Across the Shimmerverse

by DapperLilArts

INTERMISSION: Wish you were here

INTERMISSION: Wish you were here

---

Anger wasn’t something that came easy to Princess Twilight Sparkle.

She was often composed, and if not angry, frustrated.

But after having such a lovely day, a celebration of Sunset Shimmer’s alicornaversary, to have to watch her wife fade away in thin air right in front of her eyes?

She was angry.

She locked Hermes in an arcane cage made with her magic, and bound his horn to prevent him from casting any more spells. And after that, came not only interrogation, but dragging him around, to find his research.

And often, she would use her calling spell. The spell she and Sunset had crafted specifically so they could find each other anywhere in Equestria, to call each other no matter how far.

But nothing happened.

Twilight, Celestia and Luna were the ones that left together– With Hermes being dragged through the air in his cage, of course– Her friends had stayed in Ponyville to tidy up the party, and ensure that there was no panic. This trio, however, had one goal, and one goal alone.

Hermes was guiding them to his lair. Generally, he didn’t have much choice. It was pretty easy to be coerced into doing something if three Alicorns had their sights on you, with hatred.

The sun was very low in the sky, and its light felt dimmer, as they moved about a rocky patch of woods, situated outside of the Everfree woods border. They had flown here, but now were walking, for the sake of taking a break.

And of course, Twilight was trying to gather as much knowledge of this predicament as possible– no matter how angry she was.

“So you’re telling me that my wife is cursed to travel around random universes, in every single hour, and she is never going to be cast back here?! She will be cursed to constantly be thrown into possibly precarious worlds– and not to mention likely not have the chance to even sleep properly— And you’re telling me you made this curse?! From the ground up?! Just to spite ME?!”

Adjusting his glasses nervously, Hermes was well aware that he was in the thinnest ice, but spoke anyway. “A-ahem, t-to be fair, I was aiming at you. I wasn’t expecting her to–”

“SHUT UP!!” The air crackled with her magic, her eyes glowed with rage, even being near her was dangerous.

“Ease, Twilight.” Celestia attempted to calm her, with questionable results. After all, she was not calm herself. “We need him to show us his research. Alive. After that…”

Luna, a bit deadpan, containing her anger, added to it. “You there. Hermes. Will you comply with our every command, or do you need us to leave you in a room alone with Twilight Sparkle?”

“I’ll comply! I’ll comply! Fully, and willingly!!” He nervously whimpered. “M-my lab is just above these cliffs, it’s an abandoned o-observatory, you can’t miss it!” He pointed avidly forward. “A-and j-just saying, you’ll need my help if you want to get the technology working…!”

Speaking in a heavy tone, as if scolding solemnly, Celestia stared him down. “And you will provide said assistance willingly, despite knowing that when this is all over, you are on a one way trip to Canterlot Prison. Provided both Twilight and Sunset offer you mercy.” The last words cut the Unicorn like a dagger, he recoiled on the small cage he was locked in.

Luna gleefully and spitefully added to it. “Knowing Sunset, she’ll remove a couple of his limbs before letting him go.” She said so with a scowl of joy.

The poor Unicorn whimpered in his cage, unsure of his future. Twilight, for a moment, letting go of her rage, with it being replaced by grief, attempted to use the calling spell again. And again, and again.

And nothing happened.

“Come on, my sun, please, please…!” She desperately pleaded, to the very air.

And nothing happened.

Scratching his chin nervously, Hermes dared to speak. “I told you, that’s not going to work. She’s not in this dimension…! You can call her all you want, but in another plane of reality, she can’t feel you…”

Twilight brought the cage really close, flipping it upside down, forcing him to feel discomfort, as she grimaced in anger, not even looking at him. “Tell me, Hermes. Do you know how it feels to have a limb obliterated?”

The question felt genuine, no matter how much anger drove it. “U-um… N-no…?”

“How about this?” She continued, tilting her head while glaring at him. “How about I obliterate one of your legs, then rematerialize it? I wager that the process of having it come back is just as painful as its destruction.”

The two queens behind them shared a glance of concern– No matter how angry they were that their legacy was cut in half, it hurt just as much to see the toll that this was taking on Twilight.

