• Published 26th Jun 2013
  • 4,166 Views, 465 Comments

Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show - Alex Warlorn



Pinkie Pie with one camera and a TV studio all to herself invites her friends over for antics that can't effect the outside world and sneak some peeks at alternate timelines. What fun will the ponies have when anything is possible?

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Pinkie Pie's 4th Wall Breaking Variety Show epi 10 Part 9

Another image was presented by the What If Machine.

Ruby's spirit watched heartbroken from the spirit world as her own body burned to a cinder, the town she'd lived in believing her murder was just.

"They killed you for something you have no control over," said a voice, as smooth as a serpents. "For a mark you obtained by finding out who you truly are."

A now familiar to the mane six golden Alicorn stallion with a fiery red mane, stood over her shoulder, white pupils in black eyes staring down at her. "They stabbed you in the back for something they should have been proud of. For something that is completely and utterly you. For who you are. You were wronged."

Ruby felt so many conflicting emotions. Betrayal, pain, grief. Rage. Hate?

"They're monsters, every one of them. After all, how could anyone murder an innocent foal in cold blood and deem it right?" the stallion asked.

Black tendrils began to rise up around Ruby, as if beckoning her to accept them.

"You should show them how that feels. How it feels to be hated for something you can't control. For how they look. For what they are. You want that don't you?"

Ruby couldn't deny it...a part of her did...

"Accept the Spirits that call to you. Become something greater and make them the ones who suffer. The one's who are hurt for something beyond their control...Make them be persecuted as you were," Persecution itself suggested, his voice smooth and friendly.

Ruby could see it clearly.

She accepted the Spirits of Black Magic, became Nightmare Pyre, a little ghostly foal made of flames, like an Alicorn shaped willow-wisp. She rose from the dead and slaughtered the entire town in cyclone of fire, including Mitta...but that wasn't enough.

She trapped them in their own scorched corpses and raised them from the dead, forcing them to go the nearest town. But there was no touch of death this time, just scary zombie ponies marching through town. The populous reacted naturally to this and came ready to kill the zombies 'threatening them' who, while they tried to speak, tried to reason, tried to say anything, were slaughtered. And the ponies believed it was just.

She repeated this every year on the anniversary of her death, cackling over head. The ponies began calling her a plague. A witch.

"No..." Ruby said, looking down that path of fate, she was a spirit now after all.

Persecution simply cocked his head. "What?"

"No...I won't...I'd be the very thing they called me...a plague," Ruby said, the murdered foal looking as Mitta broke down crying. "...They're not evil monsters, they're scared...that doesn't make it right, but...it means maybe someday they'll realize they were wrong...they killed me...I'm not happy for it...but I'm not going to take revenge because then it'd just continue the cycle...I'd be the one persecuting them..."

Persecution's face went completely blank. No expression, no rage, no hate. Just blank. He then teleported away without a word. The black tendrils receeded as Ruby watched over Mitta.




Pinkie Pie blinked, looking to the What If Machine. "...Aren't you doing just that? Trying to make us pay for hurting you even though we're sorry?"

The What If Machine blinked.

"...Persecution's whispering in your ear isn't he?"

"...Silence! Stop trying to confuse me!"

Shining looked to Maud. "Please tell me we're not going to be fighting another evil god..."

"No, Persecution is many things, but confrontational is not one of them. He'll tempt it from the spirit world as long as it let's him, then move on," Not-Maud answered. "Like a parasite. He's something I'm very much looking forwards to the end of."

"...Thank goodness, I was beginning to worry..."

The heavy doors sealing the studio slid back, just long enough to admit Fluttershy. "I'm back! How is everypony?"

"About the same as when ya left," said Applejack, yawning.

"What about you, darling?" asked Rarity. "Are you well? What's been going on outside?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, I'm just fine. Angel bunny sends his love... well, it was probably love. Oh, and Cadence had a message."

Shining Armor's ears perked up. "Ooh, what is it?" he whispered. "A secret plan to get us out of here?"

"Actually..." Fluttershy couldn't quite look him in the eye. "She said you're on double diaper duty tonight, since you were... 'goofing around in here watching videos all afternoon.' I'm sorry!"

"I... but I haven't... argh!"

The What-If Machine whirred. "Fluttershy/Fluttercruel... You returned willingly."

Fluttershy blinked. "Well, of course. That's what I said I would do."

"You agreed to my unreasonable demand without complaint, and you have not employed force to escape or subdue me. Clearly, this is a scheme, the nature of which I have not yet discovered."

"It's no scheme," insisted Twilight. "We're ponies. We always try to settle things without violence."

Fluttershy nodded emphatically. "Violence never solves anything."

"Incorrect," the machine declared. "Every situation is ultimately resolved by force or the threat of force."
-

"Hey, I've been wondering something..." said Rainbow Dash, scratching her head. "The original Pony Rangers started when we were foals, so why are with them in those other worlds? Shouldn't we have been...I don't know, one of the more recent ones?"

Pinkie pulled out a book called wikipedia. "Oh! Because the re-release of the original series came out the same year we beat Nightmare Moon!"

"Oh..."

"Though technically the G2 ponies should have been around the same time Pony Rangers came out...I wonder if they're Rangers anyway..."

"...I am also curious," said the What If Machine, activating.

---

Grogar snarled, hitting a red suited Starlight with a sword as several tendrils from the house-turned giant monster they were currently inside of restrained her. "Once I destroy you, nothing will stop me from bringing this chaotic world under my perfect order," the tyrant stated, raising his sword to finish her off.

Patch suddenly slashed him across the head, sending him staggering back before slashing Starlight free. She was in the Black suit. "Ya alright, Starlight?"

"Yeah, thanks." she said, then noticed Grogar recovering. "Patch!"

"I know! Blasters!"

Both summoned winged gauntlets on their forelegs and blasted the goat tyrant hard in the chest, the blast forcing him to fall back.

"Alright, let's get back to the Zords and form the Jet Pegasus Megapony to finish it off...if you can stop joking this time long enough to combine it," Starlight said good naturedly.

"Yeah yeah, I learned my lesson."

The two broke out one of the windows and flew back to their bird/jet fighter themed robots with artificial wings on their sides.
-

Maud sighed. "Look, we get it, you're angry and hurt for everything that happened to you. Can you please stop now? I think my baby sister is getting tired, and we never got to me being formally introduced to everypony."

"Yeah! And I figured I'd FINALLY get to hang out with Dash again! Not get forced to watch you over and over!" Gilda said.

"How can Pinkie get tired from just this? She went WEEKS partying once!" Rainbow Dash brought up.

"TIme flows different in here." Not-Maud Pie said simply.

Then teleports in was a pink unicorn filly with a blond mane in laughably outdated and cliche classic period clothing, her cutie mark was a heart within a star within a heart within a star surrounding by bright red ribbons and tiny five pointed stars.

Twilight's jaw dropped at the sight of her.

"Don't worry everypony! I've been sent to save you! I am Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower The Eighty-Eighth! And with the secret magic spell known to no pony, but known by me, I'll save the day in no time!"

"Insert detected."

