Infinity Era

by JDPrime22

Chapter 11 – Drinking Games

Sunset’s parents didn’t last “all night long” as Pinkie would have wished. They left not too long ago, offering their last goodbyes for the night to their daughter. It was a tearful visit, one that Twilight and—admittedly—Applejack got a little emotional over. Sunset promised them she’ll visit in a day or two, after she got accommodated with Twilight and her friends first.

They spent the next three hours indulging themselves in Twilight’s throne room, drinking their laughter away with Applejack’s family apple cider and the stories they shared. When the party had ended and everypony went home, all that remained within the confines of Twilight’s castle were Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Starlight, and Sunset. They surrounded the Cutie Map, each pony occupying a major throne except for Sunset and Starlight. Starlight sat in Spike’s empty throne, knowing the young dragon who was hanging out with Discord for the night wouldn’t mind. Sunset sat on a small stool no bigger than Spike’s throne.

She didn’t mind. She was trying hard to hide her blushing cheeks as Starlight told everypony the story. And, of course, Twilight just had to interrupt several times.

“So, while we were off during our friendship mission, you decided it was a good idea to leave the castle unprotected to travel to another dimension with Sunset?” Twilight Sparkle asked, turning her gaze right to Starlight, who was slightly cramped in Spike’s much smaller throne.

“Oh, come on, Twilight!” Starlight said, tipping her apple cider only slightly. “It’s not like you keep this castle protected when we’re all gone anyway!”

“I have Friday!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Come now, Twilight,” Rarity said, sipping from her glass of cider, everypony else having a wooden mug. “Friday’s been tending more to the library than any other room in this castle! If anything, she is more like… a glorified librarian than a guard.”

The Alicorn blinked. Maybe it was the weariness of the late night that was getting to her, or that her cider was nearly empty that made her frown. She stirred the tip of her hoof around the edge of her mug. “Yeah… I really should look into getting some guards,” she chuckled.

Taking a big gulp from her mug, Starlight placed her cider aside. She managed to conceal a small burp. Sunset giggled at that. “Besides, I learned a pretty good friendship lesson while I was there!” Starlight said, turning to Sunset. “How has Juniper been, by the way?”

Sunset gripped her mug with both hooves, staring into it and smiling. “She’s definitely a lot happier now. Thanks to you.”

Rainbow chuckled, holding out her mug. “We seriously need to take a vacation to that human dimension. Sounds like a blast.”

“It really is,” Sunset agreed, pulling her mug forward and gulping down nearly all that remained. She was still trying to get back into the flow of using actual magic with her horn, but she was feeling too tired to even attempt it. So, she awkwardly fumbled her mug, nearly slamming it onto the map beneath her when her eyes widened.

She gulped down the cider in her bloated cheeks, saying, “Maybe you can all come back with me after this week! The girls and I were planning a lot this summer.”

“They won’t mind to see a second version of themselves?” Fluttershy asked, hiccuping after her large consumption of Applejack’s delicious apple cider.

Sunset laughed. Both at Fluttershy's adorable hiccup and the thought of seeing two of every one of her friends. “That does sound pretty awkward now that you mention it!”

“But it also sounds really fun,” Twilight said, earning several nods. She raised her mug with her magic and took a sip. “Then again, we have the School of Friendship to run. I’m sure we can figure something out. Give the kids a break for a week.”

A few moments of silence and smaller conversation filled the room. Pinkie babbled on to Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity doing the same. Sunset looked to her right, noticing Rainbow Dash leaning back on her throne and gazing into her nearly-empty cider mug with a slick grin. She noticed the three gashes on the left side of her face, from her jaw bone to the bottom of her eye. It looked like it had cleared up ages ago, but the scars were still there. Sunset couldn’t recall Rainbow back in the human world having any scars, let alone on her face.

The human world… Which reminded her…

“Hey, everyone…” Sunset muttered, her voice apparently sounding much louder than what she heard, because everypony turned her way. Everypony. Sunset shook her head, chuckling. “Uh… I mean… everypony… Gosh, that’s gonna take some getting used to.”

Everypony laughed, but stopped to let her continue. Sunset forced herself to break her eyes away from her cider mug, bringing them forward so she could see everypony present. From Starlight to Twilight, then Applejack and Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy, and finally Rainbow Dash. They all eyed her. Smiled at her. She smiled too. “I just want to say… thank you… for setting all of this up.”

