Charter-Princess Twilight Sparkle sat in one of the wings of her castle, a giant pile of papers on one side of her desk, a tremendous stack on the other. Spike sat across from her at his own desk with his own similarly sized stacks and piles of paper that loomed in such a way that should have been ominous, but was instead just somewhat annoying.
Twilight glanced up from her desk to see that Spike was yawning, hardly an unusual sight.
This was her life now. She was either reading and signing paperwork, or she was traveling to other worlds as an official ambassador – not an explorer. She enjoyed the latter half well enough, but… Well, it wasn’t much compared to the adventures she used to go on. Dangerous and heavy as they sometimes were, she found that her current, safer job was rather… boring.
She cursed herself for these thoughts. If she didn’t do what she did, nopony would. Exploration was important, yes, but maintaining strong friendships and keeping oneself well-informed was even more important.
She missed having adventures with her friends though. Only Renee ever came along for diplomatic missions, Pinkie generally wasn’t well suited for the patience involved, Flutterfree didn’t want to, and Nova had a certain reputation that would reflect badly on Equis Vitis. Just her most of the time - not even Spike came on every trip.
Twilight would have called it too quiet a life, but she had enough awareness to realize how much weighed on her shoulders.
She let out a sigh, reading over a proposal by the Hub to improve their ‘on call’ pseudo-military. Of course, the proposal was largely headed by O’Neill. She read over it, absorbing the information at an impressive speed. She thought it seemed fair, so she grabbed her green stamp and hit it. TWILIGHT SPARKLE, CHARTER-PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP, EQUIS VITIS-42: APPROVAL. She clicked a purple pen and wrote an encouraging remark in the margin, reminding those who would see the file that the forces needed to be varied enough that no single universe’s interests would be above the others. She placed it on top of the larger stack where a small camera mounted in the ceiling snapped a digital picture of the proposal and uploaded it to a database somewhere.
The next thing she looked at was a tremendous sheaf of around thirty pages. Her ears twitched involuntarily. She read it – realizing with relief this was just an updated version of a festival plan. The changes were conveniently outlined, so she flipped over to them, found them satisfying, and stamped it – this time finding no need to leave an extra note.
She reached for another file…
Her jaw dropped.
“Spike…”
“Yes, Twilight?” He said, looking up from a strange hexagon-shaped piece of paper.
“I’m… done.”
“…What?”
She spread her wings and grinned. “I’M DONE!” Her excitement blew her large stack of paperwork over, but she caught it all with her telekinesis. It had only taken three paper spills for her to obtain the needed reflexes for such an operation. “Spike, check my schedule. Is there anything else I have to do today?”
“Uh…” Spike pulled up her planner. “…Let’s see… Nope. Tomorrow’s light too, just a little trip to Lai to make a statement. Yeesh, I can see why that’s the only thing that day, it might cause a riot.”
“Spike, do you have everything handled on your end?” Twilight asked, eyes hopeful.
Spike looked up at his stack. “I can probably get it done in a day.”
“Thank you Spike! You’re the best!” She looked at the clock on the wall. “I might be able to catch them before they leave today!” She clapped her hooves together and lit her horn. “Oh this is going to be great!”
She teleported into the main hall of her Castle, grinning like a filly who’d just been given a lifetime supply of ice cream. “Guess what!?” She said, calling to the four ponies standing there.
Pinkie opened her mouth.
“Not you, Pinkie, that’s not fair to the others.”
“Aw…”
Renee put a hoof to her chin. “Judging from your downright cheerful demeanor and excitement, I’d say you finally managed to get yourself a break, darling.”
“Right!” Twilight couldn’t sit still, jumping from place to place. “Oh, I get to come with you girls today! Oh this is going to be great – I’ve been wanting to go for sooo long you know… It’s been forever.”
“It’s been two weeks, Twilight,” Flutterfree said. “Remember, the robots that turned into cars?”
“Oh. Right. But still, that’s a long time! You guys go to one or two worlds a day! I’m missing out on so much!”
Nova smirked. “Hey, it’s our job. We kind of have to go out and explore. Not fair to compare yourself.”
Twilight shrugged. “Eh, I’m just missing out. But not today! Pinkie, where are we going?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Dunno. We’ve been sitting here for about five minutes scrolling through the Directory, nothing’s standing out.”
Twilight looked at the Directory. No longer was it a book – instead, it resembled an arcade cabinet – tall, rectangular, and with a large screen embedded into it. Twilight pressed her hoof to the front of the machine, and the screen switched to display a list of dimensions, sorted into groups of 100. At the top was the current number of known universes – 32,064. 32,065 now. Someone must have just uploaded another set of confirmed coordinates. Probably one of the many machines in the major universes scouring combinations to find a new connection. The Directories didn’t use the internet, but rather the spells the original Directories and Journals had used. This, thanks to some enchantments from Equis Cosmic, made the digital Directory network impervious to hacking. Sombra could, of course, find access to one of these devices and read the data, but she couldn’t alter it.
Twilight pressed her hoof on folder 134, and saw a list of a hundred universes. Most were just labeled with random number-letter codes, though she saw a couple names. She ignored the named ones, instead opting to hit the ‘random’ button. It selected universe 013433. She plugged the location into her dimensional device and fired.
Nothing happened.
She facehooved. “Forgot for a second that not every universe is directly connected to this one.”
Flutterfree smiled. “Don’t worry, it’s an easy mistake to make. We even made it last week. We were running from a herd of zombie buffalo. Nova thought the dimensional device was broken for a good ten minutes.”
“Hey, Pinkie let me keep trying!” Nova retorted.
Pinkie giggled. “But it was so fun to watch!”
“We were in danger, Pinkie!”
“Psh, they were slow.”
Twilight rolled her eyes, setting the device to dimension 013434 instead. This portal connected, revealing a world colored similarly to their own, though they saw no castle or buildings. “This one works. Oh, I’m so excited! I can’t wait to meet who or what’s on the other side of this portal and find out what kind of adventure or culture they’ll show us! Eeee!”
~~~
“…and at the end of the race, everypony’s a winner!”
Twilight slowly blinked, taking in the sight before her again just to make sure she wasn’t going crazy. The pony in front of her was more like an Earth pony than an Equis pony – her muzzle was significantly more pronounced and her eyes weren’t forward facing like most Equis ponies’ were. Her figure was significantly fuller and more rounded, and her cutie mark was centered higher on the flank. Despite the pink coat and white-purple mane, Twilight knew she was looking at another version of herself – admittedly without wings.
Twilight was trying really hard not to think of the other version of herself as an idiot.
“What’s the point of the race if there’s no winner?” Twilight asked. “Doesn’t that kind of take the fun out of it?”
“We don’t want anyone losing and feeling bad!” the native-Twilight said.
“Yeah!” Another native pony said, a blue pegasus named Wind Whistler. “The fun is in the running!”
Twilight blinked, turning to Pinkie. Pinkie shrugged. “I dunno. It might work for them. Just be glad Dashie isn’t here.”
Renee shrugged. “Just get done with your race, girls. I’d like to get to this ‘Paradise Estate’ and find a spa. If there’s one place I’m sure this world has, it’s a place to get your mane done spectacularly.”
