> Quantum Theories of Friendship
>  by Sveinuggr
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1 - For every action...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


SYSTEM START
INITIALIZING...

INITIALIZING...

INITIALIZING...

SYSTEM READY/INPUT COMMAND...
run situationreport#78.exe
RUNNING...

...

...

...
...

PROGRAM READY

INPUT TIME: 248 hours
INPUT LOCATION: Whinnybago Lighthouse, East Coast, Equestria, Caalos
INPUT MULTIVERSE: 002

It was one of the blackest nights in the land called Equestria. The stars were hidden by the cloud layer, and the moon occupied on the other side of the planet. With that, it created one of the easiest nights to sleep in. The only sounds were the breakers on the coast slamming into the rock face, creating the easy listening waves that can act as a stand-in lullaby. It was only making one pony's job all the much more difficult.

Wrench was the lighthouse pony on duty. He was there to make sure the lighthouse never went out so the sailors wouldn't crash their ships into the coastline. The lighthouse shone a searchlight in a 360 degree rotation, and had a foghorn installed just in case the weather provided any fog. Wrench was an earth pony, and he loved working with machines. His special talent made this job easy for him, keeping the lighthouse in check. The pay was good, but of course the hours were shitty. Working the graveyard shift wasn't easy on the pony, since he spent part of his earnings partying in night clubs with his stallion friends into the late nights, dancing with any beautiful mares he could get his hooves on. The habit killed his sleep cycle, and he struggled to stay awake during his shifts.

Seconds, then minutes passed while Wrench did nothing except stare at the wall. His yellow eyes were bloodshot, heavy with exhuastion. Slowly, his eyes started to close and he started to sleep while standing up. His light blue coat was getting stained with his drool, and his mechanic's cap fell off his dark blue mane when his head drooped. Snoring, he was literally sleeping on the job. His boss would love to catch him red-hooved, but one of the perks of being the only employee on the premises was getting away with relatively anything as long as you did your main job. 

A very loud bang shook the lighthouse. Wrench jumped with fright from the commotion, with his adrenaline glands pumping his blood stream full. His eyes raced around, looking for whatever caused the disturbance. A couple tools fell off of a table onto the floor, and he put them back on the table. In the corner of his eyes he saw movement outside through the window. A stray animal probably did something to the wall of the lighthouse, but he didn't know why. The lighthouse had a giant beam of light pouring out of its top, why would an animal slam itself into the wall? 'It must be hurt', Wrench thought. He was no healer, but he at least had the obligation to help a wounded animal. The lighthouse could wait.

He grabbed a gas-lamp in his mouth and walked outside. There was nothing to see outside save for the usual landscape of rocks and trees, nothing to hear but the breakers. Putting the lamp down, he called, "Hello? Are you hurt, little fella? Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

A small croak emanated about 15 meters away in the direction of a small cluster of trees. Wrench picked up his lamp and slowly walked closer to the spot, hesitantly approaching. He didn't want to alert it, he didn't know how hurt it was and scare it off. He reached the trees, and shone his lamp into the trees. He didn't see any animal there. He kept looking though, because the bang it caused had to have came from a large animal. Walking in closer, he didn't hear the thundering footsteps racing towards him.

Wrench felt a boulder slam into him. His gas-lamp flew from his mouth, flying into a bush ahead. He had his wind knocked out of him, and whatever hit him forced him onto the ground. Gasping for a breath, he tried to get up but whatever was holding him down had immense power. He could hear it growling with much anger, rippling through the cold night air as evil as Nightmare Moon herself. He's never been this afraid in his life before, this heart-racking gripping fear. His primal instinct was telling him he was about to die, and he never even knew what hit him. He looked up, but all he could see was the rising fire from the broken lamp. 

Suddenly, six eyes shone in the firelight. Empty, cold-blooded eyes full of nothing except the intent to kill. Wrench uttered, "Oh my Celestia" before three figures walked into the light. Before he could see anymore, he felt sharp teeth clamp down on his neck and shake him hard. His mind went blank, and after that he forevermore felt nothing.


***


TIME: 840 hours
LOCATION: 2nd Basement Floor, ITC, Black Rock, New Mexico, U.S.A., Earth
MULTIVERSE: 001

No one was moving. All they could do was wait. Wait for the news to come. 

