"Your Majesties, Spike. Welcome to the Study room."
To Twilight and Spike, the study room was reminiscent of the Castle of Friendship's own study room, albeit made of wood rather than Crystal. Shelves of books of specific subjects on Magic, Physics, Biology and other sciences were lined and labelled on the walls; a model Solar system was hung on the ceiling, couches and pillows were placed next to the walls or in the middle of the room; a wooden desk the appeared to be part of the wooden floor (and by extension the room); and most notable of all was a familiar mirror hooked with wires, coils, and other gizmos; some of which Twilight have never seen before.
"Are these....? Are they arranged in...?" stammered Twilight as she gazed at the rows and columns of books.
"Yes Princess, they have been arranged in the most efficient system; by subject and genre, alphabetical order by author, publishing date and catalogue number." the Archivist curtly replied with a hint of pride in her words.
"Impressive,” Queen Twilight noted, “Do you still rearrange them?"
The Archivist shook her head. "No, your Highness. I find it more beneficial if the others familiarise themselves with the system to prevent another mix up,” she replied as shuddered to a memory, “I didn't want another nephew almost dying to poisonous mushrooms because I rearranged the system by reverse alphabetical order on a whim."
Twilight shared a look of concern with Spike. "Remind me to rearrange the filing system appropriately when we get back home," she muttered to her companion, "I just remembered I reorganised the library by reverse publishing date."
"Noted," Spike nodded in agreement.
"Is that... Is that the mirror portal?" Twilight asked, pointing at the mirror in question.
"Eeyup," the unicorn replied, "with added improvements from Starcatcher technology."
"Starcatcher?"
"Oh that's right, you don't know about them yet." the Archivist trotted her way to her desk and took a seat. "I think it's about time I explain why I brought you here."
"Yes, I believe that would be most appropriate," the changeling queen replied, taking a seat on one of the coaches.
"Indeed young one, we are all curious as to why we are here." An old melodic voice croaked behind one of the shelves.
Twilight's ears perked up. Could it be? Is that? She made for the aisle where the source of the voice came from and saw a familiar old purple unicorn mare with a starburst Cutie Mark. "Old mare Twilight!" she smiled with glee as she embraced the old mare, "It's good to see you!"
"Wonderful to see you again, young one," the old mare returned the embrace.
The two broke from the embrace as they walked to join the rest of the group. "What are you doing here?" asked Twilight, "How did you get here?"
The old unicorn shrugged, "Oh, we were simply called here."
"We?"
"Hello Princess." All turned to see a purple alicorn stallion with the same starburst Cutie Mark they all shared appeared from one of the bookshelves. "It has been a while. I haven't seen you in a year," he said as he laid out a hoof to shake.
"Prince Dusk Shine! It has been a while." Twilight shook his hoof before doing a double take, "Wait, a year? It hasn't even been a month since I've met you!"
"Ah, different world, different progression of time," Dusk tried to explain, "Also, it's King now. They dismantled the Diarchy when Princes Solaris and Lunarius retired, making me the De facto Monarch, hence King."
"Yeah, and it's been boring since he took the job!" A small, green and purple dragoness landed on Dusk's back, casually crunching on a gem. "He did too good of a job as King that we no longer see villains attacking Equestria anymore! And it's been boring!" she ranted, taking another bite on her half-eaten gem.
"Hello to you too, Barb," Twilight smiled at Spike's female counterpart, "Also, shouldn't you be glad that through Dusk's leadership, Equestria is a safer place?"
"Are you kidding me?" she gave Twilight an incredulous look, "It's been miserable as sin now that we don't have bad guys to kick their flanks at! If Blitz was here, he'd tell you just how dull it's been! The only source of entertainment I get these days is when I go clubbing with Eris and Red, and even then it gets tiresome!"
At that, Dusk shot her a look of disapproval.
"What?" she groaned in protest, "It was that or I hang out with the Mega Sign Militia and the only excitement I could get from them is the kind that ends with cleaning up the messes they make!"
"I'm going to have to have a word with Eris and Red Delicious when we get back," Dusk muttered under his breath.
"Ahem!"
