//------------------------------// // 9 - Mechanics // Story: Reflections // by RQK //------------------------------// The library remained silent around them. Twilight Sparkle stood her ground, but she trembled on the inside. A million thoughts raced through her head, most of which concerned the mare who stared back at her. There was just no way she could be there. Not now. There was no reason she should be there. Crystal Faire chuckled. “Remarkable work, Twilight Sparkle. But I would expect this much from you.” Twilight swallowed. “Crystal Faire… what are you doing here?” “You’re going to have to forgive me. I just… happened to be looking around. This caught my eye.” Twilight briefly glanced at her own work. “That? I don’t… What are you really here for?” Crystal went wide-eyed and backpedaled. “No no, I mean it. I came here specifically to look at this.” Twilight felt some of her muscles relax but she kept a firm footing all the same. “You’re… not here to fix this timeline?” Crystal shook her head and turned toward the board again. “No. Not at all. I came here for this.” She glanced over her withers. “I promise.” Twilight held her words. Her raised eyebrow and incredulous frown remained unfazed. Finally, she used her forehoof to usher out a long sigh. “Alright, fine. I’ll take your word for it. But… I don’t get it. I never thought that I would see you again.” “Funnily enough, I thought the same thing. And I’d usually have forgotten by this point. Truth is…” Crystal looked back with flushed cheeks. “I… well… I became worried about you.” Twilight felt her own cheeks go red, but her frown persisted. “Really?” Crystal nodded. Twilight flipped her book shut and left it on the table as she trotted toward the board. “I want to believe you. I really do. Part of me does.” Crystal raised an eyebrow. “But…?” Twilight sighed. “I don’t know. I guess… I kinda see where you’re getting at. I… haven’t been all that sure what’s real and what isn’t…” She shook her head and averted her gaze. “I’m not sure if anypony I know is as I know them. I’m thinking that they aren’t. And you know thousands of other versions of me. You know thousands of other versions of everypony, I guess.” Crystal chuckled. “Yes, that pretty much sums it up. I find it hard to have meaningful relationships with anypony because of that.” The two remained silent. Twilight shrugged. “But I guess no other Twilight has experienced what I have, huh?” Crystal chuckled. “True. Very true. That’s something we experienced. But…” She turned back to the board. “That… used to be true, but not anymore.” “Hmm?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I mean, this…” Crystal rapped the board. “You’re right. Differentiation is a thing. I dropped you off, the timeline split and differentiated… And there are other timelines where you have undertaken this same work after I dropped you off.” “Infinitely many timelines,” Twilight finished. “Exactly. And… there were some timelines where you got a bit further than you are now.” She motioned at the conclusions. “I mean, everything that you did commit on, you got right. But…” Crystal stared into the distance and eventually pressed her hoof against her chin. “That’s odd…” Twilight’s body froze. “Odd? Uh oh, Crystal…” Crystal continued scratching her chin for several moments and her muzzle twitched a few times. “Uh, what the hay? I said there were other timelines… and they’re all differentiated timelines from after I dropped you off. I, uh… can’t find any of them anymore.” “Uh… where did they go?” Twilight tremulously asked. “I… have some ideas. I wonder if… Hmmm… I mean… timeline mutability is also a thing. You got that right as well.” Crystal scratched her head as she continued staring at the board. “I… think that might have factored into what happened. I mean… they were in a weird state to begin with,” she mumbled. Twilight frowned. “Well, that’s not terribly illuminating, but… okay. Should I be worried?” Crystal shook her head. “No, no. I think it’s just mechanics that even I was not aware of, and…” Twilight let out a breath that she did not know that she had been holding. “Well,” Crystal said as she sprang up and clapped her hooves together, “either way, I take that back. You were and still are the only Twilight in the entire multiverse who has gone through what you have.” “Huh, that’s interesting.” Twilight scratched her head. “But how exactly does that work? I don’t get it.” Crystal shrugged and floated some of Twilight’s papers over. She shuffled through them, reading them one at a time. “Well, regardless, you’ve been getting pretty into the multiverse problem so… I was thinking I could fill in some of the gaps for you. Because, honestly,” she paused to scrutinize one of the papers in particular, “you’ve… already thought of some things which never occurred to me.” For the first time since Crystal reappeared, Twilight cracked a smirk. “Oh ho ho. Is that right?” Crystal went red in the face and puffed her cheeks. “Well… I mean, you always had a knack for this sort