//------------------------------//
// Roomies 
// Story: There Goes the Neighborhood 
// by The card holder 
//------------------------------//

It is a little known fact that there are, in fact, multiple universes in existence.

Now, surely some of you at this point would be quick to point out the multiverse theory. And while it is true that the idea is very common, it is, in fact, actually false. You see, there are not an infinite number of universes, based around infinitely minute changes in infinite things, but rather, there are dozens upon dozens of standard universes, each one separate from the others.

Another little known fact is that each of those universes is ruled and watched over by a single entity- who, for the sake of convenience, we shall call "gods". They are each responsible for overlooking their own personal universe, initially shaped to whatever their minds could come up with.

While it is true that some gods rule their universes strictly, and carefully shape their chosen worlds to their image, it is far more common for the gods to simply come up with a single concept to start life with, and then seeing what happens.

As such, being a god was a very cushy job. At most, you just had to watch to make sure none of your universe's beings decided to try and break down reality, or otherwise bridge into other universes.

Life as a god, therefore, quickly got boring. After all, there's only so many scenarios you can cook up for your personal world before you start getting bored. This is usually the part where they choose instead to converse with other gods, curious about what their neighbors came up with in their own universes.

Others, such as the five who were seated at a table located in a particular back corner of reality, passed the time by playing poker.

Now, it deserves mentioning that, being gods, they did not have any need for such a mortal concept as names, as they were more than capable of determining which exact god they were talking to by way of a complex series of electromagnetic signals, subsonic waves, and various snippets of 1950s jazz songs. However, in a twist of good luck for those who were beneath the gods, those assorted signs could be roughly translated into semi-common Earth names.

"Dammit, Bill, stop hogging all the chips!"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The void was briefly filled with the sound of crunching.

"There, see! You just did it again!"

"Did what again?"

"Can you two simmer down? We're trying to finish this game."

"You're not gonna win, Jerry."

"Oh, then why haven't you won, yet?"

"I implore you to look again."

A brief moment of silence, followed by an angered sigh.

"How do you do it, Gary?"

"Easy. I'm better at playing cards than you."

With the game finished, the five of them started dealing cards amongst themselves once again.

"Alright, same as last game, blinds at 200 and 100, Arthur starts us off, followed by Tyler, and so on."

As another poker game went underway, conversation quickly followed.

"So, any of you see anything new yet?" Jerry asked.

"Just the same as usual," Bill said, still munching on chips.

"I think my universe recently had some major events happen, but I've stopped paying attention to that long ago," Arthur added.

Tyler rolled his eyes. "What, you finally get tired of that horse world you made?"

Chuckles circled around the table.

"Hey, at least I had some originality, unlike you guys," Arthur retorted. "I swear, anything you could ever want to make, and everyone picks humans."

"Don't fix what ain't broke, right?" Jerry suggested.

"Like you're one to talk," Arthur shot back. "What part of giving your humans almost godlike power seemed like a good idea?"

Chuckles once again went around, and Jerry shrugged. "It was something different from the norm, at least. And besides, I still have full control over it. Any of them get too snippity, and," he snapped his fingers. "Back to square one, minus a troublesome soul here or there."

"Better than having something almost pulled straight from a cartoon," Gary added. "Honestly, I don't even care enough to interfere anymore. Last I checked, they managed to stumble into time travel, only to undo it within the same afternoon."

"You think you have it bad?" Bill challenged. "It feels like reality itself is constantly on the verge of collapsing in my universe. I mean, I was worried the first few times, but now I just kinda put the whole thing in a glass case and let it be."

Tyler just sighed. "At least your universes are interesting. I accidentally made mine as generic as could be, and now I don't even bother looking at it anymore."

Silence once again surrounded the table, broken only by the shuffling of cards and the occasional crunching of chips. Suddenly, right when it was his turn, Arthur stomped to his feet, scaring away the cat, Chuckles.

