Itinerarian (CRISIS: Equestria, Part 1)
A few weeks ago...
Trees of Harmony rarely know fear. Entities of their type are almost always calm, collected, and have faith that their chosen will come through no matter how bad the situation gets. Evil falls, darkness is purged, and harmony is invariably restored.
It did not lose its confidence when its chosen Elements inexplicably vanished into another world - it was confused for all of a minute before it figured out exactly what had happened to them. There were other heroes in the realm that could deal with the chaos that was about to break free, the Tree would make sure of it. Weak though it was without its Elements physically present, it knew the world would not be overcome with darkness. It had worked too much for that.
But then something returned that wasn’t its chosen Elements. A thing that tore at the fabric of reality with a horrid, disgusting darkness mixed almost evenly with a brilliant light of holy righteousness. A creature of balance - balance that did not belong to it.
Or, rather, him.
He teleported right to the Tree of Harmony and it knew what he was going to do the moment he arrived. It would not be able to stop him in its weakened state; it would fail. It had never known true failure, but no amount of direct harmonious attack would do anything to him.
The Tree of Harmony was afraid.
The invader seemed to notice this as he arrived, despite the Tree of Harmony giving off no indication of its emotions. He was an alicorn, taller than any the Tree had ever known, graced with a beauty rivaling that of Celestia. The luster of his silver coat only enhanced the well-toned nature of his form, reflecting the golden glow of his mane. It was almost disappointing that the majority of his nearly-metallic body was hidden by thin red-and-black armor that was more decorative than practical. However, this sleek body was only secondary to his face: an extended horn shaped into a perfect cone between two eyes of brilliant gold.
He was smiling.
“You are this world’s manifestation of Light,” he said with a sensual, persuasive voice that was both calm and commanding. “But you represent harmony more directly… surely you can understand?”
The Tree of Harmony understood, but it would not be caught dead assisting this monster in his deluded ideas.
“I must admire you for your integrity. Even knowing what’s coming, you stand fast.” He hefted the one object he had teleported with him - a statue of Discord - and set it next to the Tree of Harmony. “Unlike this whelp, who has been begging and pleading ever since I arrived.”
We could do great things together, you and I! Discord spoke telepathically. Think of it, chocolate rain, cotton candy clouds… and you can make the ponies appreciate it! It’s win-win!
“So childish for one granted the power of a god…” the alicorn shook his head, unable to keep the lines of disgust from his elegant face. “I will gain no pleasure from the destruction of the Tree, but you deserve all that comes your way.”
The Tree of Harmony tried to call out to him, to speak to his essence. He did not have to do this.
The alicorn looked at the Tree. “You will not let me leave.”
The Tree of Harmony would not.
“Then this, while not strictly necessary, is nonetheless beneficial. I am sorry. Perhaps you should have taken more direct control of the situation. You’re even worse than Harmonia in that regard.” With his magic, he carved a circle in the ground around the Tree and Discord’s statue, dividing the circle in half with an ‘S’ shaped mark. He surrounded the circle in various otherworldly rune markings the Tree didn’t know the origin of.
This did not mean the Tree didn’t know what they were. They were marks of power absorption.
The alicorn continued drawing with his magic until there were six more circles arranged around Discord and the Tree, each one with a single rune that represented an Element of Harmony.
The Tree begged for him to leave the six alone. He did not need their power.
“They have been a thorn in my side for far too long. They were able to follow me once. They will not be doing so again.”
You’re going to kill them!? Discord asked, appalled.
“I doubt it,” the alicorn said as he finished the runic markings. “But the result matters little, in the end.”
He sat down in front of the circle for Magic and waited. Discord kept talking to him, but he pushed the Lord of Chaos out of his mind. The Tree, conversely, didn’t try anything. Not yet, anyway.
It knew something the alicorn didn’t.
“You have a plan,” he said.
The Tree of Harmony didn’t attempt to deny it.
“We’ll see who’s better soon enough…”
Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Discord groaned. Really, who needs to be flashy?
“Such hypocrisy,” the alicorn said, shaking his head.
I’m the Lord of Chaos! What about that isn’t chaotic? Y- the alicorn tuned him out once again… and waited.
He did not have to wait much longer.
Twilight Sparkle teleported before them with the other Elements in tow and a blue-green unicorn holding a borrowed magic pocket watch. “Lord Silvertongue,” Twilight said, the Element of Magic glowing brightly on her head.
Silvertongue smiled warmly. “Twilight Sparkle… a unicorn with more aptitude for magic ability than any other. I am honored to be challenged by one such as you.”
“She’s not alone!” Rainbow shouted, the rest of the Elements chiming in with a “Yeah!”
“How inconsiderate of me,” Silvertongue admitted. “Naturally, you come as you are, together. It could not be done any other way.” He turned to the seventh pony. “Chronomancer Tick Tock… your presence continues to be both a blight and a blessing. I’m curious, how did you follow me?”
Tick Tock snorted. “Are you daft? I’m not telling you jack!”
“A wise precaution I cannot fault you for,” Silvertongue admitted. “Still, you must hav-”
“LIGHT HIM UP, GIRLS!” Pinkie shouted, prompting the Elements to shimmer with a rainbow of colors. Silvertongue moved to raise a shield, but he found that he couldn’t move. Tick Tock was holding out her pocket watch, tapping into its magics with her horn to slow time around him. He was not given the chance to react.
The rainbow of Harmony hit him dead on, passing right through his physical body and directing its holy energy upon Silvertongue’s essence. The two sources of his power, one of Darkness and the other of Light, responded to the assault by mixing together, forming a balanced neutral power. The Dark power, having been slightly larger than the Light, left behind a tuft of noxious energy that the Harmonious energy purged instantly, driving a sharp pain through Silvertongue’s body.
He refused to let himself scream. He took the pain with no more than a grimace.
The rainbow released, and he remained unharmed. Ever-so-slightly weaker than before, but perfectly balanced.
Perfect.
He broke out of Tick Tock’s time spell. “Thank you, that’s exactly what I needed.”
“Bleedin’…” Tick Tock grimaced. “Plan B!”
Twilight nodded. Instead of tapping into harmonious energy, she channeled her own magic through the Element, alone, attacking Silvertongue with a beam of pure arcane Magic. It was far stronger than it should have been…
But Silvertgonue was able to raise a shield this time. “Curious… you are not draining power from the Element or the Tree. But it’s not all you either.”
“Friendship is magic, Silvertongue,” Twilight said, holding hooves with her friends. “You stand alone.”
“A curious theory.”
Twilight smirked.
Silvertongue raised an eyebrow. “What amuses you so?”
“Trade secret.”
How’s it feel? Discord asked. They won’t give you anything, and you are at the mercy of ‘friendship.’ Disgusting, isn’t it?
“I find it rather beautiful,” Silvertongue admitted. “But you are quite mistaken, Discord. I am not at the mercy of this power.” He flared his wings and tapped into a purely Dark power, grabbing hold of the physical Elements and tearing them off the six ponies. Twilight tried to hold onto hers, fixated on the starburst tiara with all her might.
She pushed herself as far as she possibly could - but eventually, her horn gave out. There was an explosion of arcane energy and Twilight Sparkle fell to the ground, releasing control of the Element of Magic to Silvertongue.