Running on the linoleum, Vince DeGerra could hear nothing but the squeaks of his converse shoes. He ran right around the T-corner, and looked down the corridor he entered. It was long and beige, with sparse doors lining the hallway and LED light fixtures on the ceiling.  He tried to keep his glasses from falling off of the bridge of his nose, and shoved them up with his left hand, dropping a piece of paper he was carrying in the process. He made an about turn, picking up the paper and added it into the folder. Further down was his destination, room 431 on floor B-2, and he made a beeline for it. A sense of foreboding doom filled Vince because of the package he was carrying, but all he could think about was what a cute girl that lab intern was. Sure he was about to deliver bad news to a superior, but damn was she cute. Vince couldn’t help himself when it came to the opposite sex, which is why he was hired as the VP assistant instead of the position of machine technician he wanted. All because the interviewer was attractive, and Vince may or may not have ‘harassed’ her. In his opinion, asking someone’s bra cup size is merely a question about wardrobe. The only thing that got him the job was his glowing recommendation from his MIT professor. That, and one of the board of directors is his father.  

When he grasped the door handle, he drew a sharp breath first before entering. The news he was about to deliver was surely going to change how things worked around here, forever. There was no going back after this moment. The whole company, America, even the whole world in the long term was going to be affected by this piece of news. Vince just thought, ‘screw it’ and opened the door. Inside was a square room about 20 feet across. Two long tables were in the middle, with various instruments and computers that are used to measure long term distance runs of specific particles through the universe. Being three floors underground, there weren't any windows. Instead, there were some file cabinets, and then some modern file cabinets in the form of hard drives. 

Two men and a woman were waiting for Vince, all of them looking at him with eyes full of fear. 
John Gordon, a burly man with graying, balding hair who was wearing a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a dark green tie, and black slacks spoke first. “So, did the Recon guys confirm it? Do they truly exist?” 

Vince grimaced, speaking softly, “Yes. All the figures match, and there’s no doubt. Probes are being prepped for launch.”

David Stern, a lean guy in his mid-30’s had brown short uncombed hair, and was wearing a Doctor Who sweatshirt and jeans, slammed a fist into the table. “Dammit, even if it is true, who authorized the launch of the probes? We sure as hell didn’t!” His usually soft featured face was contorted with anger.

Kathyrn Moore stood up from where she was sitting. She put a hand on David’s shoulder and looked at David in the eyes. “There’s no need to yell at Vince, he’s just the messenger.” Kat was around 30, and she had shiny auburn hair that came down to her shoulder blades. Her shirt had the ship Serenity on it, from the short-lived but famous show Firefly. David was her boyfriend, and was damn proud of it. They were both proud of displaying their geeky-ness by wearing clothes sporting things from their favorite shows and games, and their offices were even worse. You couldn't go in there without being surrounded by paraphernalia belonging to their fandoms. Continuing speaking, she said in a calm voice, “Whoever did make that order will have to answer to us anyway, so I’m sure they had good reason to authorize the launch. Besides, if they do mess up we can always give them the Doniger” she finished with a devious smile.

David became less tense, and chuckled. “Vince, I apologize. And Kat, you are as mean as ever.”

“And proud of it! Now, Vince, do you know who gave the order for the probes?”

“I believe Dennis Noble gave the order.”

John snorted, and growled, “He doesn’t have that much experience with this. Is he sure about this?”

“None of us have any experience with this. I’m just peeved that Noble didn’t ask me first. We need to have a staff meeting about this” David stated.

“I would prefer not to involve the bureaucrats in this, Dave.” John said.

“But it would be the safe thing to do. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”

John sighed and rubbed his shiny head. After rubbing it for 10 seconds, he said, “Alright, arrange the staff meeting. However, I want to talk to Noble. The only thing that would explain why he ordered a probe launch now is something that requires immediate communication. I think we have been contacted.”

Everyone else flinched. “Seriously?” Kat murmured. 

Dennis Noble poked his head into the room, and said, “Yes Kathryn, we're serious."

David did a double take. “Wait, how did you know we were in here?

Kat cocked her eyebrow. “Yes, this was supposed to be a private meeting.”

Dennis shrugged. He was a stocky man in his late twenties, with long blond hair. He was wearing a red t-shirt that just said, 'Dont Think, Do' and jeans. Dennis had a way of learning secrets he wasn't meant to hear, which is why he was perfect for Recon. Unfortunately, it also made him a real pain around the office. “I forgot to tell Vince something, so I decided to come here and tell you guys myself. Turns out that we did not only make contact, but we also got a response.”

Everyone not only flinched, but David fell off his chair and Kat choked on her breath. “A-are you saying that we have just made contact with another sentient race of beings from a separate multiverse?!?” John shouted. 

“Wow, I can't believe we actually we were the first ones to find aliens. So much for those radio telescope guys here in New Mexico," Vince said with a chuckle.

