The Crisis on Infinite Equestrias

by Redback Spino

Bumps in the Road

Deep beneath Canterlot Castle, there is a door. A door that leads to an extensive network of tunnels within the mountain itself that Canterlot is built into. Few have ever passed beyond that door, and not for the past thousand years has it been disturbed. But now, for the first time in a millennium, the library and study of Starswirl the Bearded himself was bathed in the glow of candlelight.

Celestia sat at a dusty old desk, flipping through ancient books and scrolls, quill held in her magical grip as she scribbled down notes on a sheet of parchment. The parchment was covered in strange sigils and glyphs, long incantations hastily scrawled down to be memorised later, and most important of all, as many memories and details she could remember about Twilight Sparkle. For while the formula and the incantation were an important part of the spell, she still remembered most of that from her experiments with Starswirl when the mirror was first created. The emotional connection with Twilight was vital, however, in connecting the mirror with her position, since connecting with a specific location was out of the question.

With a low sigh of frustration, she rubbed at her eyes with a hoof. "In all my years ruling," she muttered aloud to nopony in particular, "it seems I've almost forgotten how mind-numbing focused study can sometimes be."

"Tell me about it."

Celestia felt her heart leap into her throat. Her mane and tail swirled in all directions as she whipped around on the spot. "Who's there?"

"Oh come now Celestia, don't tell me that after all these millennia, you still don't recognise my beautiful voice?"

She lowered her guard. Of course, it would be him at a time like this. "Alright, you can come out now, Discord."

Right on cue, there was a bright flash of light, and suddenly less than a few feet away stood none other than the mismatched spirit of chaos, Discord. Floating through the air, he rested his chin in his hands. "So, Celestia, whatever are you doing down here? Isn't the dark usually Luna's thing?"

"Discord, as much as I love our little chats," she replied, returning to her studies, "this really is not a good time. I'm rather busy at the moment..."

"It's to do with all the beautifully bizarre things going on around Equestria, isn't it?" he asked. Holding up his hands in defence, he added. "And before you ask, I can assure you I had nothing to do with it!"

She nodded. "I know. I actually do know what the cause of all this is... or at least, I think I know. Tell me Discord, what do you know about Multiverse Theory?"

Discord chuckled. "Ahh, classic! I've even travelled to a few myself. I even found a universe where I was a banana, now that was a weird Monday... So where are you planning on heading?"

"Well, I'm not so much going to another universe, as much as I'm going to... the place inbetween universes," Celestia replied.

"Twilight Sparkle has been taken there, and is being held captive by a pony calling himself the 'Ruler of all Reality'."

"My my, how egotistical," Discord replied, rolling onto his back in mid-air. "I like him already! So your plan is to go into the Space between Spaces and get her back?"

She nodded. "I know it sounds far-fetched, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If only I could get this spell right!"

She scrunched up the sheet of parchment with the sigils and glyphs drawn on it and threw it against the wall. In a flash of light Discord was there, sweeping it up with a broom and scooper. "So what seems to be the problem? Travelling to the Void is tricky but it's hardly impossible. I do it all the time, it's like a holiday home to me!"

"Well I'd advise you against taking any vacations for a while, Discord," Celestia replied. "It would appear this rather unwelcome pony has station an entire army in the Void just outside our universe. And it's not just the travel that's the problem. I don't know the exact location where they are keeping Twilight, so instead I'm trying to create a formula for the mirror portal to lead to wherever she is via an emotional link. The memories and the friendship her friends feel for her can lead us right to her."

"My my, your 'Magic of Friendship' is rather versatile, isn't it?" he said with a smirk. "Offensive blasts, cleansing, petrifaction and now dowsing too?"

"It can be a source of great power, for those who wield it correctly," Celestia replied, matching his smirk with one of her own.

Discord shrugged. "I'll take your word for it. But if you're trying to make a link to a pony instead of a place, you got the sigil all wrong. Here..."

Shoving Celestia aside, he took up her quill pen in his tail and scrawled down another sigil which, despite the quill having been dipped in a black inkwell, was drawn in bright heliotrope. "A bit here... add the spiral here...take it through the Kamael instead of the Tzadkiel this time... Carry the one and... Perfect!"