Twilight shrugged, lining up with Flutterfree and Pinkie for a race. Their competition? Native ponies by the name of Firefly, Wind Whistler, and a version of Applejack. Twilight, Flutterfree, and Pinkie took a ready stance. Renee and Nova watched from the sidelines.
“Ready… Set… Go!” Native-Twilight said. In an instant, Twilight and Flutterfree used a takeoff technique they had learned from Rainbow Dash a few years back, shoving themselves into the air along the track. It was a simple dirt circle that wound through a sparse set of trees on a grass-covered hill. Within moments, Twilight and Flutterfree were neck and neck, flapping their wings as hard as they could.
Unfortunately for Twilight, Flutterfree had been flying for a lot longer than she had. She easily completed the track a full pony-length ahead of Twilight.
Of course Pinkie was waiting for them, whistling innocently.
“Pinkie, number nineteen, wins! Flutterfree – thirty-three - second, and Twilight – forty-two - third!” Nova declared. “And… All the others are a fair bit away.”
Native-Twilight smiled. “Good race! I’ve never seen ponies move that fast!”
“I guess we’re just faster?” Flutterfree said. “Or maybe Rainbow Dash just rubbed off on us.”
“I have become Filly-second,” Pinkie said, grinning.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “We all know you’ve always been able to move that fast.”
Pinkie shrugged. “The costume’s fun though!”
“Why not wear it then?” Renee asked. “I’m pretty sure you can just reach into your mane and pop it out.”
“Oh yeah!” Pinkie said, pulling out a pink and white superhero outfit and putting it on. “You shall now call me Filly-second!”
“Nope,” Nova deadpanned.
“Aw…” She took off the suit and shoved it back into her mane. “You’re no fun…”
Firefly crossed the finish line. “Hey! Why’d you all go so fast!?”
“…I thought it was a race?” Twilight said, uncertain.
“But but…”
“It’s not like I actually won anything.”
“But you still went fast!” Firefly said, pointing a hoof. “And that’s showing off! You’re a showoff! All of you!”
Renee blinked. “Firefly, dear, I don’t think that was their intention-“
Firefly snorted. “That’s not how we do things!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I won’t show off my flying again. That work for you?”
“Why didn’t you say that earlier!?”
“…Earlier?”
“Back on the track! I tried to get your attention!”
“Oh,” Twilight smiled sheepishly, tapping her ears. “I’m deaf, sorry.”
“…What’s deaf?”
Twilight blinked. “…That means I can’t hear anything.”
“That’s silly! All ponies can hear! You’re a liar!”
“Firefly, I-“
“Twilight, wing-you is lying!”
“Wing-me, stop lying,” Native-Twilight said. “It’s mean.”
Twilight’s eye twitched. “Fine. I’ll stop this supposed ‘lying’ and substitute it with a new rhetoric. I’m just a crazy, manipulative, clinically insane pony who has difficulty listening to others. Satisfied?”
“…I didn’t understand those words,” Firefly said.
“What’s ‘rhetoric’?” Wind Whistler asked.
“It’s a way of talking and speaking,” Twilight explained. “…Wait, why do I even need to explain this to you?”
“…Why not?”
Twilight took in a deep breath. Pinkie put a hoof around her to calm her. “Hey, how about we head to Paradise Estate now? I bet there’ll be fun and parties there!”
The attitude of the native ponies changed in an instant. With a “yeah!” they started galloping off to their home.
Twilight and company walked after them, trailing behind.
“I… I don’t even have words,” Twilight said after a couple of minutes. “They have the minds of children. Actually… no, the CMC are more mature.”
Renee raised an eyebrow. “The CMC are hardly children anymore, Twilight.”
“Oh. Right. …Guess I haven’t seen them in a while. Still, I don’t remember them ever being like… this.”
“Really young, like Flurry,” Pinkie said.
Nova blinked. “So this place has a race of ponies that can’t think any better than an extremely young foal? Well. That’s… not sure if it’s depressing or interesting, actually.”
“Well…” Flutterfree began, a hoof to her chin. “Think about our world. Ours is slightly ‘dumbed down’ as well. We all know what disability, injury, death, and other such things mean, but did we ever really come across those things in our day-to-day lives before we started exploring? We hardly have any swear words at all, and friendship is a physical force. They’re like a more extreme version of us.”
“Innocent,” Renee said. “They’re innocent, that’s it.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yep. Not always the best thing, though. They aren’t exactly the nicest.”
“How do they survive?” Twilight wondered aloud. “I sense powerful magics in this world, and I’m certain I’m getting traces of a tremendous dark power that was here relatively recently.”
“Maybe they have the Elements or something?” Flutterfree suggested.
Pinkie shrugged. “They’ve got something, that’s for sure.”
“Good leadership?” Nova suggested. “Maybe they have a Celestia?”
“Other me’d never seen a unicorn with wings before,” Twilight reminded her.
“Who’s to say this Celestia’s an alicorn?” Renee suggested.
Twilight smirked. “Who indeed. Maybe their Paradise Estate will tell us…”
To Twilight’s surprise, Paradise Estate was only a handful of pink buildings surrounded by pastures. There were a few dozen ponies there – all female. There was one small dragon, presumably a version of Spike, but otherwise it was uniform. There weren’t even enough buildings to house every pony.
Nova blinked. “So, is anyone going to ask them how they… er… go on without any stallions, or what?”
“Nope,” Renee deadpanned.
“Right. Just checking.”
“I’m more curious about how they can live here,” Twilight said. “No farms, not enough houses…”
“This may be a case of questioning it not helping, Twilight,” Pinkie pointed out.
“Riiiight…” Twilight tossed her mane back. “Let’s go see if we can find a leader, or how they protect themselves, at least.”
The five trotted down to the Paradise Estate proper, waving hello to the ponies. Most accepted them without another glance.
“No spa…” Renee muttered. “Stupid naturally perfect manes…”
Twilight trotted up to her native-self, who was talking to some pony lamenting their terrible luck. “Hey, Twilight? I have a couple questions.”
“Oh, ask anything!” Native-Twilight said with a smile on her face. Twilight thought the expression looked strange on such a long face. She tried not to laugh at her own thoughts.
“Right. Well, I was wondering if you girls have ever come across any dark magic?”
“Oh, plenty! There was that nasty Tirek, and that horrid Smooze.”
Twilight was thrown for a loop at the mention of the Smooze being horrid – she’d met the Smooze of her world. He was a chill, rather dim green fellow that had some sort of connection to Discord. Twilight, to this day, still didn’t know what that connection was. “How’d you stop them?”
“Oh, we used the Rainbow, Megan, and the Flutter ponies!”
“…Rainbow?”
Native-Twilight pointed at a filly wearing a red necklace. “That’s Lickety Split, she keeps the Rainbow safe for us!”
“Looks like an Element of Harmony,” Flutterfree commented.
“Doesn’t feel like one. Low magic,” Nova said.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Renee reminded her.
Twilight turned back to her other self. “Right. Rainbow, got it. And got help from some others. Next question, do you have a leader?”
