"Can you hear me now?" Twilight said into the P.H.O.N.E. When she got no response, she yelled, "Frost! Can you hear me now?"
"Of course I can hear you. I'm pretty sure every pony in town can. I'm expecting an angry mob to come at any minute to complain about the noise."
Twilight gritted her teeth. "I meant over the PHONE."
"Oh, that. No. I got nothing."
Twilight twisted a knob on the PHONE. "How about now?"
"Yes!" Frost nearly cheered.
"Did it work?" Twilight's heart fluttered.
"No! But the dip came out perfect. Come on down and get some!"
Twilight seethed. "You're making dip? You're supposed to be helping me test the PHONE!" As Twilight looked down onto the first floor, her anger grew when she saw that Frost wasn't paying attention to her invention. But what really pushed her over the edge was that not only was he ignoring it, he was sitting on it.
"Frost!!" she shouted loud enough to make all the crows in Ponyville fly away. This noise caused Frost to lose his grip on the dip, which fell out of his hoof and landed on the ground, miraculously unharmed. Frost himself fell onto a pile of books.
"Do you have a problem with cheese dip? You could have just said so."
"I don't have a problem with cheese dip! This has nothing to do with cheese dip! You were supposed to help me test the PHONE!"
"Twilight, I'm sorry. I told you I'm not really technology forward. I'm not too good at this testing thing." He noticed that Twilight was still shaking from anger. "Twilight, are you all right? You don't usually act like this."
Twilight collapsed. "I'm fine. It's just, you know, we've been working on this all week, and I was going to show it to the princess today, and this was going to be my first successful invention, and it just. Won't. Work." As she forcefully said those last three words, Frost sat on the couch and motioned her over. She sat down and leaned on him gratefully.
"Your first invention? You've never invented anything before?"
"I did invent a robot butler once."
Frost was interested. "Did it work?"
"It only worked for a day, and while it did it called every pony Wesley. I still don't know why." She chuckled at the memory.
"Do you feel better now that your calm?"
Twilight sat up. "I guess I do. Thanks, Frost, and I'm sorry. It's weird. Normally I don't get mad, I go crazy."
"Don't go crazy, Mommy."
The two ponies turned to see Starlight standing in the doorway. "Starlight, what are you doing here? I thought you were at Rarity's," Twilight asked.
"I was, but Aunt Rarity told me to come over and get you. She said they were heading to the train station."
Twilight's mind was reeling. "Right now? As in, right now right now? I still have things to do. The checklist is only halfway done."
"Never let it be said I didn't help you." Frost got down from the couch. "I thought you'd end up running late, so I packed a bag for you."
Twilight's hopes soared. "You did? Really Frost, what would I do without you?"
Frost grinned. "Don't mention it. Just, clean up those books. I think I got a paper cut on my back."
"It's a deal."
Twilight lifted the books off the ground in her aura as Frost went upstairs. Starlight, meanwhile, laid down on the couch.
Five minutes later, Frost came downstairs carrying a brown duffel bag. He stopped in his tracks when he looked downstairs. Twilight, her hair a mess, was rushing around the library like a mare possessed. Starlight was shaking on the couch, trying to use the cushions as protection.
"Twilight, are you okay?"
She didn't pay frost any attention. "Where is it? It must be here? I mean where else could it be? It's not like it could walk off, right? Hahaha." In almost a different voice, she added, "Come on Twilight, keep it together."
Her crazy voice replied, "But the clock is ticking Twilight. Clock. Is. Ticking! Hehhehheh hee!"
So this is what she meant by going crazy. "Are you okay Twilight?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine. Just fine. It's only the voices."
"Do they tell you to do anything? Like, kill your family, or pursue a film career?"
"It's not that kind of thing. There's a book missing, Frost. A book! I put them all back, and yet it's missing!" She was speaking erratically. She talked quickly,, but added a longer than necessary gap between phrases.
"Is it important?"
"Not really. I can't even remember what it's called. I don't think it was anything that actually mattered."
"Then why worry about it?"
Reason returned to Twilight. "Overreacting's kind of my thing. If you take it away, I'm just a scientist and princess's student who lives in a tree. Not that exciting."
"Better than mine. I'm just a lonely old stallion with nothing better to do than watch a filly, movies, and play poker in the mean time."
During this time, Starlight was growing bored of the grown-ups talking, and decided to take action. "Mooooommmmmmmmyyyyyyy, leeeeeet's gooooooo!" she said in a drawn-out way, and, with all her strength, grabbed Twilight's tail in her teeth and pulled.