“Twilight!” her friends called, rushing to her.
Silvertongue grabbed all six of them in his telekinesis. At first, they struggled, but a simple paralysis spell froze the mares in place. Pinkie was inexplicably immune, but he could handle her by forcing an absurd amount of magic onto her.
“You’re not going to win,” Pinkie said, narrowing her eyes as she was set in the circle of Laughter. “You’re the villain. Villains lose.”
“And you’re the heroes,” Silvertongue said, sending a laser behind his back to destroy Tick Tock’s pocket watch before she could try something else. “I’ve seen into the Chronomancer’s devices, you six are common across the worlds. Such a shame mine was not graced with your presence, you would all be quite interesting to know. And now that you’re here, the time for that is long gone.”
Pinkie grinned. “Flags of defeat everywhere. Villain monologues… evil sentiments… the more you talk the more convinced I am that you’re going down.”
“Such certainty… It seems illogical to assign roles of ‘hero’ and ‘villain’ to the world, but considering everything that has happened in recent memory, it would be foolish of me to dismiss you. Not that I would have celebrated prematurely, mind you. Such a thing would be foolish.” He set the other five ponies in their circles. “I do wonder what your ‘Plan C’ is.”
Tick Tock glared. “You blew up Plan C,” Tick Tock said, pointing at the broken pocket watch.
“Then ‘Plan D’, or whatever letter indicates the order of your thought processes. Pinkie here may be able to send a false flag of hope, but you cannot. You have another plan laying in wait. The fact that I have no idea what it is impresses me, but also assures I am on guard for every possible eve-”
“LIGHT HIM UP, GIRLS!”
A female voice, angry, but full of energy. The Tree felt recognition and surprise cross Silvertongue’s face before the dark gray blast of energy hit him dead on.
Six mares glowing with a not-quite-dark but not-quite-light energy had just teleported in, holding each other's hooves. Two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies who had a passing resemblance to the six mares frozen in the magic circles but with different colors and demeanors. In the lead was a small, red pegasus with fire coming off her hooves.
Their power was neutral, as Silvertongue’s was, and as such he could not be immune. He could not keep himself from screaming in pain as the brute force of their tight bond burned at him. Unlike the other six, he could not use dark magic to debilitate them. They did not lean toward Harmony in nature, they leaned toward themselves.
Embarrassingly, he’d have to resort to raw power to resist them.
He unleashed a beam of silver energy that far outclassed their murky assault in appearance. The beams held each other for a moment.
“My children… why do you seek my end?” Silvertongue asked.
“We cannot allow you to do zis,” the blue earth pony said, glowering. “We ‘ave ‘ad enough of your lies, Silvertongue.”
“No ‘papa?’ Hmm… loyalty to me completely purged. Let me guess, Harmonia? She would give you freedom…” Silvertongue shook his head. “You have forsaken your purpose.”
“Buck our purpose!” the red pegasus shouted. “Buck anypony who wants to tell us what we are! We are OURSELVES! And we’re getting rid of you so we can stay that way!”
“Then so be it.” Silvertongue pushed forward with his full power…
The Tree of Harmony focused on Discord. This was their chance.
Okay, fine, but I’m only helping you this once because it’s in my best interests. It’s not like I like you or anything.
Pinkie and the dark pink pony attacking Silvertongue giggled.
The Tree of Harmony and Discord tapped into their weakened power, attacking Silvertongue from behind with a mixed assault - neutral, almost perfectly so.
Silvertongue shouted in pain - and then laughed. “Finally!”
The magic circles beneath the Tree, Discord, and the Elements of Harmony activated. Silvertongue allowed himself to be assaulted so he could throw the physical Elements back into the Tree, completing it.
For a moment, the Tree felt complete, its Elements returned after so long.
Then its powers were shunted directly to Silvertongue, along with Discord’s and the six mares’.
“I may be old, but I do learn from my oversights,” Silvertongue said, pushing the attack from his ‘children’ away. He was heavily marred by the attack, blood running down his legs and neck. “I was unable to use Harmonia’s power while I was draining her. That is not the case this time.”
The red pegasus raged. “Who the buck cares!? We’ll take you like this! We’ll take you any time, anywhere!”
“You sorely overestimate your own power.”
“Oh no…” Pinkie said, drawing the attention of Silvertongue’s children. She - and the other five Elements - were turning to stone as their power was drained, as was the Tree of Harmony.
“GIVE IT EVERYTHING!” the red pegasus demanded. In addition to the dark energy of their unity, they attacked with fire, void, gravity, blood… and Silvertongue’s own energy.
Silvertongue turned to the black unicorn, the child blessed with the power to copy that of others. She had the potential to tear this down… But she was not draining Discord and the Tree.
He focused his attack on her, tossing her back.
“Insipid!” the blue earth pony shouted. The jarring attack ruined their unity. They ran to check on their friend - their sister.
Silvertongue brought the physical manifestation of the Elements of Harmony to him. “Time to try these out…”
“LOOK OUT!” Tick Tock shouted.
The Elements of Harmony sent out a rainbow that was somehow ugly, jagged, and inconsistent. It swept over the six attackers, Tick Tock, and everyone within the ritual circles.
When the light cleared, Silvertongue’s children were piled off to the side, groaning in pain - they had been mostly unaffected. Tick Tock had been turned to stone, as had everything in the ritual. Despite being solid stone, the Tree of Harmony still maintained awareness.
The ritual wasn’t quite done. With a final flash, it tapped into the last of Discord and the Tree’s energy, creating a circular tear in reality that led to a green pasture of another world.
“Equestria III…” Silvertongue said. “One step closer.” He lit his horn, shattering the statues of both Discord and the Tree of Harmony, ensuring they would never be reformed.
The essence of the Tree of Harmony felt itself fading - its six heroes were stone, unable to keep it rooted in reality. All it could do was call out in desperation to the other six… give them the will to do something.
“It pains me to do this…” Silvertongue said, turning to his 'children'. “But you followed me once. I can’t take the chance that you will again.”
“Some father you are…” the red pegasus spat.
“You shouldn't be surprised.” Silvertongue’s spell readied. He aimed…
The Tree of Harmony’s essence screamed for something to be done.
The gray pegasus heard it. She grabbed hold of the Tree of Harmony’s last energy and stood up, using her control over gravity to throw Silvertongue through his portal before he could do anything. She forced the portal closed - and collapsed.
The clearing contained six exhausted mares and seven pony statues.
“...This world is without an anchor…” a dark purple unicorn breathed. “It… it will fall to the energies of the Void…”
“Then we make him fix it!” the red pegasus declared.
“We can’t follow him this time.” She glanced at the statues of the once Elements of Harmony. “It required both of us…”
~~~
Silvertongue’s expression was unreadable.
He had progressed.
But he had left a loose end behind. One that he couldn’t easily deal with at this juncture.
They would try to follow him. Without access to the Elements of Harmony, they likely would have difficulty, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility that his ‘children’ would find another way to make it through. Silvertongue knew little of the secrets hidden within Equestria IV, for all he knew there was some source of power that had nothing to do with Chaos and Harmony they could use to breach the boundary between worlds.