Dennis came into the room and said, “Hey, hey! You didn’t let me finish! We did get a response, but it wasn’t a verbal comm, nor was it a message.”

“What did we get, then? What makes you sure that we got a response from a sentient race?” Kat asked.

Dennis looked at Kat with somber eyes. “We got a picture.”

“Of what?” David demanded. 

“We don't know.”

John walked up to Dennis, and held out his hand. "Let me see the folder."

Dennis handed it over. David and Kat jumped up from their seats and leaned over John's shoulder to look at the picture. The picture had a fuzzy image, showing a green ground and blue sky. Rolling hills covered the landscape and near the bottom right of the picture, down in the valley was a village composed of white and brown buildings. 

David let out a sigh, muttering, "They don't look very technologically advanced."

"Don't let that fool you. For all we know, they could zap us with mind powers and drain our brains", Vince grunted.

"You would have nothing to worry about Vince, because you have no brains" Dennis said, earning a death glare from Vince.

John put the picture back into the folder and everyone looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. Only John knew what to do, but it was the last thing that he wanted to do. His good natured conscience screamed out in protest for even considering this, but he had no choice. As a military man, he knew he had to serve his country. He walked out into the hallway and pulled out his cellphone, and made the call.


***


TIME: ???
LOCATION: ???
MULTIVERSE: ???

"Well well, it seems Discord has lost track of who he is..."

"Hehahoohho, I-I-It seems th-that he always l-l-l-loses track of w-w-w-whats more impor-t-t-t-tant."

The first voice groaned. "And what would that be, dare I ask?"

"D-D-Darkness! Hehahahehehahaehahahaa!"

"Yes, Darkness. It is time we tread among mortals again," a third voice said. "Almost everything is in place for our arrival. Soon, our reign of Darkness will begin and Discord...will come home."
> Chapter 2 - There is a reaction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 0740 hours
LOCATION: Canterlot Castle, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

"SPIIIIIIIIIKE!"

Spike the baby dragon slowly woke up from his nap. "You have got to be kidding me, I just went to sleep 5 minutes ago..." He mumbled. His hazy vision centered on the clock, and told him that it was 5pm. "Wait...scratch that, 6 hours ago. Still..." Spike got up and stretched his limbs, popping his neck and back.

"SPIIIIIIIIIKE,"

"I'm coming Twilight!" Spike hopped out of his bed and fell two feet to the floor. Having a room and bed in Canterlot Castle is a different experience to say the least, but he wasn't the one who became an alicorn. It has been two weeks since Twilight's coronation, and her princess training was almost complete. When it was done, she would probably be assigned to govern a part of Equestria, most likely Ponyville. But, even with all the new changes, Spike was still Twilights Number One Assistant, and being Twilights NOA meant being there for Twilight whenever she needed help!

Spike ran past two of the Solar Guard who were on post. Entering a cross in the hallways, Spike couldn't decide where Twilight was and he certainly didn't want to run in circles. Spike looked at the Guard closest to him and asked, "Excuse me, where can I find Twilight?"

"You can find Princess Twilight in the Royal Laboratory, sir" the Guard answered in a monotone voice. 

Spike smiled and ran off, yelling thanks in return. The Guard looked at the dragon scampering off, cocking an eyebrow and returned to being a statue.

In the Royal Laboratory, Princess Twilight was going over the new information she got from her various instruments that cluttered the lab when Spike burst in. "I'm still tired Twilight, I only got about six hours of sleep. I was having a most wonderful dream about Rarity...", he yawned.

Twilight giggled and said, "It better not be that type of dream, or she'll never forgive you." 

Spike became flustered and stammered out, "Bu-Wha-Hey! It wasn't! Honest!" 

"It's okay Spike, I'm just teasing. Now, I called you here for a reason. I need your help to find out what's causing the disturbances I'm reading in the weather patterns."

"Shouldn't this be handled by the pegasi in Cloudsdale? What's so special about these 'disturbances'."

" Apparently, there have been lightning flashes around Ponyville that only happen on the ground. I tried to see what was causing the electrical surges, but when I scanned them I couldn't find any electricity in the environment. The flashes are made of...something else. I already notified The pegasi, they're working on it too, but I want to make sure nothing goes wrong myself. 

"So, I need you to stand over there, by that green computer."

Spike waddled over. "This one?"

Twilight nodded and trotted to her particle analyzer. A glowing purple vial was sitting on the analyzer, with nothing inside. Her horn became enveloped in the same purple glow, and buttons on the machine became imbued with the same glow. She pressed a few and the machine warmed up. "Spike, I need you to watch that screen. Tell me whenever you see the red numbers go past 10,000. Ready?"

