//------------------------------// // Could you repeat that? // Story: To be or not to be... // by Suke //------------------------------// PONYVILLE LIBRARY (OMNI) He didn’t think it was intentional, but Luna had successfully grabbed everypony’s attention. He now sat between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, remembering Luna’s descriptions for each. A quick look around the rest of the group showed Twilight Sparkle next to Celestia, and Fluttershy in between Twilight and Dash. On the other side, after Applejack, there sat Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Doctor Whooves. Luna was still blushing, holding a hoof to her mouth. Celestia quietly chuckled, letting the second awkward silence continue. As much as he knew in the back of his mind that royalty was to be respected, Omni had the feeling that he was going to slowly learn to dislike the older sibling. It appeared to be up to him to solve the ongoing lack of sound and activity. He took off his bag and placed it down in front of him. He searched its insides to find the phone. He started pulling it out but suddenly wondered how he was holding it, which led to the phone to sit back in the bag. On the second try there was success, and the phone was now on the floor with the bag pushed further away. There was a brief pause as Omni considered how to operate the thing. He’d probably be able to slide and select apps but typing words was most definitely going to be a no go. He searched through the apps and found the app for voice command. The phone beeped to signify it was listening. In the corner of his eye, Omni could see attention had returned to him; or more precisely his phone. “Oooo, what’s that?” “It’s the device that H-T spoke through.” “Request not recognised,” said the phone. “Was that H-T?” It seemed Celestia had not yet informed them of H-T’s passing. She probably considered it not to be her position to do so. That didn’t matter at this moment though. Omni lifted his head and said, “I need silence to work this, if you don’t mind?” “Okie Dokie Lokie!” said Pinkie. “Request not recognised.” Looking back down at his phone, Omni had no clue where to go from here. He could only hope H-T had left things simple. “Erm… Run… ‘Introductions’?” “Request recognised. Running ‘Introductions?’” The phone said the last word with a recording of himself. A familiar voice came from the modified device, “I’m going to guess that the screen’s facing up. Could you flip it over if it is? Thanks.” Omni had half expected a voice recording so wasn’t so shocked as to cease all movement. The phone was flipped and a projection of H-T stood in the air. It was met with faces of curiosity, excitement, confusion and expectation. (LUNA) The floating see-through man was the same as the one she and her sister had seen on the screen that night only he was black and white. Another difference was that he didn’t look at anyone in particular; he just stared off into nothingness. “Before anyone –sorry, anypony– says anything, I am not actually here. This is a recording, for real this time,” H-T grinned, as did Omni. “The fact you’re running this means I’m… erm, for lack of a better word, dead. This is quite unfortunate for many reasons, but we must press onwards! I will pause and answer questions I predict will be asked, hopefully at appropriate times. Now, let the explanations begin! “First of all, I am H-T, one of a number of varying Artificial Intelligences based on a man who generally goes by the name Thunder.” Upon the mention of his name, a man with identical facial features and height popped into view next to H-T. Thunder was coloured and more importantly, armoured in a stereo-typical medieval design. Rainbow Dash quietly wowed in awe. The image sported a cocky grin and rotated as H-T continued. “This man has travelled a fair bit of the multiverse. To keep things short, the multiverse contains an infinite number of Universes, each having a unique variation from all the others. Of course, Thunder isn’t just a sightseeing tourist; he saves them from destruction.” The image next to H-T changed from Thunder to one of the creatures that were encountered hours before. Fluttershy let out a squeak at the sight of it. “You see, there’s a race of ex-humans that discovered how to travel the multiverse freely. This technology somehow corrupted them and they evolved, or some might say devolved, into what are now the Everto. Naturally capable of going between the Universes, they infiltrate them and mess up the events which separate them from the others. Upon doing so said Universe collapses. Sadly this is not all. “To help with things, I want you to imagine you’re having a simple conversation with somepony. Now imagine you used the word ‘unnecessary’. A thesaurus would tell you that another word for ‘unnecessary’ could be ‘superfluous’. There would in fact be another reality where the only difference was that you used ‘superfluous’ instead of ‘unnecessary’ without any change in reaction by anypony in this alternate reality. Pretty stupid reason for another Universe to exist but they’re out there. All those extremely similar Universes are connected in a way that if one falls, so do the others. “When the Everto have their way, the Universe is still sort of there, only it’s just nothingness. The process is pretty much: all life quickly deteriorates, followed by the evidence of their existence, and then the Universe’s natural decay is sped up. It’s still slow but fast enough for the decay to be noticed in a single lifetime… Thunder watched it all once or twice in his earlier years.” Twilight started asking, “But how could he have”- “Shortly after his first Universal jump Thunder was made ageless. He was certainly older than you two Princesses when he made me.” “I pity him,” Celestia said. Luna nodded. Not only was he long-lived, he had witnessed the death of an entire reality. H-T’s description, as minimal as it was, made her thousand year banishment seemed nothing in comparison. Yes, she still hated the experience and hated watching the world go on without her but at least there was life to watch. “I’ve pretty much covered the foundations now, so on to Omni’s job in Equestria. You should by now have guessed that he is here in place of Thunder. Firstly I need to mention that he needs somewhere to stay as his original intended residence is by now a pile of rubble after going all explody.” “What?!” Applejack exclaimed, worried about her farm and family. “It was contained,” Celly assured her subject. “That aside for the moment, a bigger problem would be