Either way, he should work fast. He had appeared outside a town that looked nearly identical to the Ponyville of Equestria IV he had passed through no less than two hours ago. The only major difference?
“Wow, looks like you drew the short straw, huh buddy?”
Not a single one of the ponies was looking at him with the respect and fear he deserved. The earth pony who had spoken to him had a look of pity on her face, of all things.
“The short straw…?” Silvertongue asked, legitimately confused.
“I mean… it’s not the worst it could be, but you’ve got a pretty heavy edgy alicorn OC vibe goin’ on here. I bet you’re glad you’re not red and black.”
Silvertongue still had no idea what was going on, but it was probably best to pretend as though he did. “It is something I’m immensely thankful for, such colors would be… detrimental were they in my coat.”
“Still, seems you got the ‘super pretty’ thing. Bit much if you ask me, stands out. I can totally understand why you kept yourself hidden until now.”
This mare apparently did not see him leave the portal, or at least thought it was some kind of teleportation ring. “It may seem to you that my appearance was thrust upon me, but believe me, I work to keep my appearance as proper as possible.”
“Huh. Had you shown up about a week ago, I would have told you to go to Rarity. But, well, seeing as the whole ‘everypony’s a human’ thing happened, not exactly sure who cares about the ‘pretty stuff’, y’know?”
Human? Curious. A thing that isn’t a pony that everypony is. Public knowledge, so it would not be prudent to ask about such things, at least not in the view of others.
“Thank you for your time,” Silvertongue said, backing away. “I must be off, unfortunately, business to attend to.”
“I’d imagine so. Bet you’ve got all kinds of overpowered magic in you, the tinkerers can probably think up all kinds of stuff to do with you. I’d tone down the ‘glory to me’ aura, though, that’ll just get you laughed at.”
Silvertongue nodded curtly and teleported to the edge of town. Already the gears in his mind were turning, but he didn’t know enough to take any action just yet. He trotted up to the Everfree Forest and stood behind a tree, examining Ponyville from afar.
Just his luck, an orange-maned earth pony was trotting near the forest edge, carrying some carrots in a basket. He teleported her to him, sealing her mouth shut. “Do not be alarmed, I only need you for a moment.” She was alarmed anyway and he saw no purpose in wasting effort to calm her further. He touched his horn to her head and saw her whole life. It was definitely too much to take in at once, but he caught the highlights easily enough.
What he found within blew him away.
This entire world had no ponies in it - every last ‘pony’ had actually been a ‘human’ at one point and through some bizarrely contrived series of events, was forced into the body of a pony. Each ‘pony’ had a unique story for how they became a pony ranging from ghost stories to strange godlike beings to… there were so many Silvertongue couldn’t catalog them all. The mare he was talking to, Carrot Top, had fallen down a rabbit hole and ended up here.
So many of them didn’t make logical sense.
There was more… first of all, the world hadn’t even figured out, publicly, that every pony was a human until a few days ago.
Second of all, there was talk of a show… My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic...
He tore his horn away from Carrot Top, baffled. She was so useful, and yet so useless. So much had become clear to him, but she knew nothing of the implications of a show existing that directly chronicled the events of a universe.
The events in his life as of late had been a lot like some sort of drama. Servants that had previously never failed stumbled over themselves when dealing with the Elements of Harmony. The Elements themselves were immensely lucky in their journey. He himself had often wondered if there was some kind of force at play…
What he saw before him surely had to be impossible without such a thing. Which… certainly shed light on what Pinkie had said earlier. Not to mention the multiverse was clearly much larger than he or the Chronomancers had ever thought.
This might change my plans… if Equestria Prime isn’t the true center… it may be time to re-evaluate.
Silvertongue started to wipe Carrot Top’s memory of the incident. He never got to finish, for a periwinkle pegasus kicked him in the side of the face, tossing both him and Carrot Top out of the tree.
“Stop right there villainous scum!” the pegasus declared in a bombastic voice that grated on Silvertongue’s ears for being so arrogant.
Silvertongue spread his wings, glaring at the pegasus. “Ponies learn quickly never to interrupt me when I’m thinking. If they survive long enough to do some thinking of their own.”
The pegasus snorted. “Me? Think? You’re joking. You’re supposed to be smart, right? Take one look at me and tell me I think hard.”
Silvertongue looked him over - and smirked. “Ah, the local Chronomancer. It appears Time Turner did get off that warning message. It was the muffin mare, wasn’t it? Such a shame, that will make things a little bloody.”
“Oi! You ain’t going nowhere or doing anything. Clockwork’s gotcha right where he wants you - that’s me, and you’re doomed.”
Silvertongue glanced around, looking for any sign of a trap. He found none - just a few ponies with odd mental signatures staring from the distance. It would have been preferable not to have witnesses, but Clockwork had decided to confront him here. No doubt the Chronomancer would have valuable intelligence within that mind of his, though.
“I see nothing,” Silvertongue said. “The ponies here have curious pasts, but they are still just ponies. You feel exactly like the other Chronomancers I’ve known. What is your trick, Clockwork?”
“I know something Headquarters doesn’t. Imagine that!”
“Let me guess, the human thing?”
Clockwork furrowed his brow. “Y’know, it’s not the same now that the world knows everything. Reminds me of the time I discovered an alien mind control network in the bowels of Space York City. Quite a doozy, that one.”
“Attempting to distract me by referencing your impossible backstory?”
Clockwork glared at him. “The one time I get to do something that actually matters, I get a bloomin’ killjoy. Wot’s your issue, can’t you be a proper villain?”
“Recent information suggests I should attempt to be quite the opposite.”
“...Wot?”
Silvertongue smirked. “Go on. What’s your plan? I sense a need in you to ‘monologue’.”
“...Bah, fine.” He folded his wings and put on a cocky smile. “The multiverse is a lot bigger than you or the other Chronomancers think it is, chum. We humans came from a wide variety of worlds, worlds outside the reach of Equestria Prime. And it just so happens that a little white unicorn from another world dropped by here not too long ago.” He held out his pocket watch and smirked - already he had slowed time around Silvertongue so he could not react. “I’ll tell the Chronomancers I sent you to the Void, keep it hush-hush. Don’t need to be shattering their worldview just yet, y’see? But you won’t be coming back. One-way trip.”
The pocket watch flashed with a magic it was not designed to contain, tearing a white-ringed portal in the sky behind Silvertongue. It did not lead to Equestria IV or Equestria II - it led somewhere else, beyond Chronomancer understanding. A vast city that sprawled in every direction, including on the sky.
Clockwork laughed. “Gotcha, buddy.” He flew at the slowed Silvertongue, ready to buck him through.
Silvertongue chose this moment to reveal he had broken the slow spell and grab Clockwork in his shimmering telekinesis.
“BLAST!” Clockwork shouted. “Don’t think this means you’ve won, Chronomancers are ready to defend Equestria Prime to the last breath. W-”
“Save your breath,” Silvertongue said, turning to examine the portal Clockwork had created. “By creating this portal you have saved Equestria Prime.”
“Wot?”
“You’re the hero, Clockwork. I now have an avenue of escape to the larger multiverse…” Silvertongue’s smirk became a psychotic grin. “Equestria Prime is small in the grand scheme of things. Here… there is more.” Silvertongue stepped through the portal. “I doubt I will return.”