of thing. I’m not as intellectually capable of these things as you are...” She held up one of Twilight’s papers which contained some instructions labeled Rapid Status Change Filter. “Seriously, something like this could have made my life a great deal easier.” Twilight trotted over, her smirk growing wider with each step. “Hmmm, well, what can I say? Nonetheless, I think I’ll take you up on that offer. Actually—” she stopped in front of Crystal with her eyes full of stars, “—I want to know as much as I can about it.” Crystal chuckled. “I could give you a peek if you want. We could chat while I work.” “You mean…” Twilight tilted her head, “go to other timelines?” “If you want. It’s up to you.” “Well, how long would we be gone?” Crystal smirked. “You’d be back before even an instant passes here.” “Before an instant, huh?” Twilight stroked her chin and nodded. “Sounds like a deal.” “So be it.” Crystal drew in close and motioned for Twilight to draw close in return. “Now, let’s see if I can do this properly…” Twilight stood up straight and mentally steeled herself for whatever came next. Crystal Faire shifted. Twilight’s world folded together. All her senses collapsed into a single point, and for a moment, Twilight herself did not exist. Reality folded back out and her senses returned all at once; she felt something fluffy underhoof and the air felt nice and cool. Twilight looked up and saw the infinite night sky with millions of stars and a bright full moon. She looked immediately below her and finally recognized the fluffy feeling as standing on a cloud. Crystal, who stood right by her, adjusted her cloak and looked over. “Made it in one piece?” Twilight nodded. “I’m all here.” “That’s good. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do it.” Twilight stood up straight and started toward the edge of the cloud. “Where are we? When are we?” Crystal followed suit. “Our first stop. This is a key point in time.” Twilight reached the edge of the cloud and looked over the side. She spotted a tall structure made of crystal. It reached toward the heavens and ended in a single sharp point, and the base of it stood on four legs. An entire crystal city stretched out from there with several streets arranged into a six-pointed star-like pattern. “The Crystal Empire,” Twilight said. She squinted, trying to see the city more clearly. “Are those… tents? And lights?” She lent her ear toward some cacophony down below. “And… is that… music?” “This is the night after King Sombra’s defeat. The festivities are still on.” Crystal leaned forward with a dastardly grin on her face and whispered, “And I know what deed my parents just finished doing.” Twilight blushed and averted her gaze. “Oh, you don’t say?” Crystal threw her head back and laughed. “Uhhh, you said that this was a key point in time?” Crystal nodded and plopped down on the cloud. “I did. And it is. Here, take a seat,” she said, patting the spot right beside her, “you’ve been up all day.” Twilight nodded and took a seat as well. The two watched the festivities from atop the cloud. Ponies looked like dots weaving around each other and occasionally stopping to mingle. The sounds, while dispersed and unclear, gave hints of a lively tune. “I… I determined that,” Twilight said, “in the timeline that I’ve been in these past few days… everything up through King Sombra is how I remember it.” “That’s right. And, actually, that’s a constant. It’s like… this moment is the focal point of the observable multiverse. This, and everything before it, is constant across every timeline that I can see and access.” Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re sure about that?” “Positive.” “That’s strange, I guess. There has to be some timeline out there where this doesn’t happen.” Crystal snorted. “Well, if there is, then I can’t see it.” She leaned over and whispered, “I like to think it exists, but it really doesn’t matter because I can’t go there anyway.” The melodic tones down below faded and were replaced by thunderous applause and cheers. Some lights flickered and shifted into cooler hues, and soon enough, the music started all over again albeit at a subdued tempo. “It’s… strange,” Crystal started. “I can’t go back before this moment. I… don’t understand why that is.” “I’d imagine that’s something that you’ve thought about quite a bit, huh?” Crystal rested her head on her forelegs and drew her eyes up and down the streets. “I’ve often thought it might be tied to me. This could be the first moment of my existence. Either way, even when you’re as traveled as I am… the whole multiverse is still strange.” Twilight laid down as well. “Yes. Yes it is.” They continued watching the crystal ponies as their paths waltzed from stall to stall. The song below mixed with whistling air which provided them enough to listen to. “I would suspect that you’ve been pretty busy adjusting in these past few days,” Crystal said as she drew circles in the cloud. “Yes… It’s been a little bit difficult. But… I thought you would have an idea of