Native-Twilight blinked.
“Princess? Queen? President? ….King? Prince?”
“Oh! I know a Prince! Prince Scorpan! He has his own kingdom and everything!”
“A full kingdom?” Renee said, suddenly very interested. “Mind telling us the way?”
Wind Whistler landed next to them. “Better yet, I can just take you. It’s only over that mountain, and you guys are pretty fast!”
“Yeah. We are,” Flutterfree said, smiling softly.
“Then let’s go!” Wind Whistler cheered, slowly floating out of the house.
Twilight blinked. “These ponies like to jump around a lot.”
Flutterfree raised an eyebrow. “You were pretty jumpy to get on this adventure, earlier.”
“Oh. Right. Uh… Yeah, shouldn’t judge.” She walked out of the simple houses of Paradise Estate, following Wind Whistler on the ground. “I’m glad we found something, I was just about to give up and try another universe.”
Renee held up a hoof. “Wait, girls. Doesn’t the name Scorpan mean something to you?”
“Uh…” Nova scratched her head. “No?”
Twilight blinked. “Scorpan! Tirek’s brother! Oh, weird – we’ve never met a version of him in the multiverse yet!”
“Should we be expecting something?” Nova asked.
“Friend to ponies, betrayed his evil brother, gargoyle,” Twilight said. “Considering how xenophobic Tauryl is back home, maybe I can finally learn a bit about them here! Oh, I’m excited again!”
Pinkie laughed nervously. Luckily, Twilight didn’t notice.
~~~
Toph, Vivian, Lieshy, and Lady Rarity were, for once, not adventuring on Lai. They were, instead, taking a ‘vacation’ in the United Republic of the Elemental Nations. Specifically, they were hanging around the demon village.
Lady Rarity knew Lieshy had mixed feelings about the visit – the poor pegasus had lived among these people for a significant amount of time, enough to form connections. Especially with Fef. All of the group save Lady Rarity were getting painful reminders of their betrayal, but the buttery pegasus was the worst off.
The armored pony hefted her hammer, taking point instead of Toph. “I’ll take over.”
Toph pointed a finger at her. “Rarity…”
“You need a moment to collect yourselves.”
“I told you we could handle ourselves.”
“You still need a moment,” Lady Rarity asserted, walking further into the demon settlement. Toph didn’t try to forcibly stop her, instead resigning herself to following behind.
Lady Rarity had never been here before, so she didn’t know what to expect. There were demons of several differing hues of red walking around, some young, some old, some winged, some not. The buildings were made of simple implements taken from the forest around them, but there was a paved road that led right to Republic City and a station for charging technological devices such as phones.
There were a surprising number of Arcei walking around, apparently having chosen this place as a good one for their outsider lifestyle they didn’t want to abandon quite yet. Lady Rarity saw more than a few young Arcei children without arcs. They had no idea what was coming in a handful of years if the scientists couldn’t figure out how to synthesize runes… They were getting closer, as Lady Rarity understood it, but not close enough.
“…Sparse rose…” Lieshy said under her breath.
“Hrm?” Lady Rarity said.
“There’s not enough demons here,” Toph ‘translated.’ “Maybe half as many as last time. Town looks full because of all the Arcei, but it’s not.”
Vivian adjusted her hat. “Where’d they go? Are they all working?”
“Let’s find someone we know and ask,” Toph said, ramming her foot into the ground to get a clearer image of all the demons around. “…Weird. I can’t find Mlinx, Veila, Siron, or Mistress Luna…”
“Maybe there’s a party going on somewhere?”
“Doubtful,” Lieshy said. “Look, I’ll just ask someone. Hey, Hastik!” she called to a female demon of a pale rose color. “Where’s Siron?”
Hastik shrugged. “He’s been gone for a while on some kind of secret mission.”
“How long?”
“…Weeks? The mission’s been going on for months though, but he drops by every now and then.”
Lieshy furrowed her brow. “Huh. Half the town with him?”
“Eh, lots of us have moved to Republic City. We’re not hated as much anymore, so some just decided to move. Lavill’s become a personal trainer for non-benders, can you believe it?”
“My waves struggle to encase.”
“Heh. Nice. Anyway, if you want anything, you should probably go there. There’s not much here anymore.”
“…Your society is fading,” Vivian said, dour.
Hastik nodded. “Unless what Siron’s doing has some way to help us remain distinct, I don’t think we’ll stay proud much longer. We’re already mixing with the Arcei. I think we’ll just have to carry on our legacy as proud warriors some other way. Gardis has taken to exploring, looking for rare creatures to slay.”
Lieshy blinked. “Siron didn’t take Gardis?”
“Gardis… Does his own thing now.”
As if on cue, a dimensional portal opened up and deposited a reddish-brown demon who was tall, but nowhere near as tall as Siron. His rust carapace was covered in dents and cuts from combat, ruining any designs he may have had etched on there long ago. He had dozens of blades all over his back, a couple of guns at his hips, and what appeared to be a defensive amulet around his neck.
His most recent ‘kill’ was in his top left hand – Alushy’s head.
Lieshy gawked. “Gardis? You cut off Alushy’s head?! AND LIVED!?”
Toph shook her head. “…You’re insane.”
Gardis nodded. “True. But Alushy has no idea who I am. She probably never even saw me. And if you keep quiet, it will stay that way.”
“She’s going to hunt you down!”
“She can try,” Gardis said, tossing the head into a nearby tent. “It’s interesting, having a target hunt you after you’ve already gotten the trophy. Nice seeing you Hastik, Lieshy. But my work is never done.” He opened a new portal to the Hub, but hesitated a moment. “Happen to know of any horrendous beasts that need slaying or trophies that would be a challenge?”
Lady Rarity frowned – she knew of a few things that were exactly what Gardis was looking for, but she said nothing.
Toph shrugged. “Go to Ardent and talk to Link. He knows where to find the monsters.”
“Travelers aren’t allowed on Ardent! Everything’s secret!” Vivian reminded Toph.
Gardis shrugged. “I can get a go-between.” He walked into the Hub and let the portal close behind him.
“I know it’s not that hard to get a dimensional device, but don’t they require a permit now?” Lady Rarity asked.
“He’s got one,” Hastik said. “…I think.”
Toph shrugged. “We can check later. Just… For now, let’s…” She felt the Arcei and demons walking around the village. She placed a hand gently to the side of her Master Sword, head sagging slightly. “…Let’s go to Republic City, girls, nothing else to do here.”
Lady Rarity sensed Vivian preparing to object, but with a glare the shadow siren was silenced before she even uttered a peep. They left along the road in silence.
A few minutes later, after the demon settlement was out of sight, Toph rammed her foot into the ground, launching a boulder out of the well-paved road, presumably incurring a large fine. “Why did we even go there!?”
“I wanted to see Mlinx and the Mistress,” Lieshy reminded her. “They weren’t there. It was pointless.”
“Yeah…” Vivian said, sagging. “It’s just full of bad memories now.”
“Maybe them fading is a good thing,” Lieshy muttered.
