Guardians of the Multiverse

by Draknir

Chapter 1: Touring the MGH

“Okay, Twilight. Let me show you around the MGH here,” said Pinkie as soon as the door shut.

“So, is she always like that?” asked Twilight as she began to follow Pinkie as she began to walk down a hallway to the left of the office.

“Who, the commander? Yeah, that’s pretty much how she is to everypony,” answered Pinkie as she stopped in front of a large door, “But at the same time, we’ve probably got the best commander in the entire Hub. Our first stop on the ‘tour’ is one of the most important areas of our portion; the cafeteria. And, it is dinner time now. If the time it took for my registration is any indication, I assume you’re hungry now?”

“Starving, to be honest. I got pulled here just as I was about to dig into breakfast this morning,” answered Twilight, her stomach rumbling in agreement.

“Well, let’s get something to eat, then,” said the Pegasus happily. The dining hall, to Twilight’s surprise, was quite lavish. Sculptures of various creatures were sitting around the room and ornate chandeliers hung from the ceiling. The room was the complete opposite of the hallway behind Twilight. The left side of the room was a large buffet table with many kinds of foods that she knew and several kinds that she didn’t know. Ponies of all different kinds sat around the room, some of whom looked familiar to Twilight, “Help yourself, it’s all free.”

“All of this is free?” asked the Unicorn, referring to the buffet.

“Well, duh. It’s not like we have any sort of currency here,” mocked Pinkie, causing Twilight to growl in frustration, “Oh, relax. If you can’t have fun here, then you’re just going to be bored for the rest of eternity.”

“The rest of eternity?!” shouted Twilight, shocked. Surprisingly, the other ponies in the room were too engrossed in their own conversations to even notice.

“I’ll explain later, but for now let’s get some food,” said Pinkie as she walked over to the buffet table and grabbed a tray in her mouth. Twilight did the same, except she used magic to levitate the tray rather than grab it. Once the two had filled up the trays, Pinkie more than Twilight, the Unicorn looked around the room nervously, “Come with me. I’m fairly certain the rest of my, I mean our, squad will want to meet you.” The pair walked over to one of the tables on the wall furthest from the doorway. There sat the two mares that made up the rest of Pinkie’s, and now Twilight’s, squad.

“Ah, so this is why you had to report to PC-001’s office,” said the white Unicorn mare with a navy blue mane and tail with a couple stripes of different shades of blue in her hair. Her Cutie Mark was an indigo shield with the same pink star in Twilight’s Cutie Mark in the middle and three normal light blue stars above it, “And I can see why she’d assign her to us. Welcome to the squad, Twilight.”

“Okay, you look like my brother yet clearly you’re a mare,” blurted Twilight, receiving a laugh from her new squad mate.

“Well, that answers one question. You clearly come from a Universe where I was born a colt. I am Shining Armor,” said the white Unicorn with a smile, “I’m just from a Universe where I was born a filly like you.”

“Just looking at you tells me you’re from a Universe where you don’t become an Alicorn,” said the other pony at the table, the light amber Earth Pony with a curled mane and tail with red and yellow streaks. Her Cutie Mark was a small sun with flares around it. Half of the ‘aura’ surrounding it was an extremely light amber while the other half was red, the two colors meeting in a vertical barrier.. The middle oval was divided between red and yellow with a horizontal barrier, “I trust you know who I am, though?”

“You’re Sunset Shimmer, Princess Celestia’s prized pupil,” answered Twilight, “But…you’re a Unicorn where I’m from.”

“Funny, where I’m from you are Celestia’s prized student,” replied Sunset Shimmer, who went by her full name like Shining Armor did, “Which would explain why you’re not an Alicorn. Or a Princess, right?”

“Me? A Princess? Don’t be ridiculous!” answered Twilight, almost taken aback by the idea, “I’m not exactly anything special.”

“Twilight, don’t be so humble,” advised Pinkie as she finally sat down at the table. After she beckoned for Twilight to do the same, the Unicorn sat next to her, “Clearly you’re something special if you’ve been made into a Multiverse Guardian.”