"You heard her, Twilight. You're gonna be late."
"Are you sure you don't want to come?"
"I'm fine by myself. I'm a big colt, I know what I'm doing."
Twilight walked to the door, followed closely by Starlight. As she opened the door, a thought struck her. "Frost, why did you ask if the voices wanted me to pursue a film career."
Frost chuckled. "Oh yeah, that. I got the idea from my cousin Marty. He said he heard some voices that told him to move to Las Pegasus and make movies. Last I heard, he was pretty successful."
"Did he make anything I may have seen?"
His gaze deadened. "I'd hope not."
"Why? Are they bad?"
"Let's just say that if you've seen them, it would say a lot about the kind of pony you are."
"Oh. Oh! Oh! Ew!" Twilight tried to wipe that idea from her mind as she walked out.
But Starlight had one last thing to find out. "Bye, Uncle!" She walked out the door, but stopped before it closed when she didn't hear a reply. She tried again. "Goodbye, Uncle!" It was answered again by nothing. "Uncle, aren't you going to say goodbye?"
Frost didn't want to say anything, but he felt compelled to tell her. "I don't like goodbyes."
"Why not?"
"Well, it all goes back to my mom. She and my dad did some dangerous work and each day before they left, they wouldn't say goodbye to me. They said it was too hard, but there was another reason. My mother always said, 'If you don't say goodbye, then you're not really gone. You're just not there right now.'"
She replied with a puzzled frown. "I don't understand. If you're not there right now, then wouldn't you be gone?"
"It's, hard, to explain. But the idea is like that if you say goodbye, you're acknowledging that you're gone. But if you don't , then you could still be around somewhere, the other pony just can't see you right now."
"I think I get it. Let me try." She left.
Frost waited for a few minutes, then slapped himself in the face. She wasn't saying goodbye. He was influencing her again. But this was even worse. She could have remembered because of those words.
He had to hurry. He had to find another way.
He pulled a book out of the couch cushions. Until recently, that book had sat, unread and covered in dust, in the back of a shelf in its owner's library. She knew it was there, but had thought the book to be a waste of time and neglected it.
"As smart as she is, sometimes that mare makes some really boneheaded mistakes. Thinking this book is a waste of time, Ha! Right now, this book could hold the key to saving the world. And all the others."
But a question lingered in his mind. Why did he tell her about Marty? He knew she'd never heard of him.
And it may have just compromised his cover story.
Outside the library, Starlight mulled a new idea over and over in her head. It was a strange idea. Pretty hard to understand as well. But she liked it.
It was decided. No goodbyes. Plus, it did make her feel better when she left Uncle.
It made her feel like he could be anywhere nearby.
**************************************************************
Canterlot at night was lit up like a shining beacon. A beacon which seemed to attract ponies the world over.
That was Starlight's thinking as soon as she saw the city. Once Twilight pointed out the glowing speck in the distance as their destination, it had been her only focus. She felt inexplicably drawn to it, like it was calling out to her.
Up close, it was like nothing she had ever seen. The buildings reached up farther than the small, two-story houses in Ponyville. Ponies were running back and forth in crowds. Ponies in armor stood watch everywhere. Fountains, statues, and open-air cafes lined every street.
For a pony who, an hour before, thought the entire world was limited to a small town with about a hundred ponies, Starlight took this overload of information quite well.
"Is she all right?" Rarity asked worriedly.
Twilight was puzzled. "Starlight, why are you curled up in a ball?"
"It's just too much." Starlight rolled, trying to come to grips with her situation.
"It's just shock is all," Applejack diagnosed. "Happened to me when Ah went ta Manehatten. She'll be fine, she just needs time."
In contrast to the city, the train station was deserted. While outside ponies ran around in throngs, inside there was only a sleeping purple dragon and a black unicorn stallion reading a newspaper next to him.
However, due to events that will soon be explained, the last one doesn't really count.
As the train's door opened, the dragon, who had been waiting a week for this moment, slept on, completely ignorant of the ponies' arrival.
"Spike?" Twilight prodded the unconscious dragon. "Spike?"
"Little guy must've been waiting forever for us," Applejack thought aloud.
Starlight decided to apply her own special brand of dragon-awake to the problem. "Mister Dragon-guy, are you awake?"
Spike shifted in his sleep. "Just five more minutes, Twilight."
"Come on Mister Dragon, please?"
Spike sighed. "Well, you did say please." He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Hey, what's every pony doing here? And who's that?" He pointed at Starlight.
"This is Starlight," Twilight answered. "It's a long story."