"Ready!"

She flipped a switch on the analyzer and the machine whirred into life. The transparent vial started spinning, slowly at first, then accelerating in speed. It turned rapidly in circles, faster and faster until you could become concerned that the glass vial would fly off and hit somepony. 

Spike started calling out numbers. "It's climbing. 4567...5810...7596...9934...it's over 10,000! Hey, it's still going. 12,483...18,796...40,371?"

Twilight trotted over. "Spike, those numbers are impossible. No substance in existence can have a magical rating of over 20,000."

"Well, look at it yourself. It's at 83,412 now."

Indeed the screen was not lying. The red numbers indicated magical strength in a substance that was too small to see with the naked eye. Historically, ponykind has never found a particle that exceeded 20,000. Anything beyond that would practically tear the universe apart. Science always took ponies far, but never this far before. Now, Twilight has just discovered a black hole in her lab. 

"Oh no" Twilight moaned. She galloped over to the analyzer and shut it down. The machine let out a sigh and the vial started slowing its revolutions. She fidgeted around, impatiently waiting for the vial to stop completely and snatched it with her magic. Turning over to her left, she carefully put the vial in a strongbox and locked it. Levitating the strongbox, she hastened to a closet. She opened it and stuffed it on the bottom shelf, out of view and closed the door, locking it. 

Spike watched this with concern growing in his stomach. "Twilight?...what's going on?"

"This is bad, Spike. Nopony has ever found such a volatile and dangerous substance before, and it came from Ponyville! We have to talk to the Princesses as soon as possible!" She started for the lab doors, calling Spike to follow her. Spike jumped and ran after her. She needed to talk to Celestia and Luna as soon as possible, and she hoped she would find at least one of them. Galloping down the halls, she raced as fast as she could to the Throne Room. Spike was lagging behind and crashed into a maid. She reached the Throne Room, and immediately burst in. 

Princess Celestia was sitting on the throne, signing a document when she looked up to see a harried Twilight. "Twilight? Is something wrong?"

"Yes there is, Celestia. I was in my lab, studying the particles the Ponyville weather team found and I ran them through the particle analyzer. Not only did their magical quotient reach 20,000, it kept growing and almost reached 100,000 before I shut it off! What do we do?!?"

Celestia's eyes shot open and she closed the Throne Room doors. She told her guards to summon Luna, and then strode over to Twilight. "Twilight, who else knows about this?" 

"Just Spike, he was helping me in the lab."

Celestia opened the doors and poked her head out. "Valor, fetch Spike for me at once" she said to one of the guards. 

"Wait, Princess, Spike was just behind me" Twilight called out.

"Really? Then where is he?"

On cue, Spike ran around the corner covered in linen cloth. He tripped on a piece, and scrambled back to his feet. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I ran into a maid carrying bed sheets. I tried to help her pick them back up but she insisted that I keep going."

Celestia's horn glowed yellow and the sheets covering Spike were covered in the yellow glow and were thrown off. "Now hurry Spike, in you go."

Spike grunted and hurried into the Throne Room. Celestia closed the doors after him, and turned to the two of them. "Now we wait for Princess Luna."

Luna came through one of the hidden back doors near the throne a few minutes later. She was covered in dirt, soiling her lovely midnight blue mane. "I apologize for my tardiness, but Derpy Hooves got into a fight with a bakery worker. I was out among our subjects, hoping to up-build out public image when Ms. Hooves created a disturbance, claiming that the worker was a rip-off artist for selling muffins at a high price and bucked her in the shins. We had to break up the fight, it escalated quickly..."

Celestia smirked and quickly regained her stern pose. "Luna, Twilight has some disturbing news to share." 

Luna's eyes blinked. "Then let us proceed. Twilight, what news have you brought forth?" 

Twilight told Luna what she told Celestia. Luna's eyes shot into alarm and her jaw dropped. She quickly regained her composure, but the damage was done. "Impossible. The only way for a particle like that to exist would involve ripping a hole in the universe, and our solar system is still intact. Twilight Sparkle, are you sure about this?"

Twilight grimaced and nodded her head. "The machines in the lab were all calibrated this morning, there's no mistake."

The two other princesses lowered their heads and sighed. Celestia looked up at said to Twilight, "Twilight, I want you to devote your time to find out where these particles are coming from, and if there is a way to stop them."

Twilight opened her mouth to respond when the Throne Room doors swung open. A brown pegasus colt wearing glasses with a dark green mane and a cutie mark composed of storm clouds trotted into the room. "I am sorry to interrupt Princesses, but the mysterious lightning surges are back around Ponyville, and they...um, they, well, produced a metal object. Nopony knows what it is..."

