//------------------------------// // Tale 2: Future // Story: Tales From The Omniverse // by Lucar //------------------------------// It was a peaceful day in Ponyville. One among many others in the years of peace since Princess Twilight’s coronation. Nothing unusual in sight. Not even a rift opening caught anyone’s attention. With Discord, it wasn’t a rare occurrence. Who, or rather what, came out of the rift, however, definitively gained everyone's attention. A familiar white filly with purple and pink mane and tail. An alicorn white filly with purple and pink mane and tail. Silence fell as everyone in the immediate area, ponies, dragons, yaks, griffons, and so on, looked at her in awe. The filly looked around, quickly seeing that she was the center of attention. “Oh. I guess it eventually had to happen,” Sweetie Void said. “Uh…” She waved with a sheepish smile. “Hi, everyone.” … “Well well well what do we have here?” a familiar voice said. “Oh! Hello Discord! As expected, you felt my arrival right away!” At this moment, Discord appeared in front of her. “An alicorn Sweetie Belle, still a filly. Now that’s one bundle of chaos, or my name isn’t Discord. What brings you to our little corner of the multiverse? Bringing news of impending doom?” Sweetie Void giggled. “Not at all. I’m just visiting. I explore worlds.” “Are you saying that you come from another world?” a stallion shouted. Wait a minute, he looked like Snip if he was an adult. His Cutie Mark… Oh… “That’s right!” Discord said before he patted Sweetie’s head. “This little one is a Sweetie Belle from another world.” The crowd got excited at this, and many began to approach, asking questions. The poor filly was mobbed from all sides, to Discord’s amusement. She glared at him before she flew up to get out of the crowd. “Alright, alright everyone. I will answer all your questions. Just, let me do this…” She created ten clones that she sent among the crowd, making them gasp. “Now, have fun!” And she flew away. The clones left behind grumbled, having to do the dirty work. Up in the sky, Sweetie rested on a cloud when Discord joined her. She immediately took out a water gun and sprayed him, making him splutter. “Revenge!” Discord snapped his fingers and turned the water into chocolate milk before he opened his mouth and let it enter it, drinking it. When the liquid stopped coming, he wiped himself with a napkin and said, “Thank you.” Sweetie huffed and threw away the water gun before giggling. “So, I’m in the future. Don’t think I haven’t noticed my classmates now adults among the crowd.” “Well, judging that you are still a filly, yes, I’m guessing that you come from the past. Or at least an alternate past. Our Sweetie Belle never turned into an alicorn. Unless you were born one? With alternate universes, everything is possible. Also, not the same Cutie Mark. What is it? A black blotch? What are you the alicorn of? Gothics?” “I turned into an alicorn of void. I have a much easier control of the Original Energy of the Omniverse to use all other kinds of energies, giving me pretty much unlimited possibilities with my powers.” Discord whistled. “You are one OP filly, uh? Wait a minute, I think that I heard about you. An alternate me talked about an OP Sweetie Belle searching OP partners to save universes in the Chaosnet. Was that you?” “Yep, that was me.” “Oh, how small the Omniverse is.” “You are just the lucky Discord. It could have been any other Discord.” “True, true. So, you said you are just visiting? What do you intend to visit in our glorious universe?” “Well, I’m clearly in a future that could have happened if I hadn’t been sent to the Dream Universe. I want to see it. What has become of me and the others here. How Equestria turned out. I saw lots of creatures other than ponies down there.” “Well, I guess that I could tell you, but where would be the fun? Time for some exploration!” “I’m all for it! Just point me in the right direction!” Discord pointed down at a large building not far from Twilight’s castle. “The School of Friendship, built to teach the Magic of Friendship. You will find yourself there.” “Great! And since it isn’t far from the castle, I will be able to say hello to Twilight afterward!” Sweetie grinned. But then, her grin slowly disappeared to be replaced by uncertainty. “And… Rarity? Where is she? Still working at Carousel Boutique?” “Last I heard, she is in Manehattan for one of her fashion shows. She goes all over