Discord stepped aside, arms folded in smug satisfaction. Celestia picked up the scroll, looking over the sigil with a sharp eye. An eye that grew wider and wider with gobsmacked realisation every moment she looked at the thing. "But... but how did you...?"

"Dear little Princess Twilight isn't the only one who's been busy studying recently, Celestia," Discord interrupted. "You were pretty close, but it needed some tweaks. But that should get you where you need to go."

"Thank you Discord," Celestia replied with a smile. "It's perfect. Now if you don't mind, I really do need to get back to work I need this spell up and running as soon as possible."

Discord hovered in the air above her. "Ah yes, well, that's what I was coming here for. Y'see, while I was strolling around the castle, I noticed a rather interesting looking fellow wandering around."

"Interesting... how, exactly?"

"Well he was a big white alicorn with a long flowing mane and beard, dressed in gold armour with a crown. You don't have a brother by any chance, do you?"

He never got an answer. In a bright flash of light, Celestia was gone from the caverns and re-materialised in her throne room. Though she was not alone, for in the middle of the room, looking extremely confused and lost, was the very alicorn Discord described.

He was roughly the same size as Celestia, though with a bulkier, more muscular build. His fur was the purest white, while his long flowing mane and beard were a bright fiery red, as was his tail. His golden barding and gorget only added to his imposing figure, and atop his head was a plumed golden helmet. But most striking of all was his cutie mark: a yellow sunburst symbol, exactly like the one on Celestia's flank.

The two alicorns caught eachother's eyes and stared at into eachother's eyes in complete dumbfounded disbelief. Like a pair of cats who spot one another over a long distance, neither pony moved for a good while.

Finally, Celestia found her voice again and broke the silence. "Ahem... who are you? And what are you doing in my throne room?"

"I was about to ask you the exact same thing," he replied in a rich baritone voice. "This is my throne room, miss...?"

"Celestia," she answered. "Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. And you are?"

The alicorn stallion slowly approached her. "I am Prince Solaris, ruler of Equestria... would you care to explain exactly what is going on here?"

Celestia sighed. This is going to be a very long day. "I will, but you may want to make yourself comfortable. This could take a while... Raven!"

A white unicorn with a brunette mane done up in a beehive poked her head around the doorway. "Yes, your majesty?"

"It seems I will be entertaining a guest for a while this afternoon. Would you please prepare us some tea?"

Raven spotted the second white alicorn in the room and her jaw dropped.

"Erm, Raven?"

She jumped, sputtering slightly as she found herself again. "Oh! Right, yes... tea, I will be right back with that!"

She disappeared back round the doorway and returned minutes later with a tray laden with a teapot, some cups and saucers, and a plate of small cakes. And for the next hour or so, Celestia and Solaris sat together in the throne room, taking tea as she explained everything she knew to him. Before long it became apparent that this Solaris was, as she had suspected, another version of her from a different universe. A universe where, going by his description, everything was virtually the same except the gender of everypony in it was swapped around. Her faithful student Twilight Sparkle was now his faithful student Dusk Shine, Princess Luna was Prince Artemis, Discord was Eris, King Sombra was Queen Umbra, Princess Cadance was Prince Concerto, Queen Chrysalis was King Metamorphosis, and so on and so forth. But aside from the mismatched genders, everything else was identical. Including the strange phenomena that was affecting Celestia's Equestria.

"Amazing," Solaris muttered as Celestia finished her explanation. "I had begun to theorise something similar myself: that the Multiverse was somehow being affected, causing all these strange things. I suppose great minds thing alike, eh Celestia?"

Celestia chuckled. "I suppose so. But whatever this Emperor Sombra is planning, it is only a matter of time before my ponies begin to panic."

"Not to mention him taking your student hostage. And speaking of which, with Artemis, Concerto and Dusk keeping things under control in my Equestria, I would be more than willing to help in that regard."

Celestia shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't think it would work. As I said, the spell requires a strong emotional connection to Twilight to work, and since you have never met her, I don't think you could do much in that regard."

