//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Getting Twilight's Hooves Wet // Story: Guardians of the Multiverse // by Draknir //------------------------------// “Good morning, Twilight!” shouted Pinkie happily as she opened the door to Twilight’s room. She was met by the Unicorn lying half way off the bed with her mane and tail a complete mess, “Um. Wow, rough night?” “What was your first clue?” snapped Twilight as she pulled herself up, “I could not get comfortable. This is just too weird. How in Equestria did they get my room so exact?” “Don’t worry, we all felt the same way when we first got here,” answered Pinkie with a smile, “Anyway, I suggest you get ready. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.” “Great,” muttered Twilight sarcastically as she rubbed the side of her head. Before she could react, a hairbrush smacked her in the face, “Ow, what was that for?” “Sorry, I was expecting you to catch that,” answered the Pegasus sheepishly, “And, trust me. You need it.” “Gee, thanks,” stated Twilight as she picked up the hairbrush with magic and began to brush her mane, “So, exactly what are we going to do today?” “Well, we’ve got a full list of Universes to check on,” answered Pinkie, “We’re going to check as many as we can until we can go off duty.” “Which is when, exactly?” asked Twilight, setting the brush down once she was satisfied with her mane. “Let’s see, it’s just past 0600 now,” started Pinkie as she apparently began to calculate data, “About twelve hours from now. And we start in two. ” “Twelve hours? Seriously?” asked Twilight, almost shocked at the number, “That doesn’t exactly seem long.” “How little you know, Twilight,” said Shining Armor from outside the room, “The hours tend to drag on the longer you work.” “Each squad takes a ten hour shift with fourteen hours to relax to minimize mistakes,” explained Pinkie as she led Twilight into the main room, “In our line of work, mistakes can be costly. Like, wiping an entire universe out costly.” “Sure, that’s a vote of confidence,” muttered the Unicorn with a sigh. “Don’t worry, mistakes like that are almost nonexistent,” stated Sunset Shimmer, who was lying on her back on a couch while reading a book, “And the last time that happened was well over fifteen centuries ago.” “Hey, Shining Armor, what’s our list looking like today?” asked Pinkie as she sat down next to the Unicorn, who was looking at a computer to the right of the couch. “Same old, same old. I’d say today’s Universes of interest include one where Discord defeated Celestia and Luna, one where Ponies never developed societies past hunting and gathering, and one where Ponies live in space without any planets in it,” answered the white Unicorn, not taking her eyes off the screen, “Oh, and sorry. There aren’t any of your favorites on the list today.” “What do you mean by ‘favorites’?” asked Twilight, sneering at Pinkie, who seemed rather uncomfortable. “Pinkie here is especially fond of Universes where Ponies she knows well are the opposite sex,” answered Shining Armor, looking at the other Unicorn, “Which, of course, means that she’s a fan of my home universe.” “Uh, ehehe,” managed Pinkie, blushing, “What can I say? I’m into that sorta thing.” “And we never let her hear the end of it,” added Sunset Shimmer, garnering a laugh from her Unicorn squad mates and a glare from Pinkie, “But it’s all in good fun. Besides, we’ve all got our quirks that we harass each other about.” “Anyway, we should get something to eat before we get to work,” said Shining Armor, pushing the computer to the side before standing up, “Shall we get going?” With affirmative nods from the other three mares, the squad made their way to the mess hall. Twilight seemed surprised that the food was different than the night before, but nonetheless had her fill. Once they were finished and Pinkie checked the time, they made their way to the Portal room. FF-4763 was the only one in the room, much to Twilight’s surprise. “Aren’t there any other squads here?” asked the Unicorn, looking to the rest of her squad. “Three squads are assigned to each room and, for the most part, we usually observe or interact with the Universes rather than just view them,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “Did Pinkie not tell you that?” “No, she didn’t,” replied Twilight, glaring at the Pegasus, “Wait, are there multiple rooms?” “I only showed you this one because this is the room we’re assigned to,” admitted Pinkie, “We would be in trouble had we gone into any other ones.” “And you implied that this was the only such room, why?” asked Twilight, more confused than annoyed. “For the same reason, of course,” answered Pinkie, “And, I’m sorry if this is literally the first time I have personally trained a new recruit. I mean, yeah I saw Vinyl train both Sunset Shimmer and Shining Armor, in addition to four others, but I’ve not personally done it.” “No need to be defensive, Pinkie,” advised Shining Armor, “We were just asking questions, not criticizing you.” “I guess I did overreact a bit,” admitted the Pegasus, “Anyway, it’s time to get rolling. Follow me, Twilight.” She led the Unicorn over to the computer she’d