"HEY! HEY! BAD DOGGIE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Princess Loving-Bright-Shinny-Star Sparkling-Dawn-Flower The Eighty-Eighth cried like any scared five year old and teleported away again, to most ponies it looked like she run away from thin air.

"Was she really bad?" AJ asked.

"Bad or good. Makes no difference. An insert is an insert. All must be deleted." The wolf said.

"Ah swear, if Ah ever get drafted into this wolf nonsense again Ah'm gonna smack Ma Fate."

"Watch it. That's my mother you speak of."

"Yeah yeah, just ventin'."

"Who you talkin' to Applejack dear?" Rarity asked.

"Uh, noPONY." AJ said.

"I see . . ."

Shining Armor asked. "Was that my third child from the future?"

"No." Twilight said.

"Okay then."

"I wouldn't mind seeing more of that world with .. . Cherry Blossom and Cranberry." Rarity said.

"RARITY! What is wrong with you?!" RD exasperated.

"I'm just . . curious . . . how much the world must have changed with you. What did we get our cutie marks without your Sonic Rainboom?"

Rainbow hated to admit it, but that was a good question.

"Besides, admit it." Fluttercruel would say. "I can see it your eyes. Some part of you LIKED the idea of you and Gilda being sisters."
-
The What-If Machine obliged them, showing a series of flickering images...

"I thought I was going to completely flunk the exam, and disappoint Celestia and my parents and everypony," Twilight was telling Apple Bloom, "but then I saw this amazing flash out the window..."

"But then the whole sky lit up in a flash," said Rarity. "The rock crumbled, and it was full of gems!"

"Then this flash totally blew those depressing clouds right out of the sky," said Pinkie excitedly.

"That's when Ah knew Ah had to get back to Ponyville, where Ah belonged," said AJ, reminiscing.


"How did I get my cutie mark?" Shining Armor magically took a crossbow out from under his ranger's cloak and inspected it, turning it this way and that. "Well, it's not much of a story."

"Please?" asked Sweetie Belle, giving him the big cute filly eyes.

"My sister fell out of a tree when she was little. I caught her in a shield bubble."

Apple Bloom blinked. "That's it? You ain't gonna tell us an epic story with a flash in the sky?"

Shining shook his head. "Nope. Timber wolf."

"Huh?" said Scootaloo.

"Duck." Something roared and leapt from the bushes. The fillies screamed and scattered left and right, and Shining Armor blew the timber wolf into kindling with a well-placed shot. "Now, what have we learned about coming into the Everfree Forest by yourselves?"



Later, in Sugarcube Corner, Applejack mused, "There's definitely a pattern here. Except for Shiny, I mean."

The ranger shrugged his shoulders, seeming slightly uncomfortable indoors. "I remember that flash, sure, but I already had my cutie mark. It was in papers the next day." He swept a hoof in the air, remembering. "A Sonic Thunderboom, they called it."

"I'm certain that Fluttershy knows something about it too," said Rarity. "But she rushed right off and said she'd tell me later." The door thumped, its bell tinkling. "Finally! Well, Fluttershy, did you... Oh! Who's your friend?"

The newcomer was a pale green pegasus pony, wearing goggles on her forehead and a harness with two bulging satchels. "Sorry I don't have much time. Can't be late with the mail run back to Cloudsdale."

Fluttershy grinned confidently. "Girls, this is my old friend, Lightning Dust."



"No. Way," said Rainbow Dash. "*She* took my place? And what happened to Flutter's cutie mark?" The Fluttershy on the What-If Machine's screen had a soaring falcon instead of three butterflies.

"I'm more surprised that the other four of us stayed mostly the same," mused Twilight.

"When did I learn to shoot straight?!" was all Shining Armor could say.
-
"Wait a tick!" Rainbow Dash snapped. "I NEED TO KNOW! TELL ME! You HAVE TO TELL ME! What happened to Scootaloo! Please! What happened to her if I didn't exist as, ME in that world! She . . . without me in that universe . . . who helped her? Did anypony help her?" If this was all non-canon, she didn't need to worry about revealing the truth about Scootaloo's absent family.
-

"Why . . . why don't you see show me?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Why should I do what you want me to?" The What If Machine asked curtly. "Besides, it's not like it's your Scootaloo anyway."

"That's not he point!" Rainbow Dash growled.
-

Maud Pie said, "Show her!"

The What if machine resisted, there was only time for a single grainy image.

It was an image of Cherry Blossom, hugging Scootaloo.

Rainbow Dash gasped.

Fluttercruel sighed. 'I wonder if good old Coffee Swirl is back with that rock coffee yet and the jerk what if machine is keep him away.'
-


"And to answer your previous question." The What If machine spoke, "Back in flight camp they separated every filly and colt, but the assignment of bunk beds were made by drawing names out of a hat. Rainbow Dash was lucky that she ended up with Fluttershy. And yes, Rainbow Dash was the lucky one. Few ponies understand the power Fluttershy has, by her mere existance, to draw out the best inside anycreature. The filly Lightning Dust went to that camp, but you just never met her or maybe she simply went in that world where there was no Rainbow Dash. However, one different outurn of simple luck of the draw, a simple different outcome of the cointoss, and Lightning Dust's name came up after Fluttershy's instead of Rainbow Dash's, and she is the one that ends up befriending her. And her life is changed forever, Fluttershy does that to ponies... she does that to everyone. Oh, and you don't want to know how you end up in a world where you never become friends with Fluttershy, believe me."

"Is that the universe were Trixie and others are the Elements, and the lot of us have all of our flaws at the forefront and our virtues put on the back seat?" Applejack asked.

"Not quite." The What if machine answeed.

"Aww! And so we see that even in another world and when she's another pony entirely, Dashie still looks out for Scootaloo." Pinkie Pie smiled and put a hoof around Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"Mother always did like to reuse her best material," said the Blank Wolf listlessly. He was laying on the floor, head resting on his forepaws and golden eyes staring off into the distance. "Constants and variables."

"Excuse me," said Applejack to Rainbow Dash and the others. "Gotta take care of something right quick." But instead of the little fillies room, she went to the prop storage. She closed the door and turned around, and sure enough, the Wolf was there in the room with her, laying in the same position. "All right, what's eating ya?"

"It's nothing," said the Blank Wolf.

"Liar."

"Hrrr. Perhaps I won't say anything at all, then."

Applejack sat on the carpet beside the Wolf, leaning comfortably against his flank, but facing the opposite direction. "Is this about me being a regular pony again?"

The Wolf said nothing.

"So what if Ah am? Everything's back like it was before, right?" AJ hesitated. "We are still friends, aren't we?"

"Always!" said the Blank Wolf at once. Then... "As long as you will have me, rather. You do not have 'always,' not any more."

Applejack snorted. "So that's what this is about? Look, Ah'm flattered that your Ma would trust me with such a huge responsibility, and it was even fun, sometimes... but Ah can't be something Ah'm not."

"I would not ask you to," rumbled the Wolf. "For neither can I be anything other than what I was made to be."

Applejack smirked, finally looking towards her friend. "Would you listen to yerself? You're worse than Granny sometimes, all that moping and grousing."