“Good!” Clockwork said, smiling awkwardly. “Good riddance!”
“While that may be true for most Chronomancers…” Silvertongue dragged Clockwork through with him. “You’re coming with me.”
“Wh- hey! Let me go l-”
Silvertongue shut him up with a spell. “I’m sure your mind will be very useful, Clockwork.”
He stepped through the portal to the vast city. The portal closed with a pop.
~~~
PRESENT TIME
Celestia City had a bridge. Actually, it had many bridges, but this wasn’t one of them. It was the sort of bridge you found on ships. Not romantic ships, but ships that traveled water and space and...
The Pinkie Pie manning the sensor array shook her head, focusing.
Celestia City had a command center. It wasn’t manned at all times, only when the city was either moving or under attack of some sort. The latter happened more often than Merodi Universalis would have liked, but it was still uncommon compared to how often the city moved, which was sometimes multiple times a week.
Today, they were moving; and then they wouldn’t move for an extended period of time since this move was special. Earth Shimmer had finally been declared stable due to the Reality Anchors and they were going to drop by for an extended visit. There would finally be a direct connection to Merodi Universalis and all the talks, interactions, and exchanges both parties had wanted to do for so long were finally going to happen.
It was an exciting time.
It was also nerve-wracking since it was no secret that the universe would likely implode in on itself if things went terribly wrong. Everyone was sure the Reality Anchors could keep the universe stable even if Shimmy herself vanished a short time, but they couldn’t exactly test that theory out.
Celestia City was coming. All projections showed that it would work. Nothing bad would happen.
Everyone knew better than to trust 100% certainty. The mood on the command center was tense.
The bridge was also packed full. While usually there were maybe a half-dozen people in there running Celestia City directly, today there were a few dozen. Mayor Blumiere himself had come down to oversee the process, his wife Timpani clinging to his arm. She was a human, Blumiere was decidedly not - a creature of dark blue complexion with a white top hat and a monocle that accentuated his wise, ancient eyes.
Cinder Belle found him a little creepy at first, but after Blink had introduced her an hour ago she discovered Blumiere was like a kind old grandpa. No wonder the people of Celestia City kept re-electing him. He apparently stepped down on purpose every few years just to let another mayor take over, but the people inevitably voted him back into office later. He was a powerful man, to be sure, on the level of a universal representative - just below the Overheads and their Seconds. And on the City, while his word wasn’t exactly law, it was certainly close to it.
There were a few other important faces Cinder recognized. Corona, Second of Research, was standing to the side of Blumiere, trying to lay the feathers on her wings flat with her fingers. Evening, Overhead of Relations, was there as well - looking over an immense checklist with Flutterfree. Evening looked stressed, Flutterfree looked amused at her stress.
Oh, and there were numerous Sweeties in the room. All the founders that weren't Suzie and Burgerbelle were there, walking around, talking to ponies, making sure everything was going fine.
Cinder and Blink sat in the back of the command center, apart from the other Sweeties. Cinder had wanted to be on Celestia City when it moved, and Suzie had arranged for her to be in the center of the action when it happened. Cinder had been immensely grateful at first. But now…?
“Enjoying the front row seat, Cinder?” Allure asked, trotting over to Cinder and Blink. Equis Vitis’ Sweetie was small for a full-grown unicorn, ever-so-slightly shorter than Cinder herself. A silver artificial horn sprouted from her forehead, the only feature on her that distinguished from other standard Sweeties.
Cinder blinked. “You remembered me?”
“Suzie speaks very highly of you. All the time. I swear she’s obsessed or something.” Allure chuckled.
“Ah.” Cinder smiled awkwardly. “Well, to be honest… There appears to be a whole lot of not much happening. I’m just… standing here, watching you all perform pre-flight checks for the umpteenth time.”
Allure smirked. “Well, we’re actually done now. We’re waiting for the ‘OK’ signal from Shimmy now.”
A large orange ‘OK’ appeared on several of the bridge’s screens.
Blumiere cleared his throat. “Very well… helm?”
The human at the helm let out a sigh - he knew what was coming. “Yes…?”
Bulmiere pointed a finger and smiled. “Engage.”
There were a mixture of groans and chuckles from the bridge. Cinder didn’t get it.
Celestia City lit up and created a vast portal in front of itself, taking all of a second to create a massive ring dozens of miles wide. On the other side was, all things considered, a perfectly normal looking blue Earth, slightly more saturated in color than the norm. Celestia City activated its drives. There was no fire or impressive burst of energy visible from the outside, only a slight rippling effect that was hard to see against a dark starry background. The City drifted through the ring. A few uneventful minutes later, they were on the other side. The ring popped closed, but it didn’t make any noise in space.
“Success,” a human researcher said. “We’re here.”
There was silence on the bridge.
“That’s IT?” Cinder asked.
Blink nodded. “Yep. Things went completely as planned. If anything interesting happened… you wouldn’t want anything interesting to happen.”
“Well I mean... I guess.” Cinder frowned. “It just felt… more monumental, you know?”
“The fun’s just begun,” Shimmy said from behind Cinder.
“AUGH!” Cinder fell over, backing away from Earth Shimmer's arbiter of reality
Shimmy winked at her.
“Shimmy,” Eve said, walking up to her and bowing. “We are honored by your presence.”
“You knew I was going to be here.”
“True. Still, it’s an honor.” Eve smiled. “So, how about before we jump into all the boring politics, I show you around our city?”
Corona coughed. “I already agreed to give her the tour.”
“...Oh.”
Shimmy put an arm around Corona’s shoulder. “Yep! In fact, we had this planned since the Reality Anchors were installed.”
Eve pulled out her checklist. “How did I miss that?”
“Stress?” Flutterfree suggested.
“Eh… probably.”
“The U.N. is waiting for you,” Shimmy said. “I don’t need to be there for that paperwork show.”
Eve smirked. “I can handle a bunch of stuffy humans.”
“With magic?”
“Oh yes, that usually makes it easier.”
“Good luck.” With a flash of light, Shimmy and Corona vanished somewhere into Celestia City.
People started filing out of the command center - the City was done moving, who needed to be there anymore?
“...Huh,” Cinder said. “Well, that was… disappointing.”
Blink shrugged. “Want to go back to Swip and the others?”
“Nah. Something is going to happen here, I’m sure of it. We should stick around, see what it is.”
“It might have nothing to do with us.”
Cinder smirked. “Do you really think that?”
“You’re the one with the mind for this stuff. What do you think?”
“I think… we need lunch.”
~~~
Lunch turned out to be in a diner on Celestia City that specialized in ‘shakes’. Shakes made out of ‘anything you could possibly want’.
Cinder thought this silly and asked for something made out of bricks that actually tasted good.
She got it. A soft reddish milky shake made of bricks that… well, it tasted like bricks, but somehow not disgusting and with just the right amount of sweetness.
“...If they can make bricks taste good…” Cinder blinked.
“Maybe they could make meat taste good?”
Cinder raised an eyebrow.
“What?” Blink chuckled. “It’s an option!”