“What does that even mean, anyway? Prin-I mean PC-001 tried to explain it to me, but she lost me quickly.”

“Are you familiar with the ‘Multiverse Theory?’” asked Shining Armor, receiving an affirmative nod from Twilight as she started to eat, “Well, it isn’t one hundred percent true. Yes, there are multiple universes in existence, but there aren’t an infinite number. Yet more come into existence as time goes on.”

“The older a Universe gets, the more likely it is to become unstable,” continued Sunset Shimmer while Shining Armor ate a bit more, “When that happens, problems occur as you would guess. Our main purpose is to ensure these universes are operating smoothly. For the most part, this just means going from Universe to Universe and looking for things that are amiss.”

“But, there are occasionally beings that upset the balance, either accidentally or intentionally,” followed Pinkie, “That’s were our ‘jobs’ come into play. We go and make sure to set everything right in order to return the Universe to balance.”

“I’m still confused,” admitted Twilight.

“Yeah, it’s easier to understand once you actually see and do it,” assured Shining Armor after taking a drink of water, “We’ll be sure to show you that in the morning.”

“So, Twilight. We know that in your Universe, Shining Armor is your brother, not your sister, and I’m a Unicorn,” said Sunset Shimmer, looking directly at the Unicorn, “What about Pinkie Pie? Is she a Pegasus in your Universe or a different race?”

“She’s an Earth Pony, actually,” answered Twilight, causing Pinkie to practically choke on her food.

“Seriously?!” shouted the Pegasus after a large drink of water, “How can she survive like that?! I’d be lost without my wings!”

“Calm down, Pinkie,” said Shining Armor, “Remember, that version of you would have been born an Earth Pony. At least, I’d hope she’d be.”

“And are you forgetting that you’re the only one in our squad that’s a Pegasus?” asked Sunset Shimmer, “Sure, Vinyl was a Pegasus, but she’s gone now.”

“Vinyl?” asked Twilight, “Who’s that?”

“Vinyl Scratch, VS-923, was our previous captain,” explained Shining Armor, “She was a Pegasus who was rather head strong.”

“What happened to her?”

“She was…dismissed for breaking one of the most important rules of our organization,” replied Sunset Shimmer, “She visited her own Universe directly.”

“What do you mean ‘directly’?”

“You see, there are a few different ways we interact with the various Universes,” answered Pinkie, “We can simply view them, which allows us to remain here while doing our tasks, observe them, which means going to the Universe and watching it from there, visiting them indirectly, which is we see the Universe through the eyes of our counterpart there, and visiting them directly, which is interacting with the Universe as ourselves. Visiting a Universe directly isn’t forbidden, but doing so to your home Universe is.”

“Home Universe?”

“The Universe that you’re from. The number is a part of your codename, TS-314,” replied Pinkie, “Your Universe is number three hundred and fourteen in our cluster. Mine is number seventy-three, Shining Armor’s is one hundred and thirty-two, and Sunset Shimmer’s is two hundred and twenty-two. The numbers help us determine the age of a Universe, since they’re numbered by the order they appeared.”

“So, PC-001’s home Universe is number one, then?”

“Yeah, and that’s why she’s the head of our division,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “Since she was the very first member of our division, she’d naturally be from Universe one.”

The squad continued to have dinner while chatting and explaining things to Twilight. Once they were finished, Shining Armor and Sunset Shimmer returned to the squad’s quarters while Pinkie and Twilight continued their tour. Their next stop was a large room with a ring in the middle and a computer nearby that was currently being operated a light pink Unicorn stallion with a spiky blue mane and tail. On the sides of the room were more computers that were currently off.

“This is where our main operations take place, the Hub’s Portal room,” explained Pinkie as Twilight took the view in, “This is where we view, observe, and indirectly and directly interact with the Universes. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you how things work here.” As the pair began to walk towards the computer, the Unicorn turned and blocked their path.

“PP-073, you know the rules,” said the Unicorn, “You’re not allowed to use the portal when your squad is off-duty.”

“Relax, FF-4763. I’m just showing our newest recruit here how this all works,” replied Pinkie, “PC-001 will confirm that, if you ask her. Besides, we’re not going to actually use the portal.”

