make an attack against the Factory at about this time. He approached Equestria and readied for battle, calling out to the Factory and taunting him. Just then, Hellgate's visage distorted, becoming a very twisted mockery of the mansion's front wall. It almost vaguely resembled a twisted, horrifying face. Hellgate began to moan in agony, confusing everyone. In truth, the Hellgate of the first world (later called "O-Hellgate" or "Original Hellgate") did not perish when Anathemus consumed the world. The Dark One decided to punish O-Hellgate, binding him to a body that was not his own and forcing him to spend eternity in pure agony, a sensation alien to the mansion.

Hellgate eventually regained control of his old body, though he had no memory of his alternate self taking control. What he found after returning to dominance was the Factory and his agents offering themselves to Hellgate. Arachna was also present, submitting to his will as well. Out of fear of letting Anathemus awaken again, Hellgate was handed total control over the world. And all he could do was laugh.

Hellgate's Reign of Terror
With Equestria under his heel and both Factory and Arachna claiming no contest, Hellgate immediately went on a bloody killing spree, murdering hundreds of thousands and setting ablaze every town he came across. The Factory and company were forced to watch as Hellgate destroyed their entire world and they could do naught about it.

One of the first things Hellgate did was kill James and assume control of RFI. Mostly this was done to make the conglomerate self-destruct from within as he continually took out key personnel. There was no strategic value to this; he just wanted to see it burn. He also kept Arachna on a leash, revelling in her groveling.

Hellgate's atrocities were not limited simply to killing. Shortly after he was handed the world, he obliterated Canterlot, killing Princess Celestia underfoot and gravely injuring her sister, Princess Luna. Hellgate had no plans to kill The Factory or his agents, instead preferring to psychologically torture them. He told Factory to give the order to execute Princess Luna while she was still recovering in the hospital. Arachnos and Kanako were the two to carry it out, but Hellgate made sure Factory watched from a camera.

When Hellgate was finished with Equestria he moved outward, destroying every country and region on the planet in rapid succession. He left behind only a few stragglers, to give them some hope of recovery before killing them all later. The Factory's agents were "free" from Hellgate for the time being, but were unable to take relief as their world fell apart around them, the smoke becoming thick enough to blot out the sun. Around this time, a certain song became popular between Arachnos, Factory, and Kanako, called the "Gypsy's Bard." The song was of holding together in times of extreme despair, and it was one of the few things that kept their sanity in check. During this time the Factory also began to conduct secret operations.

A particular incident of note was when this universe's Mr. Hood arrived planetside. Fearing the torture of his men, Hood announced that he had ordered nearly every one of his troops to take their own life. Hood imagined this as getting the laugh in before Hellgate could, only for Hellgate to reply that he didn't care at all. As long as they were dead, he counted it as a win. Furthermore, he verbally castrated Hood for his questionable actions, but before he could kill her in front of Lynna, Hood began jerking around as if in pain, and then was consumed from within by blackness. Lynna then became one of Hood's very few surviving agents.

When Hellgate had finally run out of masses to murder, he told Arachna and Arachnos to open a portal to a new dimension. He didn't care where, so long as his rampage could continue. Naturally, Factory and his own survivng agents were told to come along, as well as Lynna. They would be the ones to spread the message to this new world...

The Third Equestria (Techquestria)
The world they came to was shocking initially. Instead of a pseudo-medieval land of ponies, the survivors of a burning world instead found a technological wonderland, with many bright lights and tall towers. In this world, Arachnos had devised an alternative to the Pegasus Device known as the Arachnos Array. The Array fulfilled the same tasks as the Device, but on a much broader and yet smaller scale. It shaved tiny bits of Spectra from all living things and harnessed it, giving them not only a non-lethal means to gain Spectra but a far more efficient one, hence the extreme technological makeover. This is where the nickname "Techquestria" originates from.

The organizational structure of the Factory and RFI was much more similar to the first Equestria, with Hellgate as the CEO of RFI once more. The Factory was his second in command, vice-officer of RFI and president of the Rainbow Factory. Hood was the Factory's vice president. They were the first to greet the new arrivals. Arachnos announced that, in order to save everyone from being consumed by Anathemus, their Hellgate must be allowed to ransack their world without hindrance. The new Hellgate, understanding the truth, immediately stood defiant. The two houses then engaged in fast-paced, high-flying open combat while the Techquestrian Factory tried to get answers.

The Factory turned towards Arachna. She told him the same story she told everyone else, but Factory wasn't satisfied. He wanted the full story in as much detail as possible, something not even the others received due to the panic at the time. Arachna then recounted the story in full, from the Brother's haughtiness waking up Anathemus to His coming after Hellgate tapped into the God Aura. Factory asked how long it was between the two times, to which Arachna replies that it wasn't long. This point was picked up on by the other Factory, who was also now suspicious.

