“Twilight, c’mon!” shouted Pinkie as she stood outside of the purple Unicorn’s room, the door to which was currently shut, “We’re going to be late for our shift!” No response came from the room.
“Did she take it that hard?” asked Sunset Shimmer, who was standing close to the door their quarters, tapping her left front hoof as she did, “I mean, yeah. None of us took learning that we’ve got a clone living our life well, but at least we kept going.”
“Yeah, and everypony deals with shocking news differently,” noted Shining Armor, who was standing next to the Earth Pony, “But, of course, the fact that she’s ignoring us tells me that Twilight took it a lot harder than all of us.”
“Okay, Twilight. If you don’t want to do your job today, that’s fine,” said Pinkie calmly, “But, if you do not get your flank out here right now, I will come in there and personally drag you out and force you to come with us!”
“Uh, Pinkie?” asked Sunset Shimmer, looking at the Pegasus, “How are you going to do that if the door’s locked?”
“Details,” answered Pinkie before sighing, “Twilight, you have until I reach five to open this door, otherwise I will break it down.”
“Jeez, Pinkie,” said Shining Armor, “You sound like you’re her mother!”
“Well, when you think about it, being a leader isn’t all that different than being a parent,” replied the Pegasus, “Both try to bring out the best in those they’re supposed to protect and try to get them to do what they’re supposed to do. Plus, well, you know.”
“Oh, right,” said the white Unicorn mare, getting the implied message.
“Anyway, one!” shouted Pinkie, returning her attention to the door, “Two!” A faint click from the door was followed by Twilight emerging from it. To the surprise of her teammates, she seemed like she was holding up well.
“What were you referring to just now?” asked the Unicorn, “When Shining Armor said you were just like a mom.”
“That? Well, you see when I was recruited, I left behind my friends and family, naturally,” replied Pinkie, “My parents, my sisters, all of the friends I’d made, but, most importantly, my niece and adopted daughter.”
“Your…adopted daughter?!” asked Twilight, taken aback by the revelation, “But, the Pinkie I knew didn’t have any nieces or nephews, let alone a foal of her own!”
“Yes, I had a daughter back in my home Universe,” said Pinkie, clearly upset by the memories that were being brought back, “My sister, Limestone, and her husband were caught in an accident, and I was the first to volunteer to raise their infant daughter, Coquina. While I loved her when she was just my niece, she became the center of my world when she became my daughter.”
“How did you handle being here so well, then?”
“To be honest? I didn’t. But, I was told something that has kept me going since then,” replied the Pegasus, “Even if you’re worlds apart, your friends and family will always be with you. And our job ensures that they can continue on with their lives, even if we are no longer a part of them.”
“Sorry I for the way I was acting this morning,” apologized Twilight, “But, you’re right. Thanks for the encouragement, Pinkie. Shall we get to work for the day?”
“That was a surprisingly fast turnaround,” commented Shining Armor, “But, we actually can’t start working today yet. It’s only 0630.”
“What,” said Twilight before glaring at Pinkie, “Why’d you tell me we were going to be late?!”
“You saw yesterday! We barely got to the portal room on time!” defended Pinkie.
“Yeah, and whose fault is that?” asked Sunset Shimmer, sneering at her captain, “Whose fault is it every day?”
“Well, considering the fact that you never want to leave your stuffed animals at a good time tells me otherwise,” retorted Pinkie, “I mean, the past two days have been a treat for us.”
“Hey, you leave them out of this!” yelled the Earth Pony, blushing profusely, “At least I’m not as bad about them as Shining Armor is with all her posters! I mean, she won’t even let us in her room because she doesn’t want us to see them!”
“Wait, why am I being dragged into this?!” said the white Unicorn, now also blushing, “The reason I don’t let you into my room is that it’s the one place I can have some alone time!”
“And what do you do during your alone time?” asked Twilight jokingly, receiving a glare from the other Unicorn, “Relax, I’m just messing with you. Should we get going, then?”
“Yes, and let’s just forget this small little argument happened, all right?” replied Pinkie, receiving affirmative nods from her squad. They made their way to the mess hall, where they ate and conversed about what they had to do during their next shift and other things. The first Universe they chose to visit was 6737, which is one where everything is a different color, and they ended up using their daily indirect visit on it. The search was over after just a short time, yielding no problems unlike the day before. The squad returned to the MGH for their next task.
“Universe 5946, visit directly,” said Shining Armor as she stood in front of the central computer. Once the portal was active, the four ponies stepped into it. This Universe lacked a core, apparent in the place that the squad found themselves. It was a place with buildings that went well past the clouds in the sky as a norm, including the platform that they found themselves on. Twilight could see Pegasi flying around in the sky, something that she’d come to expect.
“Greetings, Guardians. Here for the weekly report, I presume?” asked a voice from behind the squad. Twilight turned and was met by an exact copy of PC-001, “Ah, a new member!”
“Yep, it’s her second day on the job, actually,” said Pinkie as she and the rest of the squad turned to speak with the PC-001 lookalike, “Twilight, this is the Princess Celestia of Universe 5946. Princess Celestia, I’m certainly you know who this is, right?”
“Twilight Sparkle, it is a pleasure to meet you,” replied the white Alicorn, bowing to the Unicorn, making the latter a bit uncomfortable, “I see you’re from a Universe where you remain a Unicorn, rather than become an Alicorn like this one.”
“What exactly did your Twilight do that made her become a Princess?” asked Twilight, seeing a perfect opportunity to ask something she’d been curious about for the past couple days.