“Lieshy!” Vivian chided.
“Vivian, they’re a highly violent and militaristic race, Siron is a conniving manipulative mastermind, and they’re always asking for trouble. Spread the gasoline out!”
“But their culture!”
“Is fading,” Lady Rarity said. “The argument of if their culture is good or bad is moot. They do not have large numbers, they do not have a large presence, and even when trying to respect it the mere existence of the multiverse forces adaptation. This can even be seen in Lai. The Arcei are moving out, others are moving in, and tensions are on the rise as a culture is changed – and in the case of Lai, I feel confident that the change is for the better.”
Toph cocked her head. “Wow. That came out of nowhere.”
“I finally felt a connection to the conversation.”
“Right…”
Vivian sighed. “…But Lai will still exist once it changes. The demons will just become part of something else.”
“But they will be remembered as a pivotal race in the history books,” Lieshy pointed out. “They will have a legacy.”
“Like the Binaries?”
Lieshy took in a sharp breath. “…Yes.”
Vivian shook her head. “I don’t know…”
“It’s not like we can do anything about it,” Toph commented. “We’re just a bunch of explorers and ‘knights’ for Queen Luna. We’re not leaders here.”
Lady Rarity nodded. “None of us are in the political game.”
Vivian sighed. “All right. We’ll just see what happens.”
Lady Rarity’s ears perked up. She drew to a stop, looking off the side of the road. The sudden clank of her armor went unheard by the other three – they kept walking and talking. Lady Rarity stepped off the road towards the noise that had caught her attention, readying her hammer for a confrontation. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t call the others’ attention.
A short ways off the road, hidden behind the trees, there was a young Arcei, albeit one old enough to have his arcs already in place. There was a human standing over him, left hand producing a flame. He had the messiest hair imaginable and his clothing was perhaps the most atrocious crime against fashion - dusty, ripped clothes that had probably never been washed. “Look at the little murder-machine, out here all alone…”
“P-please…” the stallion said, backing away. He lit his arcs, but clearly he wasn’t experienced with using them since nothing happened.
“Do my eyes deceive me? The splicer’s unable to use his murder-circles? Rich!” He pointed his hand at the Arcei. “I think it’s time for you to burn.”
A small fiery jet shot out of the man’s hand, barely glancing the Arcei’s side. The stallion shrieked from the burn.
Lady Rarity's instinct rose within her, a long forgotten past bubbling to the surface from her anger. She wanted nothing more than to chew this pathetic excuse for a human being up into a thousand tiny pieces.
Since that particular course of action was off the table, she opted to leap in and smash her hammer on the ground in front of him. “Leave him alone.”
The man looked at Lady Rarity. His crazy eyes twitched. “Get out of my way, unicorn!” He showed no fear, unleashing a torrent of fire from both his hands simultaneously.
Lady Rarity pulled her helmet over her head, the casing deflecting the brunt of the heat. She cast a quick cooling spell and swung the hammer from the side, intending to knock the man to the ground. Instead, he did a backward kickflip and dodged the metallic weapon.
Lady Rarity shot a magical laser after him, but he had apparently realized he wasn’t going to win this conflict if he kept at it. He ran. Lady Rarity felt the intense desire to pursue, but the need to check the Arcei won out. She kneeled down, checking his burn. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly would be painful. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll… I’ll be fine. But… He’ll be back. With friends, since you attacked him…”
The desire to brutally tear the man’s flesh apart returned with a fire. “…I’ll take care of him.”
“…Thank you… Uh...”
“Lady Rarity,” she said, galloping off. She was going to dice that man into a thousand pieces, as well as whoever his friends were. He was a predator, and predators needed to be stopped.
~~~
Scorpan was a human.
The kingdom he ruled – which didn’t seem to even have a name – was filled with humans of all shapes and sizes, though of a uniform white skin tone. At least it was an actual kingdom, and not a small set of houses that didn’t even qualify as a village…
Scorpan wasn’t a gargoyle.
They were currently in the throne room, a nice hall that was for some reason… nondescript. It was a throne room without anything in the way of decoration besides a plain red rug and the cliché regalia Scorpan was wearing.
Scorpan had a beard.
“Charter-Princess? You seem lost in thought.”
Twilight shook her head. “Right, sorry, your highness. This just wasn’t what I was expecting, as I believe I already said.”
Scorpan nodded. “Well, I welcome you back! I was just introducing my advisors, Nadir and Ursula. Say hello.”
Nadir, a man with a strange floppy hat, smiled and waved. Ursula, a haughty woman in purple robes, did the same.
Twilight awkwardly waved back. “…Hi.”
“I don’t know where I’d be without these two. They kept the kingdom running while I was gone, and always tell me what’s happening with the people! Such great help.”
Nova sent a telepathic message to Twilight. Better than the ponies, but still kinda dumb.
Twilight sent one back. Yeah. We’re probably wasting our time here.
Scorpan turned to Nadir. “By the way, Nadir, how’s the family these days?”
Nadir visibly tensed. “Absolutely wonderful, sir.”
“Good to hear! Ursula, how’s your sister?”
Twilight was prepared to excuse her party from the room before the conversation turned to sub-standard small-talk, but what Ursula said caught Twilight’s attention.
“Buxom as always!”
Buxom.
“Scorpan…” Twilight said, hoof to her chin. “Do you know what the word ‘buxom’ means?”
Scorpan blinked. “No, I don’t actually. Mind telling me?”
Twilight lit her horn, looking at a now extremely nervous Ursula up and down. “I think it means your impostor just slipped up.”
“…Impostor?”
Twilight lit her horn and cast a revelation spell, forcing the magic around Ursula to vanish, revealing a four-legged black creature with translucent wings, a jagged horn, and pale blue eyes. “Yep. We’ve got a changeling infestation.”
“Scorpan! She’s lying! She turned me into this horrid creature!” the Changeling shouted.
“Twilight! Turn my advisor back this-“
Twilight facehoofed. “I am out of patience.” She cast a spell and forced Scorpan to sleep. She turned to Nadir. “So, are you going to reveal yourself or are you going to make me do it?”
Nadir shrugged, dropping the disguise. With a flash of green energy, the true form of the changeling was revealed – significantly taller than the other one, with jagged wings and a large horn overtop two gigantic, intelligent, evil eyes.
“A Chrysalis,” Nova said, putting herself on guard.
“You don’t belong here,” Renee said. “You don’t look anything like the ponies here. You look like our changelings.”
Chrysalis smirked. She spoke with a deep, reverberating tone – that Twilight couldn’t hear, but knew was there. “Good observation, Renee. No, I do not hail from this world. But you would know where I do come from. Does the name Melinda ring any bells?”
Pinkie nodded. “How could we forget?”
“Me and my hive were stuck in a world where we could not win. We were starving. But then you came along, and we saw that there were other worlds. I took the identity of one Starbeat for a short time, using my appearance to get a hold of a dimensional device. We evacuated, and found this place, a world where it was so easy to draw love and power. Everyone was just so stupid. Even when a drone broke character, the ponies would never notice or suspect. It was simply beyond them.”