Equestria and beyond for fashion, she rarely remains at the same place for long.” “Oh, ok. Well then, time to mess with myself. Coming with me?” “Of course! I don’t want to miss the reactions!” Sweetie Void turned herself invisible and flew down from the cloud toward the School of Friendship, Discord following her also invisible, but making sure that they could see each other. They entered the school, and Discord guided Sweetie inside it to a classroom. Sweetie passed through the door, allowing her to enter the classroom without anybody noticing anything. Here, she found her counterpart, adult and an unicorn, with a different Cutie Mark, teaching. I’m a teacher? she asked Discord by telepathy. Yes, she is. Surprised? I never expected to become a teacher. But I guess that me and my friends know some stuff about friendship. Now, what should I do…? Planning something? Sweetie Void saw an empty desk in the back, and she got an idea. Yes. Observe. She approached the desk, then climbed the chair, and waited for herself to turn her back to write something on the board before she turned herself visible, but as a unicorn instead of an alicorn. She even gave herself the same Cutie Mark than the one her counterpart possessed. She looked exactly like a filly version of her counterpart. Sweetie Belle turned back to face the classroom and continued to talk for a while, not noticing Sweetie Void at first. The griffon sitting beside her was the first to remark her, and she did a double take before she looked back and forth between the filly and the teacher. Discord already had to hold back a laugh. Sweetie Void looked at the gawking griffon and also had to hold back. The griffon raised her claw. “Uh… Teach. You may want to look…” Sweetie Belle saw her and asked, “What is i-” before she finally noticed her counterpart who waved at her with a grin. She looked stupefied, and everyone in the classroom followed her gaze and also saw the filly that looked exactly like their teacher. “What the-?” “Am I hallucinating?” “You are seeing her too?” Sweetie Belle finally closed her mouth and got a deadpan look. “Oh ah ah. Very funny Discord.” Discord appeared beside her, still holding a laugh. “Hey, for once, I have nothing to do with it.” Sweetie Void waved at Sweetie Belle again. “Hello, me! How are you?” Sweetie Belle took a big breath. “Ok, if this is not Discord, then you are a changeling, and I ask you to stop that immediately. Why even a filly?” At that, everyone nodded in understanding, some laughing. “Oh, of course, a changeling.” “Very funny.” “You got us for a moment.” Sweetie Void raised an eyebrow, grinning wider. “Not a changeling.” She changed a hoof into a hand and snapped her fingers, and the next instant, all the desks began to dance. Sweetie Belle glared at Discord. “This is you, Discord!” A laugh escaped him. “I told you, it’s not me! If it was really me, you know I would say it.” “Then who are you!” Sweetie Belle yelled at Sweetie Void. Sweetie Void smirked. “I’m you.” “Stop that!” Sweetie Belle waved at the dancing desks. “I don’t have this power!” Sweetie Void still smirked. “Then how about you ask me a question that only you would know the answer to?” “Very well. What was the name of my very first plushie?” “Uh. Are you sure you want me to reveal that to everyone here?” “The answer won’t be revealed to them because there is no way you know this answer. Only me and my family know it, and it was never said to anypony else.” “Miss Cuddle,” Sweetie Void answered. Sweetie Belle gawked at her. “How?!” Many in the room awwed, others laughed, making Sweetie Belle blush. “Told you, I’m you,” Sweetie Void said. “But… But… But… This can’t be… How…” She fainted. Discord exploded into laughter, literally. Some of the students went to see if their teacher was alright while many others stared at Sweetie Void. One of them eventually said, “Maybe we should bring Headmare Starlight Glimmer.” A changeling immediately ran out of the room. Not long later, Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst (who had a bigger beard than the Sunburst Sweetie Void knew) entered the room with the changeling. They looked at the fainted Sweetie Belle, then at a grinning and waving Sweetie Void still sitting at her desk (which was still dancing). “Alright. What is going on?!” Starlight shouted. Sweetie Void finally turned herself back into her alicorn self and descended from her chair to approach Starlight and Sunburst. “Sweetie