The Techquestrian Factory and the Factory of the other world explained that what Arachna had been promising as the doom was, in fact, nothing. While it was true that tapping into His power too much would anger him, it would only do so if He were already awake, which O-Hellgate had done. Had he waited longer, Anathemus would not have pursued them. In other words, they handed Hellgate their Equestria for nothing. And now they've let loose another Hellgate into this world.

The two Hellgates were still fighting it out in the air above, and the Factory requested the other Factory's assistance in trying to bring the enemy Hellgate down. The two Factories fused their Friendship Canons with the aim to De-Spore Hellgate. Control was handed over to the other world's Arachnos, who took aim and fired. He wound up striking the Techquestrian Hellgate instead, sending the de-spored SDM into the ground. Hellgate, realizing that the truth had come out, took the opportunity to flee.

With the Techquestrian Hellgate gone, the Factory assumed control over RFI. He had his de-spored boss taken care of, and then turned his attention to the dimensional travelers. The first order of business was to establish a naming scheme so as to no longer be confusing. Since they were in Techquestria, the Factory decided all who belonged there would retain their original names, while those from the other world would receive the prefix "O-" (short for Other). For instance, the other world's Arachnos became O-Arachnos (or Orachnos) and the other world's Lynna became O-Lynna (or Olyn). With established, the Factory then told the Others that because of them, Techquestria lost their own Hellgate and got a different one in its place. As such, the Factory drafted them into his own forces. He deemed it only fair that they help clean the mess they made.

He instructed that O-Factory's body be disassembled and added to his own. O-Factory's soul was to be transferred into a smaller, more compact body, and he instructed the two Arachni to build it. As the O-Factory was being deconstructed, however, his secret project was revealed: He had managed to find and save the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and kept them safe within stasis pods. The O-Bearers were taken to Canterlot General Hospital, where they rested until they would awaken.

Executor
The two Arachni finished construction of O-Factory's new body: a black, robotic alicorn with a rainbow-colored electric mane and tail. In order to transfer O-Factory's soul into this body, the Factory released his own Patchouli, who had, until then, been sleeping in stasis. This fact displeased her, as did her return only being brought about by something Factory wanted. She made this apparent, but nonetheless complied. O-Factory's soul was transferred over to the new body, and its activation was a success. O-Factory's first few steps in this form, literally, were unstable as he got used to how his new body worked.

Now that O-Factory was a robotic horse and not, in fact, a factory anymore, it was decided that he should receive yet another new name. Several suggestions were thrown around, until Patchouli suggested they ask the robot himself. O-Factory came up with the name "Executor," and it was met with approval. From that moment forward, the Factory of the second Equestria was known as Executor.

Executor and Patchouli quickly became friends. The former having lost his own version, and the latter seemingly receiving no interest or attention from the Factory. She claimed that, for some reason, the Factory no longer cared for his former residents, and simply locked them away without a second thought. In fact, he paid so little attention to them that he had forgotten to put Patchouli back into stasis, allowing her to roam free.

The First Element Awakens
Some time later, the first Element of Harmony from the Others' world began to regain consciousness. This Bearer was Applejack, and she was very understandably confused. Factory explicitly ordered his agents to ease her into the news, and not tell her too much that might upset her.

Applejack was one of the later Bearers to be collected by Executor, and as such was already aware of Hellgate. This allowed Olyn and Kanako to freely inform her that she was now in a different dimension, in a hospital. When she asked what became of her own world, the group avoided the question.

The Factory ordered that Applejack be kept in the hospital. He wanted her to regain her strength, but he also wanted to keep an eye on them. Due to their various levels of awareness regarding what happened in their own Equestria, the Factory feared what would happen should the six Bearers meet and exchange potentially devastating information. As such, he wanted to ensure they would be kept separate for as long as possible.

Divine Disconnect
The following week, another Bearer awoke: Pinkie Pie. The two Arachni joined Olyn and Kanako this time, and immediately ignored the Factory's wishes for as little information to be told as possible. This was explicitly for the sake of the Bearer herself, since such news would undoubtedly be disturbing. The Arachni were not aware of this, and informed Pinkie in full detail of what happened. This caused her to break down in tears, something rather uncharacteristic of her. Arachnos and Oneiros were met with harsh responses from both Olyn and Kanako. Once Factory was informed of the situation, he decided that she would be better left in the care of Applejack. Once Pinkie was safely in the company of her friend, the agents returned to the Factory.

A long argument broke out as the Factory chastised them both for not only going against orders, but for also being completely blind to the emotions of others. This led to the Factory eventually realizing that the Arachni were not fully capable of understanding the feelings of those they protect. He did not fully blame the two spiders; he knew a certain someone held an even greater amount of responsibility for what happened.

