//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11 
// Story: The Animation Bureau 
// by Chaotic Dreams 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11
“I agree,” Applejack added. “It don’t make no sense. How can Equestria have been made in the future when it’s always existed back here in the present with all them other worlds?”
“Then maybe…maybe this wasn’t what happened at all!” Lauren realized. “Maybe the story was wrong!”
“But why would you…will you…have lied to us, Mother?” Luna wondered. 
“Maybe I didn’t—er, won’t—have lied to you,” Lauren surmised. “When I think about it, there could be any number of explanations, and with all the things I’ve seen as an Agent of the Animation Bureau, most of them don’t even break the top ten list of odd possibilities. Maybe I didn’t even tell that story at all, and maybe Discord brainwashed you all into thinking that I did just to mess with you and then left this record here to back up the trick. I know it doesn’t make any sense why Discord would do such a thing, but why does he do any of the crazy things he does? Discord just likes being unexpected, and we certainly didn’t expect this.”
“But how could he have known all those things about our mission before they even happened to us?” Fluttershy pointed out. 
Lauren’s ears drooped when she realized the sense of Fluttershy’s reasoning. 
“Oh…I don’t know!” Lauren stomped a hoof in frustration. “But what I DO know is that we can’t give up just because something that might not have even happened says we’ll fail. All of Reality could cease to exist simply because we were too afraid to try and prove wrong a prophecy that doesn’t even make sense with the timeline, even if it does know things it shouldn’t.”
“Lauren’s right!” Twilight announced. “We can’t give up yet!”
“Yeah!” chorused the rest of the ponies.
. . .
“Oh, this is so exciting!” Twilight quipped, eagerly turning the pages of the large, dusty old book Celestia had lent the team from her personal library. The search for any information on the First Ones had turned up short, but the search hadn’t been entirely in vain. Lauren knew that as this was an undiscovered world, no portals would have been set up here to other worlds beyond the fried gateway to Earth. Lauren was a little worried that the team wouldn’t be able to travel out of Equestria at all, as a world-wall was almost impossible to breach from the inside without a portal, not to mention how dangerous world-walls were to begin with—they were fortunate to have survived going through one the first time. 
But, upon hearing that the team needed to travel to other worlds, Celestia had surprisingly been reminded of an old book in her private library that not even Twilight had ever been allowed in. It had been penned by Starswirl the Bearded himself several thousand years ago, referencing his theoretical spells about possible alternate realities. At the time Celestia discovered it she hid it away from the rest of Equestria for fear that using the spells inside would send ponies out into the void, as she believed as her Mother had said that there were no worlds beyond Equestria, not anymore. 
However, Lauren, Bugs, and the team’s presence in Equestria changed that notion. Not only were the other worlds out there, this book might be just the thing to get the team to them.
“So…any luck actually finding the spell we’re looking for?” Rainbow Dash inquired, swooping low to peer at a complex magical diagram over Twilight’s shoulder. 
“Nope,” Twilight answered gleefully, completely unaware of the team’s resulting sighs. “But to know that this is a secret book written by Starswirl the Bearded makes me feel like a filly in a candy store!”
“That’s nice and all, sugar cube,” Applejack ventured. “But we ARE kind of pressed for time here…”
“Oh, right,” Twilight remembered, reluctantly tearing her gaze away from the magical diagram as she began flipping through the book’s pages once more. “Ah, here we are: the alternate universe section. Let’s see…blue boxes that travel through time…ponification potions…a post-apocalyptic Equestria full of magical fallout…here it is! The spell to teleport to other worlds!”
As Twilight began reading the spell and her horn sparked, a magical aura enveloped the team. The outside world grew blurry, Celestia and Luna starting to fade from view as the team faded from Equestria. The two Princesses waved one last goodbye before the team vanished from sight altogether.
. . .
“Where are we?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking nervously around at the sliding purples and blacks of…wherever they were now. It appeared to be a sort of tunnel that they were somehow rushing down without actually moving. There was a light at both ends, but beyond that was the unknown.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere right now,” Applejack thought aloud, equally nervous.
“You mean we’re in the void again?!” Fluttershy squeaked. 
“No, you guys!” Twilight answered calmingly. “We’re in an inter-world temporary connection of magical energy! It’s completely safe. True, the tunnel goes through the void, but we’re safe in here as long as the tunnel isn’t breached.”
“That’s not…likely, is it?” Rarity inquired hopefully.
“Not at all,” Twilight replied. “In fact, according to Starswirl the Bearded, breaking out of a magic tunnel like this is impossible.”