"Yes, that is what happens when you're older than the hills."

AJ sighed. "Would you snap out of it? It's not like Ah'm gonna up and die tomorrow. Look, if it's bothering you that much, why don't ya go talk to Princess Celestia about it? If anypony knows about coping with that kinda thing, surely it's her."

The Blank Wolf lifted his head, ears perking up, and finally turned to face her. "That... is a very sensible idea. I do not know if she will speak to the likes of me, but I shall make the attempt. Thank you, Applejack."

There was barely a flicker, and AJ was alone in the prop room. "Anytime, sugarcube..."

The what-if machine decided to tease Rainbow Dash again, this time showing the day of chaos, and Cherry Blossom with wings zipping about like an adrenaline junkie, ignoring her foster child's cries for help. While Cranberry was a griffin bullying everypony around her.

And Ranger Shining Armor, looked like he wasn't interested in protecting anything. In the studio Twilight saw her brother's face, and remembered that HER Shining Armor had never had to deal the horror of being violated by Discord.

"I think I've had enough of this." Gilda groaned.

"What's the matter? Being a flightless beauty pony in that reality, but at the same time not always having to be the tough girl, and being closer than ever to Rainbow Dash giving you mixed feelings?" Maud Pie asked.

"You be quiet." The half-lion beast growled.
-
"Wait, now," Twilight said to the What-If Machine. I have a couple of questions. Once, very briefly, I considered entering the Guard. What?" She looked at her friends, all giving her startled looks. "I liked the cadet's uniform they gave my brother. But soon after that they held the tests at Celestia's school, and I went there, and everything changed."

"And now ya wanna know what woulda happened if you'd joined the Guard, right?" Rainbow Dash grinned at Twilight's surprised look. "Yeesh, Twi, you're not that hard to figure out."

"Well, okay," Twilight said. Turning to the What-If Machine, and privately hoping to distract her friends from some of the darker worlds they'd seen, she said, "What if I'd joined the Guard like I originally planned?"

The What-If Machine emitted the mechanical equivalent of a low chuckle as its screen showed static before clearing to show what looked like early evening with a small herd of ponies in a pavilion, all of them in the barding and showing the slit-pupil eyes of Luna's Night Guards, standing and facing Twilight Sparkle.

"Oh dear!" Rarity gasped. "Twilight, darling, is that you, dear?"

It was. Guard-Twilight showed scarring on her face and covering one eye, a short-cut mane, and a more muscular build than her scholarly counterpart. She was speaking to her fellow officers, all of them apparently lower-ranked then her. A pointer glowed in the grip of her magic as she indicated a blackboard covered with complex designs,

"Now then!" Guard-Twilight said in a clipped voice, "We're going to have a double envelopment with four converging columns of troops. In a pincers movement Generals Lightning Dust and Iron Hoof and their troops are going to come down the Canterlot Pike directly at the enemy, with Silver Axe's division on right flank and Long Patrol's on their left. Upon arrival General Silver Axe is going to lead his division in front of Lightning Dust and strike the rebels on their left flank; General Long Patrol is going to lead her division in front of Iron Hoof's and strike the rebels on their right flank; the Stalliongrad militia will cross Ponyville creek --" She said to the worried-looking mare, "Yes, I know about the river serpent, you're expected to handle it -- and close in for support to cut off any rebel retreat; and the gryphon mercenaries will go to ground in that orchard, 'Sweet Apple Acres', and make sure it and the farmhouse can't be staffed against us by any of the Appleloosa refugees... Any questions?"

She smiled, quite proud.

The next words stole the smile from her muzzle.

"Um, just one -- could you explain all of that, please?"

Twilight glared, but before she could say anything, another and dreadfully familiar voice broke in.

"I understand it quite well." The watching ponies and Gilda gasped to see Nightmare Moon walking up behind Twilight. Her voice was calm, but rage boiled behind those cool green eyes. "Now go, and destroy those rebels against the crown!" The assembled ponies hurried from the tent, with the Nightmare calling after them, "And remember, if you cannot seize control of the farms and orchards, burn them! I will NOT allow the supplies they have to fall into the rebels' hooves! Those anarchists calling for 'freedom' and 'liberty' will change their tune when their foals start crying for food." She settled back, looking pleased and her eyes half closed. Twilight stayed by her.

The Guard officers began to speak to one another in low and worried voices. They went still at the Nightmare's voice.

"Why are you still here?"

They all but fell over themselves fleeing the pavilion. Guard-Twilight looked after them, shaking her head in disgust.

"We use such flawed tools as we are given, my best servant," Nightmare Moon said to her. "I trust this will be the last battle. Remember, no allowing mass numbers of the rebels to escape from the field, even if it does limit our own causalities." She ruffled her wings. "We would not have to worry about those Appleloosans, else. As for you, tell me, does it not bother you that your brother is among those opposing me?"

"I have no brother, your majesty," Twilight said, coolly shuffling some papers on her nearby desk. Arranging them to her satisfaction, she set her plumed helmet on her head. "After you returned, and Celestia's student Sunset Shimmer failed against you and you sent your sister to the sun, he was the one who split the Guard in half with his demands to 'defeat the usurping tyrant' and started the riot that burned down half of Canterlot." Twliight saw to her sword, it slithered from the sheath with a cold metallic hiss. "Without Celestia, we need an alicorn to maintain the night-day cycle as well as the legitimacy of the crown. That means you, your highness." She turned and began to trot out of the pavilion to her army.

"And does not the question of mercy arise within your heart?" Nightmare Moon asked to her back, cocking one eyebrow.

"No, majesty," Twilight stopped and responded from the entry flap. "Mercy is ending the rebellion as swiftly as possible, that the least lives may be lost and the rule of crown law be restored over Equestria. If that means a million ponies must die, so be it. Better they all be slain than Equestria fall into anarchy and decades of civil war." She trotted out, saying as she left. "And if I must do it, then at least I know it'll be done properly."

"Well, now," Nightmare Moon chuckled in the dark pavilion interior. "And I thought myself to be cold."

"Heh, well," the real Twilight said as she looked around at her stunned friends, BBBFF, and Gilda. "I guess we can all be happy that world never happened, right?"

"I never thought I'd be saying this," Gilda said with a shudder. "But maybe we can go back to the world where Dash and I became Earth pony beauticians?"
-
The What-If Machine almost seemed to chuckle at them as it switched to a view of Shining Armor in a ranger cloak... lost in a hedge maze and missing his horn.

Applejack shuddered. "Isn't that..."

Twilight, gasped, getting in between her brother and the screen. "No... you shouldn't see this. Don't look, BBBFF."

Shining rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. I've faced things you can't even imagine." He sighed. "And I can't even tell you about," he added muttering under his breath. "Besides, I've always kind of wondered..."

Twilight fumed and pointed a hoof at a sticker on the What-If Machine that he'd somehow never noticed before. "Do NOT ask 'What if I'd been Discorded?'," it read in neatly printed type. "Just don't. --Nurse Redheart."

"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" Shining Armor trotted into the prop room and shut the door... but after a moment he opened it a crack, peeking out.

