Rise Of the Dragon Queen

by Mystic Sunrise

End Of the Universe

The universe was no more. All that now remained of the world of Equus, and all of the countless other worlds and species that once made up this side of the multiverse, was a black tear where once the universe stood.

A shapeless mass soon began to take form, its eyes glowing in front of the tear. Soon the mass began to take on the form of Tiamat, the last survivor of the dead universe. But now she was far larger than she had once been, her eyes glowing for a moment until fading to normal.

Atop the head of each dragon, sat the head of a pony. Pumpkin, Lavender and River. Each atop the head of a different dragon. Twilight’s own head was on a fourth dragon's head. Atop the crimson skull, was Pearl’s own head. Each appeared to be asleep, their pony heads smiling as their body fully formed.

Pearl opened her eyes first, and immediately assimilated and subsumed her sister's and lovers' minds into her own. They all moaned in delight and pleasure at the feeling of being one once more, cooing as Pearl rubbed her heads together.

"It is done," Pearl said in her fivefold voice. Like the others, her eyes were filled with age and memory that went beyond her apparent age. Gone was the filly she once was, though she still looked it. The same held true for all of them. None of them were the same as they once were.

Looking around, though, Pearl was stumped at what she was supposed to do next. Living past the end of the universe had been unexpected, but she welcomed it. They all did. But now what? She didn't plan this far ahead. None of her lovers had. She could feel it in their merged hive mind.

Before she had taken more than a few steps forward, however, something halted her in her tracks.

“Halt!” A boundless voice boomed through the void as another shapeless mass with glowing eyes appeared in front of them. “You dare to tread on the sacred realm of the gods and hope to leave it alive? Foolish."

Pearl trembled as they slid to a stop. So much so that she dissolved back into five minds. The mass slowly took the form of a large multi-headed dragon that resembled Tiamat but was far larger. All five mares blinked as atop the head of each dragon, sat the head of a pony.

The girls were surprised as they saw themselves. Twilight, Pearl, Pumpkin, Lavender, and River. Each atop the head of a different dragon. Twilight’s mind seemed to have halted as she saw her own head on the fourth dragon's head. But all five were surprised when the lead head lowered down, showing that atop the crimson skull. Was Pearl’s own head. Just like the five of them.

Was this what others felt when they saw them for the first time? No wonder those freakouts happened.

“It is forbidden for any to come here.” Pearl’s head spoke with a deep voice. Like the others, her eyes were filled with the very image of infinity. And held little compassion for mortal beings. But softened slightly as she gazed at all of them “You are all of my own creation. And…" She paused in surprise.

"Who are you?" Lavender asked, giving voice to all of their thoughts. "What are you?"

All ten heads smiled. "I have many names. Countless if you will. And just as many titles. But you may call me Lumena if you like. I had forgotten about this and the five of you."

"And what would that be?" Pumpkin asked, not liking any of this. "What is this place? How did we get here?"

Lumena spread her wings. "This is the Void. The space between universes, and what is left when a universe dies. In time, another universe will grow here, before it too dies. So has it always been. So it will always be."

The girls all shared confused looks. What the hay did any of that mean? "Then what happens to us now?" Pearl asked, not liking any of this or the looks in Lumena's eyes.

Lumena's Pearl head smiled as she touched her snout to hers. "That depends. All of you are immortal. Nothing short of the end of the multiverse itself will kill you now. Other universes exist out there. Many where Tiamat does not exist. Observe them if you will. Or go where you will."

Twilight suddenly felt how dry her mouth was. Having long ago learned to control her acid, she still hadn't been able to completely get rid of frequent dry mouth in either her pony or dragon form. "I could use a drink if it's all the same to you girls."

River nodded. "Same. Feels like I haven't had a drink in centuries. With interest."

The others rolled their eyes, while Lumena's heads only smiled. "Come. There is a place where you can get all of that and much more. Very few know of this place."

"What is it?" Lavender asked.

In response, Lumena touched them with both of her wings, and together they vanished, leaving the tear behind. But soon, it too faded away into nothing. Leaving a blank void behind.

---

When the girls could see again, they had appeared in what looked like the Common Room of a bed and breakfast inn or rest stop on Earth. But with a variety of ponies (some of whom the girls recognized from their own world) alongside humans, this was not Earth. "Where are we?" Twilight asked.

Oh, and they had somehow been returned to their pony forms. Even though they didn't remember wanting to turn back into them at that moment. Strange.

"Welcome to the Inbetween Inn!" Announced an energy being, an alicorn version of what looked like...

"Pinkie Pie?" Pearl asked.

Energy Pinkie Pie nodded. "That's me! I'm from a universe where we all ascended to a higher plane of existence. The Tenth Dimension in fact!"

Twilight's brain hurt. This was definitely Pinkie Pie if she had this effect on her. "So we're between universes? I didn't think that was even possible. Even after all of this."

Pinkie shook her and pointed out a nearby window. "Not quite. We're between multiverses! Take a look."

The girls did, and their jaws dropped at what they saw. At first, what seemed like galaxies soon were revealed to be something more entirely.

One looked like a giant tree. Another appeared to be in the hands of a gigantic human (a few actually). Another had a gigantic, sixteen-armed version of Sunset Shimmer using twelve arms to hold onto it while her remaining ones fixed cracks in it.

Another had four massive beings, two of which Twilight could only describe as serpents and her mind refused to acknowledge further, and two massive Alicorns, one white and looking shaped like a nebula and the other looking like the night sky shaped like a pony, looking over it. Another galaxy consisted of twelve gigantic orbs circling a central point, appearing to be two sets of six matching ones. Another seemed to simply be strange shapes assembled around a single point in the center.

