//------------------------------//
// Prologue:  10 minutes ago. 
// Story: The 5th Layer:  Equestria has Visitors 
// by MaxKodan 
//------------------------------//


The Fifth Layer:  Equestria Has Visitors
Prologue:  10 minutes ago.
Max Kodan


You don't remember, but about 10 minutes ago some guy ran up to you:  Yes, right where you are when you're reading this now, and started ranting.  His speech was long and didn't make much sense, but since I'm going to tell you what he said here, it's ok.

"Ok, so this is gonna be hard to understand, but I'm gonna try to make it as simple as possible.  Firstly, we use the word "Layers" in the same way most people use the word "Dimensions."  Well, maybe not most people, more like...math-y and science-y people.  You'll see soon enough why we chose the term Layer.  So, to start out, we have Point.  This point has no dimensions whatsoever:  No length, no width, no height, no depth, no movement, no nothing.  When you LAYER, see, an infinite number of these points on top of eachother, you get Line.  No matter how long a Line is, there are always an infinite number of Points that comprise that Line.  Think of drawing a graph.  You draw a line that has no width that connects 2 points, but there are an infinite number of points between any two given points on that line.  Ok, so that covers the first dimension, Length.  Then there's Width.  If you LAYER, it keeps coming, an infinite number of lines next to eachother, you get a Plane, or a Surface, or Shape.  Whichever you prefer.  Same thing as before:  An infinite number of lines comprise any 2-dimensional shape.  Then if you LAYER, this is gonna become a theme, people, an infinite number of Planes, you get a 3- dimensional thing with Depth, or an Object.  Or, what's an easy one...I dunno...Volume?  No, um...I dunno, I'm sticking with Object for now.  Any size Object is comprised of an infinite number of Planes, which is comprised of an infinite number of Lines, which is an infinite number of Points.  With me?  Good, because NOW shit gets complicated.

"Ok, the only way I have ever been able to properly visualize this is by backtracking a bit.  Think of every 3D Object...gah, that word is just not right...FIELD!  Field, I like Field.  Think of a 3D Field as a 2D Plane.  Now, Layer another Plane, but this Plane slightly different.  Then keep doing that.  You know what you've got?  Time.  The 4th Layer is Time.  We can percieve the 4th layer, but we can't alter it like we can with the 3rd, 2nd, and 1st.  We can push a rock across the room, but we can't push time.  Well, most of us can't.  We also can't see backwards through time, even though we can look over our shoulder and see backwards through the 3rd Layer.  Well, a few of us can.  I mean, WE can, sort of, but we as beings living in 3 dimensions and travelling in a unilateral direction through the 4th cannot.  I'll explain that more, because this is still relatively simple.

"Next is the titular 5th layer.  Imagine those Timestreams compressed into 2 dimensional pictures.  Now, layer them like we did before, but change each one slightly.  That's the 5th Layer, Dimension.  See why we didn't use Dimension before?  Basically, this is how alternate dimensions work.  Every possible universe exists, with very, very minor alterations to each one.  However, as we go, these minor alterations end up leading to massively different universes.  For example, there is the universe you live in, right now, but also somewhere there is the universe that is shown exactly and perfectly in the events of Halo.  Between this universe and that universe, there are an infinite number of universes that gradient slightly until they reach that Halo universe.  This also encompasses every game you've played, every time you've died, etc. etc.  Everything, every single possibility exists somewhere as an alternate dimension.  That's where we come in, and that's what we specialize in.  Don't worry, the confusing part isn't over yet...

"See, we come from this place we call the Station.  It's a dimension with some very special properties.  In it, no one can die, no one can feel pain, no one needs to eat, or anything.  However, with the right training and equipment, the fabric and the rules of that dimension can be changed.  Normally, the dimension is completely open and blank:  No floor, no ceiling, no gravity, all that.  However, we created a ground, a lot of it, and artificial gravity.  Essentially, there's a nearly infinite amount of ground that we can use to build houses and parks and whatever we want.  Anyway, in the Station we have a computer system.  This system basically allows us to view other 5th layers.  We can see and moniter other dimensions.  This means we can view the entire time stream for every other dimension, if we had infinite time, which we kind of do.  However, there's one weird thing that happens.  Once one of us chooses a point in time and travels into this other dimension, everyone who has visited the Station forgets everything about the time stream besides knowledge that can be found at the point in time the person was inserted, and the two timelines sync up.  So really, once we interfere, time for that universe is re-written, so the future we saw never happens.  As for the past...I think it's the multi-verse's way of making sure we don't lourde our knowledge over the un-knowldegable peons of the present and become like...tyrranical gods or something.  I dunno.

"Well, isn't it good that all that confusing stuff is over?  Wrong!  It isn't!  Ok, so a strange question may have arisen in your mind while I went on about the funny computer thing.  If there are infinite universes, do we just go and jump into each slightly different one?  Well...no.  There are these things we call Base universes.  There's still an infinite number of them, as far as we know, but the computer will never show us two universes that have too much in common.  Usually, if the same "person" exists in 2 different universes, we only get shown one of them.  At least that's what it seems like to me and most of the people that use the system.  So you are the only you I'm going to run into.  We have never seen any other Stations, but I'm betting that there are an infinite number, and they're running into different 'you's.

"Ok, ok...Ah!  Here's something:  How did I GET to the Station?  THAT'S a really interesting one.  Well, to start out with, I died.  Yeah, I know, right?  But apparently I had some sort of connection to the Station for some reason.  Probably because my sister's there.  Why she has a connection, I don't know.  Never knew her myself until I died.  Weird, right?  Anyway, I died and when I woke up I had all this crap explained to me.  Kind of.  It took longer and was detailed and made more sense, but I'm kind of in a hurry and I don't want to waste your time.  Um...right, were was I?  Ah...Yes!  Wait...no, no...hold on...I think that's all.  There might be more, and if there is I'll find a way to tell you later.  I probably won't come back to meet you in person though.  You'll know when it happens, don't worry."

You were pretty sure that the guy didn't stop moving entirely for so much as a second.  He was always pacing or waving his hands or shaking his head or spinning around or something.  Just as you opened your mouth to say something, he raised his hand in front of him, opened it, and let out a flash of light.  You were blinded temporarily, and the next thing you knew you were clicking a link to read this story, then on to this chapter of this story, not remembering a thing about the guy.  Ok, now that we've gotten THAT out of the way, we'll move on.