“We’ve faced ‘impossibilities’ before,” Lauren reminded the team. “But to be perfectly honest, this looks a lot like the inside of a portal. I’m sure we’ll all be fine.”
“I sure hope so,” Bugs commented. “Inter-world travel always gave me the creeps. I much preferred travelling through these confounded portals in my personal quantum limo, but that’s just me, I suppose.”
“Ooo! Ooo!” Pinkie Pie piped up. “The light at the end of the tunnel’s coming up!”
“Brace yourselves,” Twilight warned. “Starswirl says that entering other worlds isn’t always the smoothest of landings.”
The light was indeed rushing up to meet them, and the team huddled close together and closed their eyes tightly as each prepared for impact. With a flash and a roar, a whole new world burst into existence all around them, the white light shattering away and giving birth to a completely different reality. 
“We made it!” Twilight exclaimed jubilantly. 
“Yeah, but we made it into the sky!” Rarity screamed as she and the rest of the team plummeted from the clear blue air they’d suddenly been thrust into. 
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy instantly took flight, but Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Bugs and Lauren (who hadn’t yet learned to fly) were left to fall from the sky screaming. 
“Come on, Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called as she swooped down to scoop up Applejack and Rarity. Fluttershy, coursing with courage at the thought of her friends dying if she didn’t act fast, zoomed to catch Pinkie Pie and Twilight. 
“Oh, thank you, darling,” Rarity said gratefully to rainbow Dash. “But what about Lauren and Bugs?”
“Lauren’s an alicorn,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “She has her own wings, and Bugs is one of those immortal Animated beings. Isn’t  he?”
“I reckon so,” Applejack agreed. “But Lauren never learned to fly, remember?”
“Oh, yeah,” Rainbow Dash realized. Mustering her strength, the multicolored pegasus shot off down to meet the still-falling Lauren and Bugs, Fluttershy and the others close behind. “Hang on, Lauren! We’re coming!”
“Hang on to what?!” Lauren called back. The new alicorn was flapping her wings furiously, but this seemed to be getting her nowhere. “What’s the point of these wings if I don’t even know how to use them?”
“We’ll have to teach you,” Fluttershy told her. “Don’t worry! We’ve both graduated from flight school—well, we’ve both been to flight school—and we can teach you!”
“I don’t think we’re going to have quite enough time to cram years of boring flight regulations into Lauren’s skull before the ground has a meeting with it,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. Then, calling to Twilight, Rainbow Dash yelled “Can’t you teach her how to get out of this with magic?”
“Magic takes years to learn too!” Twilight called back. “But I doubt you’ll be seriously hurt if you crash anyway—you’re an immortal alicorn now!”
“Yeah, who may one day be killed by Discord!” Lauren shouted back, obviously beginning to speak with her fear rather than her mind. “That’s not a chance I’m willing to take!”
“But Lauren, we saw you fly back when we first met you in Equestria!” Pinkie Pie spoke. “You were all glowing and zooming around without any wings at all!”
“Thanks for the suggestion, Pinkie Pie,” Lauren said. “But I don’t think I’ll be able to go super when I’m a pony. That was mainly a humanoid thing. And what about Bugs?”
“Don’t worry about me!” Bugs said, whipping out a full motorcycle from behind his back. “I’ve got a plan of my own. Unfortunately, this baby only seats one, though…”
“Um, um…” Twilight murmured frantically, trying to come up with some solution that could save Lauren. “Oh! Try using your magic! I know you won’t be able to do much without any instruction like Rarity and I had, but every unicorn has at least one easy-to-do special spell that they can perform all on their own, without any help, right from birth! It’s like a unicorn’s special talent!”
“But I thought we agreed that we shouldn’t be messing with my magic before we know the full extent of it!” Lauren said as the ground rushed up to meet the team. “I might accidentally blow up the moon or something!”
“I think that’s already been done on this planet,” Pinkie Pie said, pointing skywards where a collection of sparkling dust took the place of where a moon might have been. 
“We’ve got no other choice!” Twilight insisted. “It’s either that or risk your death and risk the death of all reality! This team couldn’t function without you, Lauren!”
“She’s got a point!” Bugs agreed.
“Really?” Lauren asked meaningfully. 
“Really!” the ponies all chorused in unison.
Smiling, eyes moist with appreciation, Lauren closed her eyes and tried to make her horn spark like she’d seen Twilight’s and Rarity’s do so many times. There was a glow, a brief flash, and then—nothing.
“What?” Lauren gasped. “Nothing happened! I can’t fly OR do magic?”
