The Earth Confusion
“The Heart of the Universe…” Twilight read aloud, grin slowly widening. “A relic referred to in reference to the Progenitors’ Icon, theorized to be held at Uthira-five.”
Tippi fluttered over to Twilight’s screen. “This isn’t much information to go off of…”
“Very little is known about the Progenitors,” Twilight admitted, pointing to the file she had open on the race in question. “They were only proven to exist a few years ago by the Enterprise—this very ship! After their discovery, a few relics were attributed to them, including the Icon. And… well, it references the Heart of the Universe. The record is very incomplete, but it has some very interesting specifics about the ‘essence of creation’ and even relative galactic coordinates using extragalactic references. Luckily the Federation scientists have already done all the hard work as to where those coordinates were in ancient times—we just have to go to this Uthira-five!”
Tippi leaned in. “That’s in Romulan space.”
“Yeah?”
“I believe Romulans are not on friendly terms with the Federation.”
“Oh…” Twilight blinked. “Well, surely once we explain this to them, we’ll be let through!”
“Twilight,” Data said, motioning for her to come over. “I have found something most intriguing.”
“What?” Twilight bounded over. The image on the screen made her freeze.
Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik. Photo taken on Earth, local year 2003.
“What in Celestia’s name…?”
~~~
“We have found…” Twilight began, glancing around at the meeting room. “A lot of things over the last few hours. Things all of you need to hear.” Aside from herself, Data, Tippi, Toph, Cosmo, Tails, Picard, Troi, and Eggman were all in the room—the last of which was annoyed that he had been called.
“What could be so important that you needed to take me from my work?” Eggman demanded.
“I guess we’re starting with that…” Twilight clicked a button on a remote in her magic, turning on the screen to display Doctor Eggman’s photo. “This was taken on the planet in this universe called Earth, effective birthplace of the Federation. Several centuries ago.”
Picard’s eyes widened. “I do know you. You were the madman who blew up half the moon!”
“Oh, that was this universe?” Eggman scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Fascinating. Time really has accelerated here dramatically.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t draw the connection…” Picard folded his hands together. “Everyone is taught about your brief visit to Earth in history class. Doctor Robotnik. The madman who changed the moon and dramatically accelerated technological growth…”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Troi said, glancing from Picard to Twilight and Data.
Data nodded. “In 2003 according to the Earth calendar, there was a year where Earth converged with another world—Mobius. This deposited many residents of that world here—of which ‘Doctor Eggman’ is remembered most. He appeared, claimed a willingness to conquer the world and start an Eggman Empire, and used his advanced machines to toy with world governments. Just as quickly as he appeared, however, he vanished. Dimensional instability from their method of travel was tearing apart reality, so they had to leave, returning Earth to the way it was. The year is treated oddly in historic texts, largely because historians aren’t sure how to place it in its proper contexts.”
“Except for us…” Tails glanced at Picard. “This happened less than a year ago. We didn’t leave your Earth that long ago.”
“It gets weirder,” Twilight said, flicking to an image of a man with brown, spiked hair and a red shirt. “This is Christopher Thorndyke. I think our friends from Mobius will recognize him.”
“He looks so… old,” Cosmo said, expression drooping.
“Reaching adulthood will do that to you,” Eggman grunted.
Twilight pointed her wing at Tails. “Tails, you said Chris was with you until right before the Void appeared, right?”
“That’s right,” Tails confirmed. “The Master Emerald sensed the Void coming and sent him home. Looks like he made it!”
“And the Chaos Heart locked the time constants of the universes together,” Twilight continued. “Meaning in a matter of seconds on Mobius, this world flash-forwarded several centuries. In that entire time, we don’t believe this entire universe has had contact with any of the others, merely reflections of itself.”
“Why do I know the name Thorndyke?” Picard asked.
“You most likely know his grandson, sir,” Data said. “Zephram Cochrane was directly descended from him.”
“The inventor of the warp drive,” Twilight explained for those who didn’t know. “And this goes even deeper than that. Apparently, your homeworld is the Earth I visited in my adventures as well. After Eggman and the rest left, I visited a High School in what you call Canada. And living there…” She switched the image to that of a middle-aged woman with outrageously vibrant red and yellow hair. “...was a native of my world, Sunset Shimmer. She is known both for being a particle physicist and a bit of a mystic. She still had some magic from my universe, lingering for a reason I can’t explain.” Twilight looked at the picture on the screen with a forlorn expression. “I… She helped lead your world to where it is now, in her old age pushing for the world government after having survived all the wars your planet went through… because of the technology Eggman left behind.”
