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// Multiverses and Celestials and Teams, Oh my! 
// Story: The Janitors 
// by Sense of Humor 
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It was unbelievable that Harley recognized a creature that didn't really exist in her world.

She called it Godzilla, a fictional character from movies in her world, but the real thing was in their midst--very shrunken from her description. Despite the aggressive standoff that occurred on the beach, things had thankfully deescalated into confused stares between all. Godzilla snorted out through is nostrils in wary interest of the things towering over him, beady eyes shining orange in the darkening light. It never moved from its spot in the water excluding the occasional swish of its tail and the flex of its fingers, as if daring one of them to attack. Jack sneered at the creature from over Daredevil's shoulder. "That is definitely the oddest sea serpent I've ever seen."

"A serpent would have no arms. Although, they might have distant relations or...never mind." Twilight didn't take her eyes off of Godzilla, but she directed her attention to Harley. "So...this Godzilla creature...Could he understand us? Speak?"

Godzilla's head flinched upward to give the fish a bite, similar to the jaw movements of an alligator. Everyone inched at the audible noise of a spine cracking beyond repair. The fish went limp in its jaws.

"I don't think so.  " Harley whispered back. "All I know is that he's usually biggah and he fights the bad monstahs. I nevah really paid attention to the movies when I watched them. Mistah J, now he would know somethin'. He likes seein' all the cities destroyed an' whatnot."

Twilight took a tentative step forward and the scaly animal gave a sharp barking sound, the fish falling to the sand. It was an unbelievably loud crackle from its throat; the level of sound even hurt their ears. "Um...I'm gonna try to communicate with it. A mental link should automatically give me insight to whatever language its species is based on. I'll communicate through that language."

"Sure. Why not?" Jack pitched in his opinion.

Her horn caused a light sparkle to go across her eyes and it noticeably danced across the creature's as well. Before it could snarl in confusion, she was already configuring the language it spoke. A pulse of pain shot through her brain when she finally got ahold of something, a small prick that she would have to get used to.  The Alicorn was amazed to discover that she could not translate her thoughts through any kind of normal language, but through cackles and huffs and very basic dialect. Finding the right sentence to begin with, she spoke to the animal silently. H-Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle. 

Another bark, it's head rearing back suddenly. She winced; there was no easy way to have eased the animal into this. Hopefully it would react with violence or severe agi--

You speak in my head. How?

"Hmm." 

"What?" Daredevil inquired.

"His voice is...loud. Hurting my head a little." Twilight explained and decided that it would be best to answer Godzilla as quickly as possible. Its difficult to explain. I just wanted to communicate with you, let you know that we mean no harm to you and on wish to be peaceful with each other.


Harm me? Unlikely. Purple thing and others do not look dangerous. The beastly voice had a limited sense of grammar, ranging somewhere between neanderthal and arrogance. Godzilla's tail flicked through the shallow water with ease, restlessly moving as he regarded them all again.  How do you speak my language, if you are not me?

Twilight's shoulders relaxed, no longer needing to tense up. It's complicated. I just a have a knack for learning language. The ones behind me are...friends of mine. We were trying to catch from the water you were just in. You know...the small swimming things?

I see...and I have destroyed your strange tool. Godzilla sniffed at the broken fishing rod beside him briefly, before he turned fully on the beach and began to Wade back into the water. Since I was hunting them as well, I will bring a sizeable amount back to the surface.

Thank you.


The beast regarded her with a look of confusion, but it wasn't entirely that. Perhaps he just didn't recognize the words Thank you at first, but the emotion associated with her words made it obvious as gratitude. Godzilla disappeared without a word in response, his dorsal spikes the last thing they saw before it disappeared beneath the waves.

"What did he say?" Rey broke the silence, looking between the water and the pony. "And how are we going to fish now?"

Twilight  shook her head, smiling softly at the prospect of explaining her conversation with a creature like that. "Oh, we won't need to worry about fishing for now. The creature noticed that he broke fishing rod and told me that he would retrieve a supply of fish for us...as an apology, I guess. I assume he's hunting right now."

Daredevil sheathed his Billy clubs cautiously. "Does it know how it got here? Has it been living here longer than us?" 

