Machinations of the Worlds

by SoraPiroB

Small Talk

“Lady Everstar, dinner is served.” The maid removed the covers from the platters of food before bowing low and retreating to just behind her mistress' seat.

“My, this looks lovely,” Twilight said, eyeing the meal before her, the table covered in strange new delicacies. The Evening Kingdom had a recent upswing in trade with other foreign nations after the conclusion of the Evening Rebellion, the truce between Twilight and Celestia relieving tension across Equestria. Due to this, what once used to be a rare commodity was now a fairly easy to come by luxury. Now anypony in the Evening Kingdom could sample goods from faraway lands without having to give up their life's savings.

As she took the first bite, she failed to notice the maid silently moving closer. Closing her eyes to contemplate the flavor of her meal, she didn't see the knife as it moved around from behind her and pressed itself to her throat. She opened her eyes in shock and made to turn her head when the knife was dragged sideways and gut a deep gash across her throat, spilling blood down her front. The guards yelled as they moved to detain the assassin, while Twilight stumbled out of her chair and held a hoof up to her neck.

Feeling a sudden surge of energy within her body, she quickly teleported herself into the bowels of the regia, into a specially-reinforced room that absorbed ambient magic. Coughing heavily as she choked on her own blood, she staggered into the middle of the room, collapsing as she reached the center of a magic circle drawn into the floor. Rolling onto her back, she gasped as the energy that was building up inside her suddenly burst forth, renewing her body as the excess was wicked away by the magic circle. Despite all the precautions, there was still enough force to cause the walls to groan and rumble, deep cracks climbing up the walls.

Instead of the usual warmth that signaled the regeneration of her body, she felt an odd coldness, and was suddenly swallowed by a black void. She opened her eyes wide in surprise, and twisted around to look at her surroundings. The darkness melted away and was replaced by the inside of the library, the place she once called home. Sitting in her seat in front of the fireplace was Mother, looking at her expectantly.

“You were assassinated,” she said simply, watching as Twilight took the seat opposite her. “You should be more careful about who you employ. But that is not why I've brought you here. There has been a disturbance in the worlds.”

“Is it the Shadow?” Twilight asked, frowning slightly. She had been the subject of dozens of assassination attempts in the past, this being the only one to have succeeded. Usually she would simply die of old age, which has happened three times already. But none of those times had she been called on by Mother, so something significant must have happened to warrant this meeting.

The Aether shook her head and looked toward the door to the basement, pressing her hooves together in thought. “It is not the Shadow that haunts the realm of Creation, but it is destruction nonetheless. No, what has happened is that every permutation of your world has been under the threat of an entity known as the Black Tide. It has been appearing in each world and spreading like a plague, breaking down each reality to its foundation and using it to expand itself.

“I lack the strength to eliminate the Tide myself, since it has been in far to many worlds for me to combat at once, and I also cannot find its source. It has found a scrap of the Shadow somehow and used it to shield itself from my sight.

“But your other selves, they have noticed this threat. Even now they are trying to fight back. But they still lack the strength. Only if they can work together, can they defeat this plague upon Creation.”

“So what am I supposed to do? If the other me's aren't having any luck with the Tide, what can I do about it? The only thing I have going for me is not being able to die. Should I try to get in touch with my other selves and work on the problem together?” Twilight frowned, already trying to work out how difficult it would be to create contact across different realities.

“That should be sufficient. But you must work quickly, because this entity has already devoured many worlds, and grows faster each time. Now go; I shall give you knowledge of how to open doorways into other worlds without damaging the Veils that separate them from each other.” She lightly touched Twilight's horn with a hoof, and with a jolt Twilight found herself waking up in her bed.

After getting up and checking herself in the mirror, she found that she was young again, her bangs receded a couple inches, and thankfully not ginger. She had an irrational fear that one of these days she'd die and come back as a redhead. Making a quick check that she had all her limbs and that her kidneys were the right color, she teleported into her study and began preparing for the journey ahead of her.

*~*~*

While the newly-crowned princess and her predecessors convened in Celestia's private study for Nyx's instruction on the duties of being a princess of Equestria, the rest of Twilight's friends waited around a large table and helped themselves to tea and biscuits. All of them were very proud of Nyx, having watched her grow up from a little filly to the mare she was today. They were certain that she would do well in serving her fellow ponies, no matter how tough things could get.

