//------------------------------// // She Planned // Story: Overgrow // by SugarPesticide //------------------------------// In the past, Twilight was having a difficult day. She had no idea where Discord was. She had no idea where Cadence was. She had no idea what had happened to the Starswirl the Bearded convention. She had no idea what the little shimmering things in the air were. Perhaps most important, though, was that she had no idea where these strange animals were coming from. It was generally shaping up to be the kind of afternoon that made her want to stick her head in the sand and wait for somepony else to fix the problem. Unfortunately, her coronation had singled her out as the newest incarnation of that somepony else, so she forced herself to grin and bear it. But even with that resolve, she still had no idea where to start. The resident animal expert was currently out of town, so interrogating the animals seemed out of the question. She had wondered if she should have Spike send a letter to the princesses — the other princesses, she reminded herself — but Spike had apparently made himself scarce. Without that avenue to use, she was stuck standing there in the middle of Mane Street, watching Daisy and Lily try to flee some angry meerkats. At least, they looked like meerkats. The odd swirly eyes called their exact classification into question. “Twi!” Applejack galloped up from down the street, her fur and mane entirely blue. The alicorn squashed the desire to ask about that minor detail, knowing it would only lead to pain. “Any idea where these critters’re comin’ from? The apple orchards are full of dinosaurs growing bananas.” “I’m sure they are,” she muttered. “It’s not like things could make any less sense than they are already. Have you seen the others?” “I think Rarity headed off to the spa,” Applejack said, rubbing her chin. “She was blue like me, so that’s almost understandable. Pinkie went off pony knows where to chase balloons.” “Is she blue, too?” “She’s Pinkie. I don’ think that’s possible.” “Silly Applejack,” Twilight laughed. “Nothing’s impossible where Pinkie’s concerned.” A strand of her mane popped out of place. “... Eh,” Applejack conceded. “RD’s probably snoozin’ on a cloud somewhere. Fluttershy’s gone, of course. You got a plan?” “Not yet. I need you to help me and round up the girls. I should probably triple-check to see if there’s any precedent for this kind of thing.” “Can do, Twi. Roundin’ up is what I do best.” Twilight watched her as she tipped her hat and galloped off. Then she shook herself and took off toward the library; a flock of ugly birds noticed the motion and followed in ravenous pursuit. “Well,” she panted as she dodged a storm of sharp beaks, “I’m not sure how this could get any weirder.” Twilight’s friends arrived at the library to find her surrounded by a mountain of books. She was chewing the edge of her hoof anxiously as her magic flipped deftly through the pages of one tome held aloft before her, then cast it aside when it offered nothing of value and retrieved another. Rarity, the last of the four to hurl themselves inside, slammed the door with surprising force. “Twilight!” she gasped, struggling to catch her breath. “Do you have any idea what’s going on out there?” One of Twilight’s ears flicked briefly, but her eyes remained glued to the texts before her. Her friends exchanged weary glances. “Ahem,” Applejack said as delicately as possible, mimicking her Manehattanite relatives. She crossed the room and, with the tiniest of nudges, moved one of the inkpots a quarter inch out of line. Twilight’s head snapped up. “Gah! What did you …?” She realized that she was no longer alone. “I did it again, didn’t I?” “What do you mean, Twilight?” Pinkie asked, hanging from the top of a ladder by her hind legs. She swung from side to side at angles that should have been impossible. “Tuning everything out again, or causing massive explosions in the sky?” “Look, you all know that I can have difficulties in staying between the two extremes of focus, and sometimes that means I end up — wait, what?” She became intensely aware that every few seconds or so, the floor beneath her hooves shook violently. Her brow furrowed, and she darted toward the window. A blinding red flash made her regret this, however, and with her eyes shut tight she struggled to keep her balance as the library vibrated again. “Wheeeeeer … BOOM!” Pinkie mimicked the deafening noises outside as another flare of light, this time vivid blue, threw the shadows in the library into stark relief for a moment. “Wow, this is really is way more impressive than any fireworks I’ve ever done!” “Pinkie, it’s not fireworks and you know it,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, her wings fluttering in hopes of action. “It’s dragons.” “Dragons who do fireworks better than the ponies who do fireworks, you mean! I hope they got