//------------------------------// // P is for protection // Story: The Heart of Worlds // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------//         the light of  the gate gave way to an overwhelming darkness, and an overwhelming feeling of cold that permeated the area. As the bearers all stood together in the darkness, Pinkie looked up, “Hey, who turned out the sun?”         “Uh, Twilight, how did we come here at night?” Applejack asked.         Twilight shook her head, “I know, this is weird. The last two times we went into another dimension we were at the same time that we left our world. The time discrepancy-”         “Girls...did you hear that?” Rainbow Dash asked s her ear twitched at the sound of rustling bushes.         A shout of "Trixie!" resounded from the bushes as a rainbow maned, cyan pegasus tackled the cyan unicorn.         "Wait, wha-" Trixie exclaimed as she was tackled by the blue blur. Growling, Rainbow shouted,"Hey! get off my friend!" flying over, she tackled the pegasus with a flying kick. The pegasus gasped as she was kicked. She got up and turned before gasping,"Uh-oh..." A purple unicorn walked out of the bushes,"Rainbow Dash, what are..." She looked at the group,"Oh no." "I am trying to protect Trixie from... me?" Rainbow Dash said, stepping back. "Twilight? What are you doing here?" Applejack asked, looking at her friend’s counterpart. “Have you noticed, Will? No wings,” Rarity whispered as she looked at the other Twilight. Trixie got up, dusting off her hat, "More importantly, why was Trixie attacked?" The other Dash looked at the Trixie before her, “Long story, trust me.” Unicorn Twilight looked around,"Girls!" She looked at Applejack, and then hugged her,"I missed you." And then the other Rainbow Dash immediately hugged her as well. Applejack opened her eyes in shock at the sudden hug, "Um, please to meet ya, again? Was, the other me gone long?" "Um, sorry, but we, um that is we aren't-" Fluttershy began, only for Rarity to take over. "What she means is, we aren't your versions of your friends and we are right now a little confused." "I know, it's a little complicated," Will said. Unicorn Twilight nodded,"I'm aware of that, it's just..." She looked away,"Although I'm sure our Applejack is okay, this world's Applejack is... gone." Princess Twilight blinked,"Run that by me again?" Unicorn Twilight looked at her alicorn self,"Okay, you see, this Rainbow Dash and I are also not of this universe, we got here through a teleportation accident. We've been stuck here trying to help this world get back on it's feet, because in this world, Twilight, we didn't get the Elements to work the first time, and we were unable to stop Nightmare Moon." "Wait, wait, wait," Rainbow said. "Run that part of the elements not working here again?" "Is it because Ah died?" Applejack asked. The Other Rainbow Dash growled,"No, you died shortly before we defeated Nightmare Moon ourselves. It was actually this world's version of me, because she agreed to Nightmare Moon's offer!" This was met with a loud and collective, "What???" "I know right?" Rainbow Dash growled,"Supposedly, she didn't care about you guys!" "That's stupid," Princess Twilight said,"If she didn't care, why did she go anyway?" She looked at her unicorn self,"Wait, you said you defeated Nightmare Moon?" Unicorn Twilight nodded,"We had to use this version of Rainbow for Honesty, and we purified her." Twilight then looked to the group, “So how did you get here?” Will stepped forward, "We were on a quest to find something called the heart of worlds. To get to it we have been opening gates that will open the path to heart. We used a key to open a portal to this world." “Now, why is she traveling with you/’ Dash asked, pointing a hoof at Trixie, and then one to Will, “And who the buck are you.” “My name is Will Vandom. I am the one who is able to lead the others to the hearts, and they are trying to help me with my memories,” will said. Trixie gave a flashy bow, “And Trixie is traveling with these seven because she is their friend and they needed her after the lost of sompony close to her.’ “I don’t see when I would ever be desperate enough to need your help,” Dash remarks, much to Rainbow’s anger. Princess Twilight stepped forward, the darkness hiding her wings, “Maybe we should talk more as we head to you base.” Dash let out as a gap a she got a good look at Princess Twilight, “Whoa, whoa whoa!!!! What’s with the wings?” “I’m an alicorn in your world?” gasped Twilight as she ran a hoof along Princess Twi’s feathers. “But, how...Just how did we-” “Long story, but I can tell you about while we walk,” Princess Twilight said with a smile.  