it. I’m sure you’ve gone through it at some point.” Crystal hummed in response. “Although,” Twilight chuckled, “I figured you would know already. You can see the past, present, and future, right? I’m sure you looked.” “Ehhhhh,” Crystal shrugged, “I saw it but didn’t really pay attention to it.” Twilight frowned. “Oh.” Crystal stared into space for a few moments and then chuckled. “Well, I’m up to speed now. This thing with you playing a zompony when Rainbow Dash replaced the Filly Guide cookies…” She raised an eyebrow. “What exactly was that about?” Twilight giggled and made a shooing motion. “Oh, you know, that’s just something that happened.” Crystal nodded. “In your home timeline, I guess?” “Yes… It happened.” “I… I guess I’d like to hear more about what it was like. From you.” Twilight lifted her head and met Crystal’s eyes. Crystal looked back with a certain shine in her eyes. It was the sort of shine that she had not before seen in Crystal’s eyes but had seen all the time in Flurry Heart’s. For just a moment, despite Crystal’s matured appearance and despite her scars, Twilight could clearly see her niece. And so she sat up and smiled. “Sure.” * * * The two of them stared at the daytime sky. A light wind blew across the Equestrian plains. The grass around them, which reached halfway up their legs, swayed and danced in the breeze. “It’s a nice day out,” Twilight said. “I could stay here a while.” Crystal chuckled but shook her head and lit her horn. “Unfortunately, business is business.” The sun, which hung high in the sky, skidded toward the horizon. The sky changed colors from blue to orange, to red, and then, finally, to a bluish-purplish color as the sun disappeared and the moon appeared on the opposite horizon. The moon rose high into the sky and then swerved toward a position not along the usual path. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked. “I am… using the moon to shield this world from a meteor storm.” Twilight looked up, watching it with a raised eyebrow. She then shrugged. “Well, I’ve moved the sun and moon before as well, I guess. But... isn’t that something that Princess Luna could do?” Crystal chuckled. “Of course. But, you see, in this timeline, it’s you who moves the sun and moon.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “That’s interesting, but why would I do that? That’s what Princess Celestia and Princess Luna do.” “Well, here, Celestia and Luna have gone missing.” Twilight jumped. “What!?” “Indeed. They went missing after your coronation and that was two years ago.” Twilight felt a migraine come on within the span of a few seconds and she pinched the bridge of her brow. “Please tell me you aren’t serious. Missing!? For two years!?” she yelled. Crystal watched as the moon slowed to a stop and then turned to Twilight and placed a hoof on her withers. “Hey, relax, I know where they’ve gone.” “You’re supposed to fix the multiverse, Crystal! Them going missing is not that!” Crystal hummed. “I know, I could easily prevent it. But, you see, I’ve found that if I let them go missing but still protect Equestria from the meteors, that paves the way for some really nice developments. Plus, you know, they do eventually come back.” She paused. “Eventually.” Crystal glanced back up at the moon. “Preventing the storm is the important thing, though. Because that would have destroyed much of Equestria and left it vulnerable, and that would prompt Grogar into declaring war.” Twilight gasped. “Grogar is real!?” “Sorry if I’m ruining Gusty the Great for you.” Crystal patted Twilight on the back. “Don’t worry, though, you usually don’t have to deal with him at all.” Twilight collapsed, grasping her head as more waves of pain shot through. “I don’t believe this.” Crystal sighed. “Relax, Twilight. Really, relax.” Twilight took several long and deep breaths and stood up. She used her forehoof to push out one last sigh. “Okay, okay. I’m fine. I’m okay. Just… tell me that Celestia and Luna are okay.” Crystal nodded. “That’s my typical follow-up on the Sweetie Honey series.” At Twilight’s raised eyebrow, she added, “That’s what I call this set of realities. There’s a figure that emerges during the war that typically ends up single-hoofedly deciding the war. Still, it’s not fun for anypony, so I prevent the whole thing whenever I can.” Twilight nodded. “And you do things this way because of the developments?” Crystal nodded. “It makes Equestria and her ponies many times stronger in the end. The more able they are to fend for themselves, the less I have to intervene.” Then she giggled as the moon twitched, and she responded by focusing more energy into her horn. “And there she is. This timeline’s Twilight is trying to move the moon back down. Trying. I have her outmatched as it is.” “I see, I see. So…” Twilight pursed her lips together as her mental gears tried to change direction. “These developments… how did you figure out things would work out that way?” Crystal flinched. “Trial and error,” she eventually answered. “Trial and