It is unknown why there are cats living alongside the gods and their universes, but the gods themselves long ago stopped caring about them, although sometimes they'll decide to take one as a pet. Whether or not the cats had any sort of importance remained to be seen.

"You know what? We're all getting bored with our own universes. Why not... well, mix things up a bit?"

"What are you getting at, Arty?" Bill asked.

"I say we take someone from each of our universes- anyone, really- and put them all together in my universe."

Jerry snorted. "What, just take five beings and dump them all into horse world?"

"...pretty much, yeah."

Those at the table thought it over. "Well, it would be something different..." Gary started.

"Sounds good to me," Tyler said.

Soon after, three more agreements joined his. Arthur nodded.

"Alright, go and pick... well, whoever, I guess. I'll handle 'easing them in', as it were. Can't have them mucking up my world too much, right?"



Excited chattering came from everywhere within the cavern, changelings eagerly buzzing around in anticipation. Today was the day they had been waiting for.

A voice cleared their throat, and all eyes turned to the front of the cave, where their queen was now standing proudly before them. "My children, after all this time, we are ready!"

Frenzied cheering was her response.

"Tonight, we shall take back what is rightfully ours!"

The cheering rose in volume.

"We will show those ponies the pain we have suffered through for..." She began trailing off.

"Three!" one of the changelings up front offered.

"THREE YEARS!" Chrysalis finished with a flourish.

One would hope that the changelings were not hoping for a sneak attack, as the volume was no doubt audible for miles outside the caverns.

"Now, my children..." the crowd became silent as the queen prepared herself, grinning. "Time to-"

At that moment, there was a sound not unlike the popping of a cork, and the queen of the changelings was no longer there, as if she had simply stopped existing at that moment.

The changelings were confused, as is what normally happens when your leader vanishes right before sending you on an invasion.

After a period of silence, one of the changelings spoke up. "Let's go get pizza!"

Once more, the cave was filled with cheering, and soon emptied of the changelings within.



Pain is an odd thing. Living things tend to avoid pain whenever they can, only agreeing to suffer through it if they know that it would prevent them from suffering through worse pain down the line. This is curious because living things also tend to know that, as long as they can still feel pain, then either they're still living, or they have made a huge mistake in their religion of choice.

This is why, upon feeling her consciousness returning to her, Chrysalis was glad to feel pain, especially since it was not actually that bad, and was more along the lines of an uncomfortable headache.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, and scanned her surroundings. She was lying on the ground of a nondescript room, the only features being a projector, a water cooler in the corner, and a table with six chairs around it.

She quickly also noticed that one of the chairs was already occupied by what appeared to be a bipedal creature of some description. Its back was turned to her, and she could see that it was wearing a bright red outfit of some kind. She could also see that it was a little bit on the large side. In fact, she felt that it was oddly egg shaped...

The being turned towards her, and she could see what appeared to be a large mustache peeking around what she assumed to be its face.

"Before you say anything, I'm just as confused as you are."

The being leaned back as it took a drink of water from a plastic cup, and Chrysalis took the time to inspect the projector. It was sending an image onto one of the walls, displaying the message "Don't Panic! And please wait patiently. Thank you." in a friendly font.

Still on edge, she carefully walked around the table, inspecting the being. Sure enough, he had a large mustache, along with a pair of thick, dark blue glasses over his eyes and perched on his (rather pointy) nose, and a set of goggles that rested on his bald head.

He seemed briefly surprised by her appearance, but just as quickly recovered.

While Chrysalis still did not trust this... thing, she had a feeling that, based on the way he simply stared into his cup and grumbled to himself, he was right, and they were somehow stuck in the same situation.

Cautiously, she got into one of the chairs opposite of him, and joined him in waiting in silence for... something.

The two just sat there, unsure of what they were waiting for, or if indeed there was anything to wait for in the first place. After a few moments, Chrysalis levitated a cup off of the water cooler, filled it up, and brought it back to her. This display made the egg-shaped being arch an eyebrow, but he still didn't say anything else.

