//------------------------------// // A pony enters a bar at the end of the multiverse... // Story: Where no Sunset has been before // by FieryUnicorn42 //------------------------------// Dawn opened her eyes and sees that she was on the bed and her mother was sat on a chair at the bed's side. "Mom?" "Yes, sweetie?" Said Sunset standing up and sitting near Dawn on the bed. "Where we are?" "We crashed on Equus prime's surface. Now we are on the citadel, the only place remaining of Equestria." Dawn sit pushes the covers and looks at her legs and left arm. "We almost die." "Yes, you were really close to death when the girls found you outside the citadel limits. Fortunately, they could stabilize you and helped me get the crib to heal you." "My mind is confused, I can't remember all that happened, just some flashes." "It's fine, I can't remember all neither. I guess HAL is coming in a few hours and he can show you what happened before we crashed. Now, how about we have some lunch? the cafeteria isn't far from here." "Yeah, I'm really hungry." They left the room and two minutes later arrive in the cafeteria. Looking around, Dawn sees a couple of ponies, but only two catch her attention: a unicorn that probably looks like her mother in her pony form and what appears to be a metallic pony. The two grab their plates and began putting her food when Dawn points to the table. "Who are they?" "The purple one is Nova, the Lavender one is Starlight, that adorable little yellow unicorn is Sunrise, that gray mare is Crystal, and I don't know that metallic one." "His name is Steve. He helps me since even before the citadel was built." "Dawn, meet Crystal." "Is good to see you awake, Dawn." "Nice to meet you, Crystal." They walk and sit along with the others. "So, Crystal, what and where the citadel really is?" Asked Sunset. "The citadel is all that remains of my original universe. Eons ago, I was just a pony, a witch to be more precise, and one night I began to have nightmares about the world ending. That time I was specializing in interdimensional travel, sure, all was purely hypothetical and my colleagues don't really think that I will have any success, but I felt that making a place outside the continuum time-space, a place that could exist across the realities even if the world disappears was the only way to save my loved ones so I started to work." "It took almost 20 years of work and research but I finally was able to build this place. I activated all the spells and was about to show the citadel to my friends when felt some kind of energy hitting me, my vision goes blurry and the last thing I can remember is Steve carrying me across the gates. I woke two days later and couldn't open the gates so I go to the citadel's hub to investigate the surroundings and discovered that nothing more existed outside the citadel. My world, my family, my friends disappeared, was like the entire universe has never existed." "For centuries, was just me and Steve until one day an alarm sounded, the citadel found and make contact with another world. Steve and I made the preparations to cross the gates and explore that new world, but when I stepped out of the citadel, the barrier, the extasis field that separates the citadel from the multiverse started to pulling me so hard that I felt like my body is being torn apart. When I saw that I couldn't go outside but Steve could easily cross the gates anytime he wants, I understood that I was a prisoner here." "Wait, you said that for centuries was just you and Steve. How old are you?" "I'm 4,391 years old, Dawn. I mean, counting by years here. Outside the citadel, time flows at a different pace, so I certainly am older than any of your universes." "But it is impossible, you are not..." "I am not an alicorn? No, I'm not, they don't exist in my universe but yes, I'm that old, Dawn, wherever for some reason, I simply can't die. I guess you know that feeling, Sunset." "What? How do you know?" "I felt sadness in you, the same kind of sadness that I felt when realize that I lost everything. Everypony here lost something, most of us lost her world but some of us lost something different." "After realizing that I never would be able to get out, Steve and I decided that he would go through the gates from time to time to collect samples of soil and some specimens of plants and animals. We did it every time the citadel made contact with a new world." "So, this place is basically a multiversal ark?" asked Sunset. "Basically, yes. But one day something new happened. About three years ago, Steve and I are walking to the gardens when we spot something not far from the gates." "Was me." Said Daydream. "Yes. We saw a pony laying on the grass, that never happened before, no pony has ever crossed the gates, we thought that only Steve could go in and out the gates." "I woke a day later and saw Crystal sat near my bed. I told her my story and we agreed that this couldn't be a mere coincidence. The day after, I and Steve go outside the gates and I was back to what remained of my world. We explored and Steve confirmed that this world isn't documented yet. After we returned, Crystal and I discuss all the information that she reunited, and then she showed me the citadel's hub, and I must say, was the most impressive thing I ever saw. The hub acts as a center of command to the citadel, allowing Crystal to see any of the worlds that the citadel once made contact with. Somehow, when my world was destroyed, the citadel sensed and found me, giving me a safe place to stay." "One question, Crystal." "Yes, Sunset?" "The citadel, it goes wherever you set or it goes wherever she wants?" "Usually we can move to wherever place we go, but sometimes, like in Daydream's case, the citadel moves itself." "It's a TARDIS or almost that." said Sunset in conclusion. "Let me get this straight, this 'citadel' exists outside the universe, is it?" "Yes, Dawn." "But also exists in any possible Equestria." "Yes, again." "Mom, I think is like more that cartoon we used to watch on earth, about an old man and his grandson who travel across dimensions." "I have no idea about what are you two talking about, but, yes? I guess." answered Crystal clearly confused. "All of us come here the same way. I get here about one year after Daydream." said Nova. "Two weeks after Daydream." Said Starlight. "I came five weeks ago." said Sunrise, "but unlike any of you, I remember nothing about my life before I was here. All I can recall is that my name is Sunset Shimmer." "Wait, you have no memories of your life?" Asked Sunset "No. One day I just appeared inside the citadel and the girls adopted me. They tried to find my world but all the citadel's analysis was inconclusive and every time I cross the gates alone I simply appear back on the citadel while the others go to their original world." "Sunrise is a mystery, she can cross the gates but can't go home, is like the citadel was her homeworld. And different from any of the girls, you and Dawn included, the citadel has not connected with any world before Sunrise arrived, so we have no clue about where she came from." Crystal explained. Before they could go any further in Sunrise's story, an alarm sounded. "I don't recognize this alarm." "I don't expect you do, Daydream. The citadel is under attack." Said Crystal worried.