Nodding nervously, the Scientist was sweating with fear. “U-um, whatever y-you want to know about the multiversal magic and technology, I will tell you! Anything! I’m complying!” His voice shook, never before had the Princess of Friendship threatened any enemy like this, and he could feel it.

“Then tell me this–” She snarled. “WHY! Why did you do this to her?!”

Attempting to adjust himself in the cage, but finding little comfort, he justified himself poorly. “A-again, to reiterate— I was aiming at you!”

“WHY!?” Her magic crackled in the air again.

“Y-you see, well–” He once again nervously adjusted his glasses, which would often be misaligned, due to the constant movement of the cage. “I-I have developed this incredible magic for so many years of my life– And I’ve tried to showcase its worth and potential to many– Heck, I even tried to get many audiences with Celestia, to showcase all it could do!”

The Queen of the Sun shook her head. “I do not blame any of the many guards and advisors that might have stopped you from doing so. This magic has no utility– Doubtlessly, my aide Raven blocked you from any proper contact with me before you could demonstrate your research.”

He shook his head avidly, no matter how nervous he was. “B-but it does have utility– and not just utility, Its potential is boundless!! A brave new frontier–”

“--I remember you now…!” Twilight gasped, as she stopped walking, rubbing her temples. “You barged in my castle, so many years ago trying to show me or convince me of this pointless, absolutely idiotic– UGH!!” The memory was of so many years ago, before Sunset Shimmer even entered her life, it felt even more worthless than it was meant to.

“You remember now, don’t you! You remember how you dismissed me!” He pointed at her accusingly.

“Are you KIDDING me?!” She yelled out, in anger. “There is NO practical utility to traveling between universes!! Starswirl himself gave up on this magic– We have MORE than enough troubles in our Equestria, our world, we have MORE than enough friendship and love here! There is NO reason as to why we would ever even want or NEED to build bridges between dimensions!!”

“...There is now.” Luna’s gaze narrowed, as she looked through him. “Which is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

He was silently cowering, sweating. But very much nodding.

And Celestia saw through his intentions. “You– You slithering–” She composed herself. “You wanted to banish one of our own to the multiverse, so we would inadvertently have to study the magic and technology to bring her back.”

“With all your resources and your knowledge… My legacy, my creations, will live on.” He muttered, knowing his words would garner even more hatred. “I have absolutely no idea how to bring Princess Sunset Shimmer back. I made the curse definitive and decisive... If you want to get her back… You’ll have to understand the magic even better than I do.”

Even in failure, he had won. In fact, he planned for failure. Failure was success.

He was getting everything he wanted.

Twilight Sparkle yelled out in anger and frustration. Lighting came out of her horn and crackled all the way into the sky. The two Queens silently allowed her to vent her frustrations.

She brought Hermes very, very close, as she suppressed her own tears of rage and grief.

“You. You. You better pray that my wife is okay. You better pray that she survives your curse. If I get any indication, any hint that she is gone forever– I am going to dedicate myself to studying and inventing new ways to cause unending hurt, no pit in tartarus deep enough, no stomach of a monster more wretched, no amount of excruciating cursed spells will be enough, I will invent new ways to feel pain– Specifically for you.”

He did not respond audibly– Simply nodded. And the two Queens behind them did not interfere. After all, losing one of their students, half their legacy– there was hell to pay.

And what Twilight had said now was a promise.

---

Finally, they had Hermes’s lab in their sights. An old defunct observatory, built in the nook of a mountain, surrounded by woods. Twilight immediately flew forward, bringing Hermes with her, and the Queens followed.

They landed in the entrance, analyzing the structure. “Home sweet home!” the prisoner hesitantly muttered.

The building very much looked abandoned, and not just that, but as if it had been shaken by a number of earthquakes. Hermes did a lot here, but cleaning up was not one of his priorities.

The sun was at its lowest, with Celestia’s aid, so Luna stepped forward, ears Twitching. “Twilight, sister… My nightly duties call for me. Will you two be alright?”

Twilight was barely listening, as she pried the doors open with magic. Even if she had to do everything alone, she would. Celestia turned to her sister. “Go. We will keep you in the know– We meet again tomorrow, likely at Twilight's Community Center.”