their pyrotechnic licenses renewed. More fiery fun for everypony!” “What do you mean, dragons?” Twilight made as if to step back to the window, then thought better of it and summoned a pair of sunglasses with a pop. “Dragons can’t do anything like this! We’d know about it if they did!” “We don’t know much about dragons, period,” Rarity reminded her, wincing as another quake caused her mane to wobble. “It’s not as if modern books are up to standard on many subjects.” Twilight resisted the urge to discuss the merits of literature and how life in Equestria hinged on its existence. “There would still be at least stories about that kind of thing,” she pointed out, eyeing a soapbox in the corner. “Even with Nightmare Moon and other evil ponies, there were adaptations of the havoc they caused.” She peered out the window with shaded eyes. “Now that I think about it, this looks an awful lot like the fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago.” Her eyes scanned the suddenly clouded sky, and she was rewarded by the sight of a huge white shape soaring in a wide arc and leaving a plume of red fire in its wake. Another flash obscured her vision, but it cleared just in time to catch a blur of black and blue streaking after its pale counterpart. A blast of redirected electricity arced downward to split a house in two. She pulled back, wincing. “Whatever they are, they’re dangerous.” “Find Spike anywhere?” Applejack asked, steadying her hat as a particularly angry rumble threatened to dislodge it. “If anypony knows what’s going on, it’s the princesses.” “If only. When I got back I called for him enough times to almost hurt my throat, but apparently he’s not here.” Twilight’s eyes snapped to her pink friend automatically. “Don’t make that pun, Pinkie.” Pinkie’s eyes and grin widened innocently. “I didn’t say anything.” “Ugh.” Rainbow somehow managed to pinch the bridge of her nose. Pinkie looked on with pride. “Less talking, more doing. C’mon, what have we done with every other threat that tried to conquer Equestria?” Applejack considered it. “Throw Princess Cadence at it?” “Ye—” Rainbow shook herself. “I mean, no. Besides that.” “We used the Elements of Harmony, of course,” Rarity said helpfully, “but—” “So what’re we waiting for? Let’s just get the Elements from the Tree of Harmony and blast those dragons into the next decade!” “Slow down there, sugarcube. That’s a temptin’ idea, I ain’t denyin’ that. But even if we could risk lettin’ those plundervines loose again, we’d need Fluttershy here. And she’s still off studyin’ them Breezie creatures.” “And the big deal is what, exactly? Twilight can just teleport over there and grab her. Problem solved.” Rainbow rolled her eyes so hard that they appeared to be in danger of falling out of her head. “Oh, Rainbow Dash,” a disembodied voice said, making everypony jump. “I thought you were a better friend than that. You can’t really be suggesting that Twilight Sparkle kill herself, even for the sake of being reunited with dear Fluttershy.” Above them, a lamp shuddered and exploded harmlessly into sugary confetti, revealing an ordinary-sized draconequus who posed as if expecting applause. He was no longer blue; the fact that he wasn’t really sick didn’t shock Twilight in the slightest. What alarmed her was his deadly serious expression, which clashed horribly with the settling confetti. She decided not to question the string of sushi draped across his shoulders like a boa. “Discord!” she exclaimed. “Did you have something to do with all this?” “Why, Twilight Sparkle,” he replied, placing a paw over his heart, “I am injured at your accusation. Absolutely injured. Me, destroy Equestria? What kind of madman do you take me for?” The ponies’ flat expressions could have put pancakes to shame. “Hm. Skeptics, I see. Very well. I’m not responsible for these dragons of doom decimating the domain of those dull dames … at least, not directly.” He held up a claw to stave off their cries of outrage. “The fact is, I don’t always have a flair for the dramatic. But when I do, I do it in style.” “I expect your definition of ‘style’ is very different from ours,” Rarity said. Her voice had an edge that could cut stone. “But of course, my magnificent madame! You ponies may have noticed that I kicked off a show-stopping number just a few hours ago. Time and space warping, dimensions fitting snugly within these walls, you know?” “Ooh, I wondered what that was!” Pinkie beamed at the revelation, indignation forgotten. “I’d thought that you were just making a balloon factory or something, but a big song and dance works too. Even if you should’ve let me know something so fun was going on, but I guess I can let it go the first time. As long as you didn’t break anything, everything should abso-tively hunky-dory!” To their surprise, Discord’s sigh went unaccompanied by any humorous noises. “It’s not that I broke anything. Let me