“What? How is that my fault?” Eggman folded his arms.
“You introduced massively destructive technology from another world into their hands, albeit accidentally. Most it was lost, but the half of the moon you made sure wasn’t.” Twilight switched the image to that of the moon, showing that half of it was natural, but the other half was made purely of metallic structures. “During his short stay, Eggman not only blew up half the moon, he repaired it. And that... well, it changed history irrevocably.”
“Our universe’s very history has been shaped by people in this room,” Data finished. “This Federation would not exist without influence from the other worlds.”
Picard pressed his hands together, leaning in. “This… is a bit much to take in. Sitting in this room are historical legends that had no idea they were historical legends and people who had been forgotten by the revisionist annals of history. I do have one question. How is this relevant to our current predicament?”
“It’s informative, for one,” Twilight said. “For two, I believe it’s important you know exactly who you’re working with. And thirdly…” she sighed. “It’s so certain people can get some closure.”
Tails nodded, looking down. “I… guess. I always thought he’d come back.”
Cosmo put an arm around Tails. “I know he wanted to.”
“Hold up,” Toph said, raising her hand. “I’ve only been half-listening, but I’ve got a question. Isn’t the red Heart from Earth?”
“Ah, that’s what set us on this researching path in the first place,” Twilight said. “See, we’ve determined that this Earth and the universe Earth are different places with a similar idea behind them. Tippi?”
“Right…” Tippi fluttered over top of the table. “So, the red Heart is from Earth, the universe. This, however, is not that universe—that universe is almost completely mundane and would block almost any magical ability, and probably warp drive as well. But this means that there are two Earths in the multiverse, which… shouldn’t happen. And your Earth did not exist back when the ancients of Flipside came here—this was purely the universe of the Progenitors, then.”
“The Progenitors are one of the first life-forms to evolve in this universe,” Data added.
“Or be created… worlds are generally created in the midst of it…” Tippi added.
Data continued. “They seeded the galaxy with the code for humanoid life, becoming the ancestor to almost every race in the galaxy. We’ve only uncovered their role recently, but the number of ancient relics that we can attribute to them is astonishing. All of this together led us on a wild chase through Earth’s past and the Progenitors to find some kind of connection.”
“We found it,” Twilight said, bringing up an image of a black metal object with dots engraved in it, though many were worn off. “The Progenitors’ Icon. This was once thought to be a legend, but given what we know now, we don’t think it is. It tells a story—admittedly with several chunks missing—of how the Progenitors’ made contact with what they call the ‘Wandering Tribe’ from another realm. This tribe showed them the Heart of the Universe.”
Toph sat up. “Now we’re talking!”
“There’s more to it than just that,” Twilight continued. “The story talks of how another group of entities, the ‘Bright Ones’, thought the ‘Wandering Tribe’ were too haughty and banished them from the universe—but not before taking some of their essence. The rest is fuzzy, involving a bunch of animals and some entity called the ‘Shadow Queen,’ but there’s definite mention of a curse placed on the Progenitors’ children by the ‘Bright Ones.’ “ She fixed Picard in the eyes. “It is our opinion that this ‘curse’ was for your world, the world of humans, to attempt to replicate the other universes. And so it became particularly susceptible to visitors from other universes, with so many visits destabilizing the time constant of this universe far beyond what it needed to be.”
Data nodded. “I believe this is true as well.”
Picard sat back, mouth over his face and brow furrowed in concern. “Are you saying our entire existence… is derivative?”
“I’d say it used to be,” Twilight said. “But look where you are now! You’re out in the stars, far beyond whatever may have been happening with your home. You emerged from it something… greater, I think.”
“Captain,” Troi said. “This…”
“Explains many things about human nature, yes, but I’m not ready to tackle the philosophical implications just yet.” Picard returned to his forward-leaning posture. “Princess, do you know where the Pure Heart is?”
“We believe it is in Uthira-five,” Twilight said. “That’s in Romulan territory.”