“That was a good try, Lauren!” Twilight called encouragingly. “But we’re almost to the ground! Try again, and try as hard as you can!”
“Experimenting to find my one spell talent could take hours!” Lauren pointed out. “I wish I was just on the ground already so I could sort this out!”
Flash.
“What—where’d Lauren go?!” Fluttershy gasped. “She was right there, and then—”
“That flash,” Twilight realized. “That was magic! Lauren must have teleported to the ground!”
“She sure did!” Rainbow Dash agreed, pointing down below to the rocky, desert-like area rushing up to meet the team. “And she’s got company!”
. . .
Flash.
Lauren fell to the ground with a lot less force than she would’ve expected—having no more than a few feet’s worth of inertia, actually—but she still sprawled out across the sparsely grassy and largely sandy wilderness. In fact, it was a wilderness that looked suspiciously familiar…
“What? What happened?” Lauren asked nopony in particular, as nopony at all seemed to be around to hear her. “Wait, did I do it? I did do it! I used magic! I must have teleported just like Twilight does!”
Lauren laughed happily to herself, pleased with her accomplishment in the face of a near-death situation. She’d been in plenty of them before, to be sure, but this was the first time she’d survived as an Animated pony, which Lauren had secretly feared she wouldn’t be able to do since she was so used to living as a non-Animated human. 
“What the—what trickery is this!?” called a voice that Lauren didn’t recognize.
“Wait…you mean this isn’t another of your alien friends?” inquired a voice that Lauren did recognize, but hadn’t been expecting to hear. 
“Is that—it is! Goku!” Lauren laughed happily. “I thought this world looked familiar! It’s me, Lauren!”
“…Lauren…?” Goku, Lauren’s old Sayin friend, echoed. “The voice is the same, but—is that really you? What happened to you?”
“It’s a long story,” Lauren smiled apologetically. “I’ll tell you about it later. First, my friends should be arriving here any second—”
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!” came Bugs’ screaming voice from overhead. Lauren, Goku, and some other odd-looking characters Lauren hadn’t seen before looked up to see the rabbit hurtling towards the Earth on his motorcycle, which didn’t appear to be doing him any good. But, Lauren, having known Bugs all her life and having seen this trick before, simply smiled in anticipation for what was coming next. Suddenly, right before it was about to hit the ground, Bugs’ motorcycle skidded to a halt in midair. “Aaaaaaaaaand it’s out of gas.”
Lauren laughed at Goku and the others’ dumbfounded expressions as Bugs dismounted and hid his motorcycle behind his back again. The ponies came next, swooping down as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy let off their passengers. Each ran to Lauren.
“That was amazing, Lauren!” Twilight laughed. “I’ve never seen somepony teleport that far before!”
“Yeah, you were awesome, Lauren!” Rainbow Dash agreed. 
“Oh, I cannot take this anymore!” raged the unfamiliar figure in the distance Lauren had spotted earlier. “Kakarot, what are you doing?! Is this some kind of ploy to distract us from our mission? Because if it is, it’s not working! We’re STILL going to kill you and everyone else on this miserable planet AND take the Dragon Balls!”
“I don’t think so,” Goku smiled, surprising Lauren by answering to the name ‘Kakarot.’ “You see, this here is Lauren Faust, an Agent of the Animation Bureau. I don’t know why she’s suddenly a giant white pony, but she’s still a good friend of mine—and she’s also one of the most formidable people I’ve ever met. And if these are her friends, then they’re friends of mine too—so I’d think twice about trying to take the Earth if I were you when I’ve got a full platoon of the Animation Bureau on my side!”
“Animation what?” the other figure chuckled darkly. Lauren inspected this newcomer more closely this time, quickly deciding that she didn’t much like the looks or the sound of him. Strangely enough, the armored short man with spiky hair across the field looked a lot like Goku, aside from malicious look in his eyes. The massive bald man next to him who was wearing little more than a glorified speedo didn’t look like either of them, though he too shared the short man’s malicious gleam. 
“Hey Vegeta,” the bald man inquired of the short man, who was apparently Vegeta. “Does this mean I have more people to play with?”
“No, Nappa,” Vegeta spat. “This means you have more people to kill—though I’d hardly call them people. They look like a giant rabbit and a bunch of ponies, for crying out loud!”
“Ponies and bunnies?!” the big bald man who was apparently Nappa gasped. “Oh boy! This is going to be my best day ever!”
“Uh...what exactly is going on here?” Lauren asked Goku, turning to him in confusion.
“Those two over there are evil aliens looking for the Dragon Balls,” Goku explained. “They’ve already killed half of our friends, but with your help, I’m sure we can beat them!”