“Well, I’ll just be here to make sure you don’t do anything against the rules,” stated FF-4763 as he walked over to a different computer. The pair went over to the computer closest to the portal.

“This is the central computer,” explained Pinkie, “You simply say a Universe number and one of the four options I told you about earlier, and voila, you’re good to go. FF-4763 is our resident geek that makes sure things run smoothly.”

“I heard that,” said the Unicorn from across the room, leading the Pegasus to smile at him.

“Anyway, when you’re just viewing a Universe, you head over to the computer whose number was stated at the time.”

“That’s actually not that complicated,” admitted Twilight, who’d feared that it would be insanely difficult to understand.

“Not at all,” said Pinkie as the two made their way to the doorway, “Oh, and we have one last place to go to.”

“Wait, seriously? Only three points of interest?”

“Well, duh. With such a simple mission, we don’t exactly need to have a lot of things,” answered Pinkie as she beckoned for Twilight to follow her. The final place that Pinkie had wanted to bring Twilight was, in fact, the squad’s quarters, “And this is where we live. Make yourself comfortable. Our home is your home…seriously.”

“Uh…thank you?” managed Twilight as the door opened. The room she found herself in was actually quite nice. There was a small kitchenette to her right and a large living area with several seats that looked quite comfortable to her left. On the far side were four separate rooms that the Unicorn assumed to be bedrooms. Sunset Shimmer and Shining Armor were currently locked what appeared to be a fierce game of cards, though the exact game was unknown to Twilight.

“So, who’s winning?” asked Pinkie as she walked over to the other two members of her squad.

“Well, I’m up by four points, but I’m afraid this hand is not going to end in my favor,” replied Sunset Shimmer, not taking her eyes off the game.

“I honestly wouldn’t count on that one,” said Shining Armor, who didn’t look away either.

“Well, when one of you loses, deal me in,” said Pinkie, “I’ve gotta get revenge for last time.”

“Hey, uh, Pinkie?” asked Twilight sheepishly, “What did you mean earlier when you said the rest of eternity?”

“Our job isn’t one we can retire or quit from,” answered Pinkie, “Since we don’t age at all, we basically get to do this until the end of time. Or until we get fired. And, trust me. You do not want to get fired.”

“What happens then?”

“I honestly don’t know,” replied the pink Pegasus sheepishly, “I’ve only heard rumors. I mean, I don’t even know exactly what happened to Vinyl Scratch. That’s kept secret for whatever reason.”

“Oh, and which of these rooms is mine?

“It’s the second from the left,” answered the Pegasus, “Shining Armor’s is the far left one, mine is the second from the right, and Sunset Shimmer’s is the one on the far right. Going to bed, then?”

“Yeah, it has been a long and crazy day. I’m wiped,” replied the Unicorn, “Night, I guess.”

“Hope you sleep well. Tomorrow we’ll get your hooves wet,” said Pinkie while Twilight walked into her room. Sunset Shimmer and Shining Armor waved good night, but neither said anything or diverted their attention from their game. To Twilight’s surprise, the room somewhat resembled her own back in her Universe. It would have been an exact copy if it weren’t for the fact there were no windows and no floors below. The floor was wood, as were the nightstands and bed frame. Even the blanket she had with stars and other celestial bodies was present. She was too exhausted to think too much about. Twilight crawled into her bed and quickly fell asleep.

Author's Note:

If you were confused as to what was different about Shining Armor from the Prologue, look no further.

Perhaps this little bit will clear a bit up. Take the show's Universe, and make the following changes for each character to get the Universe they came from.

Pinkie Pie: PP=Pegasus, TS=Unicorn
Shining Armor: PP=Pegasus, SA=Mare, TS=Unicorn
Sunset Shimmer: PP=Pegasus, SS=Earth Pony
Twilight Sparkle: SS=Celestia's star student still, TS=Unicorn

If it cleared things up, great, if it didn't help, oh well, and if it made you more confused, whoops.

I am going to be completely honest: I don't have a storyline necessarily planned out for this like I do with my other story. We'll just see where this leads to, shall we?