“Understood.” Luna stepped forward, and embraced her sister. They hugged quietly; And with that embrace, the sun was lowered, and the moon was risen. “We will find her.” The mare of the moon stated plainly, comforting her older sister over the loss of a daughter.

“I-I know…” Celestia nodded, with some doubts gnawing at her painfully, nearly tearing up.

But there was no time to mourn. Luna let go of the embrace, and leapt into the air, vanishing into the night.

Twilight went inside, lighting the room properly with her horn. She observed the many objects of interest in the room intently, going from one place to the other as her eyes scanned each part of the room quickly.

There was a messy board, with many pictures of ponies in it, several ponies and places that she could maybe recognize, but she understood what they were. They were pictures taken from other universes.

“A-ahem” Hermes cleared his throat nervously. “This is a lot of data and information I managed to gather of multiple universes I could observe, either through the mirror or the telescope. Plenty of these notes will be important, oh, and on those file cabinets over there, too…”

Narrowing her eyes, Celestia looked closely at one of the pictures. “Is this… Tempest Shadow as a pirate?” She raised an eyebrow in near amusement.

Hermes nodded, almost enthusiastically. “Pirate Captain, actually! I’m very proud of how I got to take that picture, let me tell you–”

But Twilight interrupted him, gazing at another picture. “This is… Starlight Glimmer, but an Alicorn? These alternate universes are ridiculous.” She shook her head, and would likely have been laughing, if her mood wasn’t incredibly sour.

“Yes, I believe that the title of Princess of Friendship isn’t always yours, in between dimensions, but it definitely seemed to be a constant– File cabinet 3, drawer C, section T2…”

“Speaking of Starlight…” Twilight narrowed her eyes at Hermes, while addressing her mentor. “...This guy is even worse than she was.”

Nearly chuckling, the Queen of the Sun nodded. “Hm, I don’t know, at least he doesn’t have a cult…” Absent-mindedly, she moved through other pictures, but then her attention was drawn fully, by a large object in the room. “W-wait!”

She quickly moved to it. It was a mirror, a large magical mirror, that was quite cracked, connected together like a jigsaw, surrounded by coils and runes. “T-this mirror…! Where did you get this?” She scowled at the prisoner.

He sweat a little, looking away. “U-um, ‘borrowed’ it from the canterlot archives! It was meant to lead to only one dimension, but it was broken. So I retrofitted it and tweaked it– It doesn’t lead anywhere anymore, but if you charge it, it can show you other dimensions!” He adjusted his glasses, inspecting the object. “But I never managed to power it to its full potential… I never got all the pieces, sadly. There’s one missing.”

“I know. I have it.” Celestia stated, forlorn. “It was a memento.” From her horn, she conjured one of the pieces of the mirror, and could easily see that it was a near perfect fit; But for the sake of caution, didn’t place it quite yet.

For a moment, she considered just how much she could do with this technology. How much they could explore and discover, but with a frown, she shook her head silently. She had already learned a bitter lesson, long ago, about interfering with other worlds.

Nothing good would come of it.

But for the sake of Sunset, they had to.

Twilight stepped forward, eager, even if not happy. “If we complete it, maybe it’ll help us find her!!”

“It would certainly be something–” Hermes tapped on the cage. “B-but you best not tinker with it before you understand it! Be careful!”

“He’s right.” Celestia hated to say it. “We must be profoundly cautious with magic we don’t understand.” She put her piece of the mirror away once more.

Twilight let out a frustrated, prolonged sigh. Then she held her head high. “Okay. Let's take it all. Let’s bring it to Ponyville.”

Stomping a hoof and channeling her magic, the whole building started shaking, as if she was levitating it fully, or even more powerfully, as if she was about to teleport it in its entirety.

“Wait, WAIT!!” Hermes begged, and Celestia stepped forward. “Twilight, NO!”

Luckily, she stopped, even if groaning in frustration. Celestia, calmly, as calm as she could under the circumstances, set her at ease. “Twilight, we must be very, very cautious. There is no telling if these fragile devices wouldn’t be damaged if we recklessly teleported them– We have to think ahead, here…!”