that, according to Princess Celestia, the events that I have on record to be the Everto’s targets have already happened, and without a hitch.” “Without a hitch?” balked Rarity. “What I meant to say was without interference not of this world. My conclusion therefore is that this is a ‘Double F’ Category Universe. I’m sorry to say this Omni, but I can’t offer much help other than information on the enemy, and even that is limited to basic info on type templates. That comes under the program name ‘Everto Templates’; simple enough really. I think that about wraps it up.” H-T started counting off the list on his translucent fingers, “We’ve covered Thunder, Everto, Multiverse aaaaaaand the job in hand or hoof… heh, hoof. That leaves this little thought I just had. If you need a more pony-esque name for Omni here, hows about adding the last name ‘Chrome’. ‘Omni Chrome’ sounds cool right? Well, I’m signing out now. Got more recordings to make in the seconds I still have to live. Thank God for my massive processing power. Au revoir!” (OMNI) H-T disappeared. Before silence could settle in again, Twilight spoke up. “Princess Luna, didn’t you say you sensed their coming?” “Yes.” “I also remember detecting the anomaly, although I was asleep at the time,” Celestia added. “Do either of you recall this happening before now?” The princesses shook their heads. “Then how did he know of past events before showing up in Equestria?” “It is possible to see into other worlds, although it requires a lot of magic. Perhaps this Thunder uses his abilities to look ahead and check for the Everto’s presence?” Celestia offered her student. “That sounds reasonable I suppose…” Omni listened to the discussion while making his own theories on the matter. What the princess suggested did make sense but there were other possibilities. He was sure there was something on his phone left behind by H-T that would explain. A hoof on his shoulder distracted his line of thought. “Ah’m sorry t’ hear about ya friend’s passing Omni. And ya home too. If ya’d like, we have a spare room at the farm?” “Thanks AJ. That would be nice. I’m sorry for the damage we caused.” “Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’ll be slow but it’s repairable.” Omni looked once more at the ponies around the room. Rainbow was comforting Fluttershy, who was in shock, muttering something about her animals safety. Twilight was in quiet discussion with her mentor. Luna seemed to be giving concerned looks to Doctor Whooves, who was in turn glaring at Omni. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but at least got the impression it was no longer mistrust, but something else entirely. Omni would have carried on studying the ponies but as he turned to see what the last two were doing, Pinkie popped up from below his line of sight. This confused him greatly as he knew she hadn’t been there a second ago. This probably came under what Luna had told him was Pinkie being Pinkie. Even knowing this, it was still going to be a while before he got used to her. “Hi I’m Pinkie Pie! I’d ask your name but I already know you’re Omni. Or is it Omni Chrome now? I think it should be! Where was I? Oh yeah! Since you’re new to Ponyville, I need to throw you a party!” Rarity tried to jump in, “Pinkie I don’t think-” Pinkie turned to Rarity, “I know Rares. Not tonight.” Rarity was taken aback. “Um, yes. This isn’t like you.” “A lot has happened for him, and as much as I think he needs it to cheer up, I Pinkie Promised the Princess to wait for tomorrow.” Rarity looked out the corner of her eye at the window then at Omni. They silently agreed not to remind Pinkie tomorrow had already come. ‘Then again,’ Omni thought, ‘She may have actually meant tomorrow in terms of today rather than yesterday… I don’t think I’ll ask.’ Facing Omni again, Pinkie continued, “The party will be great! Everypony’ll be there and they’ll all get to meet you! Then they can all be your friends!” “What about you?” Omni asked. “Silly Omni! We’re already friends!” “I think I speak for us all when I say everypony in this room is your friend Omni Chrome,” Celestia said, bringing his attention to the room again. Everypony was smiling at him in their own way. Whooves’ looked a little forced, giving Luna a nervous glance, the princess in question seemingly oblivious. “Really? I’ve hardly even spoken to most of you.” “Darling,” said Rarity. “You went into harm’s way to save my friends. For that I consider you a friend too.” “I wouldn’t say you saved me, but you helped, and that’s alright in my book,” said Rainbow. “Everypony’s my friend!” Pinkie exclaimed. Luna looked down at Whooves, who let out an inaudible sigh. “The Elements of Harmony and the Princesses have accepted you so I’d be a fool to not follow suit. Perhaps… we could talk some time… about these Everto… I would like to know more.” He got up and walked over to Omni. A hoof was held out and accepted by the other. Then he left. “What’s bitten him?” asked Dash. Twilight put a hoof to her chin then said, “He talks so much about rifts and alternate realities, but I don’t think he’s ever seen the other worlds. I think he’s jealous of Omni here.” “That appears to be the case,” agreed Celestia. Omni saw Luna’s eyes drooping sleepily, and only just realised his own tiredness. He yawned, which made a few others yawn as well. Celestia chuckled quietly again. “I suppose Luna and I should be off,” she said. “Goodnight my little ponies. Or should I say good morning?” All the girls said good night in unison. “Where will you be staying Omni?” the older princess asked as everypony prepared to leave. AJ replied before Omni, “Ah said he could stay on the farm.” Everypony nodded in agreement and left one by one. Twilight headed up to her room. As Omni and AJ headed for the door Luna called over to them. “Ponies will be up and about in town now. Allow me to teleport you back to the farm.” “Ah’m sure we’ll be fi-” There was magical glow around the pair and then they were outside the farm. SWEET APPLE ACRES “-ne... She did it anyway. No offense to her, but she still needs t’ work on her social skills.” “A thousand years with just your evil counterpart will probably do that to you. I for one find her an interesting conversational partner.” “Oh really?” said AJ, raising an eyebrow at Omni before heading up the steps into her family abode. Omni watched her go inside with a confused look and followed her in. A/N: I've given up on matching chapter names to the story title. It's a nuisance and limiting. Any suggestions for replacement names for earlier chapters would be appreciated.