Visible
"That... does explain things," human Twilight said once Sunset finished telling her about the vision. "So what did you tell my counterpart?"
Sunset dodged around the spotty foot traffic and patches of slush as quickly as she could manage while keeping her phone to her ear. "Basically, it's complicated and I'll explain in person. I'm on my way to CHS now. Sorry!" She practically pirouetted to avoid a man lugging several massive boxes. "I really miss teleportation," she grumbled.
Twilight replied with the high-pitched laugh that meant new information about magic had forced her to reassess her worldview, but she didn't want Sunset to feel bad about that. "W-well, with any luck, you'll be popping around spacetime in no time!" She cleared her throat and, somewhat less hysterically, said, "I'll let the others know the situation."
"Thanks, Twilight. I really do appreciate it. I'm not trying to shut you girls out, it's just panning out that way."
"I understand, and I'm reasonably sure the others will as well." After a moment, Twilight added. "Also, if this is the last time I speak to this specific instance of you, I just want to say it's been... enlightening. Thank you."
"Glad I could help," Sunset said with a smile. "When all's said and done, I'll see if the ETSAB can track down this worldline. I still need to say goodbye to everyone else."
"Right. So... bye!"
"Bye." Sunset couldn't bring herself to move the phone away from her ear, even as she crossed the street onto the CHS campus. If something went wrong...
After a few more moments, Twilight said, "Are you going to hang up first? I've fallen into this hole with Timber before, once I got him to communicate in something other than emojis."
Sunset sighed. "I'll have to. See you when I see you, Twilight." She finally put down the phone and, after one last moment of hesitation, ended the call. She looked at the marble plinth and held out a hand to it. Faint glimmers of light played along its surface as she got close.
"Didn't think I'd be able to do this again for decades." She shut her eyes. "Here goes nothing."
The passage through the portal was largely as Sunset remembered it, but for one brief moment that seemed to stretch out for eternity, she could see the higher levels of reality that had been closed off to her. In that transcendent instant, her shifting form resonated with the greater harmonies of the paracosmos, and her soul rose on astral wings.
Then she stumbled face first into the floor of the Ponyville castle.
Sunset sighed and got to her hooves. After she confirmed that the only bruises were on her pride, she turned to check her sides. No wings. "Really wasn't sure what to expect there."
"I expect an explanation," thundered Star Swirl. Given how his expression of seething rage almost perfectly matched Zeus's during Sunset's Olympian negotiations back home, it seemed an appropriate term.
"Oh, right, Star Swirl." Sunset nodded to the other pony in the room. "Hey, Twilight."
"Sunset. I'm afraid we have a lot to discuss."
"We do, just not how you think." Sunset turned to Star Swirl and tried her best to replicate the look she'd used on the god. "What in the name of Discord's dewclaw were you thinking!?"
His glower redoubled. "You dare speak to me like that, you—"
"You gave magic wishes and a compulsion to make them to a recovering megalomaniac. And you knew she was suffering from inadequacy issues. How are you surprised? You might as well have helped Luna pick out a new name for when she succumbed to darkness."
"Wait," said Twilight, "'she'?"
Star Swirl scoffed. "I thought you might at most make one wish. Either you would use it bring yourself closer to Twilight's level, or you would overcome the temptation and walk away knowing you had the strength of will to resist the simple solution and make your own."
Sunset snorted. "It was a little hard to resist temptation when the wishblossom practically grabbed her by the ears and shouted 'wish for something!'"
"'Her'? Sunset, why are you—"
"My experience with full specimens has admittedly been..." Star Swirl looked away from Sunset, if only for a moment. "Minimal. It is possible that I underestimated the allure."
"Why were you even exposing her to that allure in the first place?"
Twilight half-shouted, "Will somepony—"
"My intention was to follow the example of Princess Twilight and her friends." Said princess fell silent when Star Swirl's nodded towards her. "Generosity is a virtue in these times, especially in offering both inspirational and tangible aid to one's friends. Goodness knows I could have done more for many of my apprentices in that regard.