Shaking her head angrily, the Princess of Friendship was mad. “Every hour we waste is another that she could be in bigger danger, we CAN’T waste time!!”

“I know, I know–” Celestia nodded with pity. “But we won’t be able to help her in any way, if we ruin our slim chances of finding her through reckless action. Please, breathe…”

The Princess of Friendship forced herself to inhale, then exhale.

“Y-yeah!” Hermes added. “Besides, who knows if you were gonna squish somepony by teleporting a whole lab on top of them. You could break all the machines and harm somepony!”

Snarling was her immediate response upon hearing his voice, no matter how right he was. She shook her head, and sat down, letting out a huge sigh. Celestia places a consoling hoof on her shoulder, talking calmly. “Let us discuss this properly outside, my student.”

Twilight hung the cage on a column of the observatory, and moved outside. She ignored Hermes’s words as she left. “I-I’ll just hang around here, then…!”

The night was beautiful and calm, despite everything, and the moon was their primary source of light. Celestia looked behind them, and then forward, into the night. “You’re right about one thing, we must move this research material to an area where we can more practically gain assistance. But we must consider very carefully how, when and where.”

“My Community Center–” Twilight spoke instantly. “It’s closer to my friends, and closer to Canterlot. They don’t understand magic much, but…”

“They will want to help, I understand… I have an idea.” Celestia stepped forward. “I will go to my castle now, and acquire as much help as I can, from my guards or otherwise, to be able to properly and safely move this. And after we succeed at that, I will return to the archives, including the restricted section, and look for any information on multiversal magic, just in case Starswirl has left notes that may assist us. Luna and I can alternate between our duties and searching.”

“Y-yes.” Twilight nodded, containing her grief. “If we combine all of our efforts together, we’ll find her. We’ll find her.” She wanted to believe those words, so much.

All that Celestia could do was nod slowly.

With a listless, concerned gaze, Twilight made some calculations she very much did not like. “It’s nearly midnight… If Hermes’s curse works like he said, then this means Sunset has already gone through at least ten or so universes…”

Even on the face of those punishing odds, the Queen of the Sun attempted to remain hopeful. “Indeed. That… That is a lot of chances things could have gone awry for her… But she’s strong. She is really, really strong, Twilight. I believe she will know we’re looking for her…!”

“C-Celestia, I-I…” Twilight stammered, as a tear streamed down her cheek. “I really, really don’t want to rule alone…! I want her by my side…!”

Words failed the Queen of the Sun, because she shared on that same sorrow. Her legacy wasn’t just halved, this day. It was nearly entirely destroyed. “The… My subjects in Canterlot don’t even know yet. They don’t even know that the Princess of the Sun is gone…” She lowered her head slowly. “We may be on the verge of a political crisis, here. There are unending layers to the suffering we are sharing tonight, my student.”

Shaking her head, Twilight grimaced, still crying. “I couldn’t care less about politics right now. I just want my wife back…!”

Celestia closed her eyes. “I know… I miss her dearly already.”

Twilight looked at her, raving in concern. “I’m just– There’s an infinite number of universes out there, there’s an infinite number of problems, I’m so worried about whatever awful things she’ll have to go through…!!!!”

---

The Princess of Valor widened her eyes in disgust. “Oh, ew, what?! I’m with Trixie in this universe?!” She whispered, observing the latest universe she had landed in.

She was on Trixie’s carriage, as untidy as it had ever been, and in a hammock, lied Sunset Shimmer and Trixie Lulamoon, intertwined, peacefully asleep.

“Ugh, this is a new low for me. I need to– I need to lay down.” The Valkyrie muttered, before laying on the floor and attempting to get some well-needed rest.

---

Celestia continued to demonstrate concern, as she observed the horizon.
“I am hoping that the news that spreads, of one less Princess, does not result in our enemies attempting to attack us in our weakened state…” She pondered over the many troubles they would face in the next few days.

“Oh I’m not weakened.” Twilight snarled. “If anypony tries messing with me now, they’ll be sorry.”