Just when Chrysalis went to take a sip, there was a small crash behind her, and she nearly choked on the water before turning to see the source of the noise. On the ground not too far from her chair was an odd white metal ball, with various metal bits and pieces sticking out of it. After a second, whirring came from the ball, followed by an automated-sounding voice.

"Sleep mode deactivated. Reboot complete."

Soon after, another, less automated voice came from the sphere.

"Oh, jeez, agh, that smarts..." She could see the center part of it rotate around a bit. "Wait a second, this is... I'm not in space!"

The sphere actually managed to jump slightly while letting out uproarious, triumphant laughter, sending itself tumbling around on the ground. "Ow."

After wiggling himself around a bit, the ball was able to turn towards the table, revealing a large, robotic blue eye. "Oh, and I'm not alone, either!" He cleared his throat, despite not having a throat to clear. "Hey there. So... where am I?"

He looked between both beings at the table. "Also, follow-up question, who are you two?"

Chrysalis looked between the ball and the egg being, who seemed to regard the ball with an odd fascination. 

When he did not speak, Chrysalis decided to pick up his slack. "We are not sure where we are," she said, her first spoken words since arriving in this room. "All we know is we're supposed to wait," she explained, pointing at the projected-upon wall.

The ball looked at the wall, then back at her. "Huh, that's strange." He then rolled his eye, probably as an equivilant of a shrug. "Well, beats being in space, in any case. Anyway, I'm Wheatley. And you are?"

"...Chrysalis."

The room's other occupant seemed broken out of his odd gaze. "Ah, right." He leaned up a little, as if posing. "I am Doctor Eggman."

Chrysalis just barely managed to avoid chuckling at the fact that her earlier observation was more accurate than she thought.

"Oh, I get it! 'Cause you're shaped like an egg! Brilliant!"

However, she failed to completely choke down her laughter after Wheatley's statement.

Eggman frowned, grumbling as he slumped back in his chair. "Why is it always the blue ones..."

Wheatley looked around. "Well, er, hate to be a bother, but... one of you guys think you could put me in one of the chairs, at least? I can't exactly... move. At all, really."

Eggman showed no sign of getting up, causing Chrysalis to roll her eyes and levitate Wheatley off the ground.

"W- Woah, that's unexpected."

As she set him down in a vacant chair, his eyes just barely able to see over the table, he blinked and shook slightly. "No offense, but that was pretty weird, mate."

No longer on the ground, Wheatley was able to take a proper look at the room. "Okay, well, it's not too bad in here, I guess. We got... well, a table. And chairs. Six of them, even. And a water cooler, which is good for you guys I guess, but I couldn't care less... Oh, and the flowerpot really brightens the place up!"

Chrysalis and Eggman were both hoping the ball would just shut up, but his last statement caused them both to look up in confusion.

Sure enough, there was a nondescript flower pot on the middle of the table, full of dirt.

"That wasn't always there, was it?" Chrysalis asked, uneasy.

"No, it wasn't," Eggman answered.

Suddenly, a flower sprung up from the dirt, causing the three of them to let out small yells as they flinched back.

It didn't help that the flower was smiling widely at them.

"Howdy!" it said, it's voice almost sickeningly sweet. "I'm Flowey. Flowey the flower!"

While she wanted to be annoyed at this newcomer, Chrysalis couldn't shake the feeling that something felt... off about the flower.

Flowey looked around the room, that smile never leaving his face. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know where I am, would you? It seems like little ol' me is lost!"

"Well, uh, we have absolutely no idea where we are," Wheatley helpfully stated.

Eggman nodded in agreement. "As far as we know, we're all waiting for something."

"Or someone," Chrysalis added quietly, looking away.

Flowey's smile fell slightly. "Well, golly, that's no good!" He looked at each occupant of the table, who either offered a shrug or a clueless eye wiggle. When his gaze fell on Chrysalis, however, she couldn't bring herself to look back, for some reason.

Seeing this, Flowey took another look around, only now the other two weren't focused on him, either.