Everyone turned to the forgotten Changeling Queen standing almost annoyed at being left out. "I am very certain that it is considered rude to leave out your invited guest from introductions to other visiting acquaintances."
"Oh, of course," Twilight gave a sheepish laugh of embarrassment before clearing her throat, "Ahem. King Dusk, Ms Sparkle, this is Queen Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Changelings."
"Charmed," the old mare gave a small bow to the changeling before giving a rather inquisitive look, "I beg your pardon, but you wouldn't happen to be Chrysalis' daughter, would you?"
"How did you know?" Queen Twilight asked, genuinely surprised.
"Your crown antenna," the wise old unicorn pointed out, "Each changeling royal dynasty has a different set of antenna, distinguishing which line of the family they've come from."
"That... That can't be right," the queen frowned, "My great aunt, Queen Crudelis and my grandmother Queen Avia had three points on their crown whilst my mother and I (as you can see) have four points on our crown."
"Hmm. Did either side of the family separate from the mother hive by any chance?"
"Yes, my grandmother Queen Avia. Why?"
"Then there is your answer. By separating, your grandmother most likely severed her ties with her mother's hive, causing a biological shift for a new Royal Changeling Dynasty," the old mare then gave a shrug. "Then again I could be wrong," she corrected herself after noticing the changeling queen's sceptical look at the theory, "I had my sources from another world where Chrysalis made her peace with her three other sisters." She gave a knowing smile, "One of them just happens to be a queen who disguised herself as Princess Celestia and effectively took her place for a thousand years."
"Say what now?" Queen Twilight raised an eyebrow whilst Princess Twilight gawked, "P-Princess Celestia, a changeling Queen?!"
"Oh, you've been to World Equis 55," Twilight the Archivist noted, "I better make a note of that."
"Wow, this is rather fascinating," Dusk gazed at the Queen curiously, "A changeling version of us, a queen no less. Makes me wonder if there's a changeling king version of us out there."
"I very much doubt that, considering most Changeling Kings in the multiverse are none other than Thorax," the Archivist explained.
Queen Twilight snorted, burst into a fit of laughter and then quickly composed herself asking, "Are you serious? That meek little changeling? Granted he's not the worst pick for a ruler, but seriously?"
"You better believe it," replied the Archivist, "Almost every version of him turned every changeling under him into the biggest adorable snuggle-bugs in Equestria."
"Somehow I am not surprised," the Queen deadpanned.
"Are we just going to ignore that there is a world where Princess Celestia is a changeling queen in disguise?!" Twilight all but screamed in disbelief.
"Alright, enough dilly-dallying! Now, on to why I brought you here."
All of them sat around the Archivist who stood in front of the portal.
“Before we begin I’d like to ask, how much do any of you know about the Multiverse?”
“Not as much as I’d like to be honest,” replied the Sparkle of Wisdom, “I had a vague recollection of what it is through Starswirl’s notes but even they are only theories of their existence, not how they function.”
“Not exactly theories now, are they?” the Changeling Queen smirked, “Us being here is proof of concept that they exist and it is possible to reach them. Although, I have to agree with the old mare; we know they are a possibility but we are not quite sure how they function.”
“Meringue le Fey had a comprehensive guide of the Multiverse,” King Dusk raised a hoof, “It was how I managed to travel into the world of Prosperity. Although, still much of it hasn’t been decoded.”
“Meringue le Fey?” Twilight arched an eyebrow.
“Yes, she was the mother of modern magic, your Starswirl’s counterpart I believe.”
“She also wasn’t a pony but a starcatcher,” added the Archivist.
Dusk blinked, “I’m sorry, she a what?”
“Long story, I’ll explain later.”
“Well to be honest, I don’t know what to add that hasn’t already been brought up,” said Twilight, “Starswirl from my world had the knowledge to create the mirror portal along with being able to banish threats into limbo and other worlds.”
“Something that really ticks me off,” muttered the Archivist.
“What was that?”
The Archivist shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. So bottom line, none of you have a clear understanding of the multiverse,” she said with a long drawn out sigh. Oh boy, this is going to be a lot of work. “By now all of you have encountered or perhaps heard of a version of us attacking her way across other universes of Equestria.”