Twilight nodded. “Well, sorry to crash your party, but you know we have to stop you. You know who we are, and the power we wield.”
Chrysalis lit her horn, teleporting Twilight’s dimensional device to her and crushing it.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “…You know that’s not what we were going to-“
“I know very well, my little pony. What I do know is that, after I show my power, you’ll want help. And now you won’t be able to get it.”
She teleported two necklaces to herself and placed them around her neck. One looked exactly like the ‘Rainbow’ artifact they had seen back with the ponies, though the one Chrysalis had was definitely giving off enough magic to actually be an Element of Harmony. The changelings had probably stolen it and replaced it with a fake. The other necklace was just a bag, filled with some sort of churning dark magic.
Twilight tensed. “The Rainbow shouldn’t be a threat to us, Chrysalis, if it works like the Elements of Harmony.”
“Ah, but this other thing? The Rainbow of Darkness?” Chrysalis opened the bag with her magic. A dark, swirling horror flew out of the bag and hit Wind Whistler – a pony Twilight had honestly forgotten about until that moment. The poor pegasus was twisted and transformed into a four-legged creature of darkness with bony protrusions, evil eyes, and a mouth that screamed in rage.
Chrysalis smirked, letting the Rainbow of Darkness back into her bag. “For a land of such stupid ponies, there sure are a plethora of powerful magical artifacts here, great powers of darkness. This Darkness can corrupt whatever it touches, transforming it into a monstrous slave. And I am the only one with the power to undo the damage, with this real Rainbow.” She leaned in closer to the five ponies. “Now, I’d like to keep you all aware and clever, since it’d make for a better audience, but if you try anything I will turn you all into slave monsters.”
Twilight furrowed her brow. She wasn’t sure if she could pull off a spell that could do anything to Chrysalis or her Rainbow of Darkness without getting corrupted by said Rainbow. She glanced at Pinkie – Pinkie just shook her head.
“Fine. You’ve got us. What did you want an audience for?” Renee asked.
Chrysalis grinned. “There was once a worthy power in this land, one by a name you would recognize. The great Tirek. He knew of the great evil in this world, and how to bend it to his will.” She lit a horn, teleporting all of them – except Scorpan – into a room deep beneath the ground with about a dozen changelings in it, all walking around in their default forms. The room was round, dark, and lit only by torches. In the center, there was an altar with two black, broken horns and a tuft of loose red hair. “These objects are all that remain of him.”
“You’re going to resurrect him,” Flutterfree. “Doesn’t that sound like it could easily go wrong?”
“I’ve got the Rainbow, I can always just kill him again. But I need his knowledge. And you’ve come at a perfect time – the ritual is ready.”
“Convenient,” Pinkie said.
“Inconvenient,” Flutterfree countered.
“Trust me, it’s convenient.”
Chrysalis started laughing. “Tirek will show me the dark powers of this world, and I will use them to unleash devastation over everything I can find, and perhaps even gather something to defeat Melinda. Everyone will pay!” She entered the crazy-evil laugh phase, barely able to stand straight.
Twilight considered making an aggressive move, but the presence of the other changelings was a problem.
She opted for plan B. She lit her horn…
~~~
Lady Rarity was on the hunt.
She had traced the man back to Republic City proper. She barely registered the peculiar city around her, focused entirely on her target. It wasn’t hard to trace him at all – even if she didn’t have tracking spells at her disposal, she believed the stench he left would have been enough to go on, even in this busy city.
To her annoyance, her large stature, clanking armor, and tremendous figure drew a lot of attention. There were probably a few people here who knew who she was. None asked for an autograph, or even approached her – but they stared, and a few followed at a distance.
She let out a hissing growl. They might ruin the justice she was about to dish out. They’d probably lose interest eventually, but she couldn’t ignore the possibility that there’d be one who would decide to follow her to the ends of the multiverse. She wondered if they were going to regret their decision.
Then she saw him – down an alley, knocking on the door of a beat-down house. She slowly approached, grinding her teeth, ready to confront him.
An old woman opened the door. “Rodney, what is it?”
“Mom? Can I…”
“No, you can not come in, you used up your last chance already, Rodney.”
Rodney put his hands together. “Please, Mom, you know I-“
“Go away. I mean it, Rodney, you’re not allowed here anymore, not after what you did.” She slammed the door in his face.
Rodney’s hands balled into fists. He punched the door, turned, and ran further down the alleyway in a blind rage.
Serves him right, Lady Rarity thought, continuing to follow him. She was in no hurry – let him suffer a little more before she got to him. It’d just make it better.
She continued tracing him, drawing the hunt out as long as she could. She hadn’t done this in quite some time – she’d forgotten how exhilarating it was… Why had she ever denied this part of herself…?
She didn’t let herself think about the question too much. She was focused on other things.
So focused that she didn’t even notice when Toph and the others caught up with her – not until Toph said something. “Loser says what?”
“What?” Lady Rarity said. “Wait… …Toph.”
Toph shrugged. “Seemed like the perfect opportunity.”
Lieshy facehooved. “That was beyond stupid, Toph.”
Vivian shrugged. “Rarity, what are you doing?”
“I’m hunting down a horrible excuse for a human being who was trying to brutalize an Arcei – he might be trying to gather up his friends and try again. His trail leads down these alleys.”
“Ah. The bad part of town,” Toph commented. “Makes sense, the unsavory types hang out here from what I hear.”
Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “...How?”
“Iroh.”
“Oh. Right.”
Lady Rarity continued walking forward, her gaze narrow. She said nothing further as she marched along the trail.
“…Rarity? You okay?” Vivian asked.
“Fine,” Lady Rarity lied.
“You sure? You seem… fixated.”
“You didn’t see what he was trying to do. I did. And he’s going to get what he deserves.” She hefted her hammer in front of her. “Justice.”
Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “That seems a little vindictive for you, Rarity.”
“Shush, he’s close by,” Lady Rarity chided, ignoring the content of the comment. She approached an ajar door placed in the side of a run-down building that rested in the shadow of a large industrial factory. Lady Rarity followed the trail through the doorway, feeling the closeness of her target.
Her prey.
She walked into the building, hammer held high. The trail went through another door, this one actually closed. She quickly drove her hammer through it and leaped into the room, preparing for the attack.
Rodney was in there, alone, sitting on a bed. He was crying into a pillow so hard that he hadn’t even noticed her bash the door in. His shirt was off, revealing a body covered in scars – some of which were indicative of regular beating. There was an unnatural lump of skin on the side of his chest, and he looked malnourished.
Lady Rarity’s instinct vanished. She dropped the hammer and quickly backed out of the room, tears in her eyes. “…What was I doing?” she said, barely any breath in her voice. “Wh…”
Toph stamped her foot, feeling the broken body of the man. “I’ll get him to a hospital.” She picked him up – he didn’t fight. Didn’t even say anything. With a burst of earth, she left the building, leaving Lady Rarity, Lieshy, and Vivian behind.
Vivian put a hand on Lady Rarity’s armored back. “Hey… You just wanted justice.”
“No, I didn’t! This was more than that! I was giving in to my instinct!”