His smile dropped completely as he looked around the room.

Then his facade cracked.

"One of you knows what's going on, don't you?"

The sudden shift in tone made everyone snap their view back to the flower, who now wore a semi-demonic visage. Out of nowhere, several little white pellets surrounded all of the others, and Chrysalis could feel the energy burning off them.

"Die."

Flowey then started cackling maniacally as the pellets started closing in on the three of them. At some point, Wheatley started yelling.

Then, just before they would have impacted them, they disappeared.

Flowey stopped his laughing to give a confused gaze. "...what-"

And then a bolt of lightning flew from the projector, striking the flower and causing him to yelp in pain and fall over. There was a click, and the projector screen was now different.



Please refrain from harming each other
Thank you for your patience



As Flowey picked himself up, he caught the glares of everyone around the table. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever."

After that, Flowey scooted over to an unoccupied corner of the table, and the room was once more silent.

After more waiting, there was the sound of something hitting the ground, and everyone turned to see yet another newcomer. This one was bipedal, much like Eggman, but a lot thinner. He also wore a dull yellow letterman jacket, with a large, friendly "B" on it. His face betrayed no emotion, and he regarded the occupants of the table coldly.

"Hello!" Wheatley said. 

The newcomer just looked at him, and quickly patted his pockets. Apparently, he didn't find what he was looking for, as he gained a small scowl, and silently took his seat at the table.

An awkward silence descended over the group.

"Well, this is an odd bunch, if I do say so myself," Wheatley eventually spoke up. "Two humans, one of which is a bit on the larger side-"

"Hey!"

"-a flower who may or may not want to kill us all-"

"No, I certainly do."

"-a personality core, and some sort of... insect... horse, thing...?"

"I'm a changeling."

"Right, right... Makes you wonder who else is gonna join us, you know?"

Suddenly, the projector turned off. Chrysalis didn't actually notice until now, but the room didn't actually have any light sources, yet she could still see perfectly clearly.

"No, everyone's here, trust me."

All five of them jumped at the new voice, coming from another human man at the head of the table, wearing a simple black and white suit. The word that came to mind when Chrysalis looked at him was "nondescript", as if one could pass by him on the street and not think twice.

"Now, you're all probably wondering why you're here-"

Another set of pellets materialized and flew towards the man, who calmly ducked them just as another bolt of lightning struck Flowey.

"Anyway, as you've no doubt guessed, I'm the one responsible for bringing you here. Now-"

Once again, his speech was interrupted, this time by the human in the jacket as he suddenly sprang up and grabbed the man's head, before slamming him into the table, then into the floor, and then began stomping on his face, still not showing a hint of emotion.

"Well, that's just not nice at all."

The five looked back to see the suited man now at the other end of the table, fine as ever, and the assaulting human was shocked to look down and see no sign that the man was even there to begin with.

Shortly after, another bolt of lightning struck the man, who winced in pain but didn't even make a sound as he retook his seat. Shortly after, Eggman scooted away from him, not that the man noticed.

"Well, any more interruptions?" the man in the suit looked at the gathered beings, getting various glares in return. "No? Okay, good. Down to business, then."

He folded his hands together. "You see, I'm the god of- well, one of your worlds." He pointed out Chrysalis. "Yours, in fact. Call me Arthur."

This sent her mind reeling. "Wait, you mean you're the...?!"

"What, were you expecting another pony, red hair, female, all that?" He laughed. "Nah. Honestly, I have no idea where you guys got that one."

Seeing the confused stares of everyone else, he cleared his throat. "Right, as I was saying, me and my friends- that is, the gods of all of your worlds- decided that... well, you all-" Suddenly, he gained a mischievous glint in his eye. "You all need more than a little learning on how to be nice people."

Those at the table looked themselves and each other over, and couldn't argue his point.

"Wait, then what did he do?" Wheatley asked, gesturing towards the letterman jacket human. "I mean, he's just another human from the looks of it."