Celestia nodded at the Pegasus and said, "Thank you Cumulus." Cumulus nodded and backed out of the Throne Room. The three alicorns were now faced with a dilemma of unprecedented volumes, and they silently looked at each other. Never before has an object appeared out of thin air due to nature. It was terrifying and shocking. Even though Celestia and Luna had thousands of years of experience, nothing prepared them for this. 

"We must take action about this. It is our duty as the Princesses of Equestria to make sure that no harm comes to our little ponies. If this metal object is dangerous, we must remove it immediately" Luna stated the fact of the matter.

"That is true, but we cannot leave Canterlot ungoverned. Somepony will have to stay behind" Twilight said. 

"Then I will stay," Celestia told them. "Out of the three of us, I believe you two are best equipped to deal with this situation. I will stay in Canterlot and make sure the nobles and officials don't go out of hoof, while you two investigate this matter. Report to me what you find in 2 days. Is that understood?" 

"Yes Celestia."

"I will make sure all goes well, sister."

Spike felt left out. "Hey, what about me?"

Celestia responded, "I need you to make sure that these two don't do anything hasty and/or dangerous. Can I count on you?" 

Spikes eyes lit up and he wriggled his tail. "You can count on me Princess!"

Luna scoffed. "We do not need supervision."

Celestia smirked, and jived, "Need I remind you the time you said you could handle the Trottingham parasprite infestation?"

"...That was different. Nopony could have foreseen them doing a musical number and causing the guards and us to dance and sing in...buzzes" she said with a shudder.

"What was the headline from the Manehattan Times again? 'Princess causes quite a buzz at Trottingham'?"

"Yes, and we remember burning all of the copies of the newspaper we could find."

Spike held up a copy of the Manehattan Times. "You didn't find every copy. This is my personal copy of that article, and you can't have it" he said, grinning deviously as he did so. Luna's horn promptly lit up and the newspaper was lit in a blaze, causing Spike to yelp and drop it. The paper quickly crumpled up on the floor, erasing the evidence of the Princess of the Night's embarrassing day at Trottingham .

Luna stomped out the fire with her hoof, and started trotting towards the throne room doors. Twilight leaned over and whispered in Spike's ear, "You shouldn't have showed her that."

"Don't worry, I have more," he whispered back. 
> Chapter 3 - Appraisal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 0920 hours
LOCATION: Canterlot airspace, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

Two royal carriages were being flown by Royal Guard pegasi. One, a more dark and foreboding carriage belonged to Princess Luna, being towed by her Lunar Guard. The other was a new carriage, being pulled by Solar Guards, that has just been built recently. It looked simple and practical, just like the pony princess being chauffeured. Twilight looked back at the speck in the distance that was Canterlot, and she thought back to when she was first sent to Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship. It seemed so long ago, but 3 years in truth wasn't that long. It seems long because of what she has accomplished during that time. She learned invaluable lessons on friendship, and how powerful of a magic it can be. To have reached the point where she’s at now would be something her younger self would have scoffed at and have joked about it being the silliest thing she’s ever heard. A small smile grew on her face. Now she was reliving history, traveling to Ponyville from Canterlot in a flown carriage, but this time was different. Now she was an alicorn princess. That, and Luna was here with her and Spike. Even though she was coming here because of bad tidings, she was happy to see her friends again. 


* * *


On the ground, ponies had set up a magical barrier surrounding the area where the metal entity has appeared. The vicinity buzzed with movement, with ponies in hazmat suits and scientist unicorns from Canterlot studying the object from afar. Ponyville citizens were being held back by Solar Guards, some trying to get a look at the metal object while others were protesting the protection of it, yelling and waving signs that it should be destroyed. The ponies that were afraid of it were all in their homes, watching the commotion from the windows. 

Rarity was not in her home however. She came to watch the proceedings along with Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie’s off comforting a little filly who was crying earlier. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were helping with crowd control, and Fluttershy was keeping the animal population from going wild. Rarity wanted to help herself, but everypony was already doing what was needed to be done. If she tried to help she would be just getting in the way. The only thing she could do was help the unicorns keep the shield from collapsing by adding her own magic to the shield’s strength. It was little, but adding it made Rarity feel good. 

She noticed a pony walking towards her, looking at her. Facing the pony, she saw that she was one of the scientists. She had a violet coat and a short red mane, with a lab coat around her body and an Equestrian Aero-Space Magic Labs badge pinned on her chest. “Miss Rarity, I need you to come with me. The princesses are almost here, and protocol requires that we need an Element of Harmony to be present when they arrive, and you are the only one available,” she spoke in a brisk and loud monotone manner. 