Cinder rolled her eyes, looking at the “Shake ‘n’ Shake” sign right above them. The establishment itself wasn’t actually a building, but a large hovering food cart and a bunch of tables set out on what was effectively Celestia City’s sidewalk. When the Sweeties had arrived the tables were mostly empty, but now they were filled with a decent number of Earth Shimmer humans, identifiable by their brightly colored skin and curious pony-inspired features. The shake chefs were a little overworked, but people didn’t seem to mind - most of them were gawking at all the wonders of Celestia City.
Including two very familiar looking ponies - a Rarity and a Twilight. The Rarity in question had a pink pendant around her neck, a blindfold, and some signature scars on her flank while the Twilight was an alicorn, an identical pendant around her own neck. They saw Cinder the moment she saw them. “Cinder!” They said in unison; as if they were one being.
“Hey!” Cinder called, waving them over. The two trotted over. The moment they arrived at the table, the light in their pendants went out and Rarity removed her blindfold. “Well, can’t say I was expecting to see you here on the first day! Isn’t this a treat, darling?”
Twilight nodded. “Of course! Haven’t seen you for… a few months, actually!”
“It’s only been a few weeks on my end,” Cinder said. “The bizarre nature of drifting time!”
“Uh, you’re the two from the enchanted library, right?” Blink asked.
Rarity pecked Twilight on the cheek. “Is there any doubt?”
“Hey, just because a Rarity is macking on a Twilight it doesn’t automatically mean it’s you two.”
“Mhm…” Rarity chuckled. “Brook, don’t go getting any ideas, you hear?”
“I would never…”
“Oh, naturally, but I’m referring to that head of yours. Goes too many places for its own good.”
“...Good point.”
Cinder looked at them. “...’Brook?’ Did you choose names?”
“Choice. What a novel concept,” Brook said, fixing Rarity with a playful glare.
“I tried to name her Booky,” Rarity chuckled. “You know, after the legend of Princess Booky from our world? Ended up being Brook. Finalized it last night, actually.”
“Day two of the honeymoon, we already have different names.” Brook rolled her eyes. “I still think we should derive yours from Princess Dress.”
“Sequin is derived from that!” Sequin huffed.
“In a relational sense, not a phonetic one.”
Sequin tossed her mane back. “It’s not like we’ve gone and changed our names legally.”
“Yet,” Blink said.
“It is probably inevitable,” Brook admitted.
“Brook can’t leave your libraries alone,” Sequin said, letting out an exaggerated groan. “I said we should wait to go to Celestia City’s database, but I caught her sneaking away last week…”
“Two days ago by the City’s clock, isn’t that interesting?”
“Yes, but you’re deflecting.”
Brook blushed. “Eheh… I said I was sorry!”
Sequin pecked her on the cheek again. “I know. But I have to get my frivolous revenge somehow.”
The two devolved into giggles.
Cinder let out an ‘awwwww’ from the cuteness. Blink just groaned.
“And here we have a wide variety of reactions.” Brook said, pointing at them. “The romantic, and the not.”
Cinder nudged Blink. “Come on, it’s cute.”
“I live in a League of Sweetie Belles,” Blink pointed out. “I am inoculated to cute.”
“Travesty!” Sequin declared, aghast. “We must find something even cuter than us to break down this barrier! Darling, suggestions?”
“...A baby?” Brook offered.
Sequin blinked. “We need to be more creative than that.”
“Baby puppies?”
Blink lowered her glasses - prompting Sequin and Brook to jump at her blank eyes. “I’ve seen it all before, ladies. Saturate yourself in cuteness for too long… nothing is cute anymore.”
Twilight pulled out a new phone she’d probably had all of a day.
Sequin sighed. “Brook, put that awa-”
Brook cleared her throat. “Internet says there are beings that force a cute emotional response despite not, from a visual standpoint, actually being cute. There are extracts made from these creatures th-”
Blink grabbed Cinder. “Save me.”
“Nope!” Cinder giggled. “This is great. You can’t handle the cuuuuuute!”
Sequin finished making Brook put the phone away, turning to Blink. “Hmm… Do you, by chance, have a stallion in your life?”
“What? No!”
Cinder frowned - she detected more hostility in that than there should have been. “Blink…?”
“Ah…” Sequin sat back, smiling sadly. “Forgive me for asking.”
“It’s… it’s fine.” Blink shook her head. “New topic. Those necklaces?”
“They allow us to share our minds,” Brook explained, eager to move away from the awkward upset. “It requires a ridiculous amount of trust to pull off.”
“Romantic?” Cinder asked.
Brook shook her head. “That… certainly helps, but Eve and Flutterfree dropped by and tried it, they were able to execute it just fine. It works long distance too.”
“It works better long distance,” Sequin chuckled. “When we’re both in the same place things overlap and one of us needs to wear a blindfold or the headache is… well, it’s not exactly pleasant, let’s leave it at that.”
“It’s still worth it…”
“That goes without saying…”
Before they started what was no doubt to be an impromptu makeout session, Cinder coughed. “Ahem. Sooo… what do you two have planned?”
“Honestly? Nothing!” Sequin giggled.
“She made me leave my checklist at home…” Brook pouted.
“Psh, it’s good for you.”
“I know…”
“Regardless, just wandering around Celestia City is amazing! Every day we head out, find something random, meet new people and ponies and…” Sequin squealed. “It’s just an unending stream of beauty!”
“I learn new things every day!”
“We even got accepted into the Carousel and Census!”
“You might want to watch the Infinite Carousel,” Blink said. “They tend to… stretch the law. The League butts heads with them a lot.”
“A bunch of Rarities breaking the law all the time and fighting with their sisters…” Brook glanced at Sequin. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Sequin sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, they did seem very… business-minded.”
“Anything about the Sparkle Census I should worry about?” Brook asked.
Blink shook her head. “They’re cool. They just like paperwork way, way too much. You’ll be fine.”
“The place was almost nothing but libraries…”
Sequin closed Brook’s hanging jaw. “You’d be surprised how much I have to keep her from drooling.”
Brook shot her a look. “Remember the Rarity for You location?”
“Shushushush.”
Cinder chuckled. “Well… mind if we take you around for a day? Blink and I are sticking around until something happens anyway, might as well catch up - only if you want! It is you-”
“Of course!” Sequin grinned. “We can spend a day getting a tour by the denizens of this very city!”
“I don’t live here.”
“I do!” Blink said, smirking.
“Aren't you from Skaia’s Dream?”
“Yeah. Ever tried to keep a house in that place? It’s a dream. Piexe is the only stable place and I don’t want to hear Meenah’s ‘GLUB GLUB’ puns every day. Trolls are annoying, trust me.”
Brook coughed. “We were talking of going down to the planet today, Sequin. New world and all.”
“Oh.” Sequin blinked. “Right, right…”
“We can introduce you to some people down there too!” Cinder said. “We sorta know Shimmy, and there’s Skuldie, Mister Discord…”
“AHA! MY ARCH-NEMESIS! WE MEET AGAIN UNDER THE MOST UNUSUAL OF CIRCUMSTANCES!”
Cinder facehooved, unable to keep a smile from her face. “Ah…”
Cryo, the Sweetie with the ice-blue eyes, trotted up to the table and pointed at Cinder. “I challenge you to a duel!”
“Would this be a duel with a children’s card game?” Blink asked.
“...What?” Cinder, Sequin, and Brook said at the same time.