explain … no, there is too much for your little heads to take in. Let me sum up. “For the sake of this exercise, I want you all to think of our universe as a self-sustaining miniature environment held together by a thin surface. Don’t think for a moment that I mean a perfect little bubble, Twilight. I’m talking about a twisting, turning thing that only follows recognizable laws of nature from its own perspective.” With a snap of his fingers, a floating image of a clouded landscape appeared. It was bent as various odd angles, rolling over and under and through itself in a loose tangle of matter. Twilight tried to get a better look at the things within, but it was difficult to see through the semi-translucent pink skin that formed the environment’s boundaries. “Now, are you ready for this? Because I don’t want your minds to explode, as amusing as that would be.” He gestured to the image, which grew many more environments that slipped in and out of each other with the slightest of curves. The resulting tangle was a tight cluster that shone faintly; the room was lit with its cornucopia of colors. “Our universe isn’t the only one out there. Of course, this little model is so simplified that even I don’t find it funny, but that’s neither here nor there.” “Universes?!” Twilight stammered. “But — I don’t — what — too many — Celestia and Luna — gah — Why are there so many of them?” “You’re taking this rather well.” He smirked at the other four, who were frozen in gaping expressions. “Much as I’d love to tell you about how this all works, we don’t have all day. Now, if someone with enough power was able to briefly slip into these universes, the ‘breach’ would look something like this.” He gestured at the nearest environment, which was bulging slightly into its neighbor. “Within the foreign boundaries, in a sense, but still with a distinct hold on home. Actual penetration is unlikely, unless—” “It was you, wasn’t it?” Rainbow hovered in front of his face with an accusatory leer. “Your song or whatever it was. You caused all of this! Now fix it before somepony gets hurt!” Her friends nodded in agreement, frowns creasing their brows. He was unperturbed. “I would if I could, but as it happens, there are extenuating circumstances—” “There? You see, guys? He just won’t do it, and makes some dumb excuse instead. It’s like the plundervines all over again.” “We’ll have to come up with something on our own, then,” Twilight reasoned. “World-shattering revelations about the nature of reality aside. I’d teleport and get Fluttershy, but apparently Discord thinks that’s a bad idea. It probably has to do with the dimensional mess he caused. Any ideas on what we should do in the meantime?” “I’d bring up the Elements of Harmony as a possibility,” Rarity said, gritting her teeth as another tremor shook her to the core, “but as Applejack said, they aren’t exactly an option right now.” The ponies considered this. They had saved the world before, of course, but if Discord was telling the truth, there was more than one world at stake. There was no telling what rules they were playing by now. Even Pinkie seemed deep in thought, having come down from her perch to join her pensive friends. Eventually Applejack spoke up. “What about the box?” “Do you mean that crystalline box by the Tree?” “I reckon I do, Rarity. It popped up as soon as we gave up the Elements. Now, I won’t say I know a lot about magic, but it seems awful coincidence-like that the box came as soon as the Elements were gone.” “Yeah!” Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “It’s gotta have something that can really kick flank and take names!” Twilight glanced up at her table, where rough sketches of the mysterious container sat. “That could work … although I wouldn’t know where to even start looking for the keys.” “Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie waved a hoof frantically. “I got this one! If it’s connected to the Elements, and the Elements need friendship, and friendship needs laughter and generosity and everything else, maybe the keys have virtue thingies just like the Elements! So I would need a key that has to do with making ponies happy!” Everypony stared at her. She beamed back at them. “That makes a disturbing amount of sense,” Rarity remarked. “Dare I say I like it?” Rainbow blinked. “Pinkie, I never thought I would say this, but you can be a real egghead.” “Nah,” Pinkie conceded. “I’d rather be a Pinkie.” “I thought of it first,” Discord muttered, flipping through a large book bearing white and blue bookmarks. The others ignored him. Twilight, whose brain was teetering on the verge of shorting out, managed to shake herself back to reality. “It’s a bit of extrapolation on Pinkie’s part, but I could see it working. Why don’t we grab some keys and give it a shot?” She looked around at her friends and matched the determined grins they wore. “It can't hurt to try.”