Arthur took out a piece of paper. "376 total fatalities, and counting at the time of his removal."

"Ah, yes, that'll do it, then."

Eggman scooted another several inches away.

"Right, well, as for how exactly this will work." Arthur threw away the paper, and it simply vanished into midair. "You're all gonna be rooming together, in a sleepy little town called Ponyville."

Chrysalis's eyes widened. "Ponyville?!"

"Yep, that's the one." He turned to the others. "Now, I'm not gonna explain the specifics to you all- I'll leave that to her," he nodded towards Chrysalis, "but I will say that, since this is to teach you all to be just a little less... well, bad, there are gonna be some ground rules."

Another piece of paper materialized in his hands, and he took out a pair of reading glasses as he went over it.

"No harming the locals, no harming each other, no plotting to take over the world," he pointed at Flowey, "no taking anyone's souls," then Eggman, "no putting wildlife into robots," then to Chrysalis, "and minimal disguises."

Angered murmurs filled the room, but all of them realized that they couldn't really disagree in this situation.

"Oh, and one more thing," Arthur hastily added. "To make sure you're actually going to make attempts at being nice..."

He snapped his fingers, and a certain purple alicorn suddenly appeared next to him, eyes closed as she spoke upwards.

"-and that nopony should ever be forced to- GAH!"

She jumped almost to the ceiling when she opened her eyes, and witnessed the collection of beings before her. Her eyes met Chrysalis for a brief moment, who wore an equally shocked expression.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," Arthur greeted, bringing her attention to him. "Long story short, these guys are in need of varying degrees of attitude adjustment. You'll be helping them out with that. Oh, and by the way, I'm the god of your world, nice to meet you."

"Wha-"

"Great, glad you agree. I'll send them your way in a few moments. Bye now!"

Just as suddenly as she appeared, Twilight vanished once again.

"Alright, there's a house already waiting for you all, so now, I bid you-"

He paused for a second as his gaze lingered on the human who had assaulted him earlier. "Oh, silly me, I forgot something."

Reaching into his suit, he took out a simple double-sided tape player, and threw it towards the man, who caught it, looking it over.

"You're welcome, by the way."

His face still blank, the man started pressing buttons on the player, whirring the tapes around, before pressing play.

"Fornicate with-" Another set of button clicks. "Yourself."

"Charming." Still all smiles, Arthur stood up and looked over the group. "Well, since that's all taken care of, toodles!"

And then, they all disappeared.

The moment he was alone, Arthur burst out laughing. "Oh, man, this is gonna be good."



The group of five misplaced beings found themselves in an almost identical situation to the one they had before, only now they were sitting around a dinner table in an average kitchen in an average looking house.

"Well, this is terrible," Flowey helpfully observed.

"Gotta agree with you, there, Flowery," Wheatley said back.

Flowey's face twitched, but he said nothing.

Eggman turned to face the other human. "So, since you can 'talk' now, what do we call you?"

The man seemed to think over it for a bit, before whirring the tapes around once again.

"Jacket."

Chrysalis thought over this new scenario she was thrust into. Stuck in a house with four people that were mild annoyances at best, in the middle of a town home to some of her greatest enemies, all under the pretense of learning how to not be such a bad person.

Groaning, she slammed her face into the table, and kept it there. "There better be a strong drink in that fridge."

Flowey, who had hopped and dragged his pot onto the counter next to the fridge in order to gain access, answered her. "Yep, we got this!"

Chrysalis looked up to see the flower clutching a bottle of a rather infamous brand of pony alcohol, known for requiring at least a couple hours of rehabilitation after drinking. It was exactly what she needed.

"Oh, thank-"

Suddenly, Flowey dropped the bottle onto the ground, sending its contents and glass scattering everywhere, an evil smile on his face. "Whoops."

Outside, ponies who were inspecting the house that had suddenly just kinda appeared flinched back as they heard a loud wail of anger and anguish come from inside.

And so, Ponyville was never the same again, for the third time that month.