But despite this, the mood was brought down by the appearance of the other Twilight and the news of a world lost to a mysterious ooze known as the Black Tide. They were afraid that something like that could happen to their own world, and felt somewhat hopeless after discovering that not even the Elements of Harmony would be able to affect it. Even so, they were determined to find a solution in the hopes that they could be prepared if the worst should occur.

“What if we just scooped it all up and dumped it in the ocean?” Rainbow Dash proposed, hovering in the air above the table. She had been sitting at the table for a total of ten minutes before she got restless and started doing slow laps around the room.

“But what about all the little fishies? They might try to eat the ooze and get sick,” Fluttershy said, frowning behind her long mane.

“I say we should just give it lots and lots of cake, and then it won't be hungry anymore!” Pinkie Pie grinned, content that her suggestion was a perfectly reasonable solution. “What do you think, Clockwork?” She looked toward Rarity, and everypony else in the room looked towards her.

“Uh, Pinkie, there's nopony else here named Clockwork. It's just us girls.” Applejack frowned and looked around as she searched for the mystery pony, her eyes skipping over the mechanical pony standing off to the side of the table behind Rarity.

“Of course there is. He's right there! She continued to look at Rarity, but pointed her hoof off to her left, directly at Clockwork. At this point the pony in question began to stare at Pinkie, befuddled as to how she was able to see through Twilight's illusion.

Pinkie got up and stood behind Applejack, grasping her head between her hooves. “Pinkie, what in the hay are you doing?” Applejack demanded, trying to turn to look at her friend, but she was held firm.

“He's right there, in the corner of your eye, just look,” Pinkie said, slowly turning Applejack's head toward Rarity.

“What exactly am ah s'posed to be looking—woah!” The orange mare jerked in Pinkie's grip, alarmed at the sudden appearance of a copper pony standing beside Rarity. “What in tarnation is that? Was that here the whole time?” Disturbed by her friend's sudden reaction, Rarity turned to her right, trying to spot what could have spooked the farm mare.

“What is it dear? What are you looking at?” Rarity waved a hoof in the air beside her, trying vainly to try to spot the invisible pony.

“What are you going on about? I don't see anything,” Rainbow hovered above Rarity, peering at the seemingly-empty space beside her friend.

“Come here, RD,” Applejack said, and wrapped a foreleg around the cyan mare's shoulders, pointing to Rarity. “Look at Rarity, then try to peek to her right out of the corner of your eye.” Rainbow complied, squinting as she tried to concentrate. Her jaw dropped as she too spotted Clockwork, then zoomed over the table to where she had seen it. But as soon as she blinked, it disappeared, and she twisted her head to try to catch it again.

“That's just freaky. Why can't I look at it directly?” Rainbow inched closer and gently poked the mechanical pony with a hoof, jumping back quickly as if it would attack at the provocation.

“It's a perception filter,” came a voice from the doorway, and everypony turned to look at the princesses entering the room. Twilight was frowning slightly, concerned as to how somepony was able to see through one of the most powerful illusion spells she knew. “It tricks your mind into thinking that the enchanted object isn't there. It's a complicated spell but easier to maintain.”

With a faint glow, the spell was released and the clockwork pony faded into view beside Rarity. Rarity and Fluttershy gasped, but the other princesses were not as surprised, having already been able to see it due to their powerful magical perception.

“What is it?” Fluttershy asked, peeking over the top of the table, having been startled by its sudden appearance.

“I am Clockwork. I am a mechanical pony built with the intention of creating a body that does not get sick or die.” It turned to look at her, and she promptly ducked back under the table.

Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow at this. “Interesting. I once had a student that tried to replicate immortality in regular ponies, but I told him to halt his research. Unfortunately he lost his life during a failed experiment involving foul creatures known as Fae Sprites.”

“Well that's awful,” Rarity said, frowning slightly at the automaton. “But does that mean he kept researching immortality in secret and came up with this?” She gestured with a hoof.

“No, he and his friend built this well before I told him to stop, but it never did work. I wonder what happened.” Celestia peered closely at Clockwork, who simply looked back at her with a neutral expression.

“Magic lightning,” it said simply, and left it at that.

“Well anyway,” Nyx said, getting bored with the conversation that she herself had yesterday. “Now that my lesson is done, why don't we figure out what to do with the other Twilight Sparkle?” The mare in question was staying in the medical ward of the palace, being treated for the various injuries she sustained during her fight against the Black Tide.