error? You’ve…” The words died on her lips. “You already know that I don’t have a perfect track record. I carry within me tremendous power… The power which millions of realities have given me…” Crystal looked down at her. “But… at the end of the day, I am just a pony. I make mistakes from time to time.” Twilight nodded solemnly. “I see. And I understand. But your heart’s in the right place, at least.” Crystal smiled. “Yeah. I do what I can and hope that it helps everypony out.” “Yes.” Crystal looked back at the moon and hummed a tune to herself. The moon shuddered and then stood still. She smiled. “Listen,” Crystal said, turning to Twilight, “we’re going to be here for a while since I have to keep the moon in place for the duration of the storm. So… I wanted to take the opportunity to show you something.” “What is it?” “I want to give you an idea of what I see. I want to show you the multiverse.” Twilight stood up straight and nodded. “Okay, show me.” Crystal coursed even more energy through her horn and the already-darkened space around them darkened even more. And then, before Twilight could blink, the area around her lit up, and she had to shield her eyes with a foreleg. When Twilight’s eyes had a chance to adjust to the brightness, she lowered her foreleg and squinted in the light. Her vision regained focus, and she saw the source of the light—no, sources. She gasped. They were lines! There had to be millions, no, billions upon billions of lines. They were magenta in color with splashes of a strong pink and were as thin as strings. She could see countless numbers of them in every direction she turned. Above her head, every line seemed to split into a billion other lines which all crisscrossed each other. Twilight shuffled across the ground, looking at all the lines in awe. She stumbled around and her gaze darted this way and that as she tried to look at them all. Her jaw dropped with every new line she encountered. “I-I...” The lines glowed, strangely radiating energy that made her coat stand on end. She saw them everywhere she turned. Finally, her legs gave way and she collapsed onto the grass. Crystal chuckled and trotted to Twilight’s side. “Twilight… meet the multiverse.” The lines, timelines, shimmered in response. “This…?” Crystal caressed one of the timelines in front of Twilight. “Every single one of these lines represents some reality. These are all timelines. And this is but a small fraction of how many there actually are." Twilight nodded slowly and directed all her facilities into standing up. “This is a timeline.” Her eyes followed to where a billion lines branched off from it. “And… that’s a point of divergence.” “Very good. And what you see is just one way to look at all this,” Crystal replied. She pointed to the line immediately in front of Twilight and said, “This is a distorted view, but this whole length is a single moment in time. Those branches are in the next moment in time. I can look at this and tell you the state of the world.” Twilight reached out, almost as if to touch it, but she stopped short. “You can read this?” Crystal leaned forward to examine the line for herself. “Let’s see. This one… Discord ends up having a child named Pandora… who is a draconequus, hmmm, Maud Pie and Trixie Lulamoon are married… Oh! Seems that I have a little sister named Skyla. A pegasus, it seems.” Twilight sucked in a breath and turned to Crystal. “And… you can read all that… just from this?” “I can. In this stretch, here… Skyla just called me ‘Flurry Fart.’” Twilight stared at the line with enough intensity to melt steel, and yet it told her nothing. She only saw coalescing reds and pinks within. She couldn’t see a Skyla. She couldn’t see Trixie or Maud. She certainly couldn’t see some draconequus named Pandora. “That’s… incredible,” she murmured. Crystal chuckled and placed a hoof on Twilight’s withers. “Amazing, isn’t it?” Twilight blinked and glanced at all the other timelines surrounding them. She looked through all angles she could and briefly even tried to count them, but she quickly gave up. Finally, she shook her head. “There are so many timelines here but… how do you see through all this?” She motioned to all the timelines around them. “The multiverse… it’s infinitely big.” Crystal nodded. “Yes, the multiverse is big. But I have some tools that help keep it manageable; one of which you spent a good deal of today thinking up.” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Filters.” “Yes. I’ve pretty much filtered all the quantum mechanical effects and everything outside of Equestria and her light cone. That narrowed it down a lot.” Crystal paused, then added, “Those are the core filters. I can put some auxiliary ones on depending on general time period, divergence based on physical locality, and stuff like that.” “I see,” Twilight replied. A grin stretched across her face. “You have a quantum mechanical filter?” Crystal scratched her head. “It… wasn’t easy. And it took me a long time to figure it all out. I… could dare say I’ll be the world’s foremost expert on quantum mechanics for the next five thousand years, probably.” Twilight’s goofy grin grew even wider, and she finally pointed between Crystal and herself. “You and I are going to have a lot of science to discuss.” Crystal shied away. “Please no.” Twilight stamped the ground. “Come on. Do you know how often I get to speak to anypony about that subject? I crave it! Indulge me, Crystal!” “I would prefer not to.” Twilight’s smile faded and she ended up puffing her cheeks out and snorting and pouting. Crystal ignored her and coursed some energy through her horn. The lines shifted and started to glide north. The lines passed through the both of them but they remained unfazed. She watched with careful scrutiny while Twilight returned to her wondrous, starry-eyed stare. “Something else I want to show you,” Crystal said. The lines ground to a halt and then expanded. Some lines, which reached the very outliers of the hill they stood on, disappeared into nothingness. Eventually, only a few score remained within the area, with one right in front of the two. She focused on the line and it expanded; the divergences that had been characteristic of every other timeline vanished and the line seemed to grow even thinner than it already was. And Twilight saw something which distinguished it from every other line she had seen thus far: part of it looked crystallized. She squinted even as the line settled into a final form and then noted that even the crystallized parts were not uniformly so; some parts were more hardened than others. “What’s this?” she asked. Crystal pointed at the line. “This here is the timeline where you’ve been spending these past few days.” Twilight blinked, glanced at Crystal to make sure she had heard right, then glanced at the line with even greater intensity. Her eyes drew a line from the bottom up. The bottom had some shine to it unlike many of the other timelines, then it briefly turned into hard crystal. The length just above that looked glossy and viscous but remained almost entirely crystallized, and then it turned into hard crystal again. The top-most part of the line looked just as hazy as every other timeline she had seen. “Here is how I see this,” Crystal said. She pointed to the lowest part and said, “This shiny part here is the timeline before we arrived. Everything before when I arrive always does this. This is good, we like this. These hard-crystallized parts here—” she pointed to the two hardened spots, “—are the intervals of time where I was present within the timeline. These hazy parts afterward are untouched.” “What about this viscous part in the middle, between those parts where you were there?” Twilight asked. “That, I’m not so sure. I’m still thinking about it, but I have an idea.” “Tell me about it.” Crystal stroked her chin and nodded. A new image appeared before them showing several small line segments all spouting from a single point. She reached out and then pulled, and the image followed her hoof as she brought it close. “This represents differentiating timelines,” Twilight said. “Right. And what I can do is get right in the middle of that and prevent the differentiation from happening.” Crystal traced her hoof up the middle of the image and the line segments responded by folding up and meeting at the center. The shape they made consisted of a single line with no strands out of place. “And so, all of these timelines are now, effectively, one single timeline.” Twilight cooed with interest. “I call it threading realities together. This is my bread and butter. I have the ability to thread a set of timelines together into one effective timeline over some specific interval…” Crystal traced her hoof down the image and everything above the halfway point unfurled. “And then I only have to intervene one time. Everything after this will be fixed.” “So these bits here are unthreaded,” Twilight said and pointed to the unfurled bits. “Do these bits differentiate?” “Yes. Threaded portions of timelines don’t differentiate, unthreaded portions of timelines do.” “I see. It’s… like the entire multiverse is unthreaded timelines, really. It’s just groups of timelines unthreading between each moment and the next.” Crystal’s eyes widened and she nodded. “Could be. Never really thought about it that way.” Twilight stroked her chin. “Ooooh, I like that. That would conserve the total amount of timelines for all time.” “Well, anyway, you remember how I was saying there used to be infinitely many of you working on the problem and then it was just you?” She then pointed at the almost-crystallized parts of the larger timeline again. “I think that might be what happened here.” “So… then… everything from the moment you dropped me off,” Twilight pointed at the lower of the two hardened spots, “decided to thread together into a single effective timeline?” Crystal shrugged. “That’s what I’m thinking.” “Why?” “Beats me.” * * * Twilight looked at the green lockers, the blue-colored swirls across the floor, and the blocky light fixtures