"But I didn't expect you to so shamelessly exploit that generosity." Star Swirl stomped a forehoof. "Half a dozen wishes, and yet here you stand, no different than yesterday! What nonsense did you even squander them on?"
"HEY!" Both unicorns jumped and turned to Twilight, who cleared her throat and scowled at them. "Sorry to break out the Royal Canterlot Voice, but I feel we should focus on why Sunset keeps trying to distance herself from making the wishes."
Sunset shook her head. "Wish."
"What?" the others chorused.
"Star Swirl was right. Sunset only made one wish."
"You are Sunset!" Twilight groaned. "Please tell me your Trixie hasn't rubbed off on you."
Star Swirl scoffed. "Never once have I heard of a wish using multiple petals. How do I know this isn't some absurd ruse? And even if it were true, how would you know about it if you were who you claimed to be?"
"I was able to convince this Sunset's geode to show me her memories." Sunset brought a hoof to her chest only to find nothing there. She looked around the room for a spot of orange that might have flown off when she arrived and found nothing. "They're, uh, sort of that world's Elements of Harmony—"
"Twilight has told me of them, yes. You have yet to convince me you aren't the one who so abused my trust."
Sunset grimaced. "I may not like that part of myself, but I still deceived everyone I knew for years. If I were lying to you, I'd tell you something much more believable."
"You will forgive me if your legacy as a scoundrel doesn't make me trust you more now," Star Swirl said as he rolled his eyes.
Sunset quirked an eyebrow. "All right." She stepped closer to Twilight, leaned in, and whispered something into her ear.
Twilight jumped back like she'd been stung by a wasp. "I never told you that! I never told anypony that!"
"You never told your Sunset. The Princess Twilight I knew told me after... Well, it's complicated. Believe me now?"
Twilight nodded hard enough to make her mane flop about. "Absolutely. Please don't supply any more proof."
"Hmph." Star Swirl still glared at Sunset. "Very well then, I will entertain this farce out of respect for Princess Twilight. What was this single wish?"
"That, for once in her life, Sunset could be the one to get supreme power." Twilight gasped. "And apparently that meant the Sunset who was using that power had to go somewhere." Sunset held out a hoof to Star Swirl. "I need to get back to my body so I can make sure my universe doesn't disintegrate, and you need to get the other Sunset back so you can tell her off. Let's work together."
"Hmm..." Star Swirl's expression softened. His gaze trailed off into the middle distance as he stroked his beard. "It is unprecedented, but the power of six petals brought together could certainly pierce the veil between worlds, much less displace two souls. But a single swap like that would take decades to erode the boundary between the worlds. Why would your entire universe be at risk so soon?"
"When I say supreme power, I don't mean political. I became my human world's Spirit of Harmony after magic almost tore the world apart, and I've worked to pull it back from the brink ever since." Sunset waved her still-extended foreleg. "Also you're leaving me hanging here."
"Ah, yes." Star Swirl bumped the offered hoof. "The course of action is clear. We must set things right, so that you may preserve your home and your counterpart faces a suitable punishment for her misdeeds."
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "And what about you dangling the thing that let her commit those misdeeds in front of her face before leaving her with it unsupervised?"
Star Swirl cleared his throat. "I... suppose I still have much to learn in the ways of friendship."
"Yes. Yes, you do. But speaking from experience, learning that you're capable of making mistakes is an important early step. Now, let's..." The sentence died in Sunset's throat when she turned to Twilight. "Uh, Twilight? You okay?"
She didn't look okay. Her wings drooped to the ground, and her ears and head were doing their best to follow suit. "I had no idea Sunset felt that way," said Twilight. "Looking back on yesterday..." She sniffled and shook her head. "How could I have missed this?"
Sunset moved next to her and gave her a friendly nuzzle. "Hey, it's not your fault. She didn't tell anyone, on either side of the mirror. She could barely admit it to herself under the wishblossom's influence." Sunset sighed. "I can only imagine what she's doing now. Maybe if we consult with the Tree of Harmony, I can—"
She felt Twilight flinch at the mention of the Tree. "Um, about that..."
