Once again, I wish to make known my dislike for multiverses and time travel stories —
The Simpsons: 20th Television Animation and Gracie Films.
— That being said, I do actually like the general idea behind this story and I think I could get a lot of mileage out of “Kat vs. A Million Dunstanas.”
…’Dunstanae’?
Something weird is going on here, Dunstana Darkstone realises. This is her house, but it’s wrong. The furniture is on the wrong side of the room. And the couch is plaid, not polka dot.
In retrospect, maybe trying to see if she could kick Brorvonius’s Orb of Infinite Translocation over the house was a bad idea, because now Dunstana is quite sure where she’s been Translocated to.
Dunstana hears a voice.
“Dunstana? What happened to your hair? Why are you blonde? Does Mom know?”
She turns towards the speaker, a tall girl who looks almost familiar.
“Who are you?” Dunstana asks. “Why are you in my house?” She gasps. “Are you a burglar?”
Kat stares down at the strange—well, stranger— little pirate.
“Um, I’m Kat? You know, your sister? And I live here. In our house. Where we live. Together. Because we’re sisters.”
Dunstana, red-haired as usual, comes around the corner and into the room “Kat, what’s going on in here?” She glances towards the intruder. “Who’s that?”
Her eyes widen as realisation sets in.
“Hey! You’re me!”
“And you’re me!” the blonde Dunstana exclaims.
Kat’s gaze shifts slowly from the blonde Dunstana, to the regular Dunstana and back.
“What is going on here?” she exclaims.
The two Dunstanas shrug.
“Hey, Dunstana?” Kat asks.
“Yeah?” the two Dunstanas ask simultaneously.
“No, I meant my Dunstana. The red one,” Kat mutters.
“Right, from now on—” She points to the red-haired Dunstana. “—you’re Dunstana Red. And—” she points to the blonde Dunstana“—you’re Dunstana Gold. And I think we need to go see Scarlet. If anyone can tell us what the heck is going on here, it’s her.”
The blonde Dunstana smirks. “Gold is better than red,” she says.
“It is not!” regular Dunstana protests.
“Multiversal conjunction,” Scarlet Mendez declares.
Kat and the Dunstanas stare blankly at her.
Scarlet looks up from the pile of tomes on her desk in the University of Porthaven’s department of Magicology.
“Multiversal. Conjunction,” Scarlet repeats slowly.
Kat and the Dunstanas stare blankly at her.
“I won’t go into the details or all the magicological proofs,” Scarlet says. “The short version is that most serious Magicologists agree that there are at least 447 parallel universes that exist in the cosmos.”
“Four hundred…” Dunstana Red repeats.
“… and forty-seven?” Dunstana Gold concludes.
Scarlet nods.
“There are 447 Dunstanas out there?” Kat exclaims, shaken to the very depths of her soul.
Scarlet nods.
“Now, these parallel universes differ from each other in almost infinite ways,” she continues. “Maybe it’s something minor like Dunstana Gold being blonde. Or something more major like Dunstana Gold having a brother instead of a sister. Or maybe something very, very different: like a universe where Dunstana has become undisputed lord and master of the world.”
“Cool,” the two Dunstanas say in unison.
“Not cool,” Kat mutters.
“Now, for the most part, these parallel universes remain self-contained and separate,” Scarlet continues to explain. “You know, like little bubbles floating through the cosmos. But sometimes, they cross close enough to allow magic energy, or even monsters and people, to travel from one of those bubbles into the next.”
“So, how am I going to get home?” Dunstana Gold asks.
“We’ll figure it out, honey, I promise,” Scarlet says.
“In the meantime, I think we need a cool team name,” Dunstana Red says.
“Yeah!” Dunstana Gold agrees.
Dunstana Red thoughtfully rubs her chin. “How about, um— the Alliance of Dunstanas Across the Multiverse?”
“We can call it ADAM!” Dunstana Gold offers.
Dunstana Red nods eagerly. “That’s awesome!”
“Right,” Dunstana Gold says, adjusting her hat. “Alliance of Dunstanas Across the Multiverse—”
“—move out!” Dunstana Red concludes.
“Shouldn’t it be Dunstanae?” Scarlet mutters.
So, basically, Dunstana is Anna from Fire Emblem…
Fittingly, Engage Anna is also a ten-year-old redhead easily likened to a gremlin of some sort. Though, I wrote this one before Engage was even announced.
Anyway, more short scenes here. This week’s chapter here:
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