"Maybe not," Solaris replied. "But punching a hole from one universe into the Void is no easy task. You'll need all the magic you can muster. Is there no way I could help in that regard?"

She tapped her chin with a hoof. "Hmm... I suppose it could... and you're right, this spell would require massive amounts of magic power. Even with Luna, Cadance and myself all working together, we'd be too exhausted to do much else afterwards..."
It was then that she had a flash. It was as if a lightbulb went off in her head. "I have a brilliant idea! Follow me!"

She galloped out of the throne room and back towards the caverns, Solaris close behind her. The two came back to the study and stood before the mirror. Celestia levitated a stack of old scrolls from a nearby bookshelf and flipped through them, pulling out a few sheets while setting the rest aside. "Yes... these will do."

"Wait, if your universe is similar to mine, then those are..."

"Indeed they are," Celestia said with a confident grin. "We can increase the power of the spell with you by my side, but why stop there? Why stop there, when there are so many other Celestias and Lunas out there in the Multiverse."

Hastily reading one of the parchments, she fired up her horn and cast a beam of golden light at the mirror that stood nearby. Its surface rippled and boiled, the jewels set into the frame glowing bright, before the whole mirror became still.

"Come on Solaris, let's go find the others!" she said as she leapt through the mirror and vanished from sight. The alicorn stallion glanced at the sheet, shrugged and followed her in.

---

"Admiral, I'm picking up a strange disturbance on one of the lower decks. It's reading like another of those rift anomalies we've been picking up."

Lights flashed and sirens blared on the bridge of the HMS Canterlot, the gargantuan flagship of the Equestrian starfleet. Admiral Celestia sat in her chair, taking messages from all departments and divisions on her ship, as well as listening in on the comm-chatter from the other ships. She groaned and held her head in her hooves. Just once, she thought, can I actually have an encounter with an ordinary alien lifeform, instead of constantly coming across some bizarro negative space hoo-hah?

"Patch me through to the nearest security team to the anomaly," she ordered, and the unicorn sitting at the communications console got to work. "Security, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, Admiral!" came the reply through the commlink. "We're just entering the room where the anomaly has been detected and... Oh."

"Security, what's in there?"

"Umm... Admiral, you may want to come down and see this for yourself," the team leader replied.

Admiral Celestia shrugged. "I guess I'll go see what's up. Vice-Admiral Luna, you have the bridge."

"Aye-aye!"

With her own personal security team behind her, she left the bridge and trotted down the corridor, until she was just outside the room where the anomaly had been detected. The two guards stationed by the door saluted her and stood aside as she entered.

"Ah, just the pony we wanted to see."

Before her stood two alicorns, one of which looked incredibly familiar. Both were white-furred alicorns in golden armour, one a mare with a mane and tail the colour of an aurora, while the other was a stallion with fiery red hair and a beard.

"You are Celestia, I presume?" The stallion asked. Admiral Celestia nodded dumbly, too shocked to speak.

"Well, you're probably aware of some rather strange anomalies affecting your... fleet," the mare added. "And that's why we're here: We are you from different universes, and we need your help."

---

The three new arrivals gawped up at the massive form of the dragon who sat nonchalantly by Sugarcube Corner. But none was more slack-jawed than Spike. Not only for seeing another live dragon for the first time in months, but because he recognised those colours anywhere.

"...Rarity?"

"Hmm?" The dragon turned around, looking about the square for the source of the voice. Spotting Spike, she smiled broadly. "Oh my, another dragon! Hello there, you must be friends with the other ponies... I say, you look rather familiar you know. By any chance is your name Spike?"

She knows my name! This... radiant beauty knows my name! "Erm, yeah... I-I'm Spike. It's n-nie to meet you too..." He reached out a tiny claw, and the massive dragon took it in her own claw and shook it delicately.

"Aww, you're just as much of a gentleman as the Spike back in my home. Well yes, my name is Rarity. And who are your friends here?"

Shining Armour was first to regain his voice. "M-my name's Shining Armour, and this is Twilight Sparkle... Erm, where are these 'other ponies'?"

