//------------------------------// // Constants and Variables // Story: Ponyshock Infinite // by Mint Copy //------------------------------// “Constants and Variables. There will always be a Mare. There will always be a Lighthouse. And there will always be a City.” -Unknown Scholar, Date Unknown         Twilight Sparkle’s life was not a peaceful one. Not a week went by without something going wrong, or somepony getting themselves in mortal danger. Becoming a Princess hadn’t made her workload any lighter, not that she’d expected that to happen, but at least Paperwork hadn’t tried to kill her… yet.         The Alicorn was truly at home surrounded by quills and papers, and as she filled out the millionth legal form, signing it with her usual flowing script, she inhaled deeply, absorbing the smell of fresh ink and parchment. There was just one thing out of place. Alongside the smell of paper and ink, there was a sweeter smell. A familiar smell, one of cotton candy and fresh baked cakes, and it’s appearance usually preceded one thing: A visit from Pinkie Pie. Twilight wondered if she’d found something as she gave a brief look to the marking carved into her hoof.         Wanting to meet her excitable friend at the door, Twilight rose from behind her desk and crossed the Library’s main room to the front door, pulling it open and coming snout to snout with Applejack, who bore a semiconscious Pinkie Pie upon her back as a worried-looking Rainbow Dash hovered just overhead. “Applejack?” Started Twilight, peering around her friend to look at Pinkie. “What’s going on? Why are you carrying Pinkie around like that? Was there an accident?” “That’s just it, Twi.” Applejack began, crossing the threshold and laying Pinkie on a nearby table. “We have no idea what’s goin’ on with Pinkie.” Hasn’t stopped any of us before. Twilight snarked internally. “Yeah,” Piped up Rainbow Dash, worry tinging her usually confident voice. “Applejack and Pinkie were helping me look for… you know who, and she just collapsed!” her voice caught. “...Um… she also started mumbling some things, weird things, weirder than usual.” “What was she saying?” Twilight asked, her horn igniting and summoning a few books from a shelf she’d mentally labeled ‘The Pinkie Shelf’. “Ah dunno Twi.” Applejack continued, “somethin’ about doors, and somethin’ breakin’?” Almost as if on cue, Pinkie sat up ramrod straight and stared directly at, no, through Twilight. It was the first good look she’d had at the pony since AJ had laid her on the table. Her mane was flat and lifeless, her eyes darted around occasionally, as if looking at or for something the others couldn’t see. “The Doors, Twilight. I can see all the Doors. All of the constants, all of the variables. It’s all falling apart. Bleeding into everythingness. The Doors, Twilight, you need to fix the doors!” “Pinkie…” Twilight began, shocked. She’d never heard the pink pony talk like this, and to be honest, it was scaring her. “What’s going on with you? Is your Pinkie Sense acting up?” The Alicorn flicked through the books she’d gathered, historical reports on ponies that had acted similar to Pinkie, and Twilight’s own notes on her friends mysterious powers, but nothing seemed to match up. “I’m dying Twilight. Eight of me will already be dead, three more merged into one. Eleven on the brink of madness or sanity! It’s all collapsing, the Doors are falling apart, collapsing into one another, bringing me down with it! Only you can fix it Twilight! You need to find the Twins!” “The Twins?” Twilight was flabbergasted. This was entirely over her head. “Who are the twins?” “They’re the source! Somepony’s changing the entirety of existence, and they know how to stop them! You gotta go beyond the wall, Twilight! You might have trouble remembering things, but they’ll help you.” Pinkie grabbed Twilight’s face in her hooves and looked her dead in the eye. “Trust me. All of you.” “Now, Pinkie, what’re ya’ll-” Applejack began. “I’m sorry Applejack.” With that, static exploded in Twilight’s vision, and she blacked out, with only the sounds of the ocean echoing in her ears. “The mind of the subject will struggle to fill in the gaps where no memories exist.”         