Cryo understood exactly what Blink was talking about. “Maybe later, the Emperor’s favorite game can wait! I’m talking about a real duel, fire vs ice, right here, right now!”
Cinder shook her head. “I’d love to! Later. I’m taking these nice mares on a tour of the city and probably introducing them to some people on Earth Shimmer. We can meet up later.”
“Later? Later…” Cryo frowned. “When I see you later… I’ll be even stronger!”
“Going to go through a training montage?” Blink asked.
Cryo nodded slowly. “Yes… training montage…”
“I hear Mattie’s good at those.”
“A teacher… a…” Cryo’s eyes lit up. “That’s it! Cinder, when we meet again, you will not only face me, but a TEAM! We shall be rivals!”
Cinder was having a hard time keeping her laughter down. “S-sure Cryo, I look forward to it.”
“Just you wait! I’ll make an amazing team, better than yours - with blackjack! And hookers!” She laughed maniacally and ran out into the street, soon out of sight.
Sequin was blushing. “Does she… know what she’s saying?”
“Nope,” Blink said, obnoxiously slurping her shake.
“I’ve heard that phrase several times now,” Cinder muttered. “What is a hooker?”
Sequin blushed harder. “Uh…”
Brook held out her phone, open to a dictionary definition of the word.
Cinder blushed. “Oh. Oh.”
Blink chuckled. “You all need to loosen up a bit. It’s just a word.”
Sequin huffed. “Yes, well, Blink, dear, now the entire establishment is giving us weird looks.”
Blink waved a hoof. “Uuuuuunimportance field! As far as anyone’s concerned, we’re not even h-”
An ork sat in Blink’s chair, passing right through her. “I want a shake o’ grog.”
Blink phased out of the chair, sighing. “Maybe we should start that tour.”
~~~
A portal opened on a shoreline. In the distance, there was a large cliff that rose high into the air, upon which a city sat, a brilliant golden barrier protecting everything within. The buildings themselves were heavily damaged from a recent attack, but even from a distance airships could be seen repairing things within the bubble.
Celia, Nira, Squiddy, and Seren stepped out of the portal. Before it closed, though, a woman’s voice yelled “WAIIIIT!”
The Sweeties turned back to the interior of Swip to see Rachel running to them.
“Rachel, dear, you want to come?” Celia asked, surprised.
“What? No!” Rachel laughed. “I’m here to spend time with Swip ‘on the job’.”
“Ha,” Swip declared. “You guys don’t rate.”
“But I did make you all cookies!” Rachel tossed a box through the portal that Celia caught in her telekinesis. “You can eat them all, I’m making too many. Swip’s kitchen is amazing.”
“Thanks!” Seren said, levitating out a cookie and biting into it. “...This is just like mom makes…”
“Glad you like i-”
Rachel was cut off by the portal popping closed.
“I get the impression Swip wants us ‘out of the house’,” Squiddy chuckled.
Celia nodded. “She definitely does. Too bad she can’t get rid of Burgerbelle now. I expect we will hear of many vague antics when we return. It’ll be a good bonding experience for them.”
“Mmm…” Nira muttered.
“Someone’s grouchy!” Seren said, making a ‘tut’ sound. “Turn that frown upside-down!”
“You’re cheery today,” Nira said, pulling her cloak closer to her body. “Clearly, we should head to the only sign of civilization.”
Celia nodded, glancing at the barrier city.
“What can you tell about it already?” Squiddy asked.
“Pony-based, magitech, recent battle,” Celia reported. “They’re used to getting attacked or at least threatened a lot given the barrier’s presence. But they do welcome visitors - there’s an elevator right there leading to an outer dock.”
“I take it we’re not riding the elevator all the way up the cliff?”
Celia chuckled. “Of course not. Hold on.”
In a flash, they were in front of the city gate, right where the elevator would have dropped them off. Above the metallic gate was a round, digital screen.
Celia pressed a button. “Hello?”
“Name, please,” a bored stallion said from the screen.
“Chalcedony, Celia. This is Squiddy, Nira, and Serendipity.”
“Hey.”
“Greetings.”
“Hi!”
“Right, guess you’re not robots. Head on in through the gate, you’ll take the second on the other side.” He yawned.
The four of them entered, doing exactly as they were told. The moment they entered the second gate they found themselves in a large room filled with ponies - the vast majority of whom looked like they had just been through hell and back. Most were covered in dust or grime, and a few were suffering from injuries.
Celia noticed that all of them were wearing clothes, a sign she had learned to look for after traveling the multiverse for so long. Squiddy and Seren always wore clothing, and Nira had her cloak. Celia quickly conjured up a simple white blouse using her Gem. She made no effort to hide her gemstone.
When they first walked in, nopony paid them any mind. But all it took was one kid pointing at Squiddy and asking ‘what is that!?’ for everypony to stare at them with jaws hanging open. None of them said anything directly to the Sweeties.
Celia had seen this response so many times she didn’t even dignify it with a reaction. She walked to a screen on one of the far walls and pressed the ‘push to talk’ button. “Hello again.”
The stallion appeared on the screen again. “Right… None of your names are on the waiting list.”
“Oh, they wouldn’t be,” Celia said.
For the first time, he actually looked through the screen at them. “Do you have somepony to vouch for y-” he stared blankly at Seren and Squiddy. “What in the…?”
“Let’s just say we’re visitors from a faraway land and would like to talk to somepony who… might know what to do with us.”
The stallion was still staring at Squiddy and Seren.
“Ahem,” Nira coughed. “Do you mind?”
“Right, right.” The stallion shook his head. “Just my luck, eh?” The screen went dead.
Celia conjured herself a chair. “Get comfortable, girls, we might be here for a while while the bureaucracy sorts itself out. Nira, if anypony will let you, go around and heal some injuries. I doubt they’ll respond well to non-ponies such as us.”
Nira nodded, stepping away from them. “I know healing spells!” she declared. “Who needs them?”
A few stumbled toward her - but most stayed back, even some who had serious injuries. The majority of injuries were caused by normal traveling difficulties in harsh terrain - scrapes, bruises, broken bones from falls… but there was also evidence of toxic poisons, magic infections, and gashes created from monster claws. Clearly, the journey to this place was a harsh one.
She briefly wondered what the city was called. To her surprise, she didn’t have to ask to find out, the stallion appeared back on the screen, looking shocked.
“Uh… Queen Blackburn wants to see you.”
Celia raised an eyebrow. “That was quick.”
The stallion nodded, just as surprised as she was. “...Welcome to Hope’s Point, eh?”
“Thanks for being so welcoming.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re getting a full security contingent and you’re going to have to surrender any weapons. And… I’ll just let the soldiers explain it when they arrive.”
“Par for the course, really,” Celia admitted, sitting back down in her chair. “We know how this goes.”
The stallion wasn’t sure what to make of that.
~~~
Zircon, a proud zebra warrior whose reputation had been going through a bit of a nosedive recently, trotted down the stairs to the dungeons of Zeb’ra’den. He was to figure out what the prisoner knew through any means necessary, and he viewed this as a chance to regain his honor. The zebras of today may not have been quite as fixated on honor as they had been in the past, but it certainly had been a drain on his mental resources lately.
