It's been twenty-one years since Twilight Sparkle and her friends visited the alternate world of Equestria-V, wherein their lives and the fate of the entire multiverse hung in the balance. Though things have changed at home since their return—including accepting their clones from that alternate world into their own—things have generally settled down, for the most part, and that adventure is now long behind them.
Except for Rarity, who left a piece of herself in that other world and still longs to go back, no matter how impossible that might seem. However, a spell gone awry gives her—as well as Apple Bloom and Flurry Heart—the opportunity to make things right, and to see the ramifications of things that have happened since Rarity was last in that other world.
Edited/co-authored by Devnator, who also served as a creative consultant. Cover art by Starlight Spark, as usual.
This story is no longer considered canon to the original CRISIS: Equestria timeline.
Woo! New story! Busy tonight, but will start it during break at work tomorrow.
I’m still reading through the first story but I’m looking forward to reading this!
Once more unto the breach!
AUGH.
I will get through the drafts before this catches up... I WILL.
-GM, master of catchekan.
Okay be Pony. One more time, from the top.
Now who could this be?
A moment of silence for the magmaberries.
That would be fun though.
This is still a very, very silly name.
Behold, EXPOSITION.
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
Clearly, this is the most healthy of villain relationships.
They desire magmaberry smoothies.
And yes, I will be going through this as it updates. Hopefully.
don't worry, I won't be spoiling nothing.
-GM, master of wait double negative.
Curious on what happens next
Flurry heart taught by all the luminaries of Harmony, just can't help herself, can she?
Any fictional character who lives long enough will figure this out.
As mentioned elsewhere, I appreciate 2-18’s practicality and ease of being twisted with “logic”
Still of the opinion that Kauldron is a BIT too over the top with the advances. It’s a bit… much.
-GM, master of knives.
Wow, it actually happened.
If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?
I am upset that such an excellent story is getting such small view counts.
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Basically just relying on word of mouth and Equestria Daily at this point, but I've done what I can.
I agree! Though I might be a tad biased
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised there are changelings. What's honestly surprising is that the Gargantuans are the ones filling their roll... that's the way the world works, I suppose. Aculeata's definitely this world's Chrysalis-but-good, though that begs the question of who is Thorax? But would he even matter, since it seems like there's no reason for the changelings to be feared and so no reason for him to usurp her... though I guess this could work if not-Thorax is the evil to Aculeata's goodness? Seems unlikely.
Wonder if there's an equivalent to the windigoes here? Probably not, since they didn't seem to pop up while Silvertongue was still in power... though there was still some twisted version of harmony going on, so maybe they can still exist anyway? Oh, maybe there's an equivalent to Tartarus, too. No idea what it'd be doing, though. I have to wonder if there's also an equivalent of Discord out there... Silvertongue? No, he was probably more of a Tirek... But he's dead anyway, so it doesn't matter. Nihila's the one I'd feel most comfortable in giving Discord-equivalency to, even though she's more a part of the balance instead of a disruptor of it... hmm. One thing's for sure, this world has a much different definition of harmony than normal Equestria. Maybe. Probably.
I've observed that you have a much more fast-paced writing style now. It's not a change I entirely like, as I do prefer the more contemplative pace of old Crisis... though I can understand why. Styles change over time, and there certainly was a lot of time, and I can't fault you for going with whatever's more comfortable for you. Hell, the fact that you're even active is a miracle in and of itself, and you're putting out so much content, too... maybe I shouldn't complain. The only sour note is how few readers you have! Why aren't more people reading this, Faust-dammit!
Had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
Is anyone working on Aculeata artwork yet?
Oh, you'd be surprised, Bloom. From what I heard, there's a whole civilization of Sweetie Belles out there, goin' and doin' Sweetie Belle-ish things. Heck, I think they even offer a dental plan!
It's nice to see the Elements' counterparts trying to make up for their pasts. I suppose that's all one really can do; move forward, better yourself, and help as many as you can while you're doing so. I hope they can be content, at least.
Likewise, I'm glad to see Weaver being given the opportunity to live a new life. No-one should have to go through such pain, least of all when so young. The scars might remain forever, but hopefully he can learn to move on from them.
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I don't have any new artwork planned at the moment.
Pft. Silly pony names.
I'm sorry you're getting so views on your story, GanonFLCL. I think it's an excellent story.
I do have a question that has been bothering me for quite a while, in your name what does FLCL stand for?