The Factory summoned Arachna and informed her of the situation. As he thought, she did not understand the problem. This led to the Factory temporarily suspending the Arachni from their active engineering duties, and assigning them to live as citizens in Ponyville. He desired Arachna to do the same, though she protested. The Factory managed to convince her that, for all her claims of doing good, she has yet to demonstrate any compassion and understanding for those who inhabit their worlds. Because of that, her own spawns lack that certain empathy as well, which is what caused the incident. In order to prevent such issues in the future, the Factory felt that all three of them needed to understand exactly what the common citizen had to go through on a daily basis. Furthermore, in order to keep track of their progress, the Factory also added that he should expect to see a weekly letter from each of them, telling him of what they had learned from their experiences.

The Factory planned to use his connections to give them a house and mundane jobs. However, both Orachnos and Arachnos would be given Factory-grade equipment for them to cotninue their Factory engineering, and would also be on-call to return to the Factory at a moment's notice should the need arise. Arachna continued to protest, claiming that she could just use her powers and leave. The Factory conceded that she could indeed do that, but then reminded her of what happened to the second Equestria. That was her fault, caused by her not taking the time to gather more information or even ask those who might be more versed in Anathemus than she, but she did not consider such an action due to her arrogance. Arachna finally gave in, and agreed to the Factory's plan. She would be assigned as a sewage worker.

Violet Rampage
Around two weeks later, Twilight Sparkle woke up. The Factory dispatched Arachnos, Executor, and Kanako to greet her. Twilight was one of the very first that Executor rescued, so her knowledge on the fate of the second Equestria was incredibly limited. As such, the Factory wanted to withhold as much information as possible. Twilight was informed that she was in Canterlot General, but she was perceptive enough to realize that this wasn't entirely the case. She demanded further answers, however nobody was willing to dispense the information.

Into this came Patchouli, who, in wanting to spite the Factory, told all to Twilight. She revealed the truth of the second Equestria, and made sure to paint the Factory as the villain for not informing Twilight of the truth, and also claiming that her other friends were being held by him. Factory cursed himself for forgetting to seal Patchouli away, and then commanded his agents hold her down. Patchouli used her magic to hold them off, buying time for Twilight to escape. The Factory told his agents to deal with the rogue magician later, but for the time being subduing Twilight was the main priority.

The three agents pursued Twilight all throughout the Factory's interior as she ran and teleported in a desperate attempt to escape. However, her teleportation was no match for both Arachnos or Hood (who joined in the pursuit), and she was eventually sedated. The agents then returned to Patchouli to confront her, who could only respond with maniacal laughter. Angered and feeling betrayed by what the Factory had done to her, Patchouli seemingly snapped. Unwilling to just be put back into stasis for eternity, Patchouli struck back out of revenge.

Before Patchouli could be detained, she unleashed a special spell against the Factory, which caused a bright burst of light. It seemed harmless to the agents, and she was quickly brought down by Hood and Arachnos. Hood bound her still and Arachnos used his whips to remove the magician's head, and it rolled along the floor. Oddly, no blood was spilled.

The agents reported in to the Factory of a job well done, however the Factory did not respond. No matter how many times they called out to him, the halls of the Factory were lifeless. Executor realized that Patchouli's spell must have did something to the Factory's soul, possibly either displacing it or even killing it.

It was determined that an effort would have to be made to see if she rebound his soul to another object or something of the sort, but until the Factory could be recovered, Mr. Hood would need to take over both the Factory and RFI. However, because they only recently lost their Hellgate, it was determined to be bad for morale if word got out that the Factory was missing now as well, and as such Executor volunteered to be the "Voice" of the Factory until the news could be distributed in a way as to not cause panic. The information was kept only to the most high-profile personnel; not even Orachnos was made aware of it until Executor and Arachnos told him about it some time later.

Also due to the factory's disappearance, his orders to have the spiders learn mundanity was repealed, and both spiders returned home, while Arachna gleefully disappeared into the Void.

The Rift
A tear in the dimensional fabric soon appeared near Everfree forest. Mr. Hood had the area cordoned off so that the Factory might investigate. He sent four agents into the rift to investigate it: Executor, Olyn, Arachnos, and Orachnos. The four of them stepped into the rift, and were thrust into a strange, bizarre reality.

At first, the realm was dark. After they stopped through the portal, gravity suddenly pulled at them from the sides, and they landed in a black void. Up ahead appeared a faint light, and following it they found themselves in an oversized mansion foyer (It should be noted that it was different from the Scarlet Devil Mansion's interior). Furthermore, the further into the foyer they went, the bigger it seemed to get. At the top of a stairwell was a door that, once stepped through, became proportionately-sized to them.

Beyond the door were some dark, narrow corridors. The group followed along these corridors, and then suddenly found themselves isolated. Every now and again, as they walked forward, they would randomly appear with one of the others and then disappear. Sometimes they'd run into a wall, and other times they'd cross one of their own, now walking on the ceiling in the opposite direction. Not even chaining themselves to another would work; in a few second's time they would find themselves inexplicably attached to a potted plant or nightstand.

