//------------------------------//
// Prologue: Buck 
// Story: Guardians of the Multiverse 
// by Draknir 
//------------------------------//

“Attention. Agent PP-073. Report to your immediate superior,” boomed a voice over a loudspeaker. PP-073 sighed. Having to report to her superior, Agent PC-001, meant one of two things; either she’d mucked up her last job or there was a new recruit. PP-073 sincerely hoped it was the former, because being assigned a new recruit was one of the worst jobs at the MGH, the Multiverse Guardian Hub.

PP-073 was her codename, which she’d received the day she’d arrived at the MGH. Codenames were used for everything official and often how agents who were acquaintances called each other. For those within her squad, she was known by a shortened version of her real name, Pinkie Pie. She came from the Pony Cluster of universes, which her division was assigned to maintain. Pinkie herself was a Pink Pegasus with three balloons in a triangle shape on her back thighs, her Cutie Mark. Her mane and tail were a darker pink and were extremely curly. 

In accordance with her orders, Pinkie left her quarters, which she shared with the rest of her squad, SA-132, a Unicorn named Shining Armor, and SS-222, an Earth Pony named Sunset Shimmer. They were all originally from different universes. The hallway in which the division lived was bright white and clean, with the doors to all the quarters being black. Pinkie’s room was near the entrance to the hallway, so she didn’t have far to go to get to PC-001’s office. The door, which had a plaque with her superior’s name on it, opened automatically when she reached it.

“Buck,” muttered Pinkie when she realized why she’d been summoned. It was, of course, the one thing she’d been hoping to not have. A new recruit was sitting in a chair across from her superior. Her superior was a white Alicorn with a long, pink mane and tail. She was much larger than either of the other ponies in the room and much more slender. Her Cutie Mark was an orange and yellow sun, “Reporting in, ma’am.”

“Thank you for coming, PP-073,” replied her superior with a smile, “I was just going over our mission with our newest member, TS-314.” It was then that Pinkie recognized the pony who was sitting across from PC-001. She was a violet Unicorn with an indigo mane and tail with a single pink and purple stripe down the middle. Her Cutie Mark was a pink, six-pointed star on top of a white one, with five more surrounding it.

“Wait, Twilight? Twilight Sparkle?” asked Pinkie, knowing full well this wasn’t exactly the pony she’d known before she came to the MGH. The most important rule in regards to new recruits is that there can only be one being from a Universe recruited. Any more than that would cause problems.

“Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?” asked the Unicorn, no doubt more confused than before.

“Well, I’m not exactly the Pinkie you knew in your Universe,” replied the pink Pegasus, “Just like you’re not the Twilight I knew.”

“So you see the reason I am assigning you as her mentor, PP-073. TS-314 was close friends with the version of you from her Universe, so I figured it would be less of a problem adjusting. Plus, your squad is still one short after we lost VS-923 last year,” explained PC-001, “So, TS-314, are you clear as to what our mission is?”

“No, I’m not, Princess Celestia,” replied Twilight.

“TS-314, you are to refer to me as either PC-001 or ma’am from this point forward,” ordered the Alicorn, “I may look like the Princess Celestia you knew, but I am most certainly not. I haven’t been for several millennia.”

“Uh, yes ma’am,” said Twilight sheepishly.

“I’m sure that PP-073, here, will be happy to explain our mission to you further,” said PC-001, pointing a hoof at Pinkie, “Now, I want you to follow her lead while you are in training. She is the one who will be showing you the ropes here. Both of you are dismissed.”

“Let’s go, TS-314,” said Pinkie, using Twilight’s codename rather than her real name while beckoning her to the door. The Unicorn obliged, and the pair left PC-001’s office. Once they were outside of the room, the door shut.