Rarity raised her brow in surprise. “The princesses are coming here? Who, which ones?” she asked in an excited tone. It’s been 2 weeks since Twilight has been in Ponyville. Twilight coming here to help would really relieve a lot of tension within the situation. Seeing her would brighten up this horrid afternoon 

“I was informed that it’s Princess Luna and Princess Twilight”, the unicorn stated in the same monotone voice. “We must hurry Miss Rarity, they’re almost here.” 

The marshmallow grinned and nodded her head. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting. I’m coming!” 

Quickly, the unicorn turned and starting trotting towards the outskirts of Ponyville before Rarity could react. She jumped after her and caught up within a moment, and they walked in partial silence towards the rendezvous.   

Rarity was feeling awkward about following this pony she didn’t know, even if she was doing her job. She looked at her red mane, critiquing it on its style to know if she was going to lie or not with her next statement. 

”You know, I just love your mane. The way it spikes up in the back is unique.”

She lied. Rarity thought that her mane looked like a bedhead mess, something that Rainbow Dash wouldn't mind. 
She knew that judging on appearance's alone is shallow, but she couldn't think of another way to break the ice before they would meet up with Luna and Twilight. The unicorn glanced at Rarity, preferring to look ahead. She raised her left eyebrow, as if the compliment was unexpected.

"Thanks, I guess. I don't really care for it except when it gets too long. I have other things to tend to."

She took this as a chance to try to coax her more. "Really? Like what, darling?"

The unicorn's eyes began to sparkle, saying "Well, if you knew everything we lab ponies do each day it would fill you with wonder and terrify you at the same time, but I love it. I head the department that studies the celestial phenomena that occurs in space."

Rarity nodded her head in interest. "So, what's your special talent? Your lab coat is covering up your cutie mark, I can't guess it for myself."

Stopping for a second, the mare used her horn to lift her coat so Rarity could see her cutie mark. Her mark was a silver telescope pointed at a night sky filled with stars. She let Rarity take it in, and lowered it, covering it up again. "My talent is watching the stars, finding things other ponies didn't know was there and knowing how they move and feel. That, or I could be a telescope repair-mare..." Her mouth smirked, and she started trotting again.

"So, since you already know my name, perhaps it's time I learned yours," Rarity said, walking after her.

"Perhaps so. My name is Nova Red, Director of the Space Observation Team," the science pony said, watching the sky. She squinted her eyes, and said, "We must hurry Miss Rarity. They have arrived." 

Rarity squinted as well, and saw nothing. "Are you sure, darling? I don't see them."

Nova lowered her brow, grumbling, "Hey, sharp eyes here, remember?"

"Oh. Right."

The two mares started fast-trotting, hurrying to meet the princesses before they landed. They reached the rendezvous in time, watching the carriages fly closer and closer until coming to a stop in front of them. Luna landed first, Twilight shortly after. Nova and Rarity bowed as they stepped onto the ground. Twilight squeed, hurrying over to Rarity before glomping her into the ground. 

"Twilight! Careful, careful of my mane!"

"I missed you guys so much! I wish we could have gotten back together in better circumstances. Hey, where are the others?"

Luna properly greeted Nova and walked over to Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, I would remind you that a princess does not tackle other ponies in a greeting...even if they are dearest friends."

Blushing, Twilight got off Rarity and helped her up with levitation. Rarity glared at Twilight for almost ruining her mane, but it dissolved very quickly into a warm smile that almost topped one of Pinkie's. They hugged, gently this time, and parted. Twilight gave her attention to Nova, and gave her the Canterlot Nod. Nova nodded back, finishing the proper princess greetings. After making small talk for a couple minutes, the ponies and baby dragon headed for the entity site. 

With Luna and Nova in front, Twilight fell into step with Rarity. "Rarity, where are the others? Are they too busy helping?"

Rarity frowned, nodding. "I just wish I could do something more to help than standing around, keeping a shield up. Applejack and Rainbow are keeping the ponies from rioting, Fluttershy is keeping all the animals calm, and Pinkie Pie was with me earlier, but she was soothing a poor filly who was crying. I was the only one available to welcome you to Ponyville, and I'm glad that I did, but I can't help but want to do more. Do you know what I mean, Twilight?"

"I know what you mean Rarity," Spike said, adding his piece. "I try to help everybody to the best of my abilities, but sometimes it's just not enough."