The Punch Bowl comprised half of Discord's list of hot Ponyville party spots, but it wasn't exactly hopping before noon. Still, half-price wassail had a way of attracting ponies who'd normally never set hoof inside the bar before sundown.
"It's almost too quiet these days," Junebug said to Berry Punch between sips of bargain brew.
Berry shrugged, wiping down the counter in the way of bartenders across the multiverse. "Not really a bad thing if you ask me."
"I guess." Junebug gave a forlorn sigh that would work a lot better if she were actually drunk. "But it feels like Twilight took all the excitement with her when she moved back to Canterlot."
Berry snorted. "Starlight still lives in the castle, and now Trixie does too. We've still got plenty of excitement. Besides, it's always been a little dull between Hearth's Warming and Winter Wrap-Up."
"I suppose. But—"
An almost physical wave of sound came from the direction of the Palace-Tree, rattling the windows and shaking dust from the rafters. Only in the echoes did the mares register the words "Sombra what!?"
"See that?" Berry said as she started wiping off the fresh dust. "There's still plenty of life in Ponyville."
Twilight managed to look even sadder, mostly through tears in her eyes. "I... didn't want to write about it in the journal. Writing made it feel too real."
Guilt stifled Sunset's first response. She wasn't used to other ponies anymore; she felt like she'd kicked a puppy. A puppy who was also her girlfriend. After a deep breath, she managed, "Okay. So. The Tree of Harmony got shattered into a million pieces. Fine, then. Plan B." She marched out of the portal library, glaring ahead and daring something to stand in her way.
"Sunset!" Twilight called after her. "Where are you going?"
"Plan. B."
A bleary-eyed pony Trixie stuck her head out of one of the rooms. "Who set off Big Bertha? I didn't think I'd even put a fuse in her."
It took most of Sunset's self-restraint to weave around her. "Plan B!"
From behind, she barely made out "Sunburst isn't even here this week."
Once Sunset reached the map room, she magically threw open the doors, stomped to the table itself, reared up, and slammed her forehooves onto it. "Okay, Junior. We have a situation and your mom isn't available. We need an alternative. What have you got for us?"
"Who are you talking to?" Twilight said from behind her.
Sunset didn't even glance away from the inactive Cutie Map. "Your castle. What did you think was guiding you through this thing?"
"Sunset, that's absurd. The castle isn't—" The Map activated, and Sunset felt her coat tingle with harmonious magic. "What!?" cried Twilight.
Copies of Sunset, Twilight, and Star Swirl's marks floated off of their flanks and orbited a point in the Everfree Forest. A very familiar point.
Sunset finally turned to Twilight. "I thought you said the Tree had been destroyed."
"I... You... This..." Twilight shook herself out of her sputtering and snarled at the Map. "Begged you. I begged you for a mission for moons! And then you sent me to the back end of nowhere!"
"Twilight, you can yell at your house later."
"It's not even my house anymore!" Twilight began stomping around the Map, spouting assorted half-words and other irritated noises as her horn sparked in agitation.
Sunset shuddered at a sudden attack of perspective and turned to Star Swirl. "Was this what I was like a couple minutes ago?"
He shrugged. "Thereabouts. Hardly my first brush with a brilliant mind driven past the point of coherence."
Twilight completed a circuit around the table and cried, "Why am I only learning this after I moved out!?"
"You didn't ask," Sunset deadpanned. "Why is it sending us to the Castle of the Two Sisters?"
"Oh, that. Well..."
"Your students WHAT!?"
Berry Punch smirked. Junebug just rolled her eyes. "All right, all right, you've made your point."
"More wassail?"
"Please."
After a few more deep breaths and thoughts of the cautionary tale that was Twilight's behavior, Sunset ground out, "Okay. So. A bunch of kids made a clubhouse out of the Tree's corpse and that somehow got it to rejuvenate and take over the castle ruins. Sure. Fine. Completely logical. Anything happen to it after that?"
Twilight shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of."
"Great. Then let's go check it out." Sunset pointed at the still-circling cutie marks with perhaps more force than was strictly necessary. "Clearly there's something we can do once we're there."