recessed within the ceiling. It all looked familiar. She then looked down at her own hooves, flicked her tail to make sure it was still there, and then hummed. “Sooo… bridge realm, huh?” Crystal, with her hood loosely pulled over her head, nodded. “In this timeline, they haven’t figured out the book trick to force the mirror portal open. That bridge realm is their alternative. Normally, they can’t continue on through the other side like we did, however,” she said as she looked over and smirked, “so they’ll be in for a shock.” Twilight considered it. “You overrode the safeties.” “Temporarily,” Crystal affirmed. “I know how Starswirl made these things.” “I see.” Twilight chuckled. “Huh, I thought I would be human over here. Never thought I’d walk through CHS as a pony.” The two rounded the corner into another empty hall. It looked just like the last one, with the occasional classroom door dividing the lockers. Crystal chuckled. “Oh, just you wait and see. I remember seeing a timeline where the mirror portal screws up and you get stuck at Canterlot High for a while… as a pony. A really small one at that.” She held her foreleg up, indicating a height that didn’t even reach a quarter of the way up the lockers. She chuckled. “You were Sunset’s little Twilight for a while.” “Oh, what fun,” Twilight replied sarcastically. “She’d have a field day with that.” The two continued on. Their eyes wandered over the lockers and the ceiling. As they passed by a room with an open door, Crystal lit her horn and pulled it almost shut; it made no sound as it swung on its hinges. She chuckled as they walked by. “But that begs the next question, although I have an idea of what to expect here…” Twilight said. “Canterlot High… It’s also part of the timeline, right?” “Yes. It is.” “So, what exactly constitutes a timeline, then? Canterlot High is obviously a part.” Twilight leaned in close. “Could there be other realities that are considered parts of a timeline?” Crystal nodded. “Of course. That mirror world that you went to a while back, some of the other places Starswirl visited when he first started experimenting with inter-dimensional travel… there are even some parallel realities which look like alternate timelines.” She paused and swished her muzzle from side to side as she thought. “They are alternate timelines in a sense, but, because they’re interacting with Equestria, which is a really important distinction, that makes them part of this single system of realities. They are all parts of a single timeline.” She looked over as they reached a balcony. “And your standard differentiation rules apply to the whole system.” The floor opened up, showing the main foyer a floor below. A pair of Wondercolts flags hung from the part of the railing just above the main entrance, as well as from several other places around the railing. The foyer itself hosted some trophy cases and opened to hallways on either side. A few papers, taped to the walls here and there, advertised upcoming events and promoted club memberships. Crystal hopped over the railing. Her wings shot out from underneath her cloak and she sailed down toward the first floor. Upon landing, she turned to look up at Twilight. At that, Twilight unfurled her own wings, leaped over the side, and glided down as well. Twilight glanced at the glass doors that made up the front entrance and spotted the snowfall outside. She watched several snowflakes as they floated down and joined the sheet covering the grounds. “You know, you still haven’t told me what we’re here for,” she said. “When are we, exactly?” “We are not very long after the Anon-a-miss affair,” Crystal replied. “Oh! I remember that.” She glanced back out the doors and watched the snow fall. “That was during wintertime. Sounds about right.” The two continued into the next hall where more green lockers and square lights met them. “There is an additional complication this time around,” Crystal said. “That bridge realm that we passed through on the way here… Something is about to go down there.” Twilight nodded. “Okay. But how does us coming all the way over here factor into that?” “Twilight, this timeline’s Twilight, has an alarm set up for whenever that place is occupied,” Crystal explained. “But… Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are visiting and the three would have gone into town during a crucial moment. Us passing through tripped the alarm, and thus they no longer will leave.” “So they’ll be able to react when whatever happens starts happening.” The two rounded the corner into another, shorter hall. “Exactly. And I can confirm that is going to happen…” Crystal paused. “Hmmm… it looks like… they are going to then fail at this rate—which happens.” She looked over at Twilight and nodded. “That just means we move on to stage two.” “Which is?” “Direct intervention.” “Oh.” The hallway ended at another intersection where they came across a vending machine. The two stopped in front of it and they stared at all the contents. Ice cream bars and packets containing