Due to the way these halls seemed to bend and warp space despite not a single one of them ever doing anything besides walk in a straight line, the four nicknamed the realm "Escherland." The four began to feel threatened in Escherland, as it seemed determined to tear them apart. They had also spent a lengthy amount of time within Escherland, and it was proving to be too much for them to handle. Deciding to pull out, Arachnos opened a portal. They were all well aware that trying to find the entrance again was only going to make things worse, and took what was thought to be a simpler option.

As a result of their "improper" retreat, when they emerged from the rift in Equestria, the four agents found themselves displaced. Olyn and Hood saw the Rift as normal, but Orachnos and Arachnos didn't see it at all. Arachna, sensing a disturbance, came to investigate, and found the rift as nearly engulfing the entire world. Executor himself couldn't see the rift, or the ground, or the Factory, or anything. What Executor saw was a starry red nebula around him.

After the initial arguments about which viewpoint was the truth, it was determined that everyone was on a different dimensional layer. Universes have several layers to them, and depending on what layer of the universe one exists on, they could see very different results. In this case, the rift was a multi-layered tear in reality, and because of the agents' improper retreat, ended up on different layers. Arachna, being a realm traveler, wound up seeing the "truth" of the tear, as it was in reality much bigger than it appeared. Big enough to displace those who normally live on the middle layer, hence why they only saw it as a small rift. The only piece that did not fit was Executor, whose strange visions could not be explained.

The four agents were then brought back into the Factory for further examination.

A Week in Hell
Executor, unable to see the interior of the Factory, laid perfectly still on the ground. To him, this resembled floating in a red void with fleshy growths swirling around him. He could not see or speak to anyone besides the other three that went with him into the Rift. Afraid to move even an inch lest he fall into nothingness, Executor remained perfectly still for nearly an entire week. He very audibly lamented this fact frequently.

Eventually, Olyn convinced him to try walking around. The strange sights did not leave Executor, but he began to feel a sense of familiarity among the growths. To some degree, the growths resembled the layout of the Factory's interior, and was able to understand his surroundings better with this information. Executor decided that no risks should be taken, however, and began to explore around anyway.

The Sayan Exterminator
Some time before Executor gained the courage to walk, he engaged in a conversation with Arachnos and Olyn that eventually lead to the utterance of the word "Sayan." At this, Executor changed completely. He stood up, and identified himself as "Sayan Exterminator Unit 117 of Group 16, Squad 50."

Executor would no longer respond to his name, only the number 117. 117 seemed to be unaffected by the strange sights Executor was seeing, and did not behave like any SDM. He spoke in monotone and acted like a complete machine. He requested to find the Sayan, but since there was none, 117 declared it a false alarm. He then started running through the halls, leading the group to the Factory's roof. There, Hellgate had appeared for the first time in a long while. He, too, was acting strangely; he identified himself as the Leader of Sayan Exterminator Unit Group 22.

117 and Leader 22 then spoke in a bizarre series of high-pitched whines, and eventually Leader 22 backed off. Hellgate's persona then resumed, and, having no knowledge of what he was doing there, promptly left. 117 returned to being Executor, and he, too, had no recollection of what happened. He only knew he was suddenly in a very different place, and asked to be returned where he started.

Return to Escherland
During Executor's spelunking into what was essentially his old body with a bizarre filter attached to it, he discovered a strange series of "crystals" in one of the Factory's deeper recesses. He reported this information to the other three, and led them to it. Following Executor, the three of them were led to a run-down and disused portion of the Factory. They eventually came across a dark, abandoned assembly line, and in this room Executor began to warp through space. He said he was walking through crystals which teleported him, but his friends couldn't see anything.

In an adjacent section, they found a wall where light would not reach. The wall remained pitch black no matter how brightly they shone the light. But Executor saw a staircase in its place. Heading within, once they were past the darkness, the other agents, too, saw a rusted staircase. At the bottom, they found themselves inside the Factory's lobby, only severely rusted. Interestingly, Executor saw this as well. They realized, then, that they were back in Escherland.

The stairs had disappeared behind them, and they found themselves trapped. They became aware of the sound of footsteps, and following it into the dark, rusted Factory, they found a messy meeting room. They heard a scratching noise from behind a wall, and Arachnos opened a portal to investigate. Beyond the wall, Arachnos found a mirrored copy of the room he was just in, but rusty markings were all over the walls in Japanese. In one of the chairs was an invisible presence, and he felt it indicate a certain piece of paper. On the paper, written in red, were the words "The Dream Will End." After this, the room dissolved into chaos, with papers in the room flying everywhere, the furniture melting down, and the door opening to a blue void. Arachnos managed to escape, and told everyone else what he found.