She then turned to her mentor. “You should go… you should go. We can’t waste time. I’ll stay here and begin learning about the magic and technology, as much as I hate giving Hermes exactly what he wanted… I can’t believe that this is the first time I've ever not wanted to learn about new magic…!” She let out a frustrated sigh. There was certainly incentive to do so, but she hated that she was giving in to Hermes’s plans, and whatsmore, she just wanted her wife here.

But if studying would allow her to reach Sunset Shimmer sooner, she would do so, without hesitation.

And if anybody could learn and master new magic, it was Twilight Sparkle.

“You are right. I will go now. And Twilight…” They leaned foreheads together, sharing in sorrow. “We will find her.”

It was something they were both attempting to convince themselves of.

Without Sunset Shimmer, the sun didn’t shine as bright in Equestria, least of all to them.

Spreading her wings, the Queen of the Sun took flight, leaving her student.

Twilight remained only for a couple of moments outside the observatory. She needed to cry properly, and being alone allowed her to do so without struggle.

Only after ensuring that her breathing was corrected, did she enter the observatory again.

“Alright, Hermes.” She lowered his cage to the floor, bringing him closer. “Tell me everything.”

---

This was the strangest universe the Princess of Valor had ever fallen in yet.

It was barren.

She did not find herself in it– Not even a corpse, or remains, or even a grave, like in a universe she had visited prior.

There were signs of Equestria here, yes. Old ruins that had been dried up and… Cracked.

But it was all empty.

As she observed the skies, she could see debris float by… debris belonging to this planet.

Which had no more atmosphere. And weak gravity.

She considered for a moment, what could have caused this. No life in sight– No life on the entire planet. She had her theories.

After all, the planet looked like it had been… Cracked. And extracted. Dried of resources.

…But none of that mattered to her. Whatever happened here, it had already happened. There was no fixing or preventing it. The Sunset Shimmer from this world was dead, as was her entire world.

So she simply found a decently comfortable piece of barren land, and tried going to sleep.

Author's Note:

Okay, we're getting to the good stuff now. From now on, the fic will be very episodic! a lot of these chapters will be one-off adventures, and every once in a while, will be interrupted by a Twilight intermission, showcasing her progress, which in themselves will be more serialized!

And due to the episodic nature of the fic, I won't be writing these in as much of a hurry, I'll take my time with them, don't wanna risk a burnout. But know that there are more than 20 chapters of this fic still to go, intermissions or otherwise, so I've got my work cut out for me, lmao.

There are so many universes I can't wait to show, so many ideas, and don't worry, despite me erasing EQG off this canon, it very much will make it's rightful appearance eventually-- But not anytime soon, it will never be the focus. My general gist was that Sunset was only shown that mirror really rarely in universes. But it sure as hell influenced her to go stupid.

One thing that I considered recently, although I do like the parents I wrote for her, and they will appear more in these intermissions, I did realise one thing-- I only wrote them as a critique to the idea that people rarely flesh out Sunset being an orphan-- But then I realised. I COULD HAVE FLESHED IT OUT 🤦‍♀️Literally-- I've already done this right. I don't like rainbow dash in canon, so I wrote her right, plenty of times I don't like the blandness of Cadance in canon, so I write her right, everytime-- I feel like a dumbass. Maybe it's because I drew this really cute sketch and realised just how I'd have a FIELD DAY writing their dynamic! damng.

Also, although I told myself I wouldn't do an "infection au" universe thingy, but I've just gotten plagued with ideas for it, VERY focused on Sunset-- But I might save it for an original fic. Maybe.

I hope you enjoyed so far, and that you enjoyed a bit of Twilight rage. She's earned the right to be a little bit very angry.

Comments

[RedHoodie21]

BEAT HERMES TO DEATH WITH HOOVES!! THE CHAIR THE CHAIR GIVE HIM THE CHAIR

[RolkFlameraven]

Last world looks like Galactus had it for dinner.

[ThistleRose]

if the world has 0 Hermes haters then I am dead

[DragonIdiot]

twilight : *so angry she could probably blow the whole world up*

sunset : ew wtf I'm with Trixie

[thinglet247]

Anger wasn’t something that came easy to Princess Twilight Sparkle.

It isn't? Then explain this:
https://youtu.be/vg_GBI3dATM