As if on cue, the door to Sugarcube Corner burst open and a pink blur shot out. Before Twilight could react she found herself bowled over by a mass of pink fur, frizzy hair and a distinct smell of cotton-candy. "Wheeee, Twilight, you're back!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she hugged Twilight tight. Over her shoulder, Twilight could see four more ponies exiting the shop behind her.

Applejack smiled as she saw the familiar alicorn. "Glad to have ya back, Twilight. But when did ya get a dye job?"

"Yes indeed," Added Rarity. "It's a nice variation on your old look, but still, whenever did you find the time to do it? I thought you were in the Crystal Empire on urgent business."

"Uh yeah, about that..." Twilight trailed off as she pried Pinkie off of her. "Your Twilight... well, she... never made it to the Crystal Empire."

"What?!" cried the four ponies.

"She's been kidnapped!" Spike shouted. "I saw it with my own eyes. We were on the train together, when all of a sudden this great big hole appeared in the sky and out comes this... smokey, shadowy thing, I'm not sure exactly what it was. But it smashed through the train windows and pulled Twilight back up into that hole!"

"That's horrible!" Fluttershy said, shuddering. Connor placed a comforting forehoof on her shoulder. Nopony noticed, but from the look on his face it was obvious he wanted to do more.

Applejack scratched her head. "But if Twilight was kidnapped... then who's this?" she asked, pointing to Twilight.

Twilight waved a hoof. "Right, about that... uh, hi everypony. Yeah, I'm Twilight Sparkle, except I'm... not. Not yours anyway. You see I'm from an-"

"Alternate universe?"

The alicorn stared wide-eyed at Pinkie Pie. "B-but how did you...?"

"Hahah! I totally called it!" Pinkie shrieked. "I knew this all had something to do with alternate universes but the others, they didn't believe me!"

"Well like I said," Connor replied, "This all sounds like some goofy comic book!"

Minty joined the conversation as she chewed absent-mindedly on a candy-cane. "Well, I guess it does sorta explain a few things, like why nopony seems to recognise me."

"Yeah, I guess same goes for me," said Connor.

Littlepip nodded. "Same here. Because wherever this is it sure as hell isn't the Equestrian Wasteland I used to call home."

The group returned to Sugarcube Corner and headed upstairs to sit down as Twilight retold her story to the group, of how she had come from another universe to warn of Emperor Sombra's approach after he had conquered and then destroyed her universe. How she had followed Sombra's trail to this universe, her encounter in the Crystal Empire, and finally, the reason she, Shining Armour and Spike had come to Ponyville

"... Which is why we came to find you." she finished. "We believe your Twilight is being held by Sombra in the Void, the space between universes. Celestia intends to cut through to that Void and retrieve her, but she needs your help to track down where Twilight is, exactly."

"But how?"

"I'm not altogether clear on the details myself," Shining Armour replied. "Something to do with the emotional connection you all have with Twilight. But long story short, we need to get you all to Canterlot so we can do this spell and get our Twilight back."

"And the sooner you can do that, the better," Twilight replied, standing up from her table. Pacing up and down the landing, she continued. "Because this isn't the first time Emperor Sombra has done something like this."

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked.

"I've watched Sombra's campaign across the Multiverse for quite some time now," Twilight replied. "And sometimes, when he attacks a universe he will go after one specific person in that universe. I'm not exactly sure why, but he seems particularly interested in getting those individuals out of his way. And when he succeeds, that universe submits to him pretty soon after. I'm thinking that your Twilight may be his choice from this universe. "

"And all these odd things going on, that's because our universes are merging together?" Rarity asked. "But why is that happening? Is this Emperor Sombra character powerful enough to do this?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm not sure. Maybe it's some sort of weapon of his. Why conquer individual universes when you can merge several of them together, and then conquer that one? It kinda makes sense."

"Or as much sense as any of this," Applejack replied.

"Well then there's no time to lose!" Littlepip said, springing to her hooves. "If you ponies need to get to Canterlot, then we go to Canterlot."