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FLCL is an anime series that I was a huge fan of when I was younger and first created this username (which was originally just my gamertag on XBox Live).
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You don't mean Fooly Cooly do you?
Wow, I haven't thought about that anime years.
Hands don't go on ponies! Silly.
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Good catch!
They sure goofed up big.
I confess I was really nervous as to whether something was going to go horribly wrong in the meeting, but Lockwood handled it pretty well all things considered.
I do love how you described Lockwood when he revealed his eye. I hadn't thought too much about till it was pointed out here.
This was quite the chapter.
And poor Flurry at the end. Hopefully she tells her friends about what she saw in the dream.
And hopefully that the dream does not affect her sanity. Like some other, certain characters in the early chapters of the story.
Is it just me, or does this sound fishy?
A fireplace? Which brings up a concerning question I have about zebra Nation.
How do they grow food, and even have trees at the South Pole of a planet?
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Not all planets are the same, and Equestria-V's south pole, while very cold and covered with snow and ice, is more akin to Alaska or Russia in climate and terrain than it is to Antarctica. They have trees and plants that can survive in such an environment just as our world does, both real (such as spruce) and fictional (like the snowfruit trees mentioned in this very chapter), and for other crops Zeb'ra'den maintains a large greenhouse. Zebras also utilize purified snow and ice (which is just water, essentially) as ingredients in food.
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Okay. It's just my lack of imagination, all I can see is the vast empty Tundra of Antarctica in my head.
Once more unto the breach, I suppose. At least they're already in good and semi-familiar hooves.
Also, nothing was mentioned about Symphony, but I'm getting a real strong feeling she's related to Don Virtuoso...
I figured those two were suspicious.
Man, that was one twisted kirin. Thank god he's out of the way.
Also, it's fortunate that Two-Eighteen is hyper-logical to the point of being relatively easily manipulated.
...Wow, the one of the least things I was expecting was for Two-Eighteen to turn like that so soon.
He smiled! Weaver actually smiled and spoke on his own volition!
Quite literally, in fact.
Oh, the burns. Oh, the sick, sick burns.
Ya' done good, Weaver. Ya' done good.
Although...why, and I don't have any solid basis for thinking this other than tropes but, why do I have the feeling something bad is going to happen to him later...?
This....this complicates things.
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/262/180/5da.png
Man...how far Lockwood's come in twenty some years, from a small, somewhat meek guy in Pandemonium just trying to make a positive difference to a King managing a nation with the power to wipe out entire armies at a single command, and using his injury as a psychological tool. It's surreal.
I could tell right off the bat he hated doing that. He's a good guy. I just wonder how much this is going to affect him psychologically in the future.
I've been thinking about Venture and how she seems to conveniently know an awful lot about things ever since roughly 4-5 chapters after her first appearance. I have a little crack theory about that abut I think I'll hold it to myself for now.
Good to see that many important characters are still alive, for the time being. Especially Zircon.
That was quite the big nasty beastie.
The happy reunion has finally come! Huzzah!
I'm looking forward to how Rarity performs during the upcoming battle. It's been twenty-one years. I think she's more than likely learned a thing or two that might be beneficial.
You forgot the "i".
...Yeah, things just went from 0 to 60 to 100 in a real fuckin' hurry. At least the fleet seems to be out of the way.
I am so glad Zircon is still good. I am very much looking foward to him finally meeting Rarity again. Venture has been growing on me. I think she is Harmony myself. I probably wrong, but there seems to be a lot of little hints at it or I could be miss reading them. Very much enjoying these chapters.
I knew it. I knew it from early on that she was Harmonia in disguise. The time, placement, and breadth of knowledge on just about everything in a lot of situations just seemed too convenient. Kind of didn't expect the reveal until maybe a little later but eh...things are going nuts right now.
I hope Weaver's going to be okay.
I really love the story. It is good to see that the series (or the mainline) was able to be completed as it is.
This one was especially good for showing how much things changed in the Equestria V universe, for better and for worse.
I haven't got the chance to read the prequel in its entirety yet, so that should be fun.
There is one question in all of this that I do have:
Who is the creature that Fluttershy is dating? All I remember is that Rarity hints that Fluttershy might be dating someone who is not a pony, though I don' t recall if more was said in-story.
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I purposefully left it ambiguous so that readers could make their own conclusion, and never intended to reveal who it is. Maybe she hooked up with Discord after all? Maybe she and Zecora got closer? Maybe she's dating a someone totally new? You decide
Ah yes, my favorite CMC member: BLOOM