The footsteps picked up again, and led them down a long corridor that gradually got darker. Like with the wall, eventually no light would penetrate. Fumbling their way through the darkness, they eventually dropped out of a closet in a Japanese storage room. Stepping outside, they soon realized that they were on the Hakurei Shrine's grounds back in Gensokyo. However, Gensokyo looked dead. The trees were falling over and decayed, the sky was completely black, and the earth was a deep red, with most of the grass nonexistent. Discomforted by the sights and wanting to rest after their bizarre adventure through the rusted Factory, the four retreated into the Shrine proper.

Inside the Shrine, they found no trace of its owner, Reimu Hakurei. Instead, the interior showed signs of an energy discharge, followed by rapid abandonment. There no bodies hiding within the shrine, human or otherwise, but Olyn did uncover a very unsettling mask resting on a box. She was afraid to touch it, and this seemed to offend the mask. Images began to assault their mind, images of the mask. This drove them out of the shrine and back into the dead world.

With no choice but to press forward, the group attempted to descend the old, cracked stairway. However, disembodied hands at the base of the mountain began to attack them, seemingly in response to the wrath of the mask. The hands pursued them up the stairs, appearing out of small portals and cracks, trying to drag them all down. Now back on the shrine grounds, the Factory agents took to the air and escaped.

Flying over the fields of Gensokyo, they spotted someone down below. Dropping altitude to get a closer look, they found a thin young woman wearing tattered shrine maiden garments. Callig to her attention, the woman turned around, revealing herself to be Reimu. However, in place of her face were instead two massive black holes, of which staring into them filled them all with the dreadful sense of being "literally less than nothing." N-Reimu took a step towards them, summoning larger disembodied hands to reach out to the group.

The agents immediately returned to the air, launching themselves upward as fast as they could. N-Reimu gave chase, following them up, up, and up. Olyn decided to look back, only to lock eyes with the monstrous maiden. She felt that same sensation grip her once again, and brought herself to a stop. N-Reimu approached the girl, ready to erase her. But Orachnos intervened, going against his earlier pessimism of wanting to die. He pulled Olyn away, and shielded her eyes. N-Reimu continued the pursuit desperately trying to catch up with them, but was ultimately too slow.

Below them, they could see that the dead Gensokyo was an isolated land mass, and was soon swallowed up by the surrounding blackness. N-Reimu seemed to disappear with it, buying them a few minutes of respite. They halted their rapid ascent, and beside them Executor pointed out what appeared to be the foyer they encountered previously, though now it had gone dark.

The agents decided to avoid the foyer, and flew off in the opposite direction to try and find another way out. They were unwilling to risk taking another portal back to their reality, out of fear of being displaced even further. Eventually they became aware of what sounded like static, and passed through an invisible barrier.

Beyond the barrier, they found the blackness replaced with a very strange dark blue void with black "rooms" floating in it. One of these "rooms" appeared to be a portrait hall. This hall had no doors or windows, just several interconnected hallways with various paintings and portraits hanging on the walls.

Many of the "paintings" depicted various events from their lifetime. Among them included the death of Flandre from the original Hellgate, the Black Spawn's attack from Hellgate 2 Part II, the battle against the titular demon in Hellgate 2 Part I, among many many others from both within the Hellgate Saga and out. Strangely, one of the paintings even depicted The General's assault on Gensokyo from Hellgate 2 Part III, even though that couldn't have feasibly happened in their lifetimes. Despite this, they were all aware of said event.

A very large painting awaited them at the end of one of the halls. It depicted Olyn, Arachnos, Orachnos, and Executor staring at a painting that read "The Dream Will End." However, the painting also showed N-Reimu watching them from behind. Turning around to look, they found the painting to be accurate, and quickly warped out of the hall. N-Reimu could only watch them escape, implying that she was incapable of following them into the void.

The four agents then travelled to another very large cubic room. Inside they found a series of strange geometric shapes of various colors resting atop each other. From afar, the shapes appeared to form an image of Equestria. The back wall was the sky, and Arachnos asked what if they were to break it. Executor offered to try so long as he was given an overcharge. Arachnos was unsure if they should, in case it lead to something bad. Executor replied saying that if they do it, everyone will have a hand in doing it. Arachnos for coming up with the idea, Executor for actually doing it, Orachnos for delivering the overcharge needed to do it, and Olyn for making the decision.

In the end, they decided to do it, and the wall shattered. It tore open to a large black void, which then sucked them in along with the Equestrian image. The four agents were thrust to the End of Everything, where they met Anathemus Himself. Once more He had awoken, and He was very angry. They could feel His gaze upon them, and His words rumbled through their very being: "...BEGONE..." Executor, Orachnos, Olyn, and Arachnos then felt themselves sink into Nihility.

A New Battle for the New World
Meanwhile, in yet another universe, the local Factory detected a massice Nihility spike. Expecting Anathemus himself, the Factory prepared his troops to make a last stand, and then moved for the source of the signal. Instead of a direct portal to the End however, the Factory found Executor, Olyn, Orachnos, and the other Arachnos (who later went by the name T-Arachnos or Tarachnos to avoid confusion), of whom were just as confused at their arrival as the locals.