"I think a few of these fellows might disagree with that, I'm afraid," came Dragon-Rarity's voice from outside the window. Pinkie opened them and saw Dragon-Rarity flying just above the house. From her vantage point in the air, she could see another rift tearing itself open in the sky above Ponyville, less than a block away from Sugarcube Corner.

"C'mon ponies!" Pinkie dashed down the stairs to the ground floor. "Another of those skyholes is opening up!"

Following Pinkie Pie, the group hurried through the town square, now deserted as most ponies had locked themselves inside their houses. Rounding a bend they found themselves on what would usually be a quiet street. But now it was a hive of activity, as a score of the shadow monsters streamed out of the rift above.

Quickly, they ducked behind the corner. "Okay gals, we need to think about this before runnin' in. Twilight, any idea why they're here?"

"There's not too many of them, so I'd guess a scouting party. Looking for any weakpoints in the land to take advantage of."

"Right, so let's not give 'em any weakpoints to use. And we've seen they don't like bright lights much, so you and Rarity... er, that's our Rarity, get in there with your magic and light 'em up. Same goes fer you, Littlepip, they don't seem to like that flashy thing of yours much either"

"Right!" replied Rarity.

Littlepip nodded, hefting her Little Macintosh gun in her magical grip.

"As fer the other Rarities," she continued, turning to the filly and the dragon. "Y'all stay at this end of the street with Pinkie Pie and Minty, make sure they don't get further into town."

Dragon-Rarity and Rarity the Unicorn nodded.

"And Fluttershy, Connor, Spike and I can take the other end of the street. Pincer them into this one street until they're all taken care of."

"I gotta say, Applejack," Pinkie quipped. "You sound just like an army general when you talk about this kinda stuff."

Applejack shrugged. "Not much different from herdin' stampedin' cattle. Twilight, when yer ready fer us to come in and block them off, shoot up a flare or somethin'. Y'all ready?"

The group nodded. Silently nodding back, Applejack led Connor, Spike and Fluttershy around a back-alley to the other end of the street.

"Heh, suddenly I'm having flashbacks to my fight against the Dragonfire," Connor muttered with a grin as they snuck through the alley.

Spike glanced at him curiously. "The what-now?"

"Never mind." Connor's grin slipped a notch and they carried on in silence.

The group came round the corner and found themselves at the other end of the street, looking down the road at the group of shadow monsters who milled about in the street. They waited with baited breath for the others to get into position.

There it was! Over at the far end of the street, a beam of violet light shot into the air. Applejack, Connor and Spike moved down the street towards the shadow monsters. They would have been spotted, but Twilight, Rarity and Littlepip were already galloping into the fray, flashes of light and earsplitting bangs signalling that the fight had begun.

Rarity and Twilight's horns were lit up, bathing the street in white lights and sending the shadows retreating up the road, where they were met by Connor, Applejack and Spike, who kicked, bucked and pummelled at the inky black creatures. Most of their blows passed straight through their bodies, a few made contact, but it was enough to keep them distracted as the unicorns bore down on them with their flares and magical missiles. And behind them, Pinkie, Rarity the Unicorn and Dragon-Rarity came striding up the road, ready to pick off any stragglers who tried to flee.

"Keep it up everypony!" Applejack shouted as she kicked a shadow right in the chin, sending it reeling back. "We got 'em surrounded!"

Littlepip whirled around on the spot, blasting another shadow full in the face with her gun. "How long do we have to keep this up? Because I don't have endless ammo for this thing!"

"Until they're all gone, either headin' back into that hole, or if we knock 'em all out!" Applejack replied.

Dragon-Rarity nodded in satisfaction as a shadow dissipated under her massive foot. "Shouldn't be too hard."

But as she said it, the rift above the town opened wider. And with a great rumble what looked like a massive black cloud poured forth, made up of scores, perhaps even hundreds of shadow creatures.

"Oh you just had to go and say it, didn't you!" Rarity the Unicorn shouted.

---

For the first time in what felt like an aeon, Twilight found herself feeling completely content.

Her aches and pains were gone, her exhaustion was gone, and as she opened her eyes, she found herself in the last place she expected to see.

"...Ponyville?"