Void. Visitor from another dimension. Nice to meet you.” Everyone stared at her in awe. Then, Sweetie Belle woke up. “Ugh… What happ-” She saw her alicorn counterpart and fainted again. Discord’s laughter started anew. Sweetie Void was now in the headmare’s office with said headmare, Starlight Glimmer, the vice headmare, Sunburst, Discord, Sweetie Belle now awakened, and also Apple Bloom and Scootaloo who Sweetie Belle fetched from their classrooms. Starlight just finished talking to a mirror. A few moments later, Twilight Sparkle teleported in the room. In the future, she looked more like Celestia, taller than a normal pony, with a wavy mane and tail. It was difficult for Sweetie Void to put this Twilight and the Twilights she knew as the same pony. Rarity was with her, her curly mane and tail now sporting gray stripes. Sweetie Void felt a pang in her chest when seeing Rarity with gray stripes. She couldn’t stop looking at her. Twilight immediately saw Sweetie Void and smiled at her. “You are the visitor from another world Starlight told me about. It is nice to meet you, Sweetie Belle.” “Nice to meet you!” “Oh, look at you! An alicorn!” Rarity said as she approached Sweetie Void, looking ready to give her a hug. “I can’t believe that any version of my little sister is an alicorn!” “Yes, it’s incredible!” Sunburst said. “I knew that alternate worlds exist, but I never expected to see somepony from such a world! I never even saw the human counterparts that Twilight talks so much about!” “How did you become an alicorn, Sweetie Belle?” Rarity asked. “Actually, call me Sweetie Void. This is to differentiate me from other Sweetie Belles. And my ascension to alicornhood is… a long story. To make it short, it happened during a fight against a powerful rival, after many dangerous adventures.” “Why would you have adventures and fight someone?” Rarity asked. “You can thank Twilight. She accidentally sent me to another world where a lot happened.” Rarity sighed and stared at a sheepish Twilight. “Why am I not surprised?” “What are you the alicorn of?” Scootaloo asked. “It’s hard to say with your Cutie Mark.” “Void,” Sweetie Void answered. “Void?” everyone except Discord replied. “Yep! Void! As in the void between the universes. From which everything starts and toward which everything ends. Creation and Destruction.” “Fascinating! Being the alicorn of such a primordial concept, you must be one of the most powerful beings in existence!” Sunburst said excitedly. “She pretty much has unlimited power,” Discord said. “She can wrestle with Gods.” Sweetie Void waved her hoof dismissively. “Yeah yeah. I defeated Gods, I’m also queen and the leader of a multiversal organization, whatever. I’m not here to talk about myself. I’m here to discover more about this world. So, Twilight, ruling Equestria alongside Celestia and Luna?” Sweetie Void’s words helped everyone recovering from what they learned, and Twilight cleared her throat. “Actually, Celestia and Luna are retired. I rule Equestria with the help of my friends, the Council of Friendship, and Spike, my advisor.” “... Wow. Celestia and Luna? Retiring? Now that’s one thing that feels weird to hear.” “Ya get used to it,” Apple Bloom said. “Any threat since you started ruling?” Sweetie Void asked. “No, we thankfully have a period of peace since Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were defeated all these years ago,” Sweetie Belle said. “After all these villains coming one after another, that’s a relief.” “Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow? Mmh… Maybe I should keep an eye on them. I don’t think that I have to worry about Cozy, but I wouldn’t put it past Chrysalis and Tirek to try something again. Maybe I should visit them in Tartarus.” “You should actually keep an eye on your Discord if he gets in mind to help prepare your Twilight for her rule,” Rarity said, glaring at Discord. Sweetie Void looked at a sweating draconequus. “Sounds like a nice story. Mind telling it?” “Well, you see… Ahem. I disguised myself as Grogar and…” Discord said everything about what he did with Chrysalis, Tirek, Cozy Glow, and also Sombra while disguised as Grogar. At the end, Sweetie Void was facehoofing. “I don’t think that I have to worry about my Discord pulling such a stunt. He knows better, and I personally destroyed Grogar’s bell, so no worry there. Phantom’s Discord doesn’t have any villain left to use. Her Tirek is dead and her Chrysalis is in