“You can count on us, Goku!” Lauren assured her friend.
“But Lauren!” Twilight spoke up. “We’re on a tight schedule, remember?”
“I know, Twilight,” Lauren responded quietly enough so that the two factions of fighters on either side of what must be their battleground couldn’t hear them. “But Goku’s an old friend of mine—if he needs my help, then I want to help him. Besides, if we help him, I’m sure he can help us with whatever resources we need before we continue our search for the First Ones. Goku has access to some of the most arcane knowledge in this universe—he’s been dead before just like Disney was!”
“In that case, let’s do it!” Applejack said excitedly. “I can feel these blades o' Kratos’ have been itchin’ for a real fight again!”
The team trotted over to join Goku, assuming a defensive stance alongside him and two other fighters Lauren recognized as Goku’s childhood friend Krillin and Goku’s son Gohan. 
“What is—do you mean to tell me—” Vegeta stammered angrily. Then, a smile splitting his face as he erupted with laughter, Vegeta guffawed “You’re actually going to fight me with a bunch of ponies and an oversized rabbit?!”
“They’re not just ponies and an oversized rabbit,” Goku smirked, knowing Lauren’s full potential when Vegeta had never witnessed anything like it. “They’re my friends.”
“Fine, then,” Vegeta snapped angrily, breaking out of his laughter almost as fast as he’d burst into it. “They’ll all die with you! Get ‘em, Nappa!”
“Wait, Vegeta,” Nappa hesitated, turning to the short man who seemed to be his commander. “What does the scouter say about their power levels?”
“Really, Nappa?” Vegeta chuckled. “You want to know the power levels of a bunch of animals and a man who thinks they’ll stand a chance against me?”
“Yes,” Nappa replied flatly.
“Suit yourself,” Vegeta shrugged. Then, pressing a button on the side of the odd electric monocle-like machine over his eye, Vegeta read off whatever the machine was telling him, pointing first to the ponies and then to Bugs. “Less than one, less than one, less than one, less than one, less than one, less than one, and…what? That doesn’t seem right…”
“What is it, Vegeta?” Nappa asked.
“When I scan the rabbit, all I get is a smiley face sticking its tongue out at me!” Vegeta answered. “I didn’t even think a scouter could do that!”
“What about the rest of them, Vegeta?” Nappa inquired eagerly.
“Let’s see…” Vegeta said, resuming his scan on Goku. “It’s…it’s…IT’S OVER 9,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“What?! Nine-thousand?!” Nappa gasped. “There’s no way that can be right! What about the big white pony? Please tell me that one’s not impossibly strong!”
“It can’t be!” Vegeta said angrily. Then, scanning Lauren, Vegeta called out “IT’S—well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. I’ve never actually seen this symbol before. It’s definitely not a number or any picture I recognize. Oh, well, it’s probably not important. Now, Nappa, KILL THEM!”
“But, Vegeta—” Nappa started, shooting a fearful glance at Goku.
“I said KILL THEM, Nappa!” Vegeta hissed. “Or do you want ME to kill YOU?”
“Nope!” Nappa quickly snapped back to his attack stance, facing Lauren and the team. “I know! I’ll get them with my special attack—“I’M AH FIRIN’ MAH LAZOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Nappa’s head burst into a wide, thick-lipped, open mouth with bulging cartoonish eyes that didn’t match the Animation style of this world as a massive laser beam shot out across the battlefield towards Lauren and the ponies. Goku flew up and out of the way, Gohan evading the attack on his father’s trusty Nimbus cloud, Krillin following close behind Goku as they flew up over the beam. The ponies all scrambled or flew in their own various directions, Twilight teleporting herself out of the way. Bugs dove into the ground, burrowing away furiously. Lauren reached for where she subconsciously remembered her pocket to be to whip out an Animated tool, but realized too late that she neither had pockets nor Animated tools anymore, having become Animated herself. 
A split second before the blast shattered the solid rock of the mountain behind where the team once stood, Lauren remembered how she had teleported out of the sky and wished she were elsewhere. In a flash, she was, standing off to the side as the mountain crumbled.
“Aw, and I was so close to killing you all!” Nappa complained. “Oh well, I know what to do in a situation like this! Let’s play a party game of death!”
“A PARTY game?!” Pinkie Pie squeaked joyfully, jumping up and down in anticipation. 
“No, Pinkie!” Lauren called. “It’s a trick!”
“But Lauren,” Pinkie Pie said, turning to the new alicorn. “Tricks are for kids!”