The Dangers of Dimensional Magic -Starswirl the Bearded, Y599 CR Coast of the Horseshoe Bay. Year 1913 of Celestia’s Reign “Are you going to just sit there?” called a stallion’s voice that roused Twilight from her fugue state. The voice was familiar, somehow, but the Alicorn couldn’t place it. In fact, there was a lot of stuff she couldn’t remember at that moment. Why was she in a boat? Oh, Pinkie had asked her to help her with something off the Horseshoe Bay, of course. The pounding rain was helping her mind to clear, at least, even though it had plastered her mane to her head. “What else would I do silly?” Came another voice, punctuated with a giggle-snort that Twilight recognized immediately. “Why not do some rowing yourself?” the stallion responded. “my hoofsies are getting tired!” “Excuse me.” Twilight said, finally opening her eyes, her head still pounded, but it was nice to actually see. Her eyes first fell on Pinkie Pie, who sat directly in front of her on the rowboat. The mare turned her head to look at Twilight, and she couldn’t help but feel something was… off… about her friend. Pinkie seemed older, almost, her eyes betraying knowledge that she couldn’t possibly have, her constant smile was the only thing that seemed correct, but Twilight quickly shook off the notion. Pinkie was an intelligent mare, and she always checked out tonnes of books from the library. She was a Scholar when she wasn’t partying… wasn’t she? Twilight realized that both ponies had been staring at her as she figured it out. Blushing, she continued. “Uh, how much longer until we get there, mister…” Twilight stopped. She stopped. She felt that she should know this stallion’s name, but she couldn’t remember. She racked her brain until it hurt, a deep throbbing pain coming from behind her horn. “My name’s Berry Bubble, silly!” the Stallion said with a Giggle-Snort of his own. “Remember? Pinkie’s twin brother? We met in Manehattan before we set off!” “Yeah Twilight, you silly!” Pinkie echoed. “Man, you really shouldn’t have drank so much Cider before we left Manehattan, even if Applejack got it for you!” Twilight remembered now. Pinkie had taken her and Applejack to Manehattan to meet Berry. As Princess, Twilight had had to make some incredibly tough decisions, quickly falling in over her head, and owed a lot of important ponies a lot of money, and she couldn’t ask Celestia or Luna for help from the royal coffers. Not after what she had done. That was when Berry had approached her via Pinkie, and offered to cover her debts, clear her slate, and all she had to do was one thing. “Sorry Pinkie, but how much longer?” Twilight repeated. “We’re almost there, sillyhead! The Lighthouse is just ahead.” Pinkie handed Twilight a box with her name and title on it, which she tucked under a wing. “Everything you need is in this box!” The boat pulled up to a lighthouse, and Twilight climbed up. “Remember Twilight! Bring us the mare, and wipe away the debt!” Berry called as he began rowing away, cheer still in his voice. Twilight waved as the boat pulled away, then covered her head with a wing and made her way up to the Lighthouse. She was already soaked, but she could only get wetter, right? She climbed the steps until she reached the big oaken door that led into the lighthouse, stopping only to take note of the message attached to it. Bring us the Mare, Twilight. This is your last chance. Written in Pinkie Pie’s bubbling script, the threat was all the more chilling. Pinkie had been trying to help Twilight solve her money problems for the longest time, and it would make sense that even the party pony would start to grow impatient with her. Remembering the box Pinkie had given her, Twilight removed it from under her wing and opened it. Inside was something she’d hoped never to see again. A pistol and several clips. Twilight knew how to use a gun, it was a lot easier for a unicorn after all, but still she felt wrong when she had to use them; almost as if they didn’t belong. There was a little strap around the weapon, so it could be quickly attached to an Earth Pony or Pegasus’ hooves, but as a magic user, Twilight’s telekinesis made it redundant. She tucked the weapon and ammo into the front of her shirt and looked through the rest of the box. There were some drawings with numbers beside them, a sun, a moon, and a diamond, Twilight disregarded that for the time being and looked at the pictures in the box. A picture of a massive statue that seemed to loom over an unfamiliar city surrounded by… Clouds? No… It couldn’t be, the ponies Twilight could make out in the streets below the statue were unicorns, it must have been exceptionally thick mist. The other picture was of a Pegasus with yellow fur and pink hair, singing to some birds. Twilight could have sworn she knew this mare, but rifling through her brain for the answer came up with nothing, and brought on another wave of pain behind her horn. Either way, this would have to be the mare that Berry wanted her to fetch. You know Berry, if you know what city she’s in, then maybe you should have dropped me off there. What am I looking for in a Lighthouse?  