shown the previous night, “Remember what I told you about this?” “Yeah, I do.” “Good! The first Universe on our list is number one thousand six hundred and forty-two,” explained Pinkie, “We’re just going to view this one. Want to do the honors?” “Uh…I guess,” Answered Twilight cautiously, “Uh…Universe 1642, view.” The computer made a small ring when she’d finished. “Proceed to Monitor 1,” said a metallic voice from within the computer. “Let’s go, then!” shouted Pinkie happily a she walked over to the computer to the side with a one on it. The monitor on it was showing what appeared to be a black circle with smaller red circles on it, “This is a map of Universe 1642. Each of those red circles are points that we need to check out. Go ahead, tap one of them.” “All right,” obliged Twilight, cautiously raising her hoof to tap the screen. The screen momentarily turned white as the image changed. When it returned, the screen was partitioned between nine different images showing various different things, “Uh, now what?” “Well, looking at the images here, there isn’t anything amiss within this Galaxy,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “Meaning we can check that one off the list.” “How can you tell that? They’re just pictures.” “Not exactly. These pictures are actually video recordings,” answered Shining Armor, “The only reason it seems like nothing is happening is that clearly nothing is going on.” “Ah, I get it,” said Twilight, “Wait, does that mean we have to check out all of those red circles?” “Yes, we do. It gets boring because nothing ever goes on,” replied Sunset Shimmer, “At least, nothing’s happened on our squad’s shift since I got here. All the cool stuff happens on a different squad’s shift.” “Well, let’s finish this one up, then,” said Pinkie, tapping the screen to return to the main image. The process took almost an hour, with what Sunset Shimmer saying being the truth; absolutely nothing was going on in that Universe. Once all of the red circles had been selected, the monitor powered down automatically and the squad went back to the central computer. Before they could do anything else, the portal, which had previously been turned off, suddenly activated, with a pink light taking up the middle. Four ponies stepped out, “Hey, girls. Find anything interesting there?” “Nah,” answered one of the ponies, a light cerulean Pegasus mare with a well-kept rainbow colored mane and tail, the former of which was kept in a, well, ponytail. Her Cutie Mark was a white cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming out, “So, this is the new recruit, eh? RD-5748, at your service. I already know your name, Twilight, but what’s your codename?” “Uh…TS-314,” answered Twilight, “You certainly look like the Rainbow Dash I knew, but there’s something different I can’t place my hoof on.” “Well, compared to Universe 001, she’s much less of a tomboy,” explained Pinkie, “Maybe that’s it?” “Probably,” answered the Unicorn, “So, who else is in your squad?” “I’m L-754,” said a bluish-purple Unicorn with a lighter blue-purple mane and tail. Her Cuite Mark was a white crescent moon with a black background, “You probably know me as Princess Luna, though the idea of me being royalty is quite foreign to me. And based on what Rainbow has told me, it’s no wonder you wouldn’t recognize me. I’m apparently quite different.” “Name’s Bulk Biceps, or BB-2309 if you prefer,” said the white, somewhat muscular Earth Pony mare who was standing next to Luna. Her mane and tail where blonde and her Cutie Mark was a black weight, for whatever reason, “Twilight, is it? Nice to meet you.” “I think I’ve seen your counterpart in my Universe on occasion,” stated Twilight, “But…let’s just say there are enough differences that I wouldn’t have recognized you.” “No problem,” replied the Earth Pony with a smile, “The same is true for you.” “Anyway, I’m FS-7383,” said the orange Pegasus mare with a spiky blue mane, but a shorter straight tail. Her Cutie Mark was a blue shield with a lightning bolt in the middle, “Flash Sentry is my name. I’m afraid that I’ve almost certainly never seen your counterpart in my Universe.” “Well, to be fair, I don’t think I’ve seen yours,” replied Twilight. “You getting ready to finish up your shift, Rainbow?” asked Sunset Shimmer once the introductions had finished, “You’ve got an hour to go, so you’ll probably get one more Universe in.” “Yeah, and then it’s time to relax,” replied the Pegasus, “You gonna be heading out soon?” “Yes, just as soon as we set up the portal,” replied Shining Armor as she walked over to the central computer, “You don’t mind if we go first, do you?” “Not at all,” answered Luna, “After all, it means less time to work for us.” “Okay, let’s see which one we’re supposed to go to next,” said Shining Armor as she began to think, “Oh, right. Universe 5562, Observe.” The computer made the same small ring as before, but this time the portal activated with a blue light taking up the middle. “Let’s get to this, then!” shouted Pinkie happily as she flew through the portal, flying for the first time since Twilight had arrived. The rest of her squad followed suit, and the portal shut off.