They all nodded.
“This alicorn has been targeting other alicorn versions of us; attacking them for Lord knows why,” she continued, “She has already defeated The Empress of Progress from World Equis 40 and just recently made off with Mare-do-Well from World Equis 234.”
“WHAT?! When?!” Twilight shrieked as her expression grew pale, “Did she…? Is she…?”
The Archivist gave a long drawn sigh, “She’s alive, in a manner of speaking. And so is the Empress of Progress.”
“Sh-She’s alive too?!”
“Wait, hold on. The Empress was attacked?” Dusk’s jaw hung open, trying to process the information, “When did this happen?!”
“Not long after Princess Twilight’s visit to her,” replied the Archivist before turning to Twilight, “Yes, she’s alive. Albeit in a precarious situation. I know The Infinite told you otherwise and she isn’t exactly wrong about that; she was just being cruel when she told you. Which is why I didn’t invite her here. That Bewitching Bell absorbed their magical essence from their source which reduced them into a death-like state.
“Slightly similar to Tirek’s magic absorption except with a little more punch, the Bell doesn’t just absorb magic, it absorbs souls. Right now, The Empress, Mare-do-Well and five other versions of us are on life support and they won’t recover til we get that bell.”
Taking another tired sigh, the Archivist adjusted her glasses and looked to the Twilights (and Dusk), “Before any of you start volunteering to retrieve said bell, you all deserve to know why you are here. Every one of you has experience with other alternative universes and have come into contact with Princess Twilight here. Why is that little detail important? Well…”
“She’s important, because she is the Twilight of the Alpha Universe.”
A human figure entered from the Mirror Portal and stood behind the Archivist. He wore wide aviator sunglasses, a red shirt, brown trousers, and a brown Fedora over his head. He had a pale complexion, chestnut brown hair and a wide obnoxiously confident grin that somehow made Discord more tolerable. All stared at him with curiosity, bemusement, and for the Archivist’s case; unamused irritation.
“Dammit Joe, you were waiting for an entrance, weren’t you?” the immortal unicorn glared at the man who swaggered his way in, “You were supposed to be here earlier to explain the whole situation!”
“Yes, but it sounds better if you were the one to explain it. If it came from me, no one would take me seriously,” the man spoke with a playful tune as he knelt down to rub the Archivist’s cheeks with both hands, further irritating the unicorn as she glared daggers at him.
“I bucking hate you,” she snarled, slapping his hands off with a hoof.
“Ow!” he shook his hands from the pain for a moment before noticing his audience. “Oh where are my manners?” He tipped his hat with a bow as he introduced himself, “Ladies and Gents, I am Jonathan Toolonie; Administrator of Toonworld, but you can call me Joe.”
“You?” Twilight raised an eyebrow inquisitively, “You’re the Administrator? The one who sent me those letters?” She made a once over look around him before concluding, “You are not what I expected. I would have thought that the almighty master of the multiverse would have a bit more regal feel about him.”
“Okay first off, don’t let the red shirt fool you,” the Administrator smirked as he straightened his shirt with pride, “I could be regal if I wanted to, I just thought you’d prefer something more casual. Second, I am not the almighty master of the multiverse. I’m just a glorified head ticket inspector. I work for one though. Long story. And thirdly,” he knelt down in front of Twilight and started scratching her mane behind her ears with a wide childlike grin, “pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Princess Twilight!”
“What are you- oh. Ooooooooh… that feels nice.” Twilight’s startled expression morphed into blissful contentment as she curled her head around his hand like a cat with a relaxed sigh, followed by a soft purr.
Everyone stared with wide-eyed disbelief at the sight of this humanoid scratching Twilight like a common house pet.
“What are you doing to her?!” the Changeling yelled, clearly flustered at the sight.
“Why it’s the good old Ear-scratch. Always the best way to make a good impression on you, ponies. Works on changelings too if Thorax is anything to go by. Then again, he did say he preferred bellyrubs,” he smiled gleefully, releasing Twilight from his hold; to which she gasped in wide-eyed horror and quickly scrambled two steps back.