cracker and cheese combos hung from several slots within. Twilight licked her lips and rubbed her stomach right as it growled. “I wish I had some human money right about now.” Crystal lit her horn. A pair of potato chip bags within the machine disappeared in a white flash and reappeared right in front of Crystal’s face. She passed one to Twilight. “Well, we’ll just pay with services rendered.” Twilight cooed with interest and grabbed the bag with her own magic. While Crystal started back down the way they came, she used her magic to tear her bag open and then popped a few chips into her mouth. Twilight followed whilst using her magic to do the same. “Ugh,” she said with a snarl, “using magic here doesn’t feel quite right.” “I know, right?” Twilight crunched down on a few chips herself. Then, once she swallowed, she said, “I’m thinking, though. It sounds like you can still see the timelines from here.” “Plain as day.” “Could you do that if you were human?” Twilight asked. Crystal, ready to throw some more chips into her mouth, instead set them back into the bag. “Yes. I’d prefer not to be human, but… yes, I could.” Twilight raised an eyebrow and said, “Fascinating.” “I can even travel from here. In fact…” she said, shaking her head, “I have yet to encounter a scenario where I can’t use both of those abilities.” “So… Human form?” “Doesn’t block it.” “…Chrysalis’ throne?” “Doesn’t block it.” “That’s incredible!” Twilight explained. A wide smile spread across her face and she even skipped along for a short distance. The two reentered the foyer and Crystal paused and glanced toward the ceiling. Her muzzle remained shut and her ears perked up. She heard some pointed conversations from the floor above and nodded. “Alright, that sounds like Photo Finish and her assistants. I imagine that they are taking Pinkie Pie… who has passed out… to the teacher’s lounge. The other five have probably passed out by now too. They might be already there.” “Probably?” Twilight raised an eyebrow as she threw more chips into her mouth. “You don’t know?” Crystal chuckled. “Ah, right. There are limitations. You see, when I’m looking at a timeline, I can’t see Canterlot High or anything like that. I haven’t managed to expand my gaze past just the reality which Equestria sits in just yet—I am, however, working on it even now and I’m pretty confident that I will get there someday.” She threw some chips into her mouth and chewed. “For now, I’m as blind as a bat here,” she mumbled. Twilight felt a drop of sweat form on her brow. “Oh. That would have been good to know a little earlier.” Crystal shrugged and swallowed her food. “I get by.” She crumpled up her potato chip bag and shot it into a trash bin on the opposite side of the room. “Well, can you travel to other Canterlot Highs?” Twilight asked. “I can only use the travel ability to get to places that I can see, so no going between Canterlot Highs. That’s the other limitation.” Twilight bit her lip and nodded. “I see.” Crystal continued listening as Twilight snacked down. Finally, Twilight crumpled her own bag up, levitated it to the trash bin, and dropped it inside. “Time yet?” Twilight asked. Crystal nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.” The two trotted up the stairs which made a U-turn and deposited them on the second floor of the foyer. They followed the balcony to the nearest hall and trotted into it. Crystal jerked her head back, throwing her hood off. She then shook her curls out and let them hang at their full length. They eventually reached a door with a placard next to it which read Teacher’s Lounge. Several teenagers and an adult version of Time Turner loitered around the entrance. They all jumped as Crystal and Twilight trotted up. Crystal used her magic to open the door, turned to the humans, and smirked. “Sup?” The humans’ jaws all but fell to the floor. One of them, Pixel Pizazz, who stood with her friends Photo Finish and Violet Blurr, eventually raised a hand and vacantly waved. Vinyl Scratch, meanwhile, composed herself and flashed a salute. The two ponies filed through the door and shut it behind them. The teacher’s lounge itself, not much bigger than half a classroom, hosted several tables and chairs on one side. The other side hosted a long countertop with built-in cabinets and a sink. A microwave oven sat at the end of the countertop right next to the vending machine. “I really don’t think they were supposed to see us,” Twilight said. Crystal shrugged. “Eh. They’ve seen weirder.” They meandered through the room and made their way over to a tall, wall-mounted mirror which hung by itself at one end of the room. Crystal stopped in front of it and turned to face Twilight. “Just out of curiosity… You wouldn’t happen to know a Sunrunner, would you?” Twilight frowned and shook her head. “I’ve never heard of them. Why?” “Didn’t think so. Nevertheless…” Crystal cracked a smile and said, “Let’s get this done.” Together, the two of them filed through the mirror. Twilight’s world twisted just like it did when