"Look, Rarity, I appreciate how you came to welcome me back to Ponyville, and I'm glad that I can see you guys again. I wanted to make my comeback to Ponyville with more grandeur than this, but I can't let this pass up. This thing, this metal object coming here has never before happened in Equestria, and I need everypony's help. No matter what they're special abilities are, their contribution is welcome, and you are one of the most talented ponies I know. I'm confident that you will do something spectacular to help. Remember when you made all six of us dresses for the Gala? You gave your all and the dresses turned out beautiful. In fact, I bet you will surprise yourself by the end of this," Twilight said with an approving voice.

"..Thanks Twilight," Rarity whispered, blushing.

"What are friends for?" she replied, smiling.

In a couple of minutes, after passing gasping ponies and guards saluting and giving reports on how Ponyville is functioning, the group arrived at the landing site. The site was surrounded by a blue shield covering a grass field that had some trees and shrubs in it. Scientist ponies were leaving and entering makeshift huts that contained mobile labs, hazmat ponies were inside the blue dome, waving instruments around the air and ground, and Solar Guards kept the perimeter clear. 

Twilight raised her eyebrows in amazement, surprised that this was set up so quickly considering the entity landed in Equestria 47 minutes ago. "Nova, I'm impressed. Not everypony can set up a containment site like this so quickly."

Nova smiled, bowing her head to Twilight and responding, "Thank you Princess."

Luna looked around her surroundings, and walked up to the shield. She touched the shield with her horn, testing the shield's strength and the shield glimmered around the area where it touched. Luna turned to Nova, looking at her with neutral eyes, and looked at the center, towards the entity. There, Luna's composure dwindled a bit as she took in what she saw. A metal being, 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide, looked like a strange box with wheels attached, with a another small box with a black fixture on the side attached on a pole. All in all, it looked very un-Equestrian.



Luna observed the hazmat ponies waving the instruments inside the dome, and wondered whether the air was toxic. "Nova Red, why do the ponies wear hazmat suits? Is the air toxic?"

Nova stepped closer to Luna and spoke so all could hear, "We can't confirm that it is poisonous air, but we have detected a minuscule amount of unknown particles in the air. We do not want to test whether they are toxic or not, so we're scanning them carefully, one step at a time. We're also monitoring the plants inside to see how they react."

"So, we can't observe the object up close?" Twilight asked.

Nova shook her head. "No, not until the hazmat team gives an all clear."

The 3 ponies fluent in science each silently pondered on how to approach the situation on hoof. Rarity and Spike watched them think, making small talk about Ponyville and Rarity's business. After thinking for half a minute, Twilight did what Twilight does best and decided that the answer must be in books. 

"If I may, Luna, Nova, I think we should go to my library. I think there may be some mentioning of something that might deal with this, if I recall."

"I agree, Twilight Sparkle. Your eidetic memory may provide the answer we're looking for."

Nova widened her eyes in surprise and amusement. "She has a photographic memory?" she asked Luna.

"Yes. It has saved Equestria many a time." 

Twilight called over Rarity, and said to her, "I need you to gather the others and tell them to meet us at the library. We need to devise a plan of action."

"As you wish," and she sped off in search of the other Elements. Luna, Twilight, Nova and Spike headed down to the library, unaware that they were being photographed. On the entity, the black fixture turned out to be an aperture for a camera, blinking as it was taking shots. It swiveled on the pole, following the ponies as they left and became still again, with nopony noticing.  



> Chapter 4 - Chaos Reigning
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1020 hours
LOCATION: Outskirts of Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

"Hey, don't make me have tuh use these!"

Around the perimeter of the containment site, Applejack was busy keeping an earth pony from crossing the yellow ticker tape by threatening to use her world-famous bucking legs. The colt kept yelling about how Equestria was under attack by aliens, and was going hysterical. She needed to get this situation under control, and fast before other ponies joined the panic. 

"You're never gonna shut down the revolution! Down with the system, down wi-"

The colt flew back, sent sprawling back away from the crowd. Applejack bucked him away from the crowd, knocking him out but not seriously injuring him. She yelled for some guards, who promptly came over and carried him away. Rainbow Dash was flying overhead when she saw what happened. She was keeping watch over the crowd, keeping pegasi from flying near the entity site, and saw Applejack buck the colt. Racing over, she dropped down next to Applejack who was staring down nearby ponies, daring them to try something else. 

"Hey, AJ, what just happened?" she said hesitantly.

Applejack was still glaring at the ponies, when she said quietly, "C'mon Rainbow, we need ta talk somewhere else. Ah can't stand this anymore." Rainbow raised her eyebrows in surprise. Applejack usually wasn't the pony who quivered at the thought of doing what's needed to get done.