---
On the screen, Shining Armor panted, trying to look every which way at once as he walked deeper into the maze. He set down the crossbow that he'd been clumsily holding in his mouth, then huddled, shivering. "What's the matter with me? It's a just a hedge maze... a hedge maze! I patrol the Everfree Forest!"

Around the next bend, wind gusted, and there was an evil chuckle, and a sound like metal thumping on wood. The ranger gritted his teeth and charged around the bend, nearly jumping out of his hide when he came face to face with... himself?! "Whew... don't scare me like that." It was only his reflection in a polished antique shield, hanging on a wooden armor rack.

"Shining, Shining," said his reflection. "What are you doing here?"

"I have a job to do," said Shining Armor grimly, as if answering his own thoughts. "I have to find the other Bearers and protect them. I'll have time to be scared later."

"Oh, is that all?"

"That's enough. The Princess gave me a mission. Besides, I promised a long time ago that I'd always protect my sister."

The eyes of his reflection seemed to swirl mysteriously. "So very loyal of you... but... what have they done for you lately?"

"You know... not a lot, actually." The stallion's coat shimmered, starting to lose its color.

"You saved the world!" his reflection crooned. "Don't forget that."

"Yeah? You know, lately it does seem like I'm the only one who remembers."

"A *fine* reward, being posted to a haunted forest, in the middle of nowhere."

"Yeah!" grumbled Shining. "Until the Princess needed me again."

"When was the last time they threw you a party?"

"I can't remember."

"Or told you 'Good job, thank you for protecting us, Shining!'?"

"Not often enough!"

"Good old loyal Shining Armor, always there when *they* need *you*."

The ranger's blue mane turned solidly grey. Just outside of his view, Discord emerged, grinning wickedly. With a flick of his claws, the huge hedge maze walls shifted, opening a clear exit, and the ranger's horn reappeared.

"I..." Suddenly furious, Shining Armor grabbed his cloak in his teeth, tore it loose, and flung it to the ground. "I am such a colossal sap! I'm DONE with this." The stallion trotted out of the maze without looking back.


--
The image on the screen fuzzed, becoming a seedy bar, where a grey Shining Armor sat in the front row before a stage, lewdly cheering on the dancing mares. There were three empty mugs beside him, and he was working on a fourth mug of hard cider. "Woohoo, yeah! Roll tah shee if Ah'm gettin' drunk!"

The doors slammed open, admitting Twilight Sparkle. "There you are. Would you snap out of it? We have to defeat Discord, remember?"

Shining hiccuped. "Buck that, sis. I'm busy."

Twilight finally seemed to see the show he was watching. Her ears reddened. "Shiny, how could you? What about Cadence?"

The ranger started giggling and couldn't stop. "Cadence who? Oh, you mean Princess Never Around? Princess Never Calls or Writes Anymore? I've got all the lovely mares I need right here... they appreciate me..."

Twilight hoofed her brother across the face, then cast the Memory spell on him while he was still stunned.

Shining Armor's eyes shimmered. "That's right... I'm a Guardspony! I choose to place myself in harm's way so that those who cannot defend themselves are defended. Though service is a heavy cost, For Equestria, I pay it gladly." The color flowed back into his coat and mane.... and suddenly he gulped, and dashed behind the bar, throwing up loudly.

The rest of their friends filtered into the bar behind Twilight. Rarity coughed. "Let me be the first to say... Eeeww!"

Shining Armor rose into view again, still wobbly. "Where's that draconequus? I'm gonna hoof *him* in the face."

Twilight smiled, then levitated the Element of Loyalty over to Shining and draped its chain around his neck. "I think this might be a little more effective."


The machine's screen fuzzed with static one more time, showing a ranger station in the Everfree. "Well, does that about cover everything?"

(Interviewer's Notes: pegasus) Technically speaking, it's not anatomically possible for ponies to...

Shining Armor rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you sound like my sister."
-
"I have a question..." Twilight asked carefully, trying to think of what she truly wanted. "...We've seen the good Queen Chrysalis several times...we learned our Chrysalis' backstory from Sweetie Belle...How did that one end up differently than our Chrysalis?"

The What If Machine sprang to life.

Chrysalis' backstory played out just like it had in their world. How she was born. Hearing the medicine man call her a monster at birth. The main difference was reading about King Sombra the Good and Princess Luna, not Princess Celestia.

Until one moment were it differed. Little Kifuko saved her town from the Parasprites and transformed into her Zebralicorn form...but instead of turning inward and dwelling on herself, she realized just how much her saving the village had meant to everyone...she realized a voice that had been in the heart of THEIR world, but had been 'smothered in its sleep'. The part that enjoyed helping. But this confused her. Survival of the fittest. Why had would an animal love helping others? So she made a choice their Chrysalis DIDN'T. Ask this question: do animals care for one another?

Her father responded by showing her Elephants protecting their young and even mourning one of their dead.

"They are a pack, they do not turn their back. They may not be smart like us, but they still act thus. Do not expect their kindness towards you, but what you see here is true."

And thus, in addition to seeing the cruel side of nature, she also saw the kind side. She saw that nature did have caring. Not because some outside force threw it on her, but because she chose to ask one question.

But the hunger still rose its ugly. But when the possibility of seeking King Sombra's help was risen...she took it. Because she wasn't ashamed of needing help, because in nature a herd helped one another.

Parents are parents. When they're told 'I'm ill' they react. Their medicine man could only answer "I fear the worst, I believe the poor thing has been cursed."

Kifuko was still smart enough to twist words. She suggested the one who sent the parasprites to cause them harm had placed a curse on her for stopping it. Curses were a part of the tribe's faith, so were witches, so this idea was considered.

It took much convincing, but as he saw his child fade away, her father became desperate enough to put as much as he could raise to travel to the distant Kingdom of Equestria. Queen Celestia was currently at a disadvantage, without her sister at her side the combined might of Sir Discord and King Sombra kept her at bay, but barely. The Tyrant Sun had long since accepted the offer of the Spirits of Dark Magic and found methods to keep herself from being crushed.

King Sombra and Sir Discord's eyes widened when Kifuko explained her situation with them (her father would have fought both heroes before he allowed his child to die). A magical analysis revealed the truth.

"I thought they were all dead..." Discord said in disbelief.

Queen Celestia had nearly burned the world to a cinder before Sir Discord and Luna had managed to beat her back. It was believed the cursed Flutterpony subspecies had gone extinct.

Her parents? They loved her no matter how she looked or what she was. Maua? Why would she do any different?

No one was certain of why the two parents had given birth to her, but King Sombra made sure the young Changeling got all the love she needed...until she was kidnapped by more Changeling spies none even knew existed.

She was enslaved by Queen Cocoon, who in this world had decided that to protect her subjects, she would conquer the world...but was no less insane or terrible a ruler as her alternate self...until one day Kifuko, or Chrysalis as she ultimately chose, rose up and defeated her just as her other self, except this time to liberate the Changelings from her tyranny, being forced to absorb Cocoon to stop the evil Queen from doing the same. She was hailed as Queen Chrysalis Avalon...and returned to Equestria a fully grown queen when the now twin evil Queens had began to gain too much ground, an army of changelings behind her to beat back the tide.

