The Supreme Kai of Time led Starlight Glimmer through the halls of the Time Vault. All around them were large columns filled with scrolls, each of which corresponded to different moments in time.
“Alright, Starlight,” the Supreme Kai of Time began, as she halted in her stride and turned around to face the purple unicorn as she spoke. “Now that you have officially joined the time patrol, it’s important that you learn exactly what it is that we do so that you can understand why our work is so important.
“You see, our job is to preserve the timeline from any who would seek to change it. However, there isn’t just one straight timeline, but in fact a near infinite of alternate, branching timelines, and the Time Nest is the nexus where they all meet. Whenever we see an alteration in the timeline in one of these scrolls and we send a Time Patroller back to fix it, we aren’t actually erasing that change; that split has already happened and created a new timeline. Think of what we do more as cauterising a wound in the overall timeline and preventing the new bad future from spreading further. Do you understand?”
Starlight raised a hoof to her mouth in confusion. “I’m not sure. This all sounds really confusing, with this talk of different timelines that apparently exist, but also don’t exist at the same time.”
The Supreme Kai of Time let out a breath before she continued. “I’ll admit that it is difficult to grasp in the beginning.” She then put her hand to her chin as she tried to think of a way she could explain it more clearly. “Alright try to think of it like this: take the world that you originally came from – that’s one timeline, which is separate from, say, the timeline that Dumplin came from. Now imagine that in your timeline, an author wrote a fictional story. In that moment, that author has just created a new timeline, where the world of that story is real, where it exists concurrently but separate from that author’s own timeline – the timeline branched out.”
Starlight’s eyes started to widen as she began to piece together the concept. “Okay, I think I’m starting to get it now; and in that author’s original timeline, if a fan that author’s story decided to write a fanfiction, then that fanfiction would also create another timeline similar to but separate from the others?”
The Supreme Kai of Time smiled and nodded. “Yup, that’s the basic concept. And keep in mind that that’s all from just one fictional story, from just one timeline, so you can’t even imagine how many possible timelines there are in total. There’s basically one timeline for every single idea that any person can imagine – just imagining something can create an entire timeline where it’s real.
“However, an important thing to remember is that the timeline isn’t infinite and that if too many alternate timelines were to arise then it would cause irreparable damage to the overall flow of time, so our job is to regulate that flow and to keep it flowing smoothly.”
Starlight nodded her head along in understanding as the Supreme Kai of Time continued explaining everything. “Alright, I think I understand it now.”
“Good,” the Supreme Kai of Time said, with a proud smile on her face and her hands on her hips. A moment later, she began walking forward again, leading Starlight to a small desk with several scrolls to one side.
“Now in order to make sure that you fully grasp what we do here, I would like for you to have a look through several different scrolls, so that you can see for yourself exactly just what kind of alternate timelines that we have to deal with. Don’t worry, you’ll only have to look through a handful of different scrolls, and for simplicities sake, it will only be offshoots of the timeline that you came from.”
“Alright,” Starlight nodded her head in understanding as she walked up to the table and sat in front of it.
“Alright then,” the Supreme Kai of Time nodded in turn. Seeing that Starlight had everything that needed, the SKoT then began making her way out of the room.
When she was almost at the door, she suddenly realised something else and turned back to face Starlight again. “Oh, that reminds me. Don’t forget that Puddin’s baby shower is later today, so make sure to head over there once you’re finished here. I’m sure she’ll want all of her friends to be there.”
Starlight simply turned towards her and smiled good-naturedly. “Don’t worry; I actually have real friends now, so I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The Supreme Kai of Time just smiled. “Once again, good to hear.” She then turned back around and left the Time Vault.
Now all alone, Starlight used her magic to pick up the first scroll to her left, unfurled it and began to read, taking a glimpse into another timeline.