traveling through the mirror portal in the base of the Wondercolt statue. They reemerged in a cavernous space. Only a few cushions, a table, and some privacy screen off to the side served as decoration. Two large and ornate mirrors, much like the one they had just passed through, stood at her end and the opposite end of the cavern, respectively. The two thus turned their attention to the many occupants within the cavern: she saw herself huddled with her dragon assistant Spike, Pinkie Pie, Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna on one side. Her eyes drew over the other occupants, all of whom were human. She saw Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, Flash Sentry, and the Crusaders. The last was one she could not readily recognize, but she appeared like the human world’s version of Radiant Hope. All of them had huddled around a few figures lying unconscious on the ground in the middle of the space who Twilight guessed were Sunset Shimmer and the rest of the Rainbooms. And all the occupants had all turned toward them at once. A moment of awkward silence passed before they all belted out a series of gasps and startled cries, and those who had been crouched down shot to their hooves and feet. “What the hay!?” Twilight Sparkle, her counterpart, blurted. Crystal let out a laugh and nudged Twilight. Twilight, in turn, blushed and meekly waved. Crystal stepped toward the congregation. “You all probably have a lot of questions. I’ll give you all an umbrella answer that time sliding is involved and leave it at that. I think you’ll all agree that there are more pertinent matters,” she said with an authoritatively sharp tone as she pointed to the several unconscious figures, “so let’s just return to the business at hoof, hmmm?” Everyone exchanged uncertain glances and offered no words of reply. “Excellent. Princess Luna,” Crystal said, turning, “you are about to mount an expedition with Twilight Sparkle here into the shared dream state, correct?” Princess Luna, after glancing around, nodded. “That I am… You see, these six have been targeted by something most unsavory.” “So I am aware. I can confirm that it’s a fragment of the Nightmare.” Princess Luna’s features fell, and she stole glances at her Twilight Sparkle and Princess Celestia, both of whom (along with several others) looked equally dismayed. “Nightmare…” she murmured as her features darkened. “So… it is as I suspected.” Crystal leaned forward. “You are going to need some extra defense against it. That is why I am here.” This timeline’s Twilight Sparkle shakily raised a hoof and pointed. “And... this other me? Wh…” “She is only here to observe,” Crystal replied. “You need not worry about her presence.” Twilight blushed. Crystal turned back. “I bid that you take me with you, Princess Luna.” She pointed at the six on the ground and said, with an intense glare, “Their lives and your success are going to depend on it.” Princess Luna remained silent for many moments. Her gaze remained locked with Crystal’s. A drop of sweat appeared on her brow. Finally, Princess Luna stood at her full height. “I don’t know who you are or how you came to be. How you—” she motioned toward the mirror which served as the exit to Canterlot High, “—broke the rules, or how—” she motioned to Twilight, “—she can even exist.” She paused and stared for a few moments more. And then she nodded. “But if you are here to help, then we’ll take it.” Crystal bowed. “Thank you.” Princess Luna motioned toward her Twilight Sparkle and said, “You can take a spot next to her.” Principal Celestia, who stood nearby, adjusted her jacket and turned to the others. “Alright, alright, everyone, let’s back up and give them some space.” While Twilight sidled toward the rest of the humans, Crystal Faire joined Twilight Sparkle at one end of the circle. Once the two of them had laid down, Princess Luna lit her horn. Several white tendrils came out of it and made first contact with the six unconscious girls. She then connected threads to Twilight Sparkle and Crystal, and within instants, the two of them fell unconscious as well. The bridge realm fell silent save for the whirrs of Princess Luna’s magic. Everyone stood by and watched with bated breath. Shortly after, the human Sweetie Belle shuffled over to Spike and the Equestrian Pinkie Pie and they began whispering amongst each other. Principal Celestia and the presumed Radiant Hope started whispering as well. Twilight, meanwhile, stroked her chin and thought about some of the things she had just heard about. I don’t understand the whole situation here. I feel like I’m out of the loop, she thought. But, I guess, to Crystal, this is just another day in the office, huh? She cracked a smile. Interacting realities… Threading timelines… King Sombra is the grand point of divergence… It seems like a lot of my ideas ended up being true. But there are still other questions. There are still so many things that I need to know. At that point, she nodded to herself. We still have much to talk about.