Twilight giggled. “You can thank Pinkie for the party.”

Pinkie stood up on her throne, grinning wide. “And Twilight for inviting everypony!”

Rarity smiled. “And the princesses for bringing your parents.”

Sunset nodded to each of their statements, almost freezing at Rarity’s. She continued. “Yeah… especially after everything I’ve done. I really shouldn’t deserve this party… this acceptance… after I blatantly betrayed Celestia and tried to take over another world.”

Some smiles fell, others remained intact. Twilight’s sympathetic grin remained where it was, her soft eyes holding well with Sunset’s weary pair. She said, “It just means so much that you would all go through this much effort just to welcome me back.”

“Do not dwell on the past, darling!” Rarity said, waving her hoof. “That’s why it’s called the ‘past’ for a reason. What matters now is that you’re home, among friends and family.”

Sunset raised her mug. “I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of ponies to be my friends. I know tonight is where we’ve all formally met,” Sunset said, addressing Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack, “… but I feel like I know you ponies just as well as I know my friends back in the human world. For that… I want to say thank you… for everything.”

“To friendship,” Twilight declared, raising her mug.

“To friendship!” they all said and drank away whatever they had left.

Several sighs reverberated across the throne room, several empty wooden mugs smacking against the map just to add to it. “Anyway… Sunset!” Rarity exclaimed, leaning forward on the map, gazing longingly at the unicorn across from her. More accurately, at what she was wearing. “About that absolutely stunning geode around your neck…”

Unfortunately, Rarity’s interests and Sunset’s long-overdue story would have to wait. The throne room doors burst open, everypony flinching in their seats and spinning towards the entrance. Collapsing forward, Spike clutched onto his chest, breathing rather heavily but managing to shout, “You guys! You guys!”

“Spike?” Applejack asked, already getting out of her throne. “What’s goin’ on?”

The young dragon shakily stood up, one claw over his heart, the other pointing behind him. He gasped, “You… all… have… to see! Outside!”

“Okay, Spike, just calm down—!” Twilight said, stepping out of her throne and approaching him. He shocked everypony when he yelled at her.

“Now!”

Maybe it was the panic in his voice, the desperate and terrified tone that he added to it. Maybe it was his eyes, wild and animalistic. Whatever it was, they all got out of their seats and rushed through the twin doors. As everypony shuffled past Spike out of the throne room, Twilight gripped his shoulder, stopping him so they were alone.

“What happened, Spike?” she whispered.

He gulped. He tried to. What he said left a strange chill rushing up Twilight’s spine. “There’s something seriously wrong with the sky.”

Twilight kept that in mind as she and Spike caught up with the rest of their friends. They had just made it outside of the castle, Applejack and Rainbow Dash shoving the massive doors aside and allowing everypony to step into the cool, night air. The rest of Ponyville was alive and awake, several terrified screams emanating from the town. They didn’t pay attention to that. They couldn’t.

“What in tarnation…?” Applejack whispered, her jaw falling instinctively.

Pinkie’s eyes nearly bulged out of her skull, Rarity and Rainbow Dash almost sharing the same fate when they turned their heads skyward. Fluttershy whimpered, cowering near Rainbow. “Oh, my…”

But none of their reactions were as bad as Twilight’s. She stepped in front of her friends, on Sunset’s right and Starlight’s left, and gave quite possibly the loudest and most profound gasp out of all her friends. It was probably the largest intake of air she’s ever had. Her jaw fell, eyes widening in both shock and awe. She couldn’t even lie when she felt that same horrified chill race back up her spine. Spike was right. There was something seriously wrong with the sky.

Luna’s moon being almost completely demolished was one of them, a second moon right next to it and suffering almost the exact amount of damage. The other thing was the massive planet hanging dangerously overhead, dangerously close to their own world. It was so massive that it covered nearly all of the night sky. It probably did, but the darkness of the night made it difficult to see how much the planet consumed.

“Sweet Celestia,” Twilight gasped. She brought down her gaze, finally noticing Discord standing just a few feet ahead of her and her friends. His head was to the sky, hands resting on whatever he called his hips. “Discord? What is this? What did you do?”