Not to mention the whole ordeal a few weeks ago with Silvertongue, Harmonia, Blackburn, and those mysterious mares…
Being the only zebra survivor carried with it a paradox. Tenacity, but also a failure.
If he was being honest with himself, he was only going to look at the prisoner because it was expected of him. He would have much rather have gone out and sat in the snow for a while. The dungeons were just as cold, after all, but there was a distinct lack of the white beauty of Zeb’ra’den down there. Just stone and fog for breath.
He approached the bars of the cell. Normally, it would be hard to see down there, but this particular prisoner gave off enough light for everyone present to comfortably see each other. She was a white unicorn with a gemstone-studded crown on her head… and a pair of ethereal wings that weren’t part of her body.
“I was beginning to wonder,” she said, fixing Zircon with an annoyed expression. “You’re lucky I’m more than just the Crown on my head. It would not have tolerated being in a dungeon for so long.”
“Your arrogance is clear to see
And yet it shall not set you free.
I have many questions to ask:
Answer or be put to the task.”
Zircon leaned in, eyes narrowing.
“You accessed magic you should not
And this disturbs me quite a lot.
From whence you come, your purpose too,
And I must glean just who are you?
Crown bearer, answer me this all
Lest I ensure your crown will fall.”
“I am the Crown Princess, I am here to warn all possible worlds of Merodi Universalis, and I appeared next to the Beacon because that’s just where my portal appeared. It was a coincidence, I assure you.”
“Such knowledge you claim to present...
From another realm you are sent?”
“I am. A traveler of the multiverse, if you will. I will leave your world the moment you listen to what I have to say about the other worlds…”
“I do not know of Merodi
But your claim is no news to me.
The Chronomancers watch this verse
Though a tragedy makes me terse.
A threat to many has been sprung
One who is called Lord Silvertongue
The Crown Princess furrowed her brow. “What are you doing to stop him?”
“And what do you think I can do?
I witnessed these events, 'tis true
How he absorbed our great goddess
Became more and left us as less.
Yet he has gone beyond my gaze
To conquer realms in his mad craze
And the thirteen who hounded him
Are too beyond horizon’s rim.”
Zircon eyed the strange alicorn carefully.
“You claim to walk freely between
Realms of kinds I have never seen.
And you claim to come here to warn
Of a threat betwixt verses born.
So I find a thought presented:
Show me you are not demented!”
He pointed his hoof at her.
“The way you move from place to place
Beyond our time, beyond our space
I must in fact demand to know
How it works, how it could be so
For my people I shall request
That you tell me this power blest.
If you do, then your bonds and crime
Shall be washed away in no time.”
“I’ll do you one better,” the Crown Princess said, smiling. “I will help your people find this Silvertongue and defeat him. Tell me everything you know… and I will tell you all I know.”
Zircon nodded - thoughts of interrogating the prisoner were far behind him. He was now fixated on righting the evil that had plunged their entire world to travesty. With this newfound ally… they would find Silvertongue and bring him to justice.
And they would save Rarity and her friends from whatever he had done to them.
His only hope was that they still lived after all this time…
~~~
The blue earth pony Curaçao looked at the frozen statue of Rarity. Even Fluttershy’s expression wasn’t quite as terrified as this unicorn’s. In many ways, she was Curaçao’s opposite. She had never tried to hide her emotions.
And here Curaçao was, staring at her horrified face.
That is where truth leads.
“Curie! What are you doing?”
Curaçao turned around to see one of her sisters trotting up to her - Insipid, the gray unicorn Silvertongue had bashed aside in their last encounter.
“Just examining ze ‘orror of our friend ‘ere,” Curaçao said, frowning.
“Aren’t they, like, all terrified?”
“Oui. But she shows it. Ze others… zey put on a mask of false fearlessness.” She glanced to Fluttershy, whose expression was one of trying to be brave. Trying.
“Even Applejohn?”
“Applejack,” Curaçao corrected automatically.
“Oh, right, sorry. Still working on the names thing, yeah.”
Curaçao nodded. “She ‘ides as well. For all ‘er ‘onesty, She keeps zings ‘idden for ze sake of ‘er friends.”
“Like you!”
“She doesn't manipulate zem,” Curaçao sighed.
“Uh… like, so? You’re getting better!”
“Per’aps… Per’aps.” Curaçao turned to Pinkie’s statue, where Red Velvet, a dark pink earth pony, was having a tea party with the party pony statue. A tendril of blood came out of Velvet’s back, holding the tea to Pinkie’s mouth.
“I know you can’t drink it, but maybe you can smell it!” Velvet said.
Pinkie made no response, but Velvet giggled anyway. “I knew it!”
“It baffles me ‘ow she retains her abilities…” Curaçao observed, looking Velvet up and down. “Ze power here… is different.”
“I’m different!” Velvet called, waving an excited hoof. “You two wanna join us for tea?”
“Ew, no, you probably put blood in it,” Insipid gagged.
“Only in mine! And it was animal blood, I’m over the whole pony thing, remember?”
“...I’m still passing,” Insipid shivered.
Curaçao held up her hoof too. “I am not in ze mood to interact with your counterpart’s statue in a… tea party.”
“Aww…” Velvet frowned. “Grayscale?”
The gray pegasus looked up from the magazine she was reading. “Huh?”
“Tea party?”
“If you bring the tea over here.”
“Yes! Hear that Pinkie? We’ve got a trio! Just gotta move you over th-”
“DON’T MOVE THE STATUES!”
Everypony turned to stare at Havocwing, the small but angry red pegasus who currently served as their leader. Curaçao had once shared the position with her… but Curaçao wasn't about to let herself into that position again, and none of her sisters had asked for her to do so aside from Insipid, who was admittedly a special case.
“But Havocwing…” Velvet whined.
“Starlight needs to keep the magic running between them perfectly if we have any chance of following Silvertongue!” Havocwing spat. “We’ve been waiting here for weeks and I’m not waiting here another week because you wanted to play dress-up with your original!”
Velvet huffed. “Nopony understands us, Pinkie…”
“That’s the truth,” Grayscale said.
“Maybe I can have a long-distance tea party…?”
Grayscale shrugged. “Don’t see how that’d work, but sure.”
“By my mane, the cacophony you perpetrate...” Starlight Shadow said. She was a dark purple unicorn with a curled mane. Currently, her horn was alit with a powerful black light, controlling a series of magic rings in the air. Behind her there were the princesses of the world, Celestia and Luna, boosting her power with their own Light and Dark magic.
“Do they have to shut up?” Havocwing asked. “I can order them to shut up.”
“A mild annoyance will not interrupt the spell,” Starlight admitted. “Altering Pinkie’s statue will.”
Velvet sighed. “Fine… Grayscale, think fast!”
Grayscale lifted a wing and batted a teacup away with a gust of wind. “...Right. Forgot. No gravity.”
“Hey, our powers may be weak from being in this world so long, but we’re still the best!” Havocwing declared. “Silvertongue will have the same problem! We’ll kick his face in!”
“He may not, given his mixture of essences of power,” Starlight said. “We must not underestimate fath-” she caught herself, twitching in annoyance at herself. “Silvertongue.”
“How close are we to done?” Insipid asked. “We’ve been waiting, like, forever.”