The Factory, suspecting them to be Anathemus toying with them, was ready to give the order to take them out, but cooler heads extended their hands in friendship. This world's Arachnos and Kanako decided it was better to ask before firing, and the four of them retold their story. When they mentioned having met Anathemus personally, this instantly set off some red flags, but Arachnos and Kanako continued to carry on politely.

Kanako and Arachnos told their own story, establishing that this Equestria was very, very different from the ones they were familiar with. For instance, this world's Rainbow Factory was not a shady corporation involved in subterfuge and corruption, but rather a recent addition to Equestria designed for war. They explained that their home Gensokyo had been attacked by the Nihilius Clan's Coronai branch (having mysteriously travelled to the future), and they were unable to repel the attack. Very few survived the Clan's assault, limited to mostly the Scarlet Devil Mansion crew. And even then, they had already lost Flandre. With nothing but vengeance left, SDM followed the Clan as they departed to destroy another world, leading them to Equestria. They were able to warn the Equestrian Royal Court of the Nihilius Clan's threat, and this lead to the Canterlot Accords. A treaty was signed between Equestria and the Gensokian survivors, with Princess Celestia and SDM representing their respective groups. Equestria agreed to recognize the survivors as citizens as long as they assisted with fending off the clan. To this end, under the guidance of Celestia, SDM, and Arachnos (who had discovered his knack for machinery) designed a floating fortress that was as much a factory as it was a fully operational battlestation.

Patchouli fused SDM's soul with this structure, though his original body was harbored within its walls for the times SDM wished to engage the Clan personally, as well as a safe home for his residents. Princess Celestia divided her royal guard up, turning the majority of it over to the newly-christiened Rainbow Factory since Equestria lacked a proper military of its own. SDM, now known as the Factory, then became the supreme commander of the Equestrian Rainbow Factory forces, and he threw himself at the Clan.

The Nihilius Clan did not escape Gensokyo without losses of their own, however. Of the original eleven members, only Vocus, the mage of Shadow, and the Steel Mage survived the fight. The latter then shortly abandoned his master for unknown reasons, leaving Vocus alone. Vocus sent for help, and in response a massive army of Clansmen was sent to Equestria to combat the Factory's own. This massive legion was commanded by several other Vocusi from other dimensions, forming the Council of Vocus. The original Vocus who originally called for help was given the name Vocus-Six.

The two forces then engaged in full-blown open combat, sparking the Equestrian-Nihilus War. Thanks to the Factory's assistance, Equestria managed to remain standing even as the Clan annihilated the rest of the world nation by nation. Though even so, the Clan had the advantage in numbers; able to replace any of their downed soldiers with replacements from other universes, while Equestria's pool of willing, able-bodied soldiers was distinctly finite.

With the introductions out of the way, the matter of the four new arrival's strange readings still remained. True or not, they were still making the Factory's sensors go wild with signs of Anathemus. Arachna was even called down to verify their story, but she seemingly had no memory of the events they described, and also could not sense the two Arachni as being of her Brood. They tried to suggest that perhaps Anathemus was doing it to punish them, but given the circumstances the Factory was unwilling to take any chances. He agreed to not outright murder them, but he did want them out of sensitive areas. He sent the four of them to the abandoned Crystal Empire where they could do no harm nor could harm come to them until the truth of the matter could be ascertained.

A Fatal Mistake
Executor, Olyn, Oarachnos, and Tarachnos spent several days in the empty, darkened Crystal Palace, and spent the majority of that time trying to make sense of their situation. They came to the conclusion that they hadn't been killed, seeing as they were all still in existence. Still, they were confused what He meant by "Begone" if not annihilation. They wondered if perhaps He had awoken again and destroyed Techquestria, and they decided to check.

Tarachnos opened a portal back to his home, and when they arrived they found nothing but a black world filled with dark, if somewhat familiar, shapes. Techquestria seemed to remain...in a form. It was dark, it was motionless, but it still seemed to exist. Vague shapes representing objects and ponies stood frozen in time, with blank features that were unresponsive to anything they did. They could not even be touched; if Olyn, Executor, Orachnos or Tarachnos tried, they simply passed right through. Even Mr. Hood remained static at his desk, unmoving and unhearing.

Unsure of what it meant, they returned to the newest Equestria, only to find a large detachment of the Factory's forces (including SDM himself) awaiting them. The Factory detected a portal straight to Nihility, which only confused the four realm walkers. Using this as clinching proof that they were indeed Anathemus, the Factory prepared to give the order to fire. He was joined by Arachna, who had decided to rid her world of those strange "imposters" she saw as personal insults to her and threats to Order. Just then, the Nihilius Clan arrived, and engaged the Factory's forces. While the bulk of the Clan held the Factory off, Vocus-Two appeared and told the four travelers to come with him to be safe.