Twilight sighed and her thoughts drifted to Applejack for a moment. Berry had sent her off about a day ago and hadn’t told her where her friend was going. Twilight had assumed that Applejack was doing one of them a favour, but still, she would have appreciated having at least one friend here with her. They were the elements of Harmony after all. Magic, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, and Laughter, the five of them had made a bond deeper than anything else in all of Equestria, and Twilight had to admit, she’d grown a little dependent on the support of her friends. Almost as if something was missing from her when they were apart. “Oh well.” Twilight said aloud as she began climbing the lighthouse’s stairs. “I suppose I’ll just meet you for cider when I get back, AJ.” she said to the empty building as her thoughts drifted to the foamy apple-drink. “All five of us, just like old times.” Twilight’s reverie was stopped when the smell from the second floor struck her. Coppery, it has a taste on the air. She couldn’t help but think as the analytical part of her mind kicked into full gear. Blood! she practically screamed in her mind as she galloped up the last set of steps. What greeted her was an absolute mess. Not a single piece of furniture was left intact, and it truly looked like a warzone, broken chairs, tables, all of them smashed into a million pieces. Twilight’s horn ignited and her pistol rocketed from her shirt pocket as she scanned the room. Anypony that was up here would have heard her enter, but this place definitely looked deserted, except for one pony slumped against the wall. Twilight slowly approached the Earth Pony, only to recoil when the smell of decay hit her nostrils. The pony had been dead for a while, at least a day, and his green coat was stained with blood. Somepony had definitely wanted this pony dead, Twilight noted. His face was smashed to an absolute pulp, and Twilight only recognized him by his Cutie Mark, a cart filled to the brim with apples. “Crabapple? What in Tartarus were you doing here?” Twilight said aloud. “You were with Applejack...”   Confused, and trying not to look at the ruined mess that was this Stallion’s face, Twilight holstered her weapon and took one last look around the room. Her eyes lingered for a moment on the door to the Lighthouse’s exteriour. Written in what appeared to be blood was the words: Filthy Mudpony. Twilight recognized the term. She’d first heard it when she went with Applejack and Big Mac to help them sell apples in Vanhoover, and she remembered how mad AJ had gotten when somepony had called her it when negotiating prices. A smile almost touched her lips when she remembered how far that pony had flown when AJ’s hoof met his face, then she remembered what both this message, and Crabapple’s corpse, implied. Twilight took in a deep breath, like Cadence had taught her long ago, before pushing open the door, taking note of a clump of orange fur that was caught in the latch. “What in Equestria is going on here?” She asked herself. Stepping out into the rain once more, Twilight was almost bowled over by the whipping wind atop the Lighthouse, and headed for the actual light, hoping to find more clues and, hopefully, not her friend’s corpse. She circled the balcony several times, but couldn’t seem to find the way in, and the glass was too foggy to see inside. The only thing of note was a strange set of bells she found on the far end of the balcony, mounted on the window frame. Each bell had a symbol embossed on it, a moon, a sun, and a crystal. “Hmm.” Thought Twilight aloud. “This must be what the numbers on the box meant. Let’s see…” she thought as she fished the box out from under her wing and removed the piece of paper. “Three moons, one sun, and two crystals.” she finished as she tapped the bells with her free hoof. The sequence made a nice little melody that brought a sense of peace over Twilight, it reminded her of her days as Celestia’s student, a feeling she hadn’t felt in… well… a long time. A feeling that was completely shattered by the unfaustly noise that blared down from the sky, lighting the clouds with an intensity that put any lightning storm to shame. The noise played back the same melody that she’d played, only much deeper, and much more ominous. When the noise ceased, a heavy looking piece of glass slid aside with a loud moan, allowing Twilight to enter the light. As her hooves crossed the threshold, the massive lightbulb slowly flipped, and a strange looking chair rose to take it’s place. With nowhere else to go, Twilight took her place on the chair, wondering just what would happen. Pinkie would never send her into a trap, would she? When manacles sprouted from the chair and clamped themselves around Twilight’s hooves, she began to doubt that notion. When a strange hull began to construct itself around her, she knew Pinkie was hiding things from her. When the hull began rocketing into the sky, she began to hate Pinkie, just a little bit. Or rather, she would, if she had time to think about hating the pink pony between screams.