peace with her Equestria. Her Cozy isn’t a problem anymore. This would leave Sombra but he wouldn’t be enough. This leaves Apple Death’s Discord. I will have a talk with him. The chances he does that are low, but I wouldn’t put it past him to try something.” Silence followed. Sweetie Void destroyed Grogar’s bell? She knew three Discords? A Chrysalis at peace with Equestria? “Who are Phantom and Apple Death?” Scootaloo asked. “Powerful alternate versions of you and Apple Bloom respectively. Not alicorns, but just as powerful,” Sweetie Void answered. AppleBloom hesitated. “Uh… Why Apple Death?” “She is the Spirit of Death in her world, like Discord is the Spirit of Chaos. No, she is not a draconequus. She is still a filly.” “What circumstances would lead me to become the Spirit of Death?” Apple Bloom asked in shock. “Circumstances you won’t encounter in this world, don’t worry,” Sweetie Void answered before she looked at Discord. “No Thanatos in this world, right?” “Who is Thanatos?” Discord asked. “Thought so. To answer you, Discord, he is your little brother in Apple Death’s world. Be glad he doesn’t exist here. Half of the ghost population there is directly or indirectly because of him, if you see what I mean.” Everyone paled at this. “Thank you for confirming that I prefer being unique,” Discord said. “So…” Sweetie Void looked at everyone in turn, looking longer at Rarity before passing to the next. “What about Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie?” “How about we give you a tour of Ponyville?” Twilight proposed. Sweetie Void agreed, and all of them except Starlight and Sunburst left the school. They first went to Sweet Apple Acre. Sweetie Void was surprised to find out that Applejack and Rainbow Dash now lived together, but she was happy for them too, and also for Big Mac and Sugar Belle and their son. She was saddened about Granny Smith, but it was expected. Next, they went to Sugarcube Corner where they found Pinkie Pie, now married to Cheese Sandwich and having a son. Again, Sweetie Void was happy for them, and she happily ate everything that Pinkie gave her. She had to admit, Pinkie Pie turned into a real backer goddess. Pound and Pumpkin Cake were now the ones running the bakery. Finally, they found Fluttershy in the market, in line before a flower stand. However, just as they saw her… A white-maned purple unicorn in a cloak suddenly arrived and passed everyone to go right at the head of the line. “So sorry, but you need to wait your turn like everypony else,” Fluttershy said. “Unicorns have better things to do than wait in line,” the unicorn replied before she pushed Fluttershy on the ground, making everypony gasp. Sweetie Void recognized this mare right away and glared at her. “Leave her to me.” She teleported between the mare and Fluttershy, taking the both of them by surprise. “Hello, Opaline. Fancy seeing you here.” She tore off the cloak with her magic, revealing wings, making everyone gasp again. “Outside of Skyros. I thought that simple unicorns, pegasis, and earth ponies were too lowly for you to mingle with them. Opaline growled. “Who are you? How do you know me? I never saw you before!” “You don’t know me, but I know you. What happened? You would never be caught alive outside of Skyros.” “This is none of your con-” “Wait, let me guess. You tried to take over the throne to rise above the other alicorns, like Celestia and Luna?” “Ugh…?!” Opaline took a step back. “I told you, I know you. I know how Celestia and Luna treated you. I know how angry you are at them. You want to be like them, superior to others. And here, you acted on it, failed, and got banished. And now that you have nothing left, you want to make Celestia and Luna pay by destroying the kingdom they ruled over by putting the ponies against each other. This is what you wanted to do, right? This is why you disguised yourself as a unicorn and started to brag about the unicorns’ superiority. You probably intended to do the same with pegasi and earth ponies.” Opaline could only stare at Sweetie Void, amazed, shaking. “But… But-but how?! How in Cosmo’s name could you…” Sweetie shrugged. “You see, Discord showed me this thing called TV tropes… And it’s been way more useful than I ever expected! Like now!” “... Huh?” “Also, for the third time, I know you. I already encountered other versions of you. Now is the time where I either manage to convince you to stop and go have a talk with Celestia and Luna, or we