Lieshy raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have an instin-“
Lady Rarity stamped her hoof on the ground. “Yes I do! You don’t know, you couldn’t! You…”
Vivian folded her hands. “Rarity, we might not know – but you can tell us. You can trust us.”
“I… I know.” Lady Rarity sighed. “You won’t know what this means… But I’ll explain it.” She reached to her mane, pulling it all the way back, revealing the part of her forehead just below her horn. There were two smaller, rounder, but fully functional eyes.
Toph returned, breathing heavy. “Even with the master sword, that’s not a short tri- woah. Rarity, you have your eyes uncovered. Neat.”
Lady Rarity chuckled softly, wiping all four of her eyes. “Yes. Yes, they are cool. But they also mean something you’re not aware of. I’m not a unicorn – I’m a spirid-unicorn.”
Toph raised an eyebrow. “…Never heard of a spirid. Thought I knew all the Lai races.”
“Spirids aren’t considered a race, and for good reason,” Lady Rarity explained. She bared her teeth, making sure they noticed the highly sharp edges and protruding fangs. “Spirids are a strictly carnivorous and regularly cannibalistic race. They’re considered monsters and not real ponies by any stretch of the imagination.” She began to, for the first time in forever, take off her armor completely. The tremendous metallic chunks fell to the ground, revealing Lady Rarity to not be the tremendous unicorn they all thought she was. In reality, the spirid-unicorn was only slightly above average in terms of height, but the armor suit just gave her a ton of extra mass. Beyond the eyes and sharp teeth, the rest of her body wasn’t normal either. She had no tail, but instead, a large rounded abdomen with a cutie mark printed on it of a diamond encased in a web. She only had three legs – but there were five stumps, suggesting she once had eight.
“You poor thing…” Vivian said.
“I’m part monster,” Lady Rarity asserted. “My mother was a Spirid living near the edge of an outer forest, and my father was a unicorn she captured, had some fun with, and devoured one night. I was born with powerful predatory instincts and nopony to tell me otherwise. And with the advantage of my magic, I was a ruthless monster that never failed to capture prey. I have no idea how many lives I took.”
Noting that all three of them were paying attention to her with eyes wide, she continued her tale. “I was gravely wounded one day by a wild dragon. I would have bled out and died had I not been taken in by a kind old wizard. I don’t know why I didn’t eat him or attack when I woke up – but I didn’t. He taught me to speak, how to use magic with more finesse, and taught me what it meant to be a pony… not a monster. How to deny the instincts.” A soft smile came to her face. “I had more than a few adventures after that. You could say I helped save the world. But… Well, I was eventually being hunted down by terrified ponies. Starcei came to my rescue. She built the armor, told me how to hide what I was. We had to amputate four of my legs that day – I lost the back left one a few years before that. And… then I was Lady Rarity, and I became a knight, a champion.”
She looked at the empty room Rodney had been in before. “And then today the instincts came back. I was going to kill him. I was going to eat him. But… He’s me, don’t you see? A monster that doesn’t really want to be. Someone who needs help…”
Lieshy pulled Lady Rarity into a hug. “You’ve had a hard life, and a dark past. But that doesn’t matter to us – what matters to us is today.”
“And you didn’t kill him. You’re the reason he’s getting help at all,” Vivian said.
“Maybe you just needed to have your instincts act up today,” Toph suggested.
Lady Rarity smiled. “…Thank you.”
“You also don’t have to wear that armor all the time, if you don’t want to,” Vivian said.
“Girls, I only have three legs. The armor not only protects me, it gives me a fourth leg for balance. It’s used for more than just hiding who I am.”
“You don’t have to hide the eyes, though,” Lieshy said. “Seriously, even Lai won’t be able to racially judge you anymore. Far as they know, you’re the result of something from another universe.”
Lady Rarity sighed. “…But I want to deny this part of me.”
“Maybe that’s part of the problem,” Lieshy suggested. “Just bottling it up doesn’t work that often. It tends to explode outward.”
Lady Rarity nodded slowly. “Maybe… All I know for sure, right now, is that I trust you all. And... thank you for being here.”
Toph gave a thumbs up. “Don’t mention it. We’re a team, Rarity. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.”
“Good. Now let me ride you into the sunset.”
“No,” Lady Rarity deadpanned.
“Aw…”
~~~
The resurrection ritual clearly was not of the world they were currently in – Chrysalis must have been doing some exploring of her own to find the magics required to accomplish the blasphemous act she was currently undertaking. Moaning spirit noises filled the room the moment she activated her horn. The altar turned a sickening green color, covering the horns and hairs of Tirek in a thick, syrup-like magic. They floated into the air, rotating at ever-increasing speeds. The horns mended their cracks first, the hairs tied themselves together second. A body began to form – first a head, then the arms, then the four legs, protruding out like some expanding telescope. As the body expanded, shifted, and grew, everypony present could hear bones crunching and flesh churning under the magical syrup. A death scream played in reverse greeted their ears as the ancient centaur was brought back to life, forced to relive the pain that killed him.
He didn’t look quite like the Tirek that Twilight had faced in her past – his horns weren’t as large, his face was significantly more pronounced, and he wore armor over his chest. But he was still a red and black centaur with a malevolent expression on his face.
“Tirek,” Chrysalis began. “I, Chrysalis, have saved you from your untimely demise. I have come to this world seeking artifacts of Darkness and Power, and I believe you know just where to find such things and how to use them. In return, I offer you your own Rainbow of Darkness back, as well as sway over my army of changelings. We can rule this pathetic world – and possibly even other worlds – together. I know you want to get revenge on that human girl from the neighboring world.”
Tirek looked around Chrysalis’ neck. “You have the Rainbow of Light,” he observed, speaking with a deep, gravelly voice.
“That’s just in case you say no. And also so the ponies don’t use it on me.”
Tirek folded his hands, looking at the changelings. They showed off by transforming into several different monsters. Tirek smiled at this – but the smile vanished when he laid eyes on Twilight and her friends. “Who are they?”
“An audience of enemies,” Chrysalis explained. “They come from another world, like myself. They wanted to stop us, but they can’t face the Rainbow of Darkness, and they cannot escape me either.”
“Why have you not corrupted them to be your servants!?”
“That’s boring,” Chrysalis said, matter-of-factly. “Though now that they’ve seen you I suppose I’ve seen all the looks of shock and awe I need.” She levitated the bag containing the Rainbow of Darkness to him. “Do you want to do the honors?”
Tirek nodded. “I accept this alliance.” He grabbed the bag and hung it around his neck.
Pinkie shouted. “WAIIIIT!”
Tirek raised an eyebrow. “…Why?”
“You don’t even know our names! I’m Pinkie Pie, that’s Nova, this is Renee, and over here we have Flutterfree! Oh, and we mustn’t forget our illustrious leader, Twilight, an alicorn! Both wings and a horn! Bet you’ve never seen that on a pony before!”
“No, I have not. Why should I care?”
“I dunno, she might have some secret magics or knowledge to tell you about!”
“She’s among the rulers of a far off world that should be of no consequence to us,” Chrysalis said. “She knows nothing of this world.”