"Oh, I understand." Spike's face darkened. "I understand completely. She's my replacement, isn't she? You just couldn't stand to not have old Spike around, huh? So you went out and found something almost as adorable as me for your new assistant. No offense."
"None taken, Mister adorable dragon-guy."
Twilight only sighed. "Spike, she's not replacing you."
"Ah-ha, I knew it! She's not replacing me, she's replacing my replacement! You just couldn't deal with-"
"Spike!" Twilight had enough. After actually understanding how much Spike hurt when he thought she didn't need him, she didn't want him to go on thinking like that. "What would make you think I'm replacing you?"
"I was here for over a week."
"I sent you here for a vacation."
"The perfect cover!"
"Mister Dragon, did you eat any gems today?" Starlight asked out of nowhere
"Huh?" Twilight and the others responded.
"I don't think so. Why?"
"If baby dragons don't eat gems for a day, then they don't think straight."
"What?" Twilight and the others couldn't think of anything else to say.
"I guess that makes sense. I'm sorry Twilight, I guess I'm just hungry is all."
"But, Starlight, how did you know that?"
"Uncle told me these stories about him learning things about a baby dragon. He knows lots about baby dragons."
No pony noticed the black unicorn's ears twitch.
"How is that possible? Not even Fluttershy knows anything about dragons. How could he?"
"I don't know. He just knows a lot of stuff."
Questions were reeling through Twilight's mind. How? Why? What? What else does he know? But luckily, the group's voice of reason had something to say.
"Twilight," Rarity moved to stand next to her friend. "I know you have a lot of questions, but we have somewhere we have to go. And besides, she can't answer any of those questions. You can ask Frost himself when we get back."
Reason pushed the questions out of Twilight's mind. "I guess you're right. Come on every pony, we've got a palace to go to."
Spike still had a question. "But, Twilight, if she's not your assistant, then why is she here?"
"Like I said Spike, it's a long story. It's easier if I tell you and Princess Celestia at the same time."
As they left, a white Pegasus entered the station. She walked up to the bench Spike had left and sat down next to the stallion.
"Excuse me," she began to ask the stallion. "Do you know-" She stopped talking once she turned.
There was no pony there.
She glanced over the entire station. Nothing. She was the only pony there.
How is that possible? she thought. No pony could leave the station that quickly.
Then where was he?
*************************************************************
"...And that was everything that happened in the past week. In detail." Twilight switched off the presentation.
Celestia was doing her best to stay awake. Spike and the others hadn't tried nearly as hard. Starlight had been brought to a room so she wouldn't hear what happened the night she met Twilight. The rest thought of her as the lucky one.
"That was very, interesting, Twilight." Celestia stifled a yawn. "But was the slideshow necessary?"
"Visual aids make everything better."
"But how and why did you take pictures of everything?"
"I didn't. Most of them I had Starlight draw pictures for."
"That explains the stick-ponies, why all the buildings are castles, the randomly placed rainbows, and the fact that you look like you're made out of candy. But what exactly does the adult-film making cousin Marty have to do with anything?"
"I don't exactly know."
"Then why did he have ten slides dedicated to him?"
"Because I plan to dedicate a large part of Part Two on him."
"There's a Part Two?" Celestia tried as hard as she could not to bury her face in her hoof. She recomposed herself instead. "I think that's enough information for today. Let's all just sleep. Guards, could you take Twilight's friends to their rooms?"
The guards walked over to the sleeping ponies. One of them prodded Rainbow. She slapped his hoof away and rolled over. "We're going to need the forklift!" the guard shouted. Another ran off through the hallway.
Twilight wasn't ready to leave. "But, Princess, didn't you want me to come here to tell me something?"
Celestia jolted up to her hooves. "Oh, yes. I need you for something." She yawned. "Let's make this quick. I assume you are familiar with Ignis's Aura."
"I know that it's a massive wave of magic that travels through space and hits our world every thousand years or so. It's named after Ignis, a unicorn who was so gifted in fire magic that he created fireworks. And it's returning over a month from now."
Celestia nodded. "That's everything all but a few ponies know. There's something else. It's extremely dangerous."
"How dangerous?"
"Enough to destroy this world."
Fear overcame Twilight. "Is there anything we can do?"
"There is one thing." Celestia descended the stairs from her throne. "When the aura approaches, it will increase every pony's magical abilities extraordinarily. It will increase our abilities enough so that if the four most powerful ponies in Equestria can create a magical barrier at the same time, we can protect the world from the Aura."
"And you want me to be one of them?"
Celestia nodded. "With me, Luna, and Cadence. If you are up to it, that is."