Star Swirl raised an eyebrow as they left the room. "For a Spirit of Harmony, you are rather intemperate."
"I usually struggle against a constant urge to be calm and collected, so I'm overcompensating right now. Also trying to process the Tree of fizzling Harmony getting cheap shotted and coming back through postmortem desecration. That may take me a while."
That actually got a smile out of the stallion, or at least the suggestion of one behind the beard. "It took me some time to adjust to that revelation as well. Those six are an... interesting group. Perhaps even more so than Princess Twilight and her friends."
"Huh." Sunset thought about that. "Huh. Kind of want to meet them myself, but I do need to get back home as soon as possible."
"Couldn't you visit them in your Equestria?" said Twilight.
"You're kind of ahead of us. The changelings reformed barely a month ago."
Star Swirl glowered at that. Before he could say anything, a pegasus guard charged through the doors of the castle. "Princess Twilight! You're needed in Canterlot!"
She shook her head. "Multiversal emergency! I declare Councilors Applejack and Fluttershy co-regents until I can return to the throne. And the answer to any and all marriage proposals is no, but save the contact information of anypony who scores an eight or higher with me in the Cadenza Compatibility Matrix."
"Understood, Your Highness!" The guard saluted and turned on a dime, streaking towards the horizon.
"You've gotten good at this," said Sunset.
Twilight shrugged her wings. "It turns out ninety percent of leadership is just sounding confident."
"Yeah, sounds about right."
"At barest minimum," added Star Swirl.
"Any reason you didn't just move the capital to Ponyville?"
Twilight shook her head. "We were already changing national leaders for the first time in over a millennium. If I tried changing the capital city on top of that, ponies would riot in the streets." She gave a wry grin. "Besides, I like Ponyville. I'm not going to tip over Canterlot and dump all the politics onto this town."
"Fair. Let's roohhh Celestia that's cold!" The moment Sunset passed through the palace doors, she froze on the spot. Not literally, but it certainly felt that way. Winter in Ponyville was a lot more picturesque than human Canterlot; no blackened road slush, no dull grey skies, just artfully piled snowdrifts that sparkled like heaps of diamonds in the sun. But it was also much colder.
Sunset made a stiff, shivering turn and staggered back inside the lovely, magically heated castle. "Coat. Earmuffs. Possibly pants. Then let's roll."
The gallop through the Everfree was astonishingly uneventful. Sunset had read about the ancient forest, heard about the countless perils within. But now the path was clear and the woods looked about as dangerous as the human-world national park that shared their name. Even the wild weather was warmer than in Ponyville, making Sunset actually feel more welcome here.
"Nice place. Apparently."
Star Swirl nodded. "The imbalance is slowly healing after all these years."
"And most of the monsters are hibernating," added Twilight.
"There is that, yes."
"So," said Sunset, "back to business. I have an idea about how I can get to my world, but it's a long shot. Anypony else?"
"Well, we do have the creator of the original mirror portal with us."
"I made many more portals beyond the one in the castle. Most were destroyed shortly before my exile in Limbo, but I have not forgotten the art." Star Swirl scowled. "However, without a specific planar frequency to attune the gateway, there is no telling what world it will connect to."
Sunset could tell where this was going. "Let me guess. We need something from that world to get the frequency."
"Precisely."
"Fantastic. Well, it's definitely a plan. Keep thinking... about..." The trees ahead cleared, and Sunset's jaw dropped.
If the forest had been bizarre, the castle was downright surreal. It definitely seemed related to the Ponyville castle, but with actual foliage. It had more organic curves and fewer harsh angles than either the castle or the Tree of Harmony as Sunset had last seen it. And also a lot of balconies, looping staircases, and variously shaped windows.
Oh, and it had settled on the foundations of one of Equestria's oldest historical landmarks and had apparently eaten most of the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Couldn't forget that part.
After a few moments of staring, Sunset got out, "I am... really not sure how to feel about this."
"I'm still not used to it myself," said Twilight.
Star Swirl shrugged. "I am simply grateful that I had to hold back the Everfree for only a single week."
Sunset shook off her awe and made for the bridge. "Well, come on. Not sure what we'll find, but it's bound to be useful."