“Well, we can't exactly send her back home,” Applejack said, frowning. “Not while that Tide thing is still there. Gosh, how do you beat something like that?”

“I have a plan,” Twilight said. She turned to Clockwork. “Do you think you could take me to other worlds? Ones with other Equestrias so that I could meet my other selves?”

“What are you planning?” Luna asked, looking at the lavender alicorn with interest. Celestia had a knowing look in her eye and smiled.

“Twilight Sparkle is one of the smartest ponies of her time. She can find the answer to any problem she sets her mind to.” She smiled at her student, who blushed at the compliment.

“But what does that have to do with meeting herself?” Pinkie asked, her head tilted slightly as she thought about a room full of Twilight Sparkles.

Something in Rarity's mind clicked and she muffled a gasp. “They do say that two heads are better than one. More would be even better, wouldn't you think so? And with a mind like Twilight's, all of those heads could figure out how to get rid of that horrid Tide in no time.”

Twilight smiled and nodded in agreement. “Exactly.”

“But since they're all Twilight, wouldn't they all just come up with the same answer?” Applejack said, frowning slightly in doubt.

“They are all similar to me, but it is safe to assume that they all have different experiences, and would approach the problem in different ways.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Fluttershy nodded slightly as she considered her friend's logic.

“So, can you do it?” Twilight looked at Clockwork expectantly.

“I believe I should be able to, by using this,” the mechanical pony said, holding up the cracked amethyst brooch.

Rarity gasped as she spotted the trinket, eyes gleaming. “My, what a wonderful brooch! It looks so much like the one I made for my Princess Platinum costume for the Hearth's Warming Eve play. Where did you find this?” She glanced at Clockwork as she reached a hoof toward it, and plucked it gently from its grasp when it nodded.

“It was at the bottom of a river in the last world I arrived in,” Clockwork watched as the fashionista lifted the brooch in her magic and inspected it closely.

“It's a bit damaged,” she said, pointing out the crack along the middle. “I should be able to fix it for you.” Rarity focused on the stone and the glow around it brightened, the gem slowly mending. After a few moments it was finished, and a sudden spark of light from within caused her to jump. “Dear me, it seems to have been enchanted with some kind of spell.”

“Princess Platinum had a habit of enchanting her jewelry. She would embed passive magic in the stones that would perform various tasks for her so that she would not have to expend any of her own energy,” Princess Luna rolled her eyes slightly. “That must have been used to store some of her extra magic so that it could power the other spells.”

“Well it must hold a lot of magic inside of it to be able to create tears in reality,” Clockwork said, taking back the brooch. It turned to Twilight and gave a slight nod. “Whenever you're ready we can go.”

“Alright. I just need to talk to the other Twilight and see if she would like to come with us,” Princess Twilight said.

“And I need to say good-bye to my friends,” Nyx spoke up, smiling widely. “I can't wait to see other worlds.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at her daughter. “No one said that you would be going.”

“Well, no one said that I wasn't,” the black alicorn stuck her tongue out cutely. “Please? It's not like it'll be dangerous, we're just going to talk with the other you's. And even if I'm a princess now I don't have any pressing responsibilities at the moment.”

Her mother gave an exacerbated sigh but smiled. “Alright, you can come. But this is a business trip. You're going on every meeting.”

“Fine,” Nyx smiled and hugged Twilight before going off to the guest chambers to begin packing what little they needed.

“Are you certain about this?” Princess Celestia looked at her student. “There are many worlds besides our own, and there's no telling if you'll be able to find your way back home.”

“Oh, I never thought about that,” Twilight frowned. “But I'm sure we'll figure it out.”

“That will not be a problem. I have memorized the signature of the Veil of this world. I can find it easily from within the Void.” Clockwork lightly tapped its head with a mechanical arm.

“That's that, then,” Applejack said, before going up to Twilight and giving her a firm hug. “Y'all be safe now, y'hear? Don't go running into trouble in every world you visit.”

The lavender alicorn laughed. “No promises.” She smiled as the rest of her friends gathered around for a group hug.

The other princesses looked on, smiling at the open display of love and friendship. They were positive that if anypony could figure out a way to save the world, it would be Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Note:

The first part is about Twilight from Dusk's Dangerous Game.

Now, onwards!