And so on and so forth, and those were simply the ones they could see clearly. "Okay. There's something you don't see every day." River shook her head, in awe that she was looking at entire multiverses.

Pumpkin meanwhile looked around the room. At one table was set a human with brown hair wearing a red shirt and black jacket, a magenta camera hanging from his neck, eating with a young woman with long brown hair (a small white mechanical bat floating around her), and a young man with middle length black hair wearing a jacket. All three were Japanese.

Another table seated a young human boy wearing a white hat that made her think of a bear and wearing a blue shirt, a sword sheathed on his back, and talking with an odd-looking yellow dog. Across the table from him looked like gender-flipped versions of them, though the dog's alternate self was a white cat.

Another table seated Button Mash, Sweetie Belle, and Rumble, all three wearing odd clothes. At another sat a Sweetie Belle counting strange crystal shards. Still, another was home to an older, black-haired human wearing a white lab coat and looking at a watch.

There was also...Doctor Hooves sitting with Derpy and talking to what looked like the versions of them from Sunset's universe and humans who merely resembled the Doctor. There were also eight or nine different Pinkie Pies. And that was just the start.

"So everyone here is a dimensional traveler?" Pumpkin finally asked, her brain unable to make sense of it all.

"They are," another version of Twilight said, materializing out of thin air. This one was an alicorn, however, a sight that boggled unicorn Twilight's mind. 10D Pinkie didn't seem to mind, however. "You get will get used to it after a while."

Pinkie nodded happily as she threw a hoof around alicorn Twilight's shoulder. "Long time no see, Lumey!"

Lumena, or so the girls guessed, shot the pink mare a look. "Pinkie Pie. What have I said about calling me that?"

Pinkie just smiled wider. "Oh don't be such a spoilsport, Lumena! You brought guests. Lighten up. Relax a little."

Lumena blushed while the girls giggled. "Are any of them evil?" Lavender asked, not totally trusting everyone in the room. No one seemed shocked to see them appear out of thin air as they had, or Lumena vanish as she did, so she was willing to not say anything.

10D Pinkie shrugged. "Eh, some of them. But they generally behave. Everyone here is just trying to relax for a little while before they get back to whatever they were doing before. Even villains need a break once in a while. Just as long as they don't start making a scene, or threatening everyone, they're fine."

The girls all shared a confused look. But they had long ago learned, the hard way sometimes, that when it came to Pinkie Pie, it was just better to go along with it and not question anything. "So how do we pay for anything? We don't have any bits," Twilight grumbled.

Pinkie giggled. "That's okay! It's all free anyway! Perks of being Tenth Dimensional! I can just create everything with a thought!"

Twilight smiled. No matter what or where Pinkie always seemed to know what to say when she needed cheering up.

"Anyway, enjoy yourselves! We have the best cooks in the Omniverse. Feel free to socialize! You might visit some of their worlds one day. You never know," Pinkie said with a wink and a nudge.

Lumena chuckled. "I will leave you, girls, to it, then. My work never ends, and there is something that needs fixing before two universes are destroyed. No matter what Shenlong might say otherwise. And he will be getting a tongue-lashing for this."

Before they could ask what she meant, Lumena faded away, as if she had never been there, to begin with. "Is she always like that?" Pearl asked after a moment. "And what the hay was she talking about?"

Pinkie could only shrug helplessly. "Don't know really. She's hard to talk to when she's in this kind of mood. And I mean more than usual. I think Shenlong is a dragon god of some sort from a bunch of different universes. Something to do with kitsunes I think. Which doesn't make much sense to me. And that's saying something! And we do get kitsunes in here a lot." She tapped her chin. "They always seem to belong to the same family. Different universes though."

The girls sighed. But staying here for a while did sound like fun. Who knew? Maybe there was something cool to be heard from their fellow travelers. Pearl was interested, though, in what Pinkie had said near the end. There was a certain nine-tailed pest she missed, and she wondered if this could be his family.

It couldn't hurt to ask anyway.

Author's Note:

Just a silly idea I had. The Inn was an idea Kendell2 (or Godzillawolf here) had for a story over on Deviantart by BrutalityInc. Thought I'd use it here since that other story will never be on this site apparently for some reason.

For those curious. One of those multiverses is in fact the Oversaturated world by FanOfMostEverything, one is the Dragon Ball multiverse, and another is the Adventure Time multiverse. They're the only three I know. And those were in fact the main trio of Kamen Rider Decade.

Comments

[GhostCreator]

So this is the end.
This was a quite good story.
Now...
Where are the rest!?
I can't wait!

[Mystic Sunrise]

11136314
Yep. What Lumena mentioned is actually a segue into something Valtyrian is writing. It's not out yet though.

[GhostCreator]

11136317
I meant the rest of your stories but ok...

[Mystic Sunrise]

11136364
... If you can't find them, then your not looking correctly.

[Ze1a7in]

11136317
So is there going to be a blog post on your profile when Valtyrian publishes that yet-unwritten story? Cause I'm suitably interested.

[Mystic Sunrise]

11136435
The story itself is done actually. It's still in google docs though, and I'm not sharing that. So you'll just have to wait for now. Might do a blog about it.

[Mystic Sunrise]

11148287
In the original draft, Twilight got the Red Orb actually. But I thought that was too easy. So, I gave it to Pearl.

11149312
She doesn't change the color of her heads. She changes which head is her central one. And she has access to five different breath attacks all at the same time. Each head has their own breath they can use individually or combine them.