The inner courtyard wasn't any less disconcerting. The transition from ancient stone to freshly reincarnated harmony crystal was about as smooth as going from Namepending Castle to Twilight's front lawn. But Sunset recognized the tranquil energies wafting off of the structure.
She brought a hoof to a crystal wall. It was warm, and pulsed warmer at the contact. "Are you there, Harmony? It's me, Sunset."
A duplicate of Twilight manifested in front of the treehouse's front doors like a low-budget sci-fi hologram. "Hello, Sunset Shimmer."
Twilight made a sound like she was swallowing her own tongue. Star Swirl gave a thoughtful hum. Sunset just blinked and said, "Oh. Huh. You're... not who I was expecting."
"You were expecting this?" cried Twilight.
"Not you. The one I talked to was... well, taller. With a horn like a tree branch. Also a tree, a human, and a couple thousand other things at the same time." Sunset bobbed her head from side to side. "You kind of had to be there."
"I am a relatively young Spirit of Harmony," said the sparkling Twilight. "I am still learning how to interact in linear time. I chose this form because it was familiar to those I first spoke to. I found it pleasing to maintain it."
Twilight shuddered. "Is anypony else uncomfortable? Because I'm uncomfortable."
"My heavens." Star Swirl approached the manifestation, eyes wide. He circled it, lips moving silently, before settling next to Sunset. "When we planted the seed, I never imagined it would develop into a thinking being."
Harmony's smile widened a fraction. "Hello, Father."
Star Swirl flinched back. "Father?" He stroked his beard for a few moments before nodding. "Yes, I suppose. In a sense. I knew you would be my greatest legacy, but a child?" He sighed. "I fear I have little to offer in that regard."
"I don't mean to be insensitive," said Sunset, "but you two can hash out your relationship later. We're kind of in the middle of something right now."
Star Swirl cleared his throat. "Yes. Of course."
Sunset turned to Harmony. "So, any idea why the Map sent us to you?"
"We may be relatively young and weak Spirits but we can recognize one of our own. Even one trapped in an unready body."
Sunset nodded. That was an unspoken question answered. "So that's a no on the wings."
"She is close to the next step," said Harmony, "but she is not yet ready, and she cannot become so while you inhabit her form. Even if she were, I am still healing from my disruption."
"Great. So now what?"
"I cannot uplift you. But I can contact my fellow Spirit." Harmony's horn glowed, followed by its—her?—entire body. Just before the light reached blinding intensity, it shot off into the sky.
After a few moments, Twilight coughed into a fetlock. "So, um, now what?"
"I think I know," said Sunset. "That went to my Equestria, right?"
Harmony shook her head.
Sunset waited for further explanation. When none came, she said, "What?"
"It would be less efficient to contact that Spirit when the one we need is closer to another." Harmony's eyes flashed from within. "She is on her way."
"'The one we need'?" said Twilight. "Who is it talking about?"
Sunset looked up and smiled. "The only person I know who can reach us on such short notice from pretty much anywhere."
For a moment, Sunset wasn't sure if she'd found what she'd been looking for or just a trick of the light. Then the speck in the sky came careening down in a streak of silver and gold, slamming into the courtyard and kicking up more dust than Sunset had thought was even there. When the cloud cleared, it revealed...
A human girl lying face down on the crystal flooring.
"Oof. Okay, I officially give up on making superhero landings work. Thank goodness for crash resistance."
Twilight's jaw hung open. "Is... Is that...?"
Sunset nodded. "It is."
The spirit manifested in front of the girl. "Hello, Ditzy Doo. Your Sunset is ahead on the right."
"Huh?" Ditzy looked up, locked an eye with Sunset, and beamed. "Oh! Great! Thanks, uh..." Her eyes went further askew when she turned to Harmony. "... Holographic Ghost of Princess Twilight from the Future."
Harmony smiled. "I am a treehouse."
"Uh..."
Sunset walked up to Ditzy and offered her a hoof. "It helps to remember that one of the Elements is Laughter."
"Does it?" Ditzy said as she pulled herself up.