Twilight was overcome with mixed emotions. Could she do it? Of course she could try, but what if she failed? It was too much pressure!
"I-I don't know."
"I understand. When you have an answer for me, just send a message."
"No, it's not that I don't want to. I'm honored to be asked and all, I just don't think I can."
"I wouldn't ask you if I didn't know you could. But you don't have to be ready now. If you want, you have over a month to hone your skills until you feel that you are up to it."
Twilight thought it over. It seemed reasonable. And it was a chance to prove herself to the Princess. "I'll do it."
Celestia beamed. "I knew you would, Twilight. Now go. You must be tired."
She was right. The impact of what the Princess had asked her to do made her far more tired then the lateness ever could.
Twilight walked out of the throne room and past the guard that had been sent to get the forklift. "Princess, we have a problem," he announced when he entered. "When I asked Blaze for the forklift, he gave me these." He held up some forks.
Celestia's face connected with her hoof. "Sometimes I wonder about him."
"And when I told him I said forklift, he gave me this pair of tongs and said, 'Well, if you're too high and mighty to hold the fork, then I guess you can use this to lift it.'"
"I'll talk to him tomorrow. Right now, I think we should all just sleep. You don't need the forklift anyway."
"We don't need it, but it's more fun that way."
She sighed. "Just carry them, please."
Begrudgingly, the guards lifted the mares onto their backs. The one with the forks grumbled, "Why did I join the royal guard if I can't use a forklift?" They all left the throne room.
Celestia herself went down a different hall to her private room. It seemed like that day had gone on forever. Now all she could think of was her nice, soft-
Her ear twitched.
She heard a sound from below. A soft sound that most ponies couldn't hear. Unfortunately, she had trained herself to hear it.
With a sigh, she ran as fast as she could to the dungeon.
****************************************************************
Maybe one of the most annoying things in existence is secret government technology. Like when you create a box you can keep ice in while your government has a massive refrigerator/freezer that runs on coconut milk. Or when you build a pulley-based elevator and your government's been using one that can go 500ft/second while playing the top hits of today. In Equestria, that problem exists with Twilight's PHONE.
No pony knows exactly how the multiverse communicator came to be in the first place. There are those who believe that it was sent as a gift from a parallel universe. There are others who believe that it's the handiwork of Equestria's most notable inventor, Bergholt Stuttley "Bloody Stupid" Johnson. Though the shoddy speakers and it's ability to cause a nuclear meltdown in thirty seconds flat point to Johnson's work, the evidence that he doesn't even exist casts doubt on that theory.
In short, the communicator consisted of a large mass of solid magic surrounded by various wires and gadgets. Through this magic a pony could talk to a pony from a parallel universe by changing the frequency. However, since the voices would be distorted and hard to understand, it was much easier to write a message, which would be translated to the other universe and written on a piece of paper there.
It was nothing short of remarkable. And impossible.
The sound that drew Celestia was the sound of a message coming in. She arrived to see Luna, in the middle of her shift, focused entirely on the message that was printing.
"Any new messages?" Celestia asked.
Luna nodded, still focused on the paper. "Two, but neither for us. Just mass messages."
Celestia looked at two pieces of paper in front of the machine. Sephiroth Malachai is awakening, read one. Beware the devil's dance, read the other. "Are you sure these have nothing to do with us?"
"Well, I don't understand the devil one. And Sephiroth, well, he's been dead a thousand years. There's no way he can come back. Aha, it is finished!"
The two sisters looked at the piece of paper.
Paradox is coming for the Catalyst.
There was a knot in Celestia's stomach. "Are you sure this has something to do with us?"
"It was just for us. It has to."
"I don't understand it. Do you?"
"No, but I'm sure we can find out. It's still my shift, I'll just ask around."
Celestia sighed. "That's good to hear. I'm just nervous. Twilight brought this filly her, and she said-"
"I heard."
"You did? How?"
"I found the frequency for our world and managed to listen in on your conversation. I have to say, it is odd."
"And what she said about the Church of Celestia. What if they are here?"
"Maybe they're the catalyst?"
"It's possible, but I have a different idea."
"The filly?"
Celestia nodded. "She showed up the night the machine malfunctioned. I think that's enough to warrant keeping an eye on her."
Luna nodded. "But I'm more concerned about the Church. If they're here, who knows what they're planning?"
Celestia was grim. "That Is true. But why now? What with the Church, the filly, the Aura, It's like the universe just wants us to worry."
Luna yawned. "Well, sister, you should probably get some rest. I have everything under control here."