The Alicorn shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to find out." She looked at Rey encouragingly. "And while you may not have had much time to catch everypon...everyone something, you can at least help me with something equally important."

The woman blinked. "Um, that is?"

"Cooking, of course."





"I must say...that I have no idea how you were able to create all the ingredients from the jungle...but this..." Jack paused to take another bite of the meat, choosing not to talk but to instead savor the flavor. "...this is extremely rare. So amazing, in fact, that I wouldn't recommend it to even the greatest restaurant in the carribeans."

Twilight rolled his eyes at his exaggeration, but wondered if the man was actually being truthful. She didn't eat meat whatsoever and didn't plan to anytime soon; she would just have to take his word for it. "Well, don't thank me entirely. It took a pair of hands to help me filter salt and crush the right spices. "

"It was interesting to learn how to cook something new for once." Rey passed Daredevil a small fish piece and briefly watched as he extracted the bones quickly as well as easily. "Back on...erm, the planet that I grew up on, I made the most flavorless food items you could imagine. Only because I couldn't afford a lot of ingredients, mind you all." Harley interrupted with a giggle after she tossed Godzilla a cooked piece and the dinosaurian creature caught it perfectly. "I had to eat plain biscuits and meat squares and gather my own water supply for more than twenty years. It's definitely nice to change things up with something so...tasty."

Daredevil was about to take another bite of his food, but paused to tilt his head at Rey. "Have you...encountered any aliens? Muscular ones with weapons that shoot purple beams? Travel with large...leviathan creatures?"

"Erm...Aliens? You mean different species of sentient beings,right Oh. Well, I'm afraid I haven't seen those. Have you?"

"Not exactly. " He said. "They attacked my city many years ago, but were defeated by...people like me, you might say. But the attack happened on the other side of the city, away from where I was. Just wondering if you knew them."

"People like you saved your city...?" Twilight mused as she finished wrapping the seaweed around her stick and held it over the fire. She more used to cooked plant life, and if she replicated the grilled seaweed recipe from the expensive Canterlot restaurants..." Hmm. Where I come from, there's a lot of peace that's occasionally broken by those that wish to enslave or destroy my world and it's inhabitants. I, as well as five friends of mine, save our world a lot. It's kind've a normal thing for us."

"Must be easy ta save everybody when everybody's got wings and horns and magic." Harley pointed out. "Not to mention, if your entire world is full of cute ponies like you, then the ponies like me can't be that bad. "

Twilight smiled at the roasted seaweed, her stomach growling anxiously. "Well, not everypony  is like me. In fact, I was a regular unicorn before I became an Alicorn. The magic of friendship helped me become this. As for the not-so-good ponies of my world, well...they're pretty powerful and dangerous at times. One of them can...wait. What do you mean, ponies like you?"

"You know, bad guys? Stoogies. Crooks. Criminals. That sort of shtick."

Twilight grimaced slightly; she figured Harley wasn't an entirely nice person, but she didn't know that she was a criminal. And she seemed...proud of it. "You're a criminal?" The Alicorn's grimace faded away slowly. Harley hadn't shown any reason to be cautious of her so far,  so Twilight wasn't going to start being nervous now. 

"I figured you were just a mental patient or a circus reject." Daredevil quipped, though it wasn't easy to miss the slight tenseness in his body when she openly stated herself a criminal. 

"I'm technically all of those things, so you figgered right, D-man." The jester tentatively chewed a piece of fish and swallowed it with a gag. 

"Well, I have wanted posters all across the ocean where I'm from. Though, they can't remember to put the name captain in there somewhere." Sparrow remarked just as proudly as Harley and Daredevil tensed up again ever so slightly. "Captain Jack Sparrow: King of Pirates, they called me. "

Rey perked up slightly. "King of Pirates? I lived beside pirates for all my life, and I've never seen one that looked like you at all."

"Well then, you've never seen a real pirate, love. Keep living, and you just might!"

"Not if we're stuck here forever." Harley sighed over dramatically. "Hey, D-man. Can you sense any other islands out there?"