“Th-that… That was dangerous,” Twilight panted a gasp, “I never knew that hands could be so terrifying.”
“Do you want another ear scratch?”
“Oh, yes please.”
“Hey, cut that out!” The immortal Unicorn promptly slapped the man’s wrists, “We need to focus!”
Shaking his hand again from his pained wrist, Joe conceded, “Fine, fine. Sheesh, you’d think they’d appreciate easing them up before the heavy stuff gets told.”
“Is it just me, or doesn’t he act a bit like Eris?” Dusk whispered to the rest of them.
“Do you mean, Discord?” the old unicorn replied, “Yes, he does. In a manner of speaking.”
“Well then,” clasping his hands together, the Administrator turned to the Twilights, “Tell me, what do you know of the Multiverse?”
“I already asked that,” the Archivist deadpanned.
“Oh, right. Let me rephrase that then.” Pulling out a chair (from nowhere), he stared at them with stern seriousness as he sat. “Tell me, are any of you… Real?”
“Excuse me?” Twilight retorted incredulously, “What does that supposed to mean? Is this your idea of a joke?”
“Little Miss Sparkle, I do not joke.”
A heavy silence fell. All noise stopped from the outside and within the room. A pin drop could be heard from the silence that followed from his statement. Gone was his jovial tone and warmth of character and in place was a presence unfamiliar to any of them. An alien and ancient presence.
“I do not make jokes, your highness,” Jonathan continued, his tone calm yet clear with authority that pales even that of the Royal Alicorns, “I humour others, yes, but I don’t make jokes. As I told you before in my letter, I am not Discord. I asked the question to give you all perspective of what the Multiverse is. What I am about to tell you will shatter your view on everything. The knowledge I shall disclose will make you question your own existence and could very well end how you see your friends, family, people; your entire world. Knowledge is a great and terrible power, and this knowledge must be handled with great responsibility.
“What I am about to tell you has the power to end worlds, if it hasn’t already done so before, so if you are unprepared to take such knowledge you can sit this one out. The Portal is right behind me and we won’t judge you for it. However, if you want to be involved in finding the other Twilights who were victims of this particular mare, you first need to understand the multiverse. In which case, if you want to help then be prepared to have your tiny minds blown.”
A moment of silence hung as each Twilight and a Dusk pondered at the offer. Such knowledge could advance each respective world’s understanding of their reality, which in turn could advance magic. But if the warnings are to be believed.
“Wisdom dictates that certain knowledge is dangerous, hence forbidden,” the Sparkle of Wisdom declared as she adjusted her spectacles, breaking the silence. “However, considering we now know that there is a version of us leaping across dimensions and causing untold perils, I cannot turn a blind eye. Evil thrives when good does nothing, and I fear if we do nothing about this it will eventually come to us, one way or another.” She looked towards the Administrator and gave a polite bow, “You have my support, sir. I’ll even request my world’s Celestia to pitch in.”
“Let’s hope it won’t come to that,” Jonathan nodded in approval.
“I’m in too,” King Dusk Shine added, “I’ve already been attacked by her before, so whether I like it or not I’m already in deep. I might as well go all the way before it gets too complicated.”
“Oh yeah, finally some action!” declared Barb, raising a fist in excitement.
“I… I don’t know if I should,” Queen Twilight lowered her head in contemplation, weighing her options, “I am changeling so I highly doubt I would be a target, therefore I shouldn’t be any more involved than I already am.” She turned to the Archivist who gave her a knowing look that said “I told you so” and sighed, “On the other hoof, I know of a certain Pegasus Princess who would be distraught if her alicorn filly friend would be at risk.”
“You make a valid point,” said Jonathan, holding a hand to his chin in thought, “Getting you involved might shift a lot of things. Heck, letting you know too much might actually affect your world that shouldn’t be…” he paused as the proverbial lightbulb clicked, “Oh, actually I might have an incentive to get your support. With the knowledge I could provide, you should be able to reconfigure your Mirror Portal to connect with their world, or any other world of your choosing for that matter.”
The Changeling Queen’s ears perked up, “You would do that?”