And the love of her subjects, new and old, caused her to shed the cocoon and emerge complete.
-
"Okay," Gilda blinked. "What the heck was all that about?" The confused griffin looked around at the ponies, who were watching the screen in shock.

"Remember that big mess in Canterlot a few months back?" Dash said. She snorted when Gilda looked at her, head tilted in a rather obvious 'What?' "It was in all the papers, Gilda! Royal wedding, invasion by bug ponies, crazy evil shapeshifter queen enslaves the egghead's big brother and does the same to AJ and Twilight..."

"Wow, that all happened? What?" Gilda shrugged as Dash looked ready to explode. "Hey, I was spending some time with an aerie up north by Stalliongrad. Nice guys, but I hadda leave when the chief dweeb, Czar Double Eagle or something like that, tried making moves on me." She scratched her chin, talons lightly scraping across beak. "I heard some big thing happened with the princesses when I came back south, but you ponies declare a holiday whenever Celestia eats cake."

"Arrgh!" Dash facehoofed. "I don't believe you, Gilda!"

The griffin sniffed through her beak, somehow. "Hey, just 'cause you never could get dates, doesn't mean I don't have guys chasing me sometime." She stretched and flared her wings out, cat-vain.

"So, in that world, Ah wasn't brainwashed by her? An' she fought ta save Equestria from an evil Celestia?" Applejack brought everyone's attention back to the scenario they'd been shown. She snorted. "Sounds like a lot o' horseapples ta me. An evil Celestia?"

"It's not impossible," Twilight said, looking downhearted. "Though I don't like it. But more to the point, that was their Chrysalis? She made one decision ours didn't, and that was enough to make her good?"

"Not to criticize, but it was probably more than that," Fluttershy said. "She made good decisions and she had ponies around her who supported them and encouraged her to make even more of them. Our Chrysalis just spent her entire life alone and I suppose it soured her."

She shivered and Fluttercruel rose to the surface long enough to say, "Believe me, I can understand that."

"It makes me feel worse for having beaten ours, even if we had to," Rarity said, shaking her head sadly. She looked around at her friends. "It makes me wonder, how many monsters, ponies and otherwise, might have been saved if there'd been just one pony there to care for them."

"Sometimes it doesn't matter how many ponies there are there to care," Pinkie said, sounding unusually solemn. She looked at the black screen of the What-If machine, her mane seeming to hang limp, as she said, "Some ponies devour all the love everypony gives them and just demand more." Then she smiled and her mane poofed back up again. "But for the ones who don't, that's part of why I do my parties. So even the loneliest and saddest saddy-sad ponies know that somepony else does care about them!"

Twilight grinned at her friend's return to her usual happy self before she looked at her brother. He frowned at the screen. She winced to realize what he must be thinking. "Shiny, I'm sorry. I should have thought what that would have felt like to you."

"Huh? No, little sis, that's okay." Shiny smiled at her before looking curious again. "I'm even glad for Good Chrysalis. It's just, I wonder -- what must it be like with the me and Cadence of that world? Are we happy together or what?"
-
What If machine flickered.

What Shining Armor saw . . . was a Princess Cadence with several piercing in hear ears. Her main was straight, and gradiated to almost black at the ends. Her regalia was polished gray or black, and she wasn't wearing a crown, it bore a strong resemblance to the regalia worn by Queen Celestia. Her eyeshadow was the same dark color. Also around her neck was a chain with a pad lock that seemed to be just for decoration.

Her face also more sunken, and her expression showed no joy, almost contempt for those around her. Her wings were likewise not as happily kept.

Her cutie mark was still the crystal heart, but broken in two.

Her face seemed to scream not only was she not happy, but that she detested happiness.

Shining Armor couldn't believe looking at this inversion of his beloved wife.

He was going to ask the what-if to turn off, when he looked at the broken pathetic creature that trotted three steps behind her.

This stallion did not raise his head, he did not make eye contact with anypony around him. He dragged himself behind her. The shield cutie mark, from what Shining Armor could see at least, seemed to be the same, maybe.

The look in the stallion's eyes was that of a beaten animal.

"C-Ca-Cadene, I mean Cadenza!"

"What?" She looked at him with anything but love.

"I-I was thinking-"

"Your first mistake."

"-ma-maybe Twiley and her friends could, m-maybe, we could always use the help?"

She struck him so hard with her horseshoe it loved a bruise.

"You mean that worthless brat Auntie wasted her time and mine and a dragon egg on?"

The Shining Armor on the screen only tried to make himself smaller in front of his wife.

She poked him hard in the chest, actually making him grunt in pain. "You're a loser. Your parents are losers. Your little sister is a loser. That pet dragon of hers is a loser. And her friends are all pathetic losers who hadn't done anything meaningful in their lives! Just like you! You should be licking my hooves clean that I keep you around at all you sad sack of-"

"SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF! SHUTITOFF!" Shining Armor screamed. He was struggling not to cry. "How can . . . how can here be a world where my love with Cadence turned into such a mockery!? No! NO DON'T SHOW ME!" Shining Armor's entire body was shaking. Seeing himself be twisted into a selfish, self-serving brat of a stallion by Discord hadn't sent such shockwaves of pain through his chest.

Twilight Sparkle stomped over to the what if machine. "YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU KEEP GETTING SO MUCH ABUSE?! IT'S BECAUSE YOU KEEP SHOWING SUCH HORRIBLE WORLDS WHETHER ANYPONY ASKS FOR THEM OR NOT! THAT'S WHY! YOU HAVE NOPONY TO BLAME FOR YOUR MISERIES BUT YOURSELF!"

Four metal walls came down around Twilight Sparkle and what if machine.

"W-what is this!?"

"This what-if scenario, can only be viewed by you, due to its sensitive historical content. Please enjoy."

On the screen was a younger Princess Celestia, happily prancing about, her head high with pride.

The Windigos . . . didn't try to freeze all life in the world to death . . . Instead. They did as Princess Celestia had intended them to. As she had bargained from Entropy to. THough here, the Windigos were made of flames. Having been cut out of Celestia's own essence. And so were perfectly obedient. And the Wingidos, with Celestia overseeing them, had brought about peace, equally, and happiness to the three tribes.

"YES YES! IT DID IT! ME ME ME! I BROUGHT PEACE AND SUNLIGHT TO THE WORLD! IN YOUR FACE MOM AND DAD! I DID IT!" Celestia laughed to the heavens. "I WAS RIGHT! RIGHT! RIGHT! You jerks and losers wanted these ponies to learn from their mistakes? Forget that! I fixed everything! I did what all of you were too tied up in rules to even try! I did i! By myself! That makes me better than all of you!"

"S-STOP!!"

The four metal walls raised.

Both Sparkle siblings were now on the floor, hugging their back legs, crying.

Meanwhile, the what-if machine, showed an orange pegasus filly, sneaking into Ponyville spa for shelter from the storm.

The store was mostly dark. Scootaloo jumped out of her skin when she heard a kind but accented voice behind me. "Good evening little Miss, but I'm afraid we're closed right now."