"A little." Sunset took a deep breath and braced herself as best she could. "Okay, Ditzy, how bad is it?"
"On a scale from one to ten? We need you home yesterday."
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oh, canon(or as close to canon as fanfic allows)Sunset is going to feel terrible about what's happening. Although with interplanar travel it seems possible Oversaturated Sunset could actually go back to the day before she left
I love that this line can exist.
After this chapter, I'm not sure which pony / person / sapient incarnation of Harmony is the most shocked and surprised by the events so far.
Well, now we have the planar frequency sample needed to make the magic mirror!
I wonder if it'll be as easy as it sounds...
How quickly can the mirror be made, but I assume Sunset will be traveling with Ditzy...
Or the other two Wishblossom Petals will be used as part of the solution...
And local Sunset had a heart-to-heart by Proxy.
...
Was that a Peter Pan reference??
I had wassail for the first time a little while ago. Good stuff, they sell it as a seasonal item at Trader Joe's.
Anyway, good chapter is good. Carry on.
Yup, that was definitely a Starswirl plan. Exactly the kind of thing he'd do.
Hmm if course their Discord's the one responsible for the orchestra. They only realise it as Ditzy points it out after her effect phase, because drama.
I wonder if only going back home is enough for her to get her powers back. It better should or they're rather screwed.
I wonder if "cannon" Sunset'll learn enough from this experience to become worthy of wings of her own. I hope so.
And I'm oh so curious about what did the Holy Bacon Horse tell Princess Twiggles to convince her so fast
Starswirl is like Discord. Even when he’s genuinely trying to be helpful the odds are he’ll wind up being a dick.
Hey now there’s a thought. Possibly twofold. Starswirl taking up following Discord over Harmony, since it’s much more his natural affinity. Element of Division, opposite of the Element of Magic. He could have been like Granny Weatherwax: naturally inclined to be the bad guy but overcoming that out of sheer cussedness. But now thanks to Fluttershy he can become a Discordian with a clear conscience.
And here we see things are really bad: Sunset Shimmer resorting to prayer :p At least she has enough backstage knowledge of how Harmony and associated cosmic beings work that she is very effective.
And Twilight is just left as flabbergasted as Sunset. I love it. And I especially like how she has marriage proposals vetted a Cadance analysis. Made with charts, because of course.
Starswirl trying and completely failing to chew out Sunset... good thing she stood up to him. The confidence of a goddess helps in these situations.
Sunset being appalled by what happened to the tree is good. I’m sure she takes that quite personally. Just keep telling yourself that it’s not post-mortem desecration. It was a tribute and transformation. Then again, that attitude may be a bit too Discord to come naturally to you.
Enlightening, Sci-Twi? Really? I mean I’m not sure Sunset would be averse to collecting an inter-dimensional harem of Twilights, but...
This chapter reminded me of why I believe you rock
Everything was properly paced, emotions were conveyed properly, and the culture shock of two very different timelines is affecting both sides of said lines. And it's also entertaining. VERY entertaining. And engaging, can't forget that
And the kazoo. Because Best Pony 
Oh boy, Canon!Sunset is in deep doo-doo, isn't she?
Oh, so those other pantheons. I'm sure that the Hindu gods are a bit more active, since they are both numerous and hardly forgotten. Ditto the Japanese ones. Hence Sunset's serious concerns about being called for one of them back when she was getting a summer job.
Heh, Sunset and the Olympians. After about twenty minutes of divine douchebaggery and entitled cosmic attitude? "Alright, lets get something straight. Back in the day Harmony may have tolerated you as the best of a bad lot. But I'm Harmony now. And if you get up to your old tricks I swear on MYSELF that the Gigantomachy will look like a temper tantrum, and not even Iris and Hestia together will save you from me. I've always thought this planet had too many mountains anyway. Are we clear?"
I mean she doesn't actually want to throw down with an entire pantheon, but she could and would, and Zeus needs to see she has the bigger stick before he'll be willing to talk sense.