Tirek gripped the bag tightly. “And anything she does know can be mine when she is under the power of Darkness.”
Twilight smirked. “You see, that might actually work. If, well, you actually had time to do that. But, here’s the fun thing. You see, Chrysalis took my ability to travel between worlds away earlier, but what she doesn’t realize is that I know the magic spell in that device by heart. I can create a miniscule portal with my power and send a message to my world. And it just so happens that they’ve acted pretty quickly and currently have you surrounded.”
Chrysalis snorted. “What a stupid lie. I would have notice-“
Bon Bon dropped from the ceiling and bucked Chrysalis across the face. “GO! GO! GO!” she shouted.
The makeshift Hub military made itself known – creating dozens of portals from several different worlds simultaneously, throwing the changelings and Tirek into a confused panic. A mixture of ponies, humans, reformed changelings, and even a handful of dragons unleashed their fury on the company. The changelings rushed to copy their opponents, but they were taken by surprise, largely ineffective against the mixture of bending, magic, and dragonfire.
Tirek roared. “You fools! You are nothing in the face of the Rainbow of Darkness!” he reached into the bag and unleashed the disturbing swirl of darkness. It rushed the attackers – but was intercepted by a single yellow pegasus in a red hat.
Alushy laughed as the Darkness swirled around her, trying to corrupt her essence and failing miserably. “Oh would you look at that, apparently I’m already way too corrupted! Ha! Surprise surprise!”
Tirek forced the Rainbow of Darkness off Alushy and onto a dragon; the beast followed the centaur’s command and attempted to eat the vampiric pony. Alushy simply flew around the dark dragon’s mouth and kicked it in the jaw. She turned to Tirek. “Okay, Tire? I’m calling you Tire. I’ve had a bad day. Some asshole decided to cut off my fudging head earlier today and I can’t find them. So I’m going to take my rage out on you, mmkay?”
The Rainbow of Darkness corrupted a powerful spellcasting unicorn, who teleported Alushy away to who knew where. Tirek laughed. “You are all powerless in the face of Darkness!” The Rainbow protected him from all the dangers, shoving the powers of the attackers back.
And then the Wonderbolts showed up. The fiery form of Commander Spitfire took point, heading right for Tirek’s head. The Rainbow of Darkness pushed her back, but the pony behind her – one Rainbow Dash – made it through and connected a powerful buck right to Tirek’s face. He fell off the altar he was standing on, reeling.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight called, firing lasers at changeling drones. “You’re part of the Hub’s makeshift military?”
“Eh, not officially…” Rainbow Dash said, twisting her back around and unleashing a small tornado on an attacking changeling. “But Spitfire got us in with some clever something or other. Nice to see you, by the way.”
“Same!” Twilight called.
Their interaction was interrupted by the Rainbow of Darkness surging, corrupting more of the attacking force.
Nova grimaced. “I don’t like this. Even with our forces, I don’t think we can take that powerful an artifact.”
“The solution is already here,” Twilight said. “Chrysalis has the…” She blinked. She couldn’t see Chrysalis anywhere. Lighting her horn, she sent a message through one of the portals. Get the Feldspar here and scan for a changeling queen magic signature! She teleported out of the basement and to the surface of the world. A gigantic portal opened up, allowing the impressive beauty of the Feldspar to grace the world. The magical ovoid on top surged with energy, scanning the land below, while the solid bottom glinted in the light of the sun.
Twilight felt pride at the accomplishments of Equis Vitis in this ship.
She received a message from the current commander of the Feldspar – Luna, apparently. She knew exactly where Chrysalis was. She teleported to the given location. Apparently Luna had the same idea, since they both appeared in front of the fleeing Chrysalis.
“Darnit,” Chrysalis hissed, turning to face them. “Even two on one, there’s no guarantee you can beat me! I have absorbed so much lo-“
Twilight teleported the Rainbow of Light from Chrysalis’ neck. “Think you can keep her busy for a minute, Luna?”
“Of course,” Luna said.
“Hey! Get back he-“
Twilight teleported back to the basement before Chrysalis could finish her sentence. She unleashed the Rainbow of Light from the trinket. “HEY TIREK!” She called.
He turned to look – and all the colors of the rainbow hit him in the face, knocking him over once again. The Rainbow of Darkness moved to protect him, but its dark colors were transformed into bright, vibrant shades by the Rainbow of Light. The power of swirling light overcame that of Darkness, banishing it. The corrupted forms of ponies and people slowly returned to normal. The Rainbow moved on to Tirek.
“No! Not again!” Tirek shouted, casting magic of his own that once again proved ineffective against the immense power of the Rainbow.
Twilight realized she could probably recall the Rainbow at this point. The Rainbow of Darkness was out of the picture – at least temporarily – and they could now take Tirek. Imprison him, throw him where the other Tirek was…
But she saw death. Already, in the fight, there were losses on both sides. Bodies on the ground.
She had ordered ponies to their death, and the death of many changelings. She knew that, even though her message had included ‘minimal casualties’, that a fight of this scale would not be without loss.
The least she could do was follow through, to avenge them.
No… She could do a little more.
Her eyes went white. She shoved her magical power into that of the Rainbow, enhancing it. It surrounded Tirek, doing more than just destroying him, like it had in the past. Twilight ensured that it tore him apart molecule by molecule, spreading his essence into nothing more than dust so he would never be able to be resurrected from his remains again.
A single tear rolled down Twilight’s cheek. She dropped her magic and folded up her wings.
Pinkie was standing right in front of her, a sad look on her face. Twilight smiled back, a similar sorrowful tint on her own expression. “I did it, Pinkie. I… I feel a little proud, actually. That’s… That’s messed up, right?”
“Yes,” Pinkie said, pulling her into a hug. “Yes it is.”
There was silence in the room that had seen a war.
Alushy charged in. “I’M BACK, WHO’S READY FOR TH- oh. Oh, well today just sucks in every possible way.”
Twilight tore herself from Pinkie and turned to her three friends. “We should go check on Chrysalis. Luna has her occupied.”
“Luna?” Flutterfree asked.
“She was in charge of the Feldspar, apparently.” Twilight lit her horn, teleporting the five of them to where Chrysalis had been. All they found was Luna standing there with a grumpy expression on her face.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “…What happened?”
“She portaled to another universe,” Luna grunted. “I’m waiting for the Feldspar to send me the data to go and retrieve her.”
“We can do that,” Renee said. “I think your ship wants you back on it.”
Luna nodded slowly. “You are right, of course…” Luna and Twilight received the magical information. “Enjoy hunting down another changeling Queen.”
Twilight nodded, accepting Luna’s dimensional device. She activated it, tearing a hole into another world…
~~~
Pinkie Pie was a pink pony who loved parties. She especially loved the parties she threw for her six amazing friends. One day, she decided she needed to throw an extra-special super-duper amazing-fun party, because she knew today was going to be a special day!
She set to work. Every party needs balloons, so that was what she set up first. The punch came next, set up in a shining and clear bowl. After that, she did the next fun thing and set out a nice patterned rug. It was pink! Everything Pinkie Pie had was pink, just the way she liked it. Her friends didn’t mind.