With no other option, even if it was the Nihilius Clan, they chose to follow Vocus through a portal, where they soon found themselves teleported far away to a strange underground cave system. These caves were being used by the Clan as their central base, so far undetected by the Factory. They would not be under threat. Vocus went on to explain that the reason he saved the four of them was because he and the rest of the Clan picked up on Anathemus as well, and believed them all to be Gifts from the Dark One Himself.

Vocus said that the Nihilius Clan's belief system revolves around Anathemus' Dream, and that all worlds everywhere were a part of it. And like all dreams, it would have to end at some point. They believed that such a fate was unbearable, and found death to be a better alternative; to be unaware of the End of the Dream was to be spared the awful sensation of becoming less than nothing. Vocus quoted an ancient text that read, "For those in the Dream, the one called Nihilius shall become their Savior." He clarified that the "one" meant the Clan, acting in unison.

To help the Clan in their holy mission, Vocus claimed that Anathemus sent down special tools or "Gifts." With them resonating the power of the Dreamer, the Clan believed that that was their purpose; to help them in beating back Equestria and the Factory and saving the world. Olyn and Orachnos tried to explain that they weren't at all "Gifts," but Executor stopped them. The Clan was willing to bow to their every command, and Executor played along to buy them time. Orachnos caught on and urged the rest to play along as well.

The "Gifts" demanded to be shown a private room to rest, which was immediately granted. Now free from the Clan's watchful eye, the "Gifts" were able to discuss their next move without interruption.

An Impossible Feat
The "Gifts" knew that they would be discovered eventually, and they would have to act fast. The Vocusi were eager for them to begin leading their clan to victory, though they were told that the memories of the Gifts had been toyed with and were unaware of their purpose or even how to use their supposedly divine powers. The Vocusi volunteered to help train them, and the Gifts had managed to buy themselves only a couple of days at best before they began to insist on it. After that, their status as false prophets would be revealed and they would presumably be killed. Tarachnos lamanted this, repeating his thoughts that they were doomed.

The four Gifts were also able to take notice of some oddities about themselves, now able to have a moment to themselves. This included Executor's power supply that had suddenly become infinite. Its power only seemed to drain when it was watched, but after looking away for just a second or even blinking, it would jump back up to full. Tarachnos was disinterested.

Orachnos and Olyn made many suggestions of what to do, but none of them stuck. They were all shot down for their flaws. It wasn't until Executor decided to shift the focus on his friends that a viable option became apparent. Executor suggested that, with the Clan under their absolute authority, they could stage an escape attempt. This would make them appear to be enemies of the Clan, and to make the Clan agree all they had to do was say they were going to spy on the enemy. However, there was a cost: someone would have to remain behind. Because of the Factory's paranoia and already extreme distrust of the "Gifts," something would need to distract his anger. Executor volunteered to be that distraction. To make the escape more believable, Executor would be directing the Clan's faux pursuit of the others.

This was immediately objected against, as Orachnos and Olyn wanted Executor to be with them. He countered that unless they had a better idea, this was their only option. Orachnos tried to offer himself to remain behind, but Executor said that of everyone present, he was the one easiest to believe had fallen to darkness. The cover story would be that, after everything they had endured and the Factory's attitude on top of that, Executor decided to embrace his new authority, and would lead the Clan on a bloody campaign. This would direct all of the Factory's hatred towards him and away from the others, allowing them to remain in the protection of the Factory. Executor was confident in his plan, asking that who would know the Factory and how he would react better than himself?

Reluctantly, Olyn and Orachnos agreed. Tarachnos did not, saying he would remain behind too. Not because he wished to be with Executor, but because he wanted to die when the Clan found out. Having lost Techquestria, Tarachnos found no further point in continuing his own existence. By this time, Executor had finally had enough of Tarachnos' pessimism. Orachnos tried to explain that it was just tha natural Arachnos reaction, to which Executor replied that natural or not he still found it ear-grating.

He suggested that he and Tarachnos engage in a little roleplay, with Executor as Anathemus and Tarachnos as himself. Executor began to attack Tarachnos harshly, beating him and throwing him around the room, insulting him the whole time. Executor essentially turned everything Tarachnos said against him, agreeing with the latter's claims of being useless and powerless. He continued to laud this, saying it was the duty of all life to roll over and subject itself to the thumb of the mighty. That might makes right and that was the natural order of things. At first, Tarachnos simply accepted the insults and allowed himself to be beaten. But as the attacks grew more fierce and the insults more biting, Tarachnos began to fight back. Executor only increased the pressure, asking him what the point of fighitng was when the outcome was obvious. Tarachnos responded that it didn't matter; he would cotninue to fight even if it was hopeless out of the tiniest chance that he could win. Even if he couldn't, he would die knowing he gave Anathemus a fight. This was punctuated by a very strong attack that slammed Executor into the wall, heavily damaging him.