“Almost,” Starlight said, focusing on Insipid. “Insipid, I need you to copy my power and bolster my efforts. I am weakened just as you are, but together we should be able to break through the boundary.”
Insipid nodded, trotting up to Starlight. There was a soft zap as Insipid touched her, gaining the abilities of Void magic. She lit her horn with the dark energy and doubled the power input to the magic circles.
A few seconds later, the circles all aligned - the light of day covering half, the shimmer of night on the other. Celestia and Luna stopped pouring their power into it. The circles shook and rumbled, tapping into the remnant energies of the six mares’ statues. Space-time tore through the center of the six, opening to a green grassy area Grayscale had thrown Silvertongue into a few weeks ago.
“Go, my little ponies,” Celestia said, holding out a hoof. “I am surprised Silvertongue has not managed to complete his plans already. He could at any moment, you cannot afford to waste time.”
“Your world is in danger of falling into the Void,” Starlight declared as she approached the portal. “You may not be able to stop it.”
Luna nodded. “We are aware. We will do what we can - but your mission is more important. There is more than one world hanging in the balance on your path.”
Havocwing nodded. “Thanks, Princesses. Now…” She cleared her throat. “YOU HEARD THE LADIES! LET’S MOVE!”
All of them scrambled through the hole save Grayscale, who lethargically trotted over. She was slow enough Starlight teleported her through. They appeared on the grass, ready to face their ‘father’.
Curaçao frowned. “...’E’s not here,” she observed.
“Was here, though,” Starlight said, closing her eyes and feeling the magic of the world. “Was. He must have moved on…”
“At least we know the spell, now,” Velvet said. “We can just find magical power in this world and go to Equestria II!”
“Nah, you’re not going to be doing that.”
The six of them turned around to see a small purple dragon flanked by several changelings. All of their horns were glowing.
Starlight lit her horn. “We mean you no harm…”
“Yeah, I’m not going to let you work me over.” The dragon crossed his arms. “The last guy who came through here was literally named Silvertongue. Not chancing it.”
“You know where fath-” Starlight stopped herself again. “You know where he is!? Where!?”
Spike shrugged. “I have no idea. But seeing as I'm doing that ‘Chronomancer’s’ job now, looks like you’re about to find out where he went.” The changelings finished casting the spell, creating a portal with much less power than Starlight had just used.
“What…?” Starlight said, baffled by the ease of portal creation. “How i-”
In their confused stupor, it was easy to push the six of them in - especially since they were easily outnumbered by the changelings.
For a split second, the six sisters felt like they were floating in empty space… and then they weren’t, landing painfully on a metallic sidewalk next to a street.
“Have a good family reunion!” the dragon called.
And then there was a pop, preventing them from getting back to the grassland.
“Dammit!” Grayscale swore. “We can’t…”
“Calm, un amie,” Curaçao said, holding out a hoof to her. “We are not off ze track.”
“What?”
“We are exactly where we need to be. The Chronomancer pushed Silvertongue ‘ere… somewhere.”
“...I can feel him,” Starlight said, shivering. “He was here. Recently.”
“Zen zis is not a setback,” Curaçao declared.
“Right!” Havocwing declared. “This is actually us getting lucky! We’re gonna find him and we’re gonna burn him!” She pushed her hoof into the air, launching a fireball. “Hey, SWEET! Powers are back!”
“Powers?” Velvet chuckled. “Guess you’re all back to being like me! It’ll be…” Velvet paused. “Oh no…”
“What is it?” Starlight asked.
“I can feel the fear again… all of yours… all the people around us… I…”
Grayscale put a wing around her. “Hey. We’ll help you get through it. Okay?”
Velvet swallowed hard but nodded.
“Hey. I have a question,” Insipid said, raising a hoof.
“Yes?” Havocwing asked.
“Like, where the hell are we, cha?”
The six of them looked around, confusion rising the more they tried to parse what they were seeing. Magitech more advanced than anything any of them had ever seen. City in all directions that was equally dense and happy. Ponies and other creatures wandering around as if everything was normal.
They were all stunned into silence as they absorbed all the colors around them.
Had there not been a helpful sign right in front of them, they might not have ever gotten an answer to Insipid’s question.
Welcome to Celestia City!
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Now we will see how the mean six got to merodi, and hopefully how they became an expedition team :D.
aww seasonal 1 is over!
9703823
pfft, not yet, we got seven more chapters in CRISIS before we get to the actual end of... "season 1".
-GM, master of they're called arcs.
9703827
I know, still Diend looms near...
Now I wish brick milkshakes were a real thing. I'm not proud to admit it, but I have eaten both chunks of brick and chunks of concrete. Despite being really hard to chew, they tasted pretty good. A concrete flavored shake would honestly be pretty great (as long as there aren't any actual chunks of rock in it)
Never read crisis but understood enough to not get lost. If you are saying its a great fic i probably should read it. I wanted to read it some time ago but couldnt really get myself to start. Now that school is over for me i probably will have time for it.
Wow. That was good. I love it. Nearing the end of Arc 1. Maybe you could title them based on what it contained the most of compared to the other arcs.
And over 80,000 words!! You're a mad man. You may one day hold record of most words written on this site.
Have fun on your vacation!!
It's pretty amazing that this will technically become the canon ending the CRISIS story.
FINALLY!!!
Missed this as a draft because i'm behind on everything so i guess I get to read this one published.
If she shows up with literally any Blackjack I'mma scream. Hookers optional, though they may contextually be appreciated.
And done. So this is that big one you warned us about that I never got to. And as with... About 90% of the stories used for LSB thus far I am not familiar with the source material. Unlike the others I actually recognize a few things here. Not just the callbacks to other chapters either.
As a side note, I like Zircon's rhyming and verse. Speaking from experience that can be a hassle to do, and oft goes unappreciated.
I don't quite get why this is happening. As somebody who stopped reading this so they could read the entirety of CRISIS: Equestria, if this chapter is a continuation of that story, then why did starlight and co. immediately blast him? Last I checked, starlight and the girls had the intention of questioning their father, and nothing more.
In addition, why does silvertongue greet twilight when they had already met mere minutes ago? Silvertongue already knew the extent of twilight's power, when she shielded one of his blasts head-on, so I don't see why he would comment on it again.
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The intention is that a bit of time passed between the 'cliffhanger' of CRISIS: Equestria and this moment. Enough time for Starlight's group to either be convinced of what Silvertongue is doing, saw him once, etc. After all, Silvertongue has already grabbed the Discord statue and enough information to know where the Tree of Harmony is.
-GM, master of dots.
You know... that diner could make a story in and of it's self...
Trying to convince the Ka that he's the hero? Impressive.
Ohboi....
Ahh, a parody world then.
Ah, No Ponies in Equestria.
It’s not his fault, really. He just started fighting above his weight class. Stupid cultural bias towards results above skill.
Her! That's not a good sign.
Unless... maybe. She might turn out of use, of ill, or of both. Only time can say.
An excellent start. Funny, efficient setup and exposition, and a reasonable chapter length.
Yes, chapter length. My greatest issue with CRISIS was its unnecessarily long chapters. I had such a hard time finding time to sit down and read 30,000 words, and it wasn't like Songs, with long chapters because the story has obvious breaking points.