"O-oh I'm sorry! I promise I'm not a thief!"

"If you were a thief you wouldn't be huddled with a blanket." Cherry Blossom looked out the window. "Would you like to stay for a little while? It would be fair too unkind to send any pony out into that whether, that's why I'm here myself, that whether team I sometimes think don't know what they're doing, what are those pegasi thinking, no offense."

"None taken. I can't fly."

"That so?" She knelt down low and lifted the little filly up so they were eye level. "I think you look pretty to me, whether you can fly or not."

"R-really?" When was the last time she'd been given a compliment?

Cherry Blossom nuzzled her. "Yes, you are still, how you foals say these days, awesome?"
-
"Well, that was nice..." Rainbow Dash admitted, giving a small smile. "...At least she's okay in that universe..."

Fluttershy was comforting Twilight as best she could.

"One named Fluttershy, you-"

The What If Machine seemed to yelp as Fluttershy STARED back for a moment.

"...Should continue to do that in peace..." it said, then its screen blinked. "...How am I sweating? I am a machine."

"The Stare does that to you..." Pinkie Pie said.

"Good, now please be nice and show us something nice," Fluttershy asked, back to asking politely and nicely.

The What If Machine lit up again.



Twilight thought of all the possible ways that they could win this fight with her own potential future. A part of her felt that ending this Nightmare was the end of something bigger. Like the last link in a chain.

That's when she realized. 'If she became this strong by absorbing all the previous Twilights...'

She had the voice in her head tell her friends...and they accepted the risk.

Touch Minty Pie. Cast the time spell. But mix it with a copy of Rancor's portal to Oblivion...and take a moment of distraction to impale her horn right into Eclipse and use the countless Twilight's inside her as a medium.

And merge with themselves from every single loop of Dark World.

"Our friendship is ETERNAL!"

But Twilight herself got unforseen aid. In addition to the Twilights who'd been 'failures' in the devil's eyes...her parents. Countless copies of them.

All willing to merge with their daughter to give her a fighting chance.

Twilight wasn't sure how this spell worked, but she did know there was no Law of Conversation of Souls. And the spell was one the like NO ONE had ever realized could exist.

*Time will march forwards. This endless cycle will end!"

The potential Twilight covered her face with a wing as white arms wrapped around the six heroes before her like a cocoon and exploded in a flash of bright light.

Rainbow Dash and the Princesses shielded their eyes then their jaws dropped as they saw the result.

"This isn't possible!" Nightmare Eclipse snarled, staring at Amicitia before her. And she wasn't alone.

FIVE Alicorns and ONE Shenlong (Dragon God) stood before her and her own five Nightmares.

Princess Bubbles, Nine of Wands and Concept of Determination and Persistence (and Mailmares)

Queen Libra, Queen of Coins and Concept of the Mortal World.

Tianlong, Element of Metal (as Tiamat was of Fire and Bahamut of Wind) The Protector and Guardian of the World

Princess Bona Spes, Three of Swords and Concept of Growing Despite Adversity and Optimism.

Princess Maya, Ace of Cups and Concept of Fantasy (needless to say, she would work hand in hand with Pandora) and Escapes (as in 'Escapes from Stress).

And Princess Amicitia, The Magician and Concept of Magic and Happy Endings.

"It worked!" Apple Pie/Bona Spes cheered, hoping around and looking at her new wings and horn.

"Wow, I look epic!" Spike/Tianlong exclaimed, looking over his new massive form, though his armor and general appearance was more heroic than frightening.

"You look lovely, Spike," Rarity/Libra said, giving him a nuzzle.

"I hope my muffins recognize me like this," Derpy/Bubbles remarked, her eyes still wall eyed.

"Ah guess Ah'm gonna be away a bit longer, Applebloom," Applejack lamented, but knew she would still be able to visit her sister (Fauna Luster had reassured her of that during her ascension).

Mirror glared at the group in front of her. "Yah know how much damage yer gonna cause if six Nightmares and Six Gods fight?"

Libra put a hoof to her chin. "Well, obviously less than you've caused, darlings. But I can take care of that problem."

Libra's horn glowed bright and she drove it into the ground, herself, and caused a surge of magic to rip through the ground. Suddenly, it split open, forming a massive, several mile wide crater in the earth. But what was on the edge wasn't destroyed, instead it was DISTORTED. Unharmed, untouched, just space itself was bent to create the battlefield.

Eclipse narrowed her eyes. "You think this changes one thing? You're still me myself, you can't escape me."

"You're right. I am the light and you are the shadow. Now let's see which burns away or smothers the other."

The two Twilight Sparkles unleashed spells on one another, attacks canceling one another.

Granfalloon sent a wave of false happiness at Apple Pie, who retaliated with a wave of Optimism. The two forces canceling.

Manacle tried to hold back Bubbles with chains, but she shattered them and a bubble shaped energy field clashed with weapons made of lightning.

"Yah know yah hate this world of lies as much as meh, Rare," Mirror said, throwing several razor sharp mirror shards at her.

Libra rose up pillars of rock to block as if the pillars were her own hooves. "Yes, I do...but I am the Bride of All. I am the Mortal World my Groom needs, not the one I want."

Applejack and Whisper fought in a rapidly changing illusion world, each changing it to try and get the upperhoof on the other.

Spike charged through Bannerette's fire, the flames that could burn a dragon hardly scorching his hide before the two slammed into each other and fought like a pair of gigantic crocodiles.

"Enough!" Eclipse yelled. "Time stop, time reverse. You will wonder forever!"

"No! Time move forwards, time progress, we will march on!"

Two clocks manifested, one's hands trying to move forwards, the other back, until finally both shattered and time moved normally.

The dark Nightmare roared in fury. "That's it! Formation!"

"Not this time! Formation!"

Both sets of Bearers formed up and summoned their Elements. Seconds later two OCEANS of rainbows collided with one another. One trying to destroy everything, the other trying to protect everything. They fought and struggled against one another, rainbow colored shockwaves parting the clouds above.

"You can't defeat yourself, me," Eclipse stated. "I still exist! You WILL become me!"

"No. I. Won't," Amicitia explained. "Even if we have to keep you in a stalemate here until the end of days, I will never let you destroy this world again!"

"Good thing you won't have to!" yelled Rainbow Dash, flying up and joining hooves with Derpy. "You've still got me!" she announced

"And us!" Celly announced, she and Luna flying up and joining in, Elements reigniting.

"And me!" Minty Pie yelled, leaping up onto Amicitia's back and putting all the elemental power her sword could produce into the beam.

"...Thanks...we're not alone...You may have friend Eclipse, but so long as you keep seeing this world as nothing of value to you, you six have no one to cover you. No one to have your back," The Alicorn of Magic stated as their Rainbow finally began to overpower Eclipse's. "There are no 'NPC's' in this world, and that fact is why this nightmare ends now!"

"No!" yelled Eclipse as her group's rainbow was overtaken and the darkness was washed away in a cascade of light.

The what-if machine shut down. And Fluttershy saw the Sparkle brother and sister were STILL on the floor crying. They hadn't really cared about the uplifting and epic clash of the titans the what-if machine had shown the others.