He shook his head. "I can't sense anything that far, especially not through all that water. "

Everyone went silent for a while, probably curious about how long they'd be able to take living on the solitary island. Twilight didn't know what to do about any of this either; for once she was stumped. "Maybe we can build a raft tommorow? I have a faint memory of how to put one together."

"We haven't really explored the island, either. We should try that before we just leave." Rey pointed out. "Perhaps someone lives here and just doesn't know we're here yet.

" They'd have seen the smoke by now. "Jack looked at the dark silhouette of the jungle and scoffed. "I think the only thing that lives in that jungle are Hyenas and maybe many other dangerous animals."

A noise similar to that of a sparkling from the Alicorn's horn suddenly blared above their conversation and Twilight looked with a start to the medallion not far from her. Her purple aura had enveloped it noisily, the result of the decoding spell finally being finished. Twilight gave everyone around her a cheeky grin and clumsily levitated the medallion over to the light or the fire. "It's done! It's done! The decryption is finished!" 

She scrutinized it carefully, while the others looked on and anxiously waited for her to speak. When the princess' expression fell, Daredevil frowned. "What's it say?"

"Its just one word." Disappointment dripped from her voice. "All that writing for just one word: Motley."

FNNNNNNNZZZZZZ!

Light exploded from the center of the medallion faster than any of them could comprehend, blinding everyone excluding Daredevil due to the intensity and causing Twilight to drop it with a yelp of pain. Daredevil rushed forward to pull the Alicorn back when the light crackled like fire, then shorted out altogether. Everyone else began to blink their vision back into existence, missing the sight of the bright light appearing in another flash, this time more controlled and slowly forming a holographic image. 

"Its a hologram device..." Rey said breathlessly.

Jack looked at her incredulously, but decided that he was better off not knowing.

The image finally complete; the six beings regarded the final product with a mutual sense of awe and confusion.It was difficult to describe, like a being made of mist or water or something. "That's right, Rey! It is a Hologram device! "It spoke with a voice that seemed...ethereal, yet young and feminine. "And this is also a pre-recorded message!"

Twilight shut her once limp jaw. "Pre-recorded? How? You can't be talking like you know--"

"What you're going to say? I do. Its really not that hard to look into the future. At the moment I'm...very busy and...Oh! I just realized that I should probably start with: Hi! My name is Motley! You know, like the name on this device." The being explained with a wave to all of them. "I'm certain you all have a few questions."

"gNRAAAAAun..." Godzilla barked softly, and Twilight suddenly realized that he could understand the being and vice versa.

"I am something that has been around since...a few years after the beginning of time, if my memory is still working the right way. I guess you would call me a celestial, given the things I can do with time and space and a lot of other things. Someone older than me created a lot of diversity in life and color, leaving it to me to handle and care for. An inheritance, if you think about it." The being continued, choosing the best words to explain things. "There was another being rivaling my power that...didn't see things my way, but he is gone for all time. His effects have left a problem in his wake, one that has brought you all together."

The being sighed audibly, yet faint enough to be mistaken as static. "He has followers, you see. Those that think his way is better than mine, and it's partly my fault for not having stopped them in their early stages. They were just annoying and harmless at the time, talking about undoing all of life and all that. If I'd been paying attention, I would have seen them discover the fragment."

"Fragment? Of what?" 

"The other being I fought. There was enough power within that Fragment to completely destroy the equilibrium between all worlds within the multiverse. Now there's a piece of each world stuck in another. In some cases it's a small piece, but in others...almost entirely universes have been swapped." Motley groaned in exasperation, body fizzing in frustration. "And now, I have to fix every last bit of it before everything explodes on itself. This could take years to accomplish, even for someone like me. That's where you come in, my little team!"

The small group looked at each other, each of their faces stating how they didn't like the sound of that."Hey! Don't look like that! I'm doing the majority of the work! See, I'm going to be shifting landmasses back into place or making sure stars don't crash into each other by accident. You'll be doing the minor things! Getting individual people back to their home world, helping in the process of cleaning physical damages, and driving back any members of the organization that try to put innocents under their thumb. Easy, right?"

Unending silence, and then the being's smile fell.