“That all depends on you.” Joe shrugged. He turned to see Princess Twilight who was still contemplating the decisions brought out. Deciding to give her more information to finalise her decision he continued with a cough.
“Ahem. As I was saying, what is real? What makes you real? Yes, you are real. From our point of view, all of us are real. You are as real as everyone in this room, and that is the problem. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, across realities, exists a world that not only defies everything you believe in, but dictates how everything should be. It is a world where faith and belief can literally move mountains. It is a world where determination can make the impossible possible. It is a world where an idea can end civilizations and raise nations from the ashes. A world in which a story can become real enough if enough of them accept them. This world is called Earth, and its residents who could make all these possible are the species of Mankind.”
“That’s it? That’s your big reveal?” Spike deadpanned, “We already know humans exist.”
The Administrator snorted in amusement to the shared sentiment within the room. “Yes, my little dragon, humans exist. But the humans that you know exist the same way you exist. However, the humans that I’m talking about exist in a way that we don’t. In fact, from their perspective; we don’t exist.”
A wave of uncertainty and confusion filled the room as everyone began to question where this was going, all while remaining silent. Other than the Changeling Queen and the Archivist, all peeked glances at each other to see if each shared the same thoughts and sentiment, to which they are correct in their presumption.
“What do you mean we don’t exist?” asked Twilight, frowning with uncertainty from where the subject was heading.
“Well, I guess that was misleading of me to say that,” Joe replied as he stood from his chair and pulled out a whiteboard out of nowhere. He unscrewed a cap from a marker and wrote on the board “RELATIVISM” in bold letters.
“Relatively, we exist. Here. Now.” He continued as he tapped the marker on the word on the board, “However in that world of Mankind, we technically exist but not in the way that we are now. You see, in that world, Mankind has the power to make the impossible possible; whether they know about it or not. Mankind has the power of belief, of faith, of ideas. If enough of the monkeys gather together to agree on one thing, they can do it with enough determination. If enough of them believe in a cause, they can rally together to make the cause possible, provided they act on it.”
He looked to them and grimaced, “If enough of them believe in an idea, no matter how brilliant, mad or stupid it is, they can do it, no matter the cost. Even if the cost is a billion lives.”
They all flinched at that, the changeling especially grimaced at the thought.
“Great lecture and all, but what does it have to do with us?” Barb asked dismissively.
“Question: What is an idea?” Jonathan asked while pointing the marker at the gathered group.
“Why, it’s simple; it’s a formulated thought,” replied the old unicorn, “a seed in the mind that eventually grows to motivate one to act, a central meaning or the root end of a particular situation such a standard of perfection or a transcendent entity of representation of sorts, a concept formulated within one’s consciousness, or a visual representation of a concept such as theories and…” she paused, eyes widened as a realisation hit her, “... fiction.”
She turned to the Administrator who gave her a knowing smile. “No. That’s madness. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” The old mare shivered with horror at the thought. She turned to the Archivist with pleading eyes, begging for her to deny the possibility; much to her disappointment as the immortal averted her gaze from her. “It throws everything we know out the window! OUR OWN EXISTENCE!”
The other Twilights (and Dusk) shortly caught on to the implication.
“That’s insane! Absurd!” Queen Twilight denied vehemently.
“It’s downright crazy! Nothing in any reality could possibly support such a possibility!” protested King Dusk.
“And the implications,” added Twilight with panic, “Everything we know; our reason for existence! Reality itself! Is free will even real?!!”
“Woah! Twilight, calm down! You’re scaring me.” Spike flew up, holding her head to see eye to eye, attempting to calm the alicorn.
“Yeah, and while you’re at it could one of you tell us what the hay is going on so that we too could panic?” added Barb.
“Certainly,” the Archivist answered flatly as she adjusted her glasses, “Somewhere beyond the multiverse exists a world where the entire multiverse originated from. A world where ideas can be made possible or brought into reality, such as fiction.”
Spike and Barb’s eyes dilated as they finally caught on. “Wait,” Spike stammered in disbelief, “you don’t mean…”
“Eeyup. The multiverse is the product of a collection of ideas of fiction made into reality. Ergo, every one of us in this room was created from a work of fiction.”