“The last thing that I did before I became a Princess was to finish the final spell of Starswirl the Bearded,” answered a voice from above the group. Twilight looked up and saw, to her surprise, herself flying down using wings she lacked. The other Twilight landed next to Celestia and folded her wings, “I must admit, this is the first time I’ve met one of my cross-universal counterparts. This is too weird.”
“You said it,” replied Twilight, “Just seeing a version of myself with wings is strange enough, but the fact that I’m also hearing myself speak is worse.”
“Anyway, you’ll be pleased to know that everything is in order at every stability point in this Universe,” said Celestia, “In fact, they appear to be decaying just under the natural rate. I estimate they can last the next decade without repairs at the very least, longer if the decay rate continues to fall.”
“PC-001 will be glad to hear this,” said Shining Armor, “And, thank you for your continued assistance, Princesses”
“We’re happy to help in any way we can,” said Princess Twilight, “The gravity of your mission is too great for us to ignore.”
“Princess Celestia? Would you have a problem if we showed our Twilight around this version of Canterlot?” asked Pinkie, showing as much respect as possible.
“Not at all, Guardian PP-073,” answered the white Alicorn with a smile, “Like Princess Twilight said, we’re always happy to accommodate Guardians.”
“Thank you,” said Pinkie before bowing to the Princesses, who followed suit, “Let’s go, then.” All members of the squad except Twilight began to walk towards a nearby door. After a second, the purple Unicorn followed. The door disappeared instantly as the ponies approached and reappeared once they were through it. Twilight found herself standing in a rather long room with a single throne at the far end. Windows with stained glass depicting various scenes were visible along the hallway. All but two were familiar to the Unicorn, because they were depictions of the exploits of herself and her friends. There was one that depicted her, or rather her counterpart, as an Alicorn wearing a crown with a burst of light coming out. The other was what looked like two Celestias meeting with various other beings, not just ponies, surrounding them.
“I take it this is the Canterlot throne room?” asked Twilight after taking in her surroundings, “Why are we here?”
“Number 1, because we’ve got time to kill,” answered Pinkie, looking at the Unicorn, “Number 2, because you need to learn a bit about what is basically a sub-division of the MGH’s Pony division.”
“What do you mean?”
“You see, the key difference between this and Universe 1 is that technology is much more advanced,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “Like, it would take several thousand years at the very least for a majority of Universes.”
“That doesn’t explain why this Universe is aware of our existence,” said Twilight, “I was under the assumption that no Universe had any knowledge of us.”
“Under normal circumstances, that’s true,” explained Shining Armor, “However, the technology of this Universe as well about a dozen others is advanced to the point where they were able to detect our existence.”
“Rather than, say, knock them back technologically to where they can’t detect us, it was decided that we should enlist their help,” continued Pinkie, “In exchange for not taking any beings from these Universes as members, they monitored the stability points of their own Universes as well as grant us access to certain technologies.”
“Technologies like what?”
“The portals, the self-reproducing food supply, our whole database system,” replied the Pegasus, “You’d be surprised how many things we didn’t have before these agreements.”
“What was it like before then?”
“I don’t know from experience. It was incredibly early on in the MGH’s existence that we got all that, for obvious reasons,” answered Pinkie a she shrugged, “I’d imagine PC-001 and her former squad would know. Anyway, when we came to our agreement, this Universe basically became a sub-division.”
“So, why would I need to know all this?” asked Twilight rather bluntly.
“Because that is what PC-001 wants for every member of the MGH whenever they first have receive a report from one of these Universes,” answered Pinkie, “I don’t get it either, but I’m not the one in charge. I don’t get to make the rules. Okay, since we’ve covered everything that we’re supposed to, I guess we should get back to the MGH.”
“Pardon my intrusion, Guardians,” said a voice behind the squad. They turned to see this Universe’s Princess Celestia standing there, “Before you return, I have a message I need you to deliver to PC-001.”
“Of course we’ll deliver it, but what is it about?” asked Shining Armor, “Is there something you suspect might be wrong?”
“No, it isn’t anything like that,” assured the Princess with a smile, “I merely need her to know something. Tell her that the cub, though frail, grows stronger as each moon passes. She’ll know what it means.”
“We’ll relay that to her when we get the chance,” said Sunset Shimmer, “Even if we have no idea what it means.”
“Thank you,” said Celestia, “Farewell, Guardians. Until next we meet. And I hope that will not be in dire circumstances.”
“Same here, Princess,” replied Pinkie, “Return, authorization PP-073.” When they were back in the portal room, the squad found themselves in front of their commander, “Ma’am? What are you doing here?”
“I’m here for two reasons. One, I want to be sure you’ve followed regulations with TS-314. Two, I always hear reports on Universes like 5946 in person. Or did you forget that because of how long it’s been since your squad has been assigned one, PP-073?”
“Ma’am, we’ve followed regulations and explained our agreements with Universes like and including 5946 to TS-314,” said Pinkie, standing rather stiff to Twilight’s surprise, “And, yes, ma’am, I had forgotten that. I apologize greatly.”
“No need to apologize, PP-073. I understand fully that you would forget after not having to worry about that sort of thing for close to six centuries,” assured PC-001, surprising the entirety of the squad, though they didn’t let their faces show it, “I am pleased to hear you’ve followed regulations with TS-314, considering, of course, this is your first time training a new recruit. Now, your report?”
“All stability points are good and actually decaying just below the natural rate, ma’am,” answered the Pegasus, not letting her squad add anything they may have wanted to, “Also, Celestia of 5946 had a message to pass along to you, ma’am. She said ‘the cub, though frail, grows stronger as each moon passes.’ She also said you’d know what that meant, ma’am.”
“I do indeed,” replied PC-001 with a smile, “Thank you to your report, PP-073. You may return to your duties now.” The squad remained motionless and almost breathless until their commander left the room.