"I'm sorry, but kindness isn't the cure for this sadness," Maud Pie said. "I hope Coffee Swirl is alright."

"Me too." Fluttercruel said.
-
Shining Armor conjured the magical hammer construct that Pandora had given him. “I could really use a big hug from Cadence right now… but since she’s not here, I bet smashing this machine to bits would make me feel better.”

The machine whirred, lights blinking with something like alarm. “Then you would never know.”

Shining hesitated. “Know what?”

“Whether the Shining that is Loyalty ever married his Cadence.”

Shining heaved a deep sigh, then allowed the hammer to dissipate. “Show me.”

A grove deep in the Everfree appeared on the screen. “So you’re the one who’s been hunting me,” said Shining Armor the Ranger. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re on my turf now. If you think…”

A lone mare stepped out of cover, faded orange with her golden mane uncovered.

Shining froze. “Applejack? I didn’t even recognize you. Where have you been?” He grinned and started to rush towards her, but faltered, his blood running cold. She had a runed wheel and five slash marks on her flank now, no trace of apples anywhere. “Applejack? Say something. Please. What happened? What’s wrong?”

“Ah’ll get right to the point,” said Applejack, and then the world fell out from underneath them.

In the studio. “That’s odd,” said Rarity, tapping a hoof on the machine.

Rainbow Dash shrugged her hooves. “Maybe it’s busted.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Shining Armor. “It’s not…”

“Nothing but a blank screen,” said Gilda. “Yep, totally busted. Hey, maybe we can break out of this lockdown thing before it fixes itself!”

“That’s a good idea,” said Twilight, wiping her tears with a hoof, then giving up and sobbing again. “You do that.”

Shining started to object again, but a trembling Applejack spoke first. “No good. They can’t see the Wolf or that place they’re in, even if it’s just a picture.”

Applejack and Shining Armor froze. “Wait, how come you can see it?” said both of them at once.

Besides them, only Pinkie Pie and her sister kept watching the screen. Pinkie hoofed some popcorn over to Maud, who ate it expressionlessly.

On the screen.
“This can’t be happening,” said Shining Armor, backing away… but the grey fog gave him no place to run or hide. “We killed the Blank Wolf.”

The beast looming over him was as large and fearsome as the other Wolf had been, but the shaggy fur was orange and gold instead of white, the haunting eyes green rather than gold. “Why so surprised, sugarcube? Didn’t Cadence tell ya there’d be another one?”

“Applejack…” Shining’s voice choked as he finally recognized his friend in the beast before him. “I knew it was selfish, what we did, but I had no idea. I’m so sorry…”

A brow lifted. “Don’t go blamin’ yerself for this, now.”

“But…”

“Ah chose this path, and Ah walked it, every step of the way,” she rumbled. “Ah befriended the Pup who should have been the Wolf’s heir. Ah fought by his side, and when the chaos swallowed him whole… for mah friends, mah kinfolk, for the sake of the world… By the grace of Ma Fate, Ah am the Blank Wolf, the one and only.”

“And now what?” Shining demanded. “You’re going to finish what the other Wolf started?” He lit his horn, readying a shield spell.

The Wolf actually barked a laugh! “No. And Ah didn’t track you down to tell ya my life’s story, neither. Yer gonna tell me all about what happened with you and the first Wolf you met, before the world changed.”

In the studio.
“This isn’t what I wanted to see!” shouted Shining, grabbing the TV monitor in his hooves and shaking it. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Cadence.”

“Shining Armor will be patient,” said the machine testily. “I’m getting… to… thaaaat….” The picture suddenly blanked out for real, and the security doors and shutters began to retract.

Rarity popped up from behind a cabinet, holding an unplugged power cord with her magic. “Found it! Good work distracting that horrid machine, Shining.”

“Finally!” grumbled Gilda, stretching her wings. “I gotta get some air!”

“Race ya!” said Rainbow Dash, galloping out the doors after her.

Shining twitched. “But, I have to know.”

“Ah reckon… maybe we should just let this one go,” said Applejack, trying to put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. Shining jerked away from her. “Shining? Sugarcube? It’s me.” She showed him her flank… three apples, plain and simple. “Ah’m a pony the same as you are, like Ah was meant to be. P- please, don’t look at me like that...”

Shining shook his head. “You don’t understand. I have to know what would have happened...”

“Most ponies never get to know,” rumbled the Blank Wolf. “You’ll live.”

Shining Armor took one look over his shoulder, and fainted on the spot.
-
"Shining!" Twilight Sparkle, still heart broken that it was her mentors greatest failure that had shaped her into the wonderful pony she was, was even more dismayed at seeing her brother mysterious faint for no reason.

"Aren't you going to get while the getting is good?" Maud Pie asked Fluttershy.

"No. I promised I'd come back and stay, no tricks, and that's what I'm going to do."

Maud Pie said, "Coffee Swirl should be back with that rock coffee by now. I hope he's okay."

Though one of the camera telescopic lenses, it was shown, miles away, Coffee Swirl was epically defended the Pie rock farm from a big blue furry rock eating monster with a giant tongue.
-
Cadence trotted through the hole that Cheerilee had made smashing her way out, what seemed like ages ago. She gasped. "Shining!"

Shining Armor rose on shaky hooves. "Cadence?" He rushed into his wife's embrace, nuzzling fiercely. "Cadence, I love you so much!"

Cadence blinked, smiling. "I love you too, Shiny. What brought this... on?"

Twilight looked up at her old foal-sitter with tear-streaked eyes and rushed to huddle against her flank.

A rather confused Cadence made room for Twilight and draped a wing over her soothingly. Then she saw Applejack with the Blank Wolf standing right there, and her expression darkened.

"Well, this is all kinds of awkward," said AJ.

The Wolf looked from pony to pony. "This isn't MY fault."

"Why is that thing still here?" Shining hissed in Cadence's ear.

Not quietly enough... Twilight lifted her head, flicking an ear. "What thing?"

"Hey, don't you be talking about one of my friends that way," said Applejack. "Oops..."

"Friend? Are you out of your mind?"

Twilight started fuming. The Blank Wolf covered his face with a paw.

"Well Ah was, but actually Ah'm feeling a lot better now, thanks for asking."

"I don't know what you two are talking about," snapped Twilight. "But shouldn't we, oh... *unhook that crazy machine from the security system*, so we don't get locked in again?!!"

Pinkie Pie bounced past cheerfully. "I'm on it!" she said, talking around the wrench in her mouth.
-
While Pinkie was headed towards the What-If Machine to unhook it from the security system, she took a glance at the screen that was showing Coffee Swirl fighting the rock-eating monster. Emphasis on "was."

"Hey, looks like Coffee Swirl already beat that thing and got the coffee! Which means he should be here in about..." Her tail suddenly curled up and quickly uncurled. "Hmm... curly tail... that means somepony's about to crash through the wall!"

As if on cue, Coffee Swirl crashed through the wall. To Pinkie's surprise, he was riding the creature from before.

"Whoa! You tamed that thing?" Pinkie gasped.