Of course, this is assuming my pet theory didn't happen. Remember how Zeus ate Metis because their was a prophesy her kid would overthrow him? But then they thought they were safe because they got Athena and she was a woman? Never mind that she's goddess of wisdom and strategy and was born fully armed. She just played the long game. She's why it's an age of science and the other Olympians are derided as fools and tyrants these days. The ones who resisted her takeover, along with Zeus, are petrified and stuck on a volcano on Mars.
Also, "Holographic ghost of future Twilight"... Sailor Orbital showing again?
Sunset's first thought was that time had been altered; that could be really dangerous assumtion for Other!Sunset to make.
10059876
Twilight isn't narcissistic enough to enjoy herself, and they'd end up competing with eachother. That's super unhappy before the consequences of an army of magi tech mad scientists begin fighting over a girl.
10060028
I don't think she needs to be narcissistic to enjoy being with another instance of her. They're different people after all, despite the similarities. But if it does go wrong, yes, the results could be catastrophic.
Trixie, I'm not sure if she'd despise herself or they'd rant in synch about how this is a dream come true and do a synchronized smoke bomb straight to their bunk.
10060035
I'm sorry, I didn't mean her own company, I meant doing... harem-y type things with eachother. Though I wonder how much that'd be driven by ego anyway...
I also may not be sure exactly what kind of relationship harem's have with eachother and the... host?
Hopefully local Sunset wants to give back the supreme power. She did get what she wished for, after all.
Star Swirl being chastised, Harmony and Junior, and Best Pony. Yup, this chapter’s a winner.
Hoo! The crystal tree house, talk about a plot point the series just plain dropped after making a big spectacle of it and did not touch with even a ten foot pole after they put it there. Is it the Tree of Harmony reborn? Is it merely a memorial? Nobody knows!
It looks better than Twilight's tree castle though.
10059693
And somehow make sense.
The previous chapter was good, but this is glorious. And the kazoo capped it perfectly.
I enjoyed the characters' reactions to Tree. I wish we had gotten to see Twilight's and Star Swirl's reactions in canon, but this is the next best thing. Looking forward to the next chapter.
10059671
Sadly, time travel won't be an option. The Oversaturated World surviving that kind of causal hiccup would be a roll of the dice at best.
10059693
Same.
10059727
Definitely the local pony Twilight. Years! Years spent in that castle and she had no idea! She let Ember eat part of it!
10059745
Which part?
10059855
That's between Sunset and Twilight. And Twilight. And possibly Twilight and/or Twilight, depending on if that particular secret carried over to the human world.
10060759
Oooohh my!
10060759
I thought this might've been a low-key Peter Pan reference... Star on the Right, and traveling and stuff...
"Your Sunset is ahead on the right."
10059913
Glad to hear the pacing's working out well. That does tend to be one of my bigger weaknesses.
10060079
It was my understanding that harem members were neither expected nor obligated to be intimate with one another unless they wanted to be. They were basically coworkers, with the wide spectrum of possible relationships that that implies. Though I'm kind of in favor of mad science duels to win Sunset's hand.
10060255
It's pretty strongly implied to be a reincarnation of the Tree, but yeah, they really just kind of wrote it off. I would've happily traded "2-4-6-Greaaat" for an episode exploring the ramifications there.
10060477
I wasn't sure if the track existed when I drafted the author's note. I had faith in the Internet, and it provided.
10060788
Ah! No, that was intended as a riff on GPS directions. 'Cause, you know, vaguely robotic sounding Harmony avatar.
10059876
Star Swirl as an acolyte of chaos... I'm not sure the world would survive.
Hey, she's done that in canon. And this time she knows something's listening!
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has neither confirmed nor denied any ability to skew the results of the Compatibility Matrix at will.
Yeah, this Sunset was never going to take the Tree of Harmony's canon fate well.
Not the Sunset she has in mind. Though I do have one story idea, LLL Cool S (Lavender Ladies Love Cool Sunset), that's built around this image.
Sunset doesn't mess with actively worshiped pantheons as a rule, though she will not tolerate bulls, swans, and definitely no showers of gold. (Assuming Hephaestus and Hermes didn't sign on with the owl lady when they saw the writing on the wall. Communication is a big deal these days, to say nothing of that sweet FTD sponsorship.)