As they walked, Pinkie began to pull out small little note card and writing down. Rarity looked over and whispered, "What are you doing?" "You'll see," Pinkie said. “-and you wouldn’t believe the books I had to read,” Princess Twilight said. Looking back up at the moon, she asked of her unicorn counterpart, “So where's Celestia?" the Princess asked. Unicorn Twilight fell silent. "Twilight? What happened...no," Rarity gasped. Applejack shook her head, "No, she can't be."  “But, how can she be dead?" Will take, a look of horror on her face. Unicorn Twilight sighed,"I guess Nightmare Moon just couldn't... hold herself in." Princess Twilight frowned,"Then why is the sun not out? Celestia isn't that connected to it." "I... don't know. That's what we're trying to fix, and the main reason we're not home." the unicorn said. "So where are the othe-ooof!" Before Applejack could say anything else, a pink blur passed her by. When she look down, she saw a name tag 'AJ 1" Twilight has a tag that red, "Prinny Twi” Prinny Twi blinked at the name tag, and then chuckled,"Thanks Pinkie." Pinkie Pie rushed back to her side, the name tag reading 'Pink13 P13' "You're welcome Prinny. Dash, who wore the tag that read 'Rainbow 1" shook her head, "So where are the others?" Uni-Twi turned to Rainbow,"They're at Canterlot, doing some rebuilding. Come, I'll lead you there." The journey to Canterlot did not take long for the group of dimensional travelers, for the grove that they appeared in was not too far from the city. As they traveled along the darken path, much of their conversation was filled with the two universes comparing notes and stories. Laughs were had amongst the group, while Applejack whispered to Will, “Hey, you sure we ain't messing with their timeline by telling them what is happening.: “No,” Will shook her head. “They already know about another world, they already have enough differences to deal with.” Prinny looked at her unicorn self,"So, where's Shining and Cadence?" "I'm not sure. They haven't shown up in the month since we've been here." Uni-twi looked away, a little bit of a tear in her eyes, “I hope they're ok.” Trixie followed along, grumbling to herself, "First thing they do is tackle Trixie. She swears..." Rainbow Dash landed by her alternate self, "So, why did you go after Trixie?" Uni-Twi looked at Trixie,"Well, she was one of Nightmare Moon's generals. At one point, she took Luna's powers and we had to stop her by trapping her in the moon." She glared at Rainbow 2,"Something that somepony should've thought about!" Rainbow 2 chuckled nervously, putting a hoof to the back of her head"Sorry about that." Trixie stood back in shock, shaking her head. Quickly putting on her game face, she followed the group. Her hooves trembled in fear as she tried to shake the horror from her mind and tried to listen to her friend’s voices. She felt a hoof on her back, and looked up into Pinkie’s blue eyes, “It's ok.” "Ok, so," Dash said, flying backwards, "Basically, life is hell and we wound up in one of the worst possible scenarios we coul. Life just gets better and better." “Hey, it was better than when we first got here, somewhat." Rainbow 2 said with a frown. "Yes, Pinkie's not crazy anymore." Uni-Twi said. Dash looked over at Pinkie, who looked like she was still trying to figure out nicknames, "Crazy in what way?" "Think Pinkamena, but worse." Rainbow 2 said. Prinny looked at her unicorn self, ignoring the conversation between the two Rainbows,"But there's still no sun." She looked up, and frowned,"Hold on." Her horn glowed. "What are trying to do Twi?" Applejack asked as they stopped within the front of the gates to the castle. "I'm using my magic to see in the dark..." She gasped,"There is a sun, but it's covered in... some sort of shadow..." She looked at Uni-Twi,"Does the name Sombra ring any bells?" "No?" Uni-Twi said. "How about Discord?" "Sorry," the unicorn thought,"I did see a statue of a thing called that." "Oh, dear." Prinny said with a frown. This caused Rainbow Dash to shudder. Applejack arched an eyebrow at this, "Wait, y'all never fought Discord?" "No, did you