Celestia nodded. "Thank you, Luna. I'll be back in the morning for my shift." As she left, she turned around. "Oh, and Luna. Could you do me a favor and talk with Blaze for me? He's being too literal again, and you're the only pony he listens to."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Oh, Blaze. Don't worry, I'll handle him." With Luna's reassurance, Celestia left.
After Celestia left, Luna waited until she was certain Celestia was gone, and walked through another door which led to another hallway.
After a minute, when the third pony in the room was sure he was alone, he left the shadows and went over to the Communicator and started a message.
Designate: Frost
Looking for universe with no pony named Twilight Sparkle. Please respond with universe coordinates.
"Just what do you think you are doing?"
Frost turned around to find himself face to face with Princess Luna. Holding a fireplace poker.
"You know, I don't normally answer questions to ponies holding weapons."
Luna looked downcast. "My apologies. I was aware that this would be the easiest way to get information." She dropped the poker.
Frost sighed with relief. "That's all right. Now, what do want to know?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Well, if you must know, I was lost, so I followed the sound of voices and came here."
"I know why you're here in this room, Frost, and that's not it. I want to know why you're in this universe. You and that filly."
Frost turned white. "How do you know that?"
"It was night when you got here, yes? I was watching."
"Of course you were. But even if I tell you everything, there's no way you'll believe it."
"I saw you appear out of thin air from a different universe. I'll believe what I can."
"Fine, but I'm going to need you to promise me that you won't tell this to any pony. Not Celestia and especially not Twilight."
"If it's that important, then why would you trust me with it? I'm not even threatening you."
"Because, the Luna in my universe helped a pony in my situation. And if you're anything like her, and I know you are, you'll keep my secret."
"All right then. I promise that if I tell a soul, I will forfeit my crown. Now, start from the beginning."
"In my story, there are a lot of beginnings."
"Which universe are you from?"
"4242DB Gamma."
Luna paled. "We lost contact with that universe the night you appeared!"
"Exactly. And this is the story of why."
*********************************************************************
Luna could only stare as Frost finished his story. "So, do you believe it?"
What Luna had just learned swam through her head like a fish swimming from a shark. "That's-that's not possible!"
"Exactly! Yet it is."
"You have to tell Twilight!"
"No, I can't. Because if I do, she probably won't believe me and get rid of me. And even if she does, it will strengthen Paradox immensely if she knew."
"And if he gets stronger, then he wouldn't need her to help him."
"Exactly!"
"But, why do you stay with her?"
"Because it was something I was told before I came here. I was told that as long as I'm around, Paradox wouldn't dare make his move. And then once Twilight stops the Aura, I can leave and no pony will have to worry about him."
"And the message?"
"A failsafe in case Paradox doesn't leave with the Aura. So I can bring Starlight to a different world and get rid of him once and for all."
"I don't know why, Frost, but I believe you. But I am worried. Do you think you can do this?"
"Of course. But you must make sure never to tell a soul anything I told you. Don't even hint. You and I have never met or even seen each other. Anything you say otherwise could cause massive amounts of damage to this world and strengthen Paradox."
"I will, Frost. Like I promised. But there is still one question you didn't answer. Why did you use the Church of Celestia as your cover?"
"They're a small church where I come from, I thought this world would have them too. Why?"
"The other universes talk about them often. I don't know exactly what, but they do some pretty terrible things."
Frost was shaken. "I never knew that. They had always seemed nice, had an orphanage, worked endlessly for charity. After everything I've been through, that may still be the most surprising thing."
"Really?"
"It comes very close." Frost seemed to relax. "Thank you, Luna. After keeping all that to myself for so long, it feels so good to tell another pony."
"You're welcome Frost. And thank you for what you're doing. If you ever need help, just call. But before you leave, let me fix this one mistake you made." She walked over to the machine and added another part to the message.
Return only at a time within four hours before or after time of receiving.
Frost looked thankfully at Luna. "I really am glad you found me out. I didn't even think of that."
"I'm always happy to help, Frost. You should probably get going."
"Yeah, I probably should. There aren't many trains running at this time of night. Thanks again!"
Luna watched him leave and then slumped into her chair. Maybe she was crazy. Maybe she had been waiting for some multiverse-encompassing event to come around for so long that she believed the first crazy pony who came around talking about one.
No, this was definitely real. She just knew it.
And she was the only pony who knew.
Frost was right. Just a minute of not being able to tell any pony was stressing her out big time.
"What have I gotten myself into?" She landed her face hard on the table.
"And it hasn't even started yet!"