Pinkie Pie rung a bell so everypony would know to come rushing to her house for the party! She was so excited she could barely stand still! But Pinkie Pie knew using all of her excitement would just make the party not as good as it could be. So she sat, patiently, waiting for them all to arrive.
Just when she was beginning to wonder if they’d show up, all of them did! Rainbow Dash came first, dressed in her finest dress of many colors. Scootaloo ran in after, barely able to contain her excitement. Cheerilee followed her excitable little sister in, happy to share time with everypony. Starsong flew in after, her wings shining in the light. Sweetie Belle held her horn high as she walked in, her magic shining brilliantly. Toola-Roola came in last, also shining, ready for some arts and crafts!
But oh, what’s this? There were two Toola-Roolas! How could this be? Pinkie Pie knew there was only one Toola-Roola! It was always just Pinkie Pie and her six friends, never anypony else. What was going on?
“Toola-Roola, do you have a twin sister?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“That’d be such cool beans!” Scootaloo cheered.
A Toola-Roola shook her head. “No, I don’t. I think she’s an imposter!”
“I’m no im…pos…ter,” the other Toola-Roola said. “…What’s imposter mean, Pinkie?”
“It means somepony pretending to be somepony else,” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Oh. Am I an imposter, Pinkie?” one of the Toola-Roola’s asked.
“I don’t know,” Pinkie Pie said. She put a hoof to her chin. “Maybe we don’t need to! Let’s just have fun with two Toola-Roolas!”
“Yeah!” her six friends cheered.
Oh! Suddenly, a strange circle appeared in the air! Five unusually shaped ponies appeared! They looked like they had just been through an exhausting day of play!
“Okay, uh… hello!” their leader, Princess Twilight Sparkle, said. “Look, I’m going to see if we can resolve this quickly… Have any of you seen a tall, black, bug queen around here? Looks menacing, has holes in her legs, evil laugh?”
“I’ve never heard of anypony like that!” Sweetie Belle said.
The white visitor, Renee, looked at Sweetie Belle. “…Odd. Regardless, clearly she has to be one of those two identical ponies over there, unless you’re twins or something. You see, she can change her shape to be anypony.”
“An… imposter?” one of the Toola-Roola’s asked.
The yellow visitor, Flutterfree, smiled. “Yes. An imposter. Twilight here can make her show her true form with a simple spell!”
Sweetie Belle looked at Princess Twilight Sparkle. “You have wings! That’s amazing!”
“Cool beans!” Scootaloo cheered.
Princess Twilight Sparkle lit her horn. “…Great. Anyway, thank you all! I’ll just reveal her and we’ll be on our way…”
Pinkie Pie held up a hoof. “Wait. I think I should talk to you five for a minute. We have things we do at our parties! You should learn about them!”
“I… what?” Princess Twilight Sparkle said.
Pinkie Pie turned to her six friends and the other Toola-Roola. “Go outside and play for a bit! There’s a tire swing outside!”
“Yay!” Six of them shouted. The other Toola-Roola shouted after all the others. They went outside.
The pink visitor, known as Pinkie Pie, spoke next. “Ahem.”
“Yes?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Can we drop the whole ‘dumbed down’ thing now? It’s painful to exist in,” Pinkie Pie said.
Native-Pinkie nodded, pulling a chair out of her mane and sitting down. “All right, that’s fair. They’re not here anymore, so I guess it’s fine. I already know why you’re here, but I’ll ask anyway. What’s up?”
Nova let out a breath. “Thank goodness, that was getting unbearable… I thought the last world was bad…”
Twilight nudged Nova before addressing Native-Pinkie. “We’re here to get a criminal by the name of Chrysalis. She was impersonating a Toola-Roola, and we know which one. Please, let us get her before she escapes again or hurts your friends!”
Native-Pinkie pulled a dimensional device out of her mane. “She’s not leaving anytime soon, trust me. She’ll also find that she can’t actually hurt my friends. I’ve set it up that way.”
“…Set it up?” Flutterfree asked.
Pinkie Pie nodded. “It’s just me and my six friends here, nopony else in Ponyville. This world is a sanctuary of innocence. I keep them happy, and they worry about nothing. They may be like children, but while you might find it insufferable, I find it endearing and… pure.”
“…Fair,” Twilight said. “I don’t agree, but fair. I’d still like to take her back with us.”
Native-Pinkie shook her head. “I think I’ll keep her here. I don’t know if it’ll work out – probably not, really – but I might be able to show her the beauty of this world. Get her to realize that there’s more. If not, I can always toss her to another universe with this device.”
“Nautica’s our prison world,” Pinkie said, dialing the device to the water world. “Send her there if you have problems!”
“Thank you!” She put the device back into her mane. “I might be able to change her, and I at least want to try.”
Twilight turned to Pinkie. “…Can we trust her?”
“Yeah,” Pinkie said. “Chrysalis ain’t got nothin’ on this version of me. An entire world under her hoof! Pretty cool!”
“It is, isn’t it?” Native-Pinkie cheered. “Hey, want to stay for a tea party!?”
“Do I ever!”
“No, stop, I’m checking out now,” Nova said, raising her hoof into the air. “I can’t stand this place.”
“Fair,” Native-Pinkie said. “But consider coming back for a vacation or something. You’d be surprised what a completely innocent world can do for your psyche. Just don’t tell too many ponies about this place, okay? I don’t want to have to hide it.”
Twilight nodded. “We won’t. All right, girls, who’s staying for the party?”
Pinkie and Flutterfree raised their hooves. Twilight tossed them her dimensional device after she used it to open a portal to the world they’d just come from. “Remember, you can’t get directly back to home from here. Have fun! And, Pinkie?”
“Yes?” Native-Pinkie said, knowing she was the one Twilight was talking too.
“I hope your world stays innocent.”
~~~
Dear Princess Celestia…
Today I learned that I can kill people.
It wasn’t even that difficult. I just saw that everything would be better if a version of Tirek was completely expunged from this world, so I tore him apart molecule by molecule so he could never come back. I knew what I did was a good thing. I felt pride.
This pride scares me, Celestia. It really scares me. What I did, it was just a horrible thing that needed to be done, but I feel vindicated because of it. I almost feel… better. Relief. Maybe I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, or maybe I’d seen enough death at this point to be prepared?
Or did I want to do it?
I don’t know. I do know that I needed to write you a letter.
I’ve truly lost my innocence today, Celestia. The last shred of it went with that final act. But… I also saw two worlds today that were innocent, in one way or another, more so than I ever was. I’ve learned that innocence, while comforting, is not a good thing. Without the bad, the dangerous, the gray areas, life can’t have as much life to it. It becomes, in some ways, idiotic. But, well, the ponies in a truly innocent universe don’t feel pain. They just live their lives, happy.
I don’t think that kind of life has any meaning. Happiness is not all there is in the world.
Look at me, I’m rambling now. Sorry.
I think we should talk about this more over lunch. It’d be nice to just talk with you.
-Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
A tear rolled down Celestia’s cheek as she rolled the letter up.