fight him?" Uni-Twi asked "Why would a sun be covered in shadow?" asked Will. Prinny looked at her younger self and nodded. She looked at Will,"I don't know, but I do have an idea." She looked around,"As soon as we get to Canterlot, we'll find out." "Stop!" A big stallion came up from the unicorn's light,"State your business." Dash landed in front of the others, while Trixie hid behind the back, trying to hide. Applejack stepped forward, "Hold on, we don't mean to cause any trouble. The stallion stepped back a bit at Applejack, his face turning pale"Y-y-you're dead!" Uni-Twi stepped,"Relax, she's just Applejack's cousin, Pearjack. Don't worry about them, they're just here to help with the rebuilding." The stallion gave a sigh of relief, before turning," Alright, but only for you." He opened the door to various bits of fires with ponies milling about. "Pearjack?" Applejack whispered to herself. "I think it is a cute name," Rarity said. Prinny blushed as she looked over her shoulder at Applejack, “It was easier than saying we are alternate versions of our counterparts here but not the same ones that came from their world.” “Yeah, because we are from an alternate world but not the same alternate world that they,” Pinkie held her head as she screamed, “Arg! Alternate dimensional travel is hard.”         Prinny let out a giggle at her friend’s antics and then looked to the path that led to the gardens, “"I'm going to the Canterlot Gardens for a bit." She said, using her horn to light her way. Uni-Twi turned to the others,"Alright, we're going to meet some of your other selves, this is going to be a shock to them, so be gentle." The girls nodded, Trixie tried to shy away from the group. Putting her hat over her eyes, the blue unicorn followed PRinny to the gardens, trying her best to hide her face from the rest of the town and the guards that might see her. Uni-Twi led the group into a small hut just a distance from the caste. Inside she  walked into a room with a round table,"Everypony, we have guests!" As the rest of the group waited outside for Twilight to introduce the group, Applejack whispered,"Ok, now remember, they aint used to all of us yet, so be calm when we walk in there," Almost as if on cue, Rarity used thread to tie Pinkie's legs together, "And that means no jumping in and exclaiming ‘Surprise!’, Pinkie." "Awwwww," Pinkie frowned, putting her party cannon away. "Let’s not forget that there are going to be three Rainbows there, One villain, and their Applejack is dead," Will said. Rainbow Dash frowned and rolled her eyes, "So basically... awkward city." "Yeah, so let's be careful everypony," Applejack said, walking into the doorway as Twilight finished talking. "Uh, Howdy?" Inside, a pink pony would be sleeping on the table, another Rarity had turned and gasped in shock, and another Fluttershy made a squeak sound. "Twilight, tha-tha-" Rarity walked up to Applejack,"How?" Pinkie, now free, sat in the back and began to write on her note cards, and then looked around in surprise at the lack of Trixie. Arching her eyebrow, she walked away, but was stopped by Rarity's hoof. Silently, her Rarity shook her head and gave out a little sigh. Pinkie Pie backed away and nodded slowly, a little bit of a frown creasing her features. Applejack sighed, and then looked away, "Ah'm sorry rare, but...Ah'm another Applejack. That's how." "Um, hi," Fluttershy said to the group. Will waved, "Hi." "I... " Rarity 2 backed off, the slow realization hitting her hard. "I realize that..." She looked away,"Why are you here? And who is that?" she indicated Will. "This is Will, she has been helping us to travel between dimensions and we are here to help you dear," Rarity said, looking at herself. She noticed that her other self looked ragged and very tired, "My word." Pinkie smiled, bouncing to each mare and putting a name tag. going to her other self, she put down, 'sleepy me' and went back to the group. By the time she was done, everypony had their own name tag. She had a big grin as she put her marker away, “There we are,” the party mare said. “Now me and my friends are Applejack-1, Dash, Rarity-1, Fluttershy-1, Will-1, and P1nk3 P13. While you’re messy Rare, Sleepy me, Ultra shy, Rainbow, and Uni-Twi.” As Pinkie giggled at her naming convention, Rainbow strode to argue about her new name.  