fight and I end up defeating you in ten seconds flat. So, do we do it the nice way, or the hard way?” Opaline growled for a moment, then fired a large fireball at Sweetie Void who punched it into the sky, to everyone’s surprise. “Strike one.” Next, Opaline sent a large stream of fire, causing creatures around to scatter and yell in fear. Sweetie Void didn’t move however and let the stream engulf her. When the stream stopped, Sweetie revealed herself to be burned, but still alive, and her burns healed right away, to Opaline’s horror. “Strike two.” “Who are you?!” “Sweetie Void.” Opaline screamed in rage and gathered fire into a ball of fire that grew and grew until it was easily the size of the School of Friendship, like a miniature sun. She then sent the ball toward Sweetie Void who simply raised a hoof… And absorbed it. “Wh… Wh… Wh…” Opaline couldn’t even say a word. “Strike three, you’re out.” The next instant, Sweetie Void was above Opaline and punched her down on the ground so hard that a small crater formed. Opaline was out right away. Everyone around starred in silent awe at the scene. A filly one shot a fully grown alicorn like it was nothing. “I did say she could wrestle with Gods,” Discord said. “A Fire Alicorn? That’s nothing.” Twilight advanced. “That was… a very impressive display, Sweetie Void. Thank you for taking care of her. You said you met other versions of her? Who is she?” “Opaline Arcana. Alicorn of Fire from the city of Skyros, the city of alicorns. She was a childhood friend of Celestia and Luna. However, when Celestia and Luna got their sun and moon Cutie Marks, they became venerated by the other alicorns. Being children at the time, it went to their head and they thought themselves superior, resulting in them ending their friendship with Opaline and treating her like an inferior being. She pretty much got an inferiority complex because of that, and you can guess how this went from there.” Twilight looked at Opaline, then sighed. “It was very difficult for me to understand that Celestia wasn’t the perfect pony I thought she was. This is a reminder that she is just that: a pony, who makes errors like any other ponies.” Sweetie Void nodded. “We should bring Opaline to Celestia and Luna so they can talk to her and hopefully convince her to see reason. Where do they live now that they retired?” “Silver Shoals. I can bring us there right away.” “I guess that we will leave you to it?” Rarity said. “This seems to be a personal affair.” Twilight nodded. “We will let Celestia and Luna have their talk alone. Hopefully, they will have good news.” So Twilight teleported herself Opaline to Silver Shoals, right before the house where Celestia and Luna now lived. Twilight knocked on the door, and Luna was the one who opened it. Before she even had time to say anything, she saw Opaline and her words remained stuck. “O-Opaline? What…?” “She was banished from Skyros and she attempted to bring discord to Equestria. I’m hoping that you and Celestia can talk to her.” Luna understood, and guilt immediately filled her. “Yes. Enter. Bring her on the couch.” “Thank you.” So Twilight entered, levitating Opaline behind her, before Luna closed the door. Twilight dropped Opaline on the couch, then said, “I will leave you to your personal talk.” “Thank you Twilight.” “Where is Celestia?” “In the market. She shouldn’t be long. Don’t worry. If Opaline wakes up and gets violent, we will be able to restrain her. We may have to teleport to a desert area however if things get really bad.” “I hope that it will go well, and that you will get your friend back. Goodbye.” Twilight teleported away. Sweetie Void spent the rest of the day in Ponyville with the CMC and the Council of Friendship, sharing stories, encountering ponies and creatures like Luster Dawn and her friends, having a party thanks to Pinkie Pie, playing with the fillies and colts, including Pinkie’s son and Big Mac’s son, and doing some pranks with Discord. When the sun set, it was time for her to say goodbye. “We will see you again, right? It was fun to have another me,” Sweetie Belle said. “Of course you will see me again! I want to eventually explore more of this future Equestria.” Sweetie Void looked at Rarity. Smiling, the elder unicorn decided to hug her. “You are welcome back here anytime. You have a home here.” Sweetie Void’s eyes were wet. “Thank you.” After more goodbyes, Sweetie Void opened a rift, waved at everyone, and jumped through.