The Spirit of Chaos blew a raspberry. He spun his neck around, eyeing the Princess of Friendship. “Don’t look at me, Twilight. This is beyond even my understanding.” The Alicorn’s gaze fell, only to return to the alien planet above her head. Discord joined her, shaking his own. “Hmm… I do recognize this world, however. It’s Earth.”

“Earth?” everypony except for Sunset gasped, looking to one another. They gazed back to the dark planet above them shortly.

Discord stroked his goatee. He was thinking back to the correct Earth, the one that currently rested in their own dimension. It had the same features, the same basic structure and look as the Earth he remembered. He said, “The one in this galaxy, I presume. You know, the same world you and your friends spent a couple summers back.”

“Twilight?” Sunset asked, her voice so quiet the Alicorn nearly missed her. Twisting her neck to her left, Twilight gazed at the unicorn, noticing the quizzical and somewhat worried look in her eyes. She asked, “The same world that Friday came from?”

Twilight nodded grimly, twisting her gaze back to the sky. Sunset joined her, sighing. “Starting to wish I came back at a better time.”

No moment of stunned silence followed. From what went to straight shock transformed into surprise when a flash of light appeared directly in front of the group. In its aftermath, Princess Luna stood panting, bloodshot eyes centered on the group ahead of her.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight cried, taking several steps forward. Instead, she halted when Luna raised her hoof.

“There is no time for formalities, everypony,” the Princess of the Nights declared, dropping her hoof and immediately turning towards the Spirit of Chaos. “Discord, I’m going to need you to come with me.”

“Luna…” Twilight tried again, this time standing on Discord’s right so she was sure Luna saw her. And she did. She turned her beet red eyes to the Princess of Friendship and listened shortly to what she had to say. “What’s happening?” she asked.

And it was a question she could not answer. Her voice trembled, clearly worried and confused, which wasn’t uncommon. Luna dropped her gaze, sniffing and trying to hold herself together. She was a liar if she didn’t share Twilight’s feelings, or at least similar ones. It was at that moment did Twilight notice the wetness of her cheeks, the red of her eyes.

The remains of her moon. Twilight gasped, a hoof rising to cover her mouth.

“Be patient, Princess Twilight,” Luna told her, mustering up enough strength to sound strong. It hardly held well with the Alicorn. “We will discover what this all means soon enough. Discord.”

Discord just shrugged. “Oh, very well, Lulu,” he said, the princess frowning at that name but charged up her horn just the same. Discord quickly waved goodbye just before she could release the teleportation spell. “Be right back, everypony!”

“Discord…” Fluttershy whimpered.

Luna stopped. Discord stopped. The two of them stared at the Pegasus, seeing her leave Rainbow’s side and stumble forward. Luna sighed silently through her nostrils, her expression softening. She was surprised to see Discord’s own expression remain similar to her own.

Fear gripped her. The circumstances, what it left, and what it meant were all still up in there, all still unknown. That unknown was scary, terrifying even. Neither Luna nor Discord could have expected anything else as a reaction from Fluttershy, let alone any of the others. She was still clearly on edge after seeing the alien planet, still shaken to see Luna’s moon remain a shattered husk. Luna had managed to halt it and the other on their slow journey to their worlds, which would have inevitably ended in total destruction. She couldn’t move the planet any further away. That was a type of power that was beyond her. But she did stop all of the moon husks.

Seeing the expression on Fluttershy’s face, worry both for what the alien planet meant and worry for her friend, Discord only smiled. He nodded to her. “I promise I’ll be back.”

He vanished alongside Luna, and everypony just stood there. Gazing at the world.

The large, blue planet with its lands covered in flames hanging within the portal didn’t exist.

That’s what Rarity wanted to believe, but she still stood behind her friends, hoof over her heart, a horrified expression on her face, and her eyes holding nothing but vivid and terrible visions of what was to come. Visions she prayed would never come to her again, and for nearly two years… that’s the way it was. For a time, she started to believe that they were simply nothing, and not to worry any longer. But now… the pieces were falling into place. One by one. Slowly coming together.

She slowly looked down to her shaking hoof, then to her friends. She tried to reach out to them. She tried to tell them something… but found no strength to do so… and remained silent with them. With the cold corpses that flashed across her vision.