Dash stepped forward and sighed,  stopping her counterpart"That' not the only reason. We're here looking fo rsomething called a heart to stop some sort of evil dragon back in our world." Rarity 2 sighed,"I'm afraid I don't know about any heart. I'm not sure how you can help us, we're not having an easy time ourselves, especially without Cadence..." She looked away,"What do you mean,'Evil dragon?" She asked "Long story, but to sum up," Will began. "Evil Dragon, wants ancient heart to assume dominance over the multiverse, gave me a mind rape, we traveled, and saved ponies." Pinkie waved her hooves, “We also met other versions of ourselves, fought some interesting villains, got armor, sang songs, redeemed bad guys, went through tests, met gods, sav-” “Ah think they got it Pinks,” Applejack said, putting a hoof into Pinkie’s mouth. The sleepy Pinkie giggled and kicked her leg. "What happened to Cadence?" Fluttershy asked. "We're not sure." Rarity looked at the table,"The last time she was seen was in Manehattan." "What about Shining?" Applejack asked, looking at Rarity. "We assume that he's with Cadence." Rarity said. As Applejack looked over the notes and plans for reconstruction and food efforts on the wall, the mare chuckled, "How are the reconstruction efforts going anyway? Ah bet Appelbloom is trying her hardest to get into everything ain't she?" Rare gulped,"Oh, there's..." She looked away, a sob coming from her,"I'm sorry, I couldn't save them..." "...What?" Applejack asked, all the color drained from her face. "Please, tell you are... this is a joke yes?" Rarity asked, trembling. Rarity 2 stayed silent. as Rarity looked into the sad eyes of her counterpart, her eyes began to fill with water. trembling, she backed into Applejack and was immediately embraced by her earth pony friend. Rainbow Dash joined them, holding her friends tightly and trying to hide Applejack’s face. "No..." the orange mare looked down and way, trying to hide her tears, which did not stop rarity from crying. Dash held her friends close, her own tears rolling down her cheek. Fluttershy looked to the sleeping Pinkie and put a blanket over her. Looking over her shoulder, she finally noticed a pony in a black wonderbolts garb flying in, "Rainbow Dash?" The pony looked away,"Just the Captain." Uni-Twi looked at her,"I thought you were wandering?" The Captain walked up,"There's a reason for that: Luna is missing." Fluttershy gasped, "Missing?" “What?!” yelled Rainbow, flying out, but was stopped by Applejack grabbing her tail. "While she and I were in Fillydelphia, a strange shadow attacked us, and the next thing I knew, she was missing." The Captain said. "What did the shadow look like?" Pinkie asked. "It had some sort of dark green smoke. I don't know, it was kind of a blur." The Captain said. "Oh, was it a speedy blur or one of those indistinct blurs that you can't really say what it is?" Pinkie asked. "The latter." The Captain said in an annoyed tone. The Captain frowned as she saw Dash,"Great, more alternate selves..." "Um Pinkie, I think she would rather talk to the others," Fluttershy said. Looking back to the Captain, she nudged her head to follow. "I know, isn't this great?" Pinkie said, smiling as she lead the captain further into the room. the new arrivals helped to pull Dash, Applejack, and Rarity out of their sadness and pay attention to her. Steadying herself, Dash looked to the captain, "Nice outfit." "Thanks, nice armor." The Captain said. "And who are you," Applejack asked, regaining her composure. She then shot Rarity a look that asked if she was alright and silently her friend nodded. "I'm the Captain, and that's... all you need to hear for now." She gave a sad look at Uni-Twi. “Fine, be mysterious," Dash rolled her eyes, not seeing the Captain's look towards Uni-Twi. "Anyway, I'm not sure if you heard, but Luna's been taken by a shadow creature with green flame." The Captain said. "What?" asked the group. This caused Rainbow to throw her hooves up as she roared, "great, a rescue mission too!!! Why not have us stop a war while we’re at it, or " “Well, you don't have to do it if you don't want to!" The Captain said, interrupting Dash’s rant. "We want to, trust us," Applejack said. Rainbow Dash hoof bumped the air, "Yeah, its what we do best after all." Rarity rolled her eyes, "They might be a little excited, but they are right. We will be doing all we can to fix all of this.' The Captain scoffed,"I'm not sure what