Dubiously CanonThe Prologue is the first segment of The Homestuck Epilogues, and serves as the start of both the Meat and Candy routes. It consists of three chapters, and a title page, in the style of an entry on the fan fiction website Archive of Our Own.
Synopsis[]
- John experiences an ominous dream (in anime) about the black hole in the Furthest Ring permanently killing ghosts and destroying paradox space, and promptly awakens. The date is April 13, and it is his twenty-third birthday. He sees that Rose has been urgently texting him and calls her to find she is suffering from debilitating, overwhelming visions and headaches. Rose asks him to visit her at her apartment.
- John arrives at Rose's apartment and discovers she is taking a large number of pills to manage her condition - though she is quick to deny that she has fallen back into substance abuse. She reveals that the
was destroyed by a black hole, which has stripped Jade of her first guardian powers, and asks John to use his retcon powers to return to canon and defeat Lord English. - She explains that there are three types of canon that events can fall into: "inside canon" (the events of Homestuck before the heroes enter Universe C), which is absolutely true; "outside canon" (where Universe C exists), which is conditionally true; and "non-canon," which is absolutely untrue. While the protagonists now reside outside of canon, there are still essential events inside canon that need to occur - like English's defeat - for Earth C to maintain its conditional truth and continue existing. If those events do not happen, Earth C will lose its legitimacy and undergo "dissipation," a process of "forgetting" that will cause the universe to become conceptually unraveled.
- John's objective is to load the Ultimate weapon so it can be used against English, however he will not receive any help from the other Earth C kids, who lost their ability to influence canon when they entered the victory door. Instead, John must seek out younger, more relevant versions of the kids from a 'dysfunctional' moment in their adventure. Rose gives him a letter with instructions to follow and retires to her bedroom. John then receives a text from Roxy.
- At the Carapace Kingdom, Roxy and Calliope have invited John over for a picnic. He and Roxy discuss how the Lalondes' relationship became strained after Rose married Kanaya, but in his thoughts John cannot help but wonder about Roxy and Calliope's ambiguously romantic relationship, and whether Roxy still has any romantic feelings for him. Calliope interrupts to bring up John's mission to defeat English (which Rose has only told Calliope, Roxy, and Dirk about), stating that he is free to choose whether or not to go, and she and Roxy will support his decision either way. John struggles to make a decision, becoming overwhelmed with regret for the years he wasted doing nothing on Earth C. Noticing his nervous, sweating appearance, Calliope offers him lunch, giving him a choice between meat and candy.
Trivia[]
- The fact that John was “dreaming in anime”, seeing the events of Act 7, is a reference of its unique drawing style that slightly resembles anime.