"I'm just as surprised as you are..." Coffee Swirl said, a rare grin on his face. "Turns out that this trooper here is normally quite docile, and your folks have actually given him rocks to eat in the past. But apparently something angered him and made him decide to eat all the rocks in the entire farm. I managed to snap him out of it, and he offered me a quick ride back. On the way here, he told me that he didn't have a name, and asked me to give him one. I call him Steve the Trooper. Say hello, Steve."

"...Yo," Steve said softly, before turning back towards the new hole in the wall. "I must now find more rocks to eat. Do you know of any good quarries around here, pie of pink? I wish to give your family some space for a while."

"...No, but there's a pretty good quarry in Neighpon," Pinkie suggested.

"Ah, Neighpon... now those are some good rocks." Steve raised his furry claw in a salute to Coffee Swirl. "May we meet again, swirler of coffee." He darted off to find more of his "prey."

Coffee Swirl's grin faded. " 'Swirler of Coffee?' Really?"
-
"Done..." Pinkie said, finishing unhooking the machine from the system.

The What If Machine reactivated and whimpered. "They all left...Nopony wanted to be with me at all..."

"Yeah..."

The machine looked around, realizing the only ones left were either there for other reasons and Fluttershy. No one had stayed simply because they had any interest in being near the machine.

"...I...I just wanted to have it my way for a change...Is that so wrong? That's all I wanted...I was just tired of being belittled..."

Fluttershy came over and pet the machine on the head. "I'm sorry we abused you. And there's nothing wrong with wanting things your way once in awhile, but you need to make sure you don't hurt others while doing so."

"I do not know how. I came from a world very different than this."

"Yeah, you did kinda come from an adult's cartoon series...not the best rolemodels..." Pinkie admitted.

"Then maybe I can teach you. I am kindness..." Fluttershy said.

"She could teach Discord to be nice," Maud said, a part of her seeming oddly proud of her.

Fluttershy blushed. "I wouldn't say that...But I can help."

The What If machine looked intently at the Pegasus. "Initiating learning mode. Read to absorb information."
-
Pinkie Pie looked around. "So Dashie and Gildie are out flying. Maud is sitting next to Coffee Swirl. Fluttershy is with the what if machine. Shining Armor and Twilight are with Cadence. AJ with the big bad wolf that I don't know about. And Rarity is standing right next to me!"

"So it would seem darling."

"I wonder how Cheerilee is doing with winning Big Mac's love before your sister does."

" . . . That puts me in an awkward position Pinkie Pie. Cheerilee is a foalhood friend. I was friends with her before I was friends with any of you, and she clearly cares about his future and was his math tutor through no pony was paying her a thing or she even liked him yet, she did it because she didn't want a pony like him to not know math just because he wanted to help support his family. But Red Gala is my elder sister. And she and Big Mac act like two parts of the same pony sometimes."


While the what-if machine was no longer connected to security, it was still connected to the monitors, and one, with only Twilight looking, showed her a continuation of Young Celestia, dressed similar to how evil Queen Celestia would one day, doing a victory dance at the fire Windigos having brought harmony and peace to the world.

"Celestia! Stop this! What are you doing?"

"Discord? Ha! You are asking me to stop? You are the one that taught me the stupidity of rules. And you were right! Had I followed the rules, then I never would have done this! Look! It's perfect!"

"Perfect!? You just replaced a set of rules for another set of rules! This is not what I meant when I said you shouldn't limit yourself with rules. This isn't what I meant at all!"

"Oh? And what are you going to do? Hm? Stop me?"

"Celly, you're crazy. And NOT in a good way. If I have to stop you, I will."

"Ah! This is rich. You? You want to be the good guy now?"

Twilight shuddered and pushed herself against her foal sitting more. "Cadence, it's good Princess Celestia that such a loving mare isn't it?"

"Yes . . . yes it is Twilight." Cadence said slightly confused.

"Even if, maybe, she had to learn some hard lessons along the way?"

"Twilight are you okay?"

"I'm . . . I'm just happen we have Princess Celestia to watch over us."

Meanwhile, AJ and Shining Armor were having a stare off. "Look Shinin' Armor, Ah've BEEN one of Snow's kind, they don't go huntin' somepony unless there's a darn good reason."

"YOu . . . you were . . . " Shining sighed. "So what was that like?"

"My gut first told me ta eat ya because ya didn't belong. Then it told me ya were too important to how the world's gone for that ta happen."

Twilight looked at them confused. "Will somepony tell me what's going on here?"

"NO!" Shining Armor said, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye: I am NEVER telling you in any shape or form in or out of 'canon', 'what is going on here' Twiley."

Cadence wondered how the baby sitter was doing.

The camera answered that with one of the studio's many windows and it's telescopic lens showing the inside of Zecora's hut.

"This fillies are trouble,
Next time I charge double." Zecora said, her strips currently inverted due to poison joke the baby had gotten on her during a magic surge.

"Geeze, we need to start wrapping up these plot threads, or . . . or . . . I feels like this party has been going for weeks."

Maud Pie sighed. "Coffee Swirl. Just remember this when you next complain about being ignored. My sister's gone through nine sets of batteries and we still haven't formally introduced me."

And Shining Armor still didn't know what the what-if machine had been trying to show him with that meeting of his loyal self and AJ's wolf self.

Meanwhile, the telescopic lens turned and zoomed out another window, this time at RD and Gilda at the Ponyville Spa.

"Miss Rainbow Dash, a pleasure it is to see you. And a friend you have brought, who may be Miss?" Aloe asked as she bowed.

"Name's Gilda, I'm just along cause Dash wanted to come."

"I . . . I just cause I felt you girls deserve to hear . . . you're a great family, and anypony should feel honored to be a part of it. And being sisters is a gift. Cherish it."

Author's Note:

Pony POV Series
Pinkie Pie's 4th Wall Breaking Variety Show episode 10
PART 9
By Alex Warlorn

Pinkie Pie, "N-n-n-n-n-nine . . . I don't know if I want to do this anymore."

Parts added by:
Kendell2
@MtangaLion
Kendell2
Alex Warlorn
@MtangaLion
Alex Warlorn
Alex Warlorn
Alex Warlorn
@MtangaLionArdashir
@MtangaLion
Kendell2
Ardashir
Alex Warlorn
Kendell2
@MtangaLion
Alex Warorn
@MtangaLion
Jarkes
Kendell2
Alex Warlorn
@MtangaLion

http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/gallery/42867862/Pinkie-Pie-Forth-Wall-Breaking-Variety-Show

Pinkie Pie, "And here they are again, and again, for time number . . . nine . . . nine . . . blech, D-Da Rules:
1. What you put in the comments appears in the story.
2. Nopony besides me can see beyond the fourth wall or interact with it and I can't spill the beans about us being out-and-out fiction to the others.
3. The camera can’t leave the studio.
4. The characters can be from any generation, toy or comic but they have to be from “My little Pony”
5. Everything that happens here is non-canon (except the Tartarus break out thingie, but not the big battle).
6. Have Fun "

Cover by Kendell2
MLP FiM Copyright of Hasbro

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