“You know what?” spoke up GLaDOS, still attached to the potato at the end of Pinkie’s portal gun. “You SHOULD play this party game. In fact, you should play it until you die!”
“GLaDOS!” Lauren scolded. 
“What?” the supercomputer asked innocently. “It’s called survival of the fittest! Or should I say, death of the dumbest?”
“You think I’m…dumb?” Pinkie Pie asked, tears brimming in her eyes. “But, Potados…I thought we were friends…”
“I don’t have any friends!” GLaDOS snapped. “And if I did, they certainly wouldn’t be crazy party ponies who never give me the cake I so rightfully deserve! The cake is a lie!”
“But, but…” Pinkie sniffed.
“Aw, look, Vegeta!” Nappa laughed, pointing at Pinkie Pie. “The pink one is crying!”
“Yes, Nappa,” Vegeta smirked. “Why don’t you put it out of its misery?”
“Good thinking Vegeta!” Nappa complied, flying forward and raising his fist.
“Pinkie, look out!” Lauren called, but it was too late—the party pony only had a split second to try and dodge when the monstrous man’s hand came smashing down in front of her. Fortunately Pinkie had just enough time to move her body out of the way, but the smashing force of the hand knocked GLaDOS’ potato and the front half of the portal gun clear off of Pinkie’s head.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” GLaDOS screamed as her potato body splattered all across the ground.
“Look, Vegeta!” Nappa laughed again, pointing at the sparking remains of the once mighty supercomputer. “I made mashed potatoes!”
“Yes, Nappa, yes you did,” Vegeta agreed. “Now, KILL THE PONY ALREADY!”
“Okay!” Nappa agreed, flying up into the air. Sticking his foot out to prepare for a crushing stomp, Nappa zoomed downwards. "Nappa smash!”
“You…you killed her…” Pinkie Pie sniffed even more heavily, sifting the mashed remains of GLaDOS through her hooves. All that was left of the supercomputer’s console were a few sparking electrical parts. “You killed my friend…I know she didn’t think she was my friend, but deep down, I think she really was. And you…you killed her…you KILLED her…YOU KILLED HER, YOU MONSTER!”
Pinkie leapt back just as Nappa smashed into the ground, lodging his foot firmly in the earth. 
“Aw, I’m stuck, Vegeta!” Nappa called. “Wait, I know, I’ll get out with Rock Smash!”
“No, you won’t,” Pinkie Pie said darkly. The team and the aliens looked at her, surprised to hear such a grim tone from the usually perpetually peppy pony. But Pinkie’s hair had fallen flat, and a malicious gleam that outshone either of the aliens glimmered in her eyes. “Instead, you’re going to be my next test subject!”
“What?” Nappa asked flatly.
“We’re going to see what happens when two portals cross,” Pinkie smiled. Pulling the mouth-trigger on her battered-and-bruised portal gun, enough sparks were left to fire out two last portals directly under Nappa’s submerged foot. 
The two portals mixed and interlocked before combining into one ring of spinning quantum energy.
. . .
And reality exploded.
. . .
And reset.
. . .
Pinkie Pie sat up, rubbing her head, which had thankfully returned to being frizzy.
“Ooo, what happened?” Pinkie asked, looking around at her team and Vegeta. “Where’s Nappa?”
“Who’s Nappa?” Vegeta asked.
“What…but, he was right here, he was trying to kill me!” Pinkie insisted. 
“Pinkie, nopony’s been here the entire time who goes by the name of Nappa,” Lauren said. 
“But there was!” Pinkie kept insisting. “He killed Potados!”
“Nobody remembers that but you and me, Pinkie Pie,” said a voice the party pony had never expected to hear again, but was overjoyed that she did. Looking up, Pinkie saw GLaDOS’ potato attached to the end of her still fully functional and undamaged portal gun. “When you crossed the portals, reality reset. Nappa never existed, and I never died. For that, I thank you, and pledge my undying loyalty. I’ve never actually had a friend before, but I look forward to using large amounts of deadly neurotoxin to viciously exterminate anybody who tries to get in the way of our friendship.”
“I’m glad you’re okay too, Potados!” Pinkie smiled. “Do you still mind if I call you Potados?”
“Not at all,” GLaDOS replied.
Pinkie’s smile nearly split her face.
“Um…now that the annoying pink thing is done conversing with the potato,” Vegeta tried to move things along. “I think it’s high time I killed you all.”
With a roaring battle-cry, Vegeta flew forward and fired a barrage of laser-blasts at the team. Roaring back, the team rushed up to meet him.
. . .