The intention was Aqua Teen Hunger Force and the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future. Though Ditzy is far more coherent.
The door crashed open. Dust fell. Berrypunch frowned, she was getting tired of cleaning the bar today. The purple alicorn stomped from the doorway to the bar and sat down. Then dropped her head on to the bar face first. Berrypunch raised an eyebrow. "Bad day?"
"I need alcohol."
"How much?"
"All of it."
"Ah, so it was a bad day. Lemmie get right on that."
This story is absolutely hilarious. I feel sorry for this universe though, there's going to be so many questions and awkward conversations there when Oversat Sunset finally gets to go home.
10060837
I’m assuming that Hermes and Hephaestus signed on with Athena, along with Artemis since what’s she going to do? Fight her girlfriend? (please don’t smite me...) Hades probably came around but only VERY recently, since his portrayal in popular culture is starting to shift from Evil Death God to ‘The Dutiful One’. Conversations with a statue on Olympus Mons over a few centuries. She would have LOVED to capture Ares but he keeps escaping, unless their world is significantly more peaceful than ours.
Sunset probably would be most worried about Hestia and Iris if they sided with the Olympians, because they’re Rainbows and Homefires. But they’re also quite unlikely to. And Sunset has the fates.
By the way, a key part of Athena’s strategy? The whole business with Arachnea. See, the problem with her work wasn’t quality, it was blasphemy: showing the sins and secrets of the gods in all their ‘glory’. The official story is either that Athena turned her into a spider out of jealousy, or that she killed herself in shame when confronted with Athena’s work and Athena brought her back as a spider. What really happened was that they were in on it together, and it was crafting an epic artifact, but Athena was forced to make it seem like a punishment for the other gods.
Fun stuff, and the bit with Harmony makes me think you might be getting closer to a continuation/sequel to 'Holy Crap, Mom, What the Tartarus?' to cover the relevant revelations that have occurred since that particular event.
As an aside, Star Swirl's Multitudinous Magic Mirrors sounds like one of those items in D&D that seems nice in theory, but tends to only complicate situations when used.
Back to the story itself, I ought to note that I'm glad you put in a mention of that edutainment show with Discord a couple chapters back. Don't recall where I first saw you mention it, but I think it's a particularly clever and amusing notion.
10060759
I was thinking maybe they could do the time travel before actually arriving at the Oversaturated World
It's just occurred to me but really the difficult part should be getting the Sunset's switched back into the appropriate forms, unless Oversaturated Sunset resumes her place simply by being there, because they now have planar frequency, the guy who knows most about dimensional travel and potentially two wishes to make it happen pretty effectively
That's not a scale, Ditzy.
10062335
I'd imagine that from her perspective, a scale from one to ten passes through "lemon blue", "relative hyperassociativeness", and 9i-2j3k on its way from one endpoint to the other. From ours, her scales tend to follow a meandering curve through variably-dimensional space instead of a straight line parallel to an axis.
10092372
"What do you mean? That was parallel to an axis!"
"You just never said which axis."
It doesn't help that Ditzy also has to worry about l, m, and n unit vectors. And the occasional ñ; those are especially tricky.
10092503
What would it feel like to know that, if you had the right muscles/method of motion, you could travel through those higher spacial dimensions? I bet that even if we were somehow able to see in them we couldn't move in them because our muscles are stuck in the bottom 3. She's got her (what were they called again? ArchWings?) That let her have magically propelled motion, not limited by physical muscles, so if she can see a direction, she can move in it.
I see what you did there.
That line killed me. I am dead. I am now typing this from beyond the grave. Curse you, FOME the Platypus.
You mean to tell me you have a scene where a character brings an outlandish and frankly unbelievable story before a pair of characters who are supposed to be renowned scholars, and it doesn't devolve into ten pages of repetitive details that the audience already knows in order to explain things to them? That they just know enough to put the pieces together themselves?
Are you sure you know how to write? :V
Why is this so funny?
No turning back now.
Uh huh...
Huh.
Doesn't she mean now?