"That's...That's the exact opposite of what I do, mate!" Sparrow exclaimed loudly and unhappily about this. "I'm a PIRATE! Pirates don't sign up for things like this!"

"Uh, same here, lady!" Was Harley's shout, standing to her feet like a pouty child. "I hate savin' the world! First that mean lady puttin' bombs in my head, and now you puttin' me here with a bunch of weirdos." The blonde quieted a little. "Oh my gawd, I can't believe I called someone ELSE a weirdo."

"I can't help but agree with them. If you're as powerful as you say, then you should know about countless other people out there more qualified than us! " Daredevil tried reasoning. "Why didn't you bring in the Avengers? This is right up their--"

"I didn't bring in the Avengers because they have more than one problem: One is that the arrival of hostile people from another universe has them booked and the second is that they are currently broken, or have you forgotten the Sokovia Accords?"  Motley interrupted, before looking towards the pirate and the jester. "As for you, at least one of the reasons I stated goes for you. Everyone excluding you six were busy at the time of the mix-up. That is why I pulled you out."

Twilight suddenly got a thought that churned her stomach sickenly, and made her wince. "Does...that mean that my world...or my friends are in trouble?" She asked worriedly.

Motley shook her head. "Your home world was lucky to experience only a mild merging with another world, and the lesser ethreal being Discord offered to fix the problem for me. He's quite annoying, but a loyal friend. He explained your absence to your friends," She looked at the majority of the group. "As I have explained all your absences to all your friends."

"That...That doesn't make things better." Rey's voice didn't sound certain of what she was saying, and she didn't meet the eyes of the being. "I had a great responsibility on my shoulders where I came from. The fate of many innocent lives still ends in my hands."

"You're right. It does." Motley said. "This is that same responsibility as a Jedi. A force similar to the First Order is rising in number and strength. This threatens billions upon billions of lives that include your own. Something must be done...I know I've made this sudden, but the problem itself is very sudden as well. I had to search for a solution as quickly as possible...and that solution has arrived in the form of all of you."

Twilight sighed hearing these words, and could sidereal her choices as she always did. It would be pretty easy to  go home from here and just protect herself and her family. She could forget about the island and this strange celestial and resume her life more or less, with the aid of her friends...but what would she say when they asked why she was back so soon? Could she face the disappointment in their eyes when they learned the truth? Could she face the prospect of costing billions their lives?

She narrowed her eyes. No. I can't. The princess stepped before the hologram with determination in her step. "I...I'd like to help in any way I can. If that means doing 'Janitor' work...so be it."

Motley gave her an appreciative smile and then turned her gaze to the remaining five. Rey probably wouldn't have moved forward if Twilight hadn't taken the task upon herself, but the action visibly surprised and inspired her. The woman limped forward reluctantly and silently stood next to the pony, who shot a friendly smirk up at her and nudged her leg in an almost catlike manner. Rey blushed and nudged her back. Twilight had a feeling they were going to be good friends with time.

Long after Godzilla ambled over to the duo, Daredevil followed with a grumble and a careful place to stand next to Twilight. When she nudged his leg, however, he didn't smile back. The Alicorn awkwardly looked to the remainder of the team. "Well?"

"I'm considering, mate." Jack sneered his answer, walking over to them more reluctantly than Daredevil.

Harley rolled her eyes." Well, I'm not stuck between answers. I want to go home!"

"Ooooh." Motley cringed apologetically. "See, I was hoping you wouldn't say that. Your world in particular is lost among the others and it would take me a month to find it and then a month to come back and send you there. "

"AW, SQUIRREL-NUTS!"

"I know. It's frustrating." Motley gestured to the jungle after a laugh, her hologram form beginning to fade away. "I'm afraid I've got to go for now, but there will be more information on your first clean-up  in the ship. It will be your base of operations."

"A ship in the jungle, mate?! That's looney!"

"Oh, it's not any ship you've ever seen, Captain." Motley said, just bare remaining by now. "Now, I suggest you all get some rest tonight. Wherever you plan to go tommorow will lead to you down an unforgettable path! Your very lives are going to change forever! Goodnight!"

The hologram disappeared and left them all alone in the light of the fire.