you all can do. After all, what do you have that they don’t?" A smirk came to Dash’s lips, “Watch us.” Rarity smiled, "Well, once we have our friend here. We can do some investigations." "Your friend?" The Captain asked. "Another version of me." Uni-Twi said. "Oh, great, more nerds." The Captain rolled her eyes. "Hey, that nerd happens to be my friend," growls Dash. "And mine too, but let's try to work with," The Other Rainbow glared at the Captain,"... her." "And what's wrong with her" Applejack asked. "She's this world's Rainbow..." Ultra-shy whispered, her head down Rainbow Dash growled and stared at the tritor, "WHAT? Shes the little coward that turned this world into this, I'll kill jerk. Let me go Aj!" Rainbow was stopped by Applejack biting down on her tail. "Hold on there, Sugarcube. We can talk about that later, right now we need to find Luna," Applejack said. “But, she-” Applejack shook her head, “Rainbow, you know we don’t have time to waste with vendettas and fights. Not when other ponies need us.” "Plus, she's kind of the Element of Honesty," Uni-Twi said. "I had my reasons." The Captain said simply. Prinny-Twi walked up to a statue of a draconequus,"Well, you still haven't escaped. Guess things are too boring, aren't they." She frowned, her horn glowing,"I could... but no, you're my final option." She placed a hoof on the statue, only to hear Discord's voice "Hello, Twily!" "Discord!? What are-" Prinny-Twi gasped. "Relax, I'm not your Discord. I just said that to get a rise out of you. Now, I know why you are here, and I can tell you, for a price." Discord said. "If you think I'm freeing you, you have another thing coming. Plus, what do you have for me?" Prinny Twi asked. "Information on the Heart of Despair here. I don't want freedom, yet, what I want, is for Luna to ascend to the throne." "Why do you want Luna back on the throne?" Twilight asked. "Because Celestia is dead." Discord said simply. Twilight blinked, and then gasped,"You want somepony to play with, because it'd be too easy without a princess to annoy!" "I hate victory, Twilight, and I need a challenge." Discord said, an illusion appeared in Twilight’s mind of him on his knees begging. "Alright, I'll bring Luna back. Now tell me about the Heart." Prinny said. "The heart is in a place long since lost Where ponies of heart once sought If you need it to appear You must use your ear." Discord said, then laughed,"Ta-ta!" "..." Twilight frowned as she took her hoof off,"Why did I expect a straight answer?" She then heard crying near another statue. Prinny walked over to the source of the crying, only to find a yellow unicorn kneeling over a statue of Celestia,"Sunset?" She whispered. "Why? Why did you have to go, just when I had my plan ready!?" Sunset yelled to the memorial. She raised her hooves and began to pound on the statue. Prinny Twi frowned,"Trixie," She looked behind her at nothing,"I think she needs our help." With a sigh, Trixie decloaked, "How did you know?" “I figured you wouldn't want to stay with them." Prinny said," Going with me was be the best course of action for you." Trixie chuckled, "And here Trixie thought you just used magic to fine me." Prinny's face scrunched up,"Ok, I may have done that..." "So, how do we help her?" Trixie asked. Twilight walked up to her,"Sunset?" "Leave me alone." Sunset sniffled, her head held low. "We are here to help you and you want us to leave you alone? Was Trixie ever this bad?" Trixie asked. Twilight simply nodded,"Also remember that this Sunset didn't have the same experiences." She whispered. She looked at the unicorn before her,"Sunset..." "How do you know my name anyway!?" Sunset shouted. "We're... friends, Sunset." Twilight said, putting a wing over her. "This is Princess Twilight, and I am the Great and powerful Trixie," she said with a bow. "We know your name because you must be the powerful Sunset, bravest of the brave and boldest of the bold." Trixie said, quoting one of her favorite characters. "But, I'm not that well known, I mean, Celestia didn't tell a whole lot of ponies of my feats..." Sunset frowned. “Trust Trixie, you are well known to her," she smiled softly. “You... have been there for her.’ Twilight looked at Trixie as she lost her showboat persona for a second and put a hoof onto her friend. "Heh, thanks." Sunset frowned, her eyes mixed with rage and sorrow, "Who killed my mother?" "Nightmare