“Well, once the Romulans receive the Federation’s report we will ask to send you there immediately. Data, you will accompany them, since you have spent the most time on research.”
“Yes, sir,” Data nodded.
“I have a question,” Eggman said, folding his hands together. “Do we have the foggiest idea who these ‘Bright Ones’ are?”
Twilight shrugged. “The best match we could find in the Enterprise data banks was the Q, a race of godlike beings who seem particularly fascinated with humanity for some reason. But there’s no way to prove that.”
“How like him,” Picard muttered under his breath. “To hide behind his pompous attitude while his race is responsible for everything…”
“Now now, Jean-Luc…” a voice said coming from every dimension simultaneously. “It is so unbecoming of you to disrespect men when they aren’t present.”
Twilight blinked. “That voice…”
Picard stood bolt upright, shouting at the sky. “I will say it to your face Q! You have not been honest to us!”
With a flash of light, a tall man in a red uniform appeared, a wry smile on his long face. “Jean-Luc, since when have you expected me to be honest? Or… predictable?” He snapped his fingers and everything went white.
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Now the real Question is; who’s aping who?
Not discord, maybe a cousin.
Discord is a statue
Oohhhhhhh. Oh noooooo. I see where this is going...
HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT, OBAMA- wait, this was 2003. Uh... HOW DID YOU LIKE THAT, BUSH? There, fixed it!
I'm... about 99% sure this isn't part of official Star Trek lore. Though, now I kinda wish it was...
That's some rough time dilation, ouch.
Huh. Neat. I don't really have anything much to say here, I just think this is clever lore melding.
And there's our Sunset cameo! ...Andddd she's long dead. Great. Why you tease me like this GM?
Also pretty sure that's not canon, but I really wish it was because that would be sick.
This raises several questions, like "Why is the universe named Earth when it's just a planet" and "Why can't their be more than one Earth in the multiverse", but I get the feeling that none of these questions are remotely relevant.
The Shadow Queen, huh? Guess we're getting some Paper Mario lore after all... just not the game on the box.
Is this the point where everyone stares at the camera? Because like... there are about six jokes I could make here, but everyone staring into the camera like that one episode of Helluva Boss feels like the most fitting for some reason.
John de Lancie Count: 2
..Well then, that's a bombshell. A way to tie in Sonic X and EQG's Earths, without overcrowding the multiverse: Just stuff everyone together! And the Shadow Queen and the Q are somehow involved... there's more to this story. Well, duh, of course there's more to this story, I mean, like this backstory plot thread in particula- oh, forget it. Let's just go have fun with the wacky finger snap man.
Welp, you interconnected he worlds XD, I wonder if they are all from the same earth, or different earth's, and one just so happen to be Mobius and equestrian Earth XD, the bright ones could be Them, or not XD, I think Picard rather humanity were dertivaty, rather than a television series, which they are, and now a fic in fimfiction, Picard should count his blessings.
Really bummed this confirms Sunset's not going to even show up in this story
The real question: Does he look like Jim Carrey?
... Wait, wouldn't 2003 be just after or possibly during the Eugenics Wars? The Trek timeline starts seriously diverging from ours in the late 20th century.
Eh, ten percent of Voyager's hard drive got copied onto a late 90's PC. That chronology's gotten progressively more slippery as time has gone on. Though given how that moon base was made by Eggman's grandfather... Well, that detail may not have survived the intervening centuries, and Eggman himself may not wish to volunteer it with all of this wild accusations flying about.
Well. That was unexpected. I guess we're going with nondiegetic pony skin and hair colors... or Rainbow Dash was actually an Andorian who hid her antennae.
Oh, that'll be fun to explore.
Ah. So this universe was the catch basin for the multiverse. Easy to fall into, hard to escape. That explains much. Now we can tackle the lingering question of the Q... and just how badly politics will interfere with the quest to save all of existence.
YES. EVERYTHING YES. ALL OF MY YES.
Daaaaamn what a twist!
It's certainly fascinating you've made the Earth of Star Trek the same Earth as Sonic X and Equestria Girls. Though there hasn't been an explanation as to how the people in Canterlot are pastel-colored.
Twilight just recognized Q's voice as the same as Discords!
Worlds are colliding!