Tarachnos snapped out of his anger and apologized profusely to Executor, who was just glad Tarachnos had returned to his old self. Even Tarachnos was amazed at his own turnaround, along with both Orachnos and Olyn (and even the players themselves). Tarachnos had truly turned around, and meant it when he said he would keep fighting regardless of the odds. He agreed to the plan, and then Orachnos and Tarachnos went right to work on repairing Executor.

This was the unexpected finale to Season 2.

Episodes
As this was only retroactively counted as a season, there is no defined episode list.

Openings/Endings

 * None

Production Notes
This was the last season to have a free-form structure (though albeit the second half became much more rigid in its plot structure). This was due to a number of factors, not the least of which was an increase in activity and session count. Near the very end, starting around the introduction to Techquestria, sessions started to become more self-contained as well, resembling proto-episodes. To meet this increase in demand and going off previously established ideas, SDM laid down the first bare-bones outline for what he had in mind for the RP, though it was never detailed and the plot could still be offroaded.

This, in fact, happened several times, including the very start of the second season with the abrupt cancellation of Hellgate's original plan. Kanako then spontaneously introduced the Brother, which then drove the plot for several sessions. Following his final confrontation, Anathemus was disturbed, and SDM decided that the impending awakening of the Dark One made for a better story than what he had planned originally. Had he decided to resume Hellgate's plan, chances are high the RP would have ended much earlier with a battle against the revived Unicron. Following that, mirroring Hellgate's creation and the climax of Hellgate 2 Part I, SDM once again "lost control" of Hellgate as he channeled the Dark One, leading to the destruction of the first Equestria's copy, completely ending everything within it.

The RP went off the rails yet again after the party decided to bail from Escherland early, leading to the bizarre dimensional layers split. SDM managed to get it back on track and forced their hand in returning to Escherland, using the chaos that followed their first escape as discouragement from trying again. The story then picked up where it left off in SDM's plan, only for it to be subverted when they decided to fly up to escape N-Reimu. SDM's attempt to re-railroad them immediately after was also undone when they opted not to enter the Escherland Foyer again. By the time they reached the warped realms, SDM had essentially given up, and when the option to destroy the sky wall came up, SDM was prepared to either try another railroading technique or to just go off in an entirely new direction. The latter ended up happening.

Thankfully, SDM already had an understanding of what all their actions meant in-universe, having decided on it shortly before the Rift appeared. Using that as a base, SDM was able to expand it to excuse the sudden shift in tone. This more serious and rigid tone would persist throughout the rest of the RP, continuing into Season 3 and on to Season 4. This shift resulted in less nonsense and a significant decrease in borrowing from other franchises and a more gothic storyline with emphasis on SDM's more original content.

During this season, SDM's personal life began to experience problems, and the threat of becoming homeless became more and more real for him. As the situation deteriorated, SDM became less and less interested in working on his Mythos, until eventually everything except the Xat RP completely stopped. The Xat RP, due to the at-the-time low effort on his end, became both his only refuge and the only source of new content. It became a stress-relief and outlet for him.

Perhaps uncoincidentally, SDM also became more interested in horror around this time, explaining the dark and surreal turn the story took in the middle of the Techquestria arc. Dabbling in horror games such as Ib, they fueled his motivation and led to the strange world of Escherland. An undescribed traumatic event may have also played a part in this darker turn of events.

Of course once he actually became homeless the RP stopped as well, and was on hiatus for four months until he was in a new place and reconnected to the internet. This marked a turning point in the RP with a more serious approach to it from SDM. The hiatus and the new direction both are what defines the Season Two/Three split.

Trivia

 * The soundtrack for the indie-horror game Ib served as the primary inspiration for much of Escherland's imagery and events, hence its heavy usage during those arcs.
 * This season had the highest amount of "Off the Rails" moments in Shifting Worlds, bar none.
 * Nihilius (the Anathemite, not the Clan) made his technical first debut in this season. Even though he was unnamed and appeared only through his host (Reimu), his concept had been already fleshed out from the (still upcoming) RP of the same name and due to its troubled development SDM decided to include him in the story so that he wouldn't sit on the concept for years and years. This would start a trend of SDM introducing at-the-time unreleased characters and concepts early, as well as the reintroduction of older ideas that had since been re-worked (such as the Nihilius Clan).
 * In a bit of an ironic twist, roughly a month after introducing N-Reimu and her trademark eyes, SDM had an infamous meltdown after playing the game The Witch's House, where a specific image of the protagonist's face had a very bizarrely negative impact on him.
 * Like Season One before it, Season Two mirrors the development of The Hellgate Saga. Season Two more closely resembles Hellgate 2 Part I, with the return of Hellgate as the primary enemy. In the second half of the season, "dreams" become a subtle theme, which was a much more explicit element in H2P1. The very end of the season, starting with the new Equestria, also resembles the early parts of Hellgate 2 Part II.