Sure enough, before her lay the familiar white walls and thatched rooftops of Ponyville. The Town Hall pavilion stood proudly in the centre of town, the Ponyville flag flying in the breeze. Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique, the Golden Oaks Library, even Sweet Apple Acres in the distance. Tentatively, she took a step towards the town. Nothing seemed to change, there weren't any ripples in the air. Well, at least I know this isn't a dream...

As she strode through town, she was greeted by all she came across. There was no panic about strange visitors or sightings, no unknown ponies who looked out of place. Everypony seemed to be going about their lives as they had done for years before.

Heading for the town square, she saw a most welcoming sight: the doors of Sugarcube Corner were wide open, and just on the pavement outside was a large 'SALE' sign. needing no second bidding, she headed inside.

The store was fairly busy inside, with a dozen or so ponies crowded around the counter, buying all manner of cakes, pies, sweets and other foods. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were behind the counter, taking bits and handing out food. Mrs. Cake looked up and smiled as she saw Twilight enter. "Oh, good morning Twilight! Back from your trip?"

"Um, morning, Mrs. Cake," Twilight replied, happy to be home, but still unsure how exactly she got back. " Yeah, I... I guess I am back. Is Pinkie Pie around?"

"She's upstairs," Mr Cake replied. "Go ahead and say hi to her, she'll be thrilled to see you're back."

Saying a quick goodbye, Twilight headed up the stairs to the second floor and knocked on the door. "Pinkie Pie? Are you in there?" she asked. "It's Twilight."

"Twilight?!" came the excited reply. "Omigosh, come on in! I'd let you in but I'm a bit busy at the moment!"

She pushed the door open and saw Pinkie, smiling down at her from one of the rafters near the ceiling. "Pinkie Pie? What in Equestria are you doing up there?"

"Trying out a new party trick!" Pinkie giggled. "It's gonna be awesome if I can get it right. Could you fly on up here and give me a hand?"

"Uh, sure I guess..." Twilight opened her wings and flew up, perching on the rafter next to Pinkie. "Hey Pinkie, this may seem like a weird question but... where have I been the past few days?"

Pinkie frowned at her. "Whadaya mean? You've been off in the Crystal Empire. How do you not remember?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm not sure... I-I thought I had been taken somewhere, but I can't really remember... I dunno, I'm just feeling a little weird. Anyway, what do you need help with?"

She pointed to a coil of rope by Twilight's foot. "Could you tie that around the end of my tail, then tie the other end to the rafter?"

"Uh... okay." Twilight looped the rope around the rafter under her hoof, uncertain exactly where Pinkie might be going with this. As she tied, the other end of the rope slipped off and hung loose from the rafter. "Oh shoot, hold on a second, just let me..."

But as she turned and stooped to lift up the other end of the rope, she felt her tail bump into Pinkie Pie, and everything happened at once.

Pinkie squeaked with shock as she slipped off the rafter, falling straight toward the floor rump-first.

Twilight turned just in time to watch in horror as Pinkie plummeted. Faster than thought, she grabbed the end of the rope in her magical grip, tied it into a loop and tossed it in Pinkie's direction to catch her before she slammed into the floor.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the rope did indeed catch Pinkie. A breath that died in her throat as quickly as it had been breathed as she saw the rope loop not around her hoof, or her waist, but her neck.

For a nanosecond that felt like an eternity, Twilight's heart stopped as she saw the rope tense and Pinkie came to a stop mere inches above the floor, the sound of the rope going taut perfectly echoing the sound of Pinkie's neck as the rope yanked on it.

A sickening, heartwrenching snap.

Author's Note:

Rainbow Dash leads the charge!
Ponyville under siege!
And Twilight Sparkle, on the run for... murder?!

All this and more, next time in Crisis on Infinite Equestrias!

Comments

[Pyro The Reader]

Oh no!

Well, that was certainly unexpected....

[La Vallett1]

Sombra, you big bastard! Poor Twilight and (obviously fake) Pinkie.

[Equestrian Clock]

What?

[Zero3451]

Oh shit just got very freaking real.

[Princess OtakuGeek]

So what story is Conner from? I'd like to know since it sounds interesting.