The two mares went off together into an alley between a shop and house. The alley had some trash cans and grime covering the ground, and most importantly they were alone, which is what Applejack wanted. She didn't want somepony eavesdropping on what she was about to say. 

"Rainbow, have you ever thought that maybe whut's going on is too much for us to handle?" she said hesitantly.

"Well, you did buck that colt back over there. What was that all about?"

Applejack frowned and looked at the ground. "I don't know, ah just couldn't stop that pony from causing a ruckus. I panicked..."

Rainbow sighed. She wasn't expecting this from Applejack, and even more Applejack coming to her in the first place. The orange pony wasn't the type to doubt herself. She was the type of pony who made a plan and stuck with it. "AJ, I'm not really the best sort of pony to talk about sappy stuff like this. What I can do is tell you that I believe that you have the guts to do what's right."

“I know Rainbow, Ah just need somepony I trust to talk to right now. What we’re doing here…it…it just doesn’t feel right,” Applejack said. “In fact, nothing here feels right. What in the hay are those science ponies doing to Ponyville? They just come here, givin’ orders to whoever they feel like ‘cause they think they own the place! Ah can tell you, if they come even a foal step near Sweet Apple Acres, they got another thing comin’ to them.” 

“I don’t like what they’re doing to Ponyville either, but they came with orders from Celestia herself. I think it would be best if we just stuck to their plan and help out, y’know?” 

Applejack snorted and hoofed at some litter on the ground. “Ah don’t remember this alleyway being this dirty. Those Canterlot folk and ponies from out of town sure leave a mess.”

“Since Spike is out of town, I vote that we tell the Crusaders that they could get their Cutie Marks in community service,” Rainbow said with a devious smile.

Applejack gasped in faux horror. “Oh, Rainbow! That would be terrible! Abusing those poor fillies like that! In fact, why didn’t ah think of that before?”

“Imagine if they actually did get their Cutie Marks for cleaning. What would they be?” Rainbow giggled.

“Ah bet they would get dirt smudges!” she giggled back. 

Both mares burst into laughter in the dark alley. From anypony walking by, they would hear high pitched evil laughter coming from a dark foreboding alleyway, as if Ponyville didn’t already have enough of the crazies going on already. Rarity happened to be walking by at that moment, searching for the rest of the Elements.

“Oh my Celestia, how dreadful! There’s an evil villain loose in Ponyville! I must gather the others at once, and tell Twilight!” Rarity moaned with wide eyes. She broke into a gallop, speeding away from the ponies she was trying to find in the first place.


* * *


In another part of Ponyville, Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short was doing what she does best. Making others smile, and being Pinkie Pie. It’s a long story, but Pinkie is one of those cases that you want to devote another slot to, and right now we’re focusing on the peril of Ponyville. So let’s get to it, shall we? No, we need to continue on with the story, I can’t make a break for this. No, please, don’t make me explain Pinkie Pie right now, I’m not prepared for it. I can’t. As the writer, what I say goes and I’m saying we move on over Pinkie. If you want to learn about Pinkie Pie right now then Google her for Celestia’s sake! Moving on!

Pinkie Pie was singing to a little-oh for luna’s sake, you’re never going to stop poking me until you get what you want, aren’t you…This is what kills writing these days, the need to please everybody. 

*The author sighs*

You get your wish. Now shut up and sit down. "Since when did I start writing like this?"

Pinkie Pie is an extraordinary Earth Pony. She boggles the minds of intellectual ponies everywhere, constantly breaking physics and foreseeing the near future with her mysterious ‘Pinkie Sense’. She can hide anywhere, undetected, waiting to spring out of her hiding place to frighten somepony. Getting the edge on Pinkie is useless, because she can see you coming seconds before you’re even there. Ask Pinkie how she does it, and she’ll talk about something else entirely, completely avoiding the subject. She’s gifted with the ability to make anypony talk about anything, even their deepest, darkest secrets. You want to know how she does it? She never shuts up, driving the victim into insanity. She’s the epitome of blabber mouths, a shoe in for the ‘Most Mentally Unstable Pony in Ponyville’ award, a blasted curse that crept out of Tartarus itself. She carries weaponry with her everywhere she goes, known as the ‘Party Cannon’. Who knows what will set her off these days. You could get blasted with lethal doses of confetti if you utter anything that conflict’s with the Law of Pink. In essence, she is the most dangerous pony who’s ever lived. Never let those big cute blue eyes and adorable bouncy pink mane throw you off. She will kill you, and there’s nothing you can do about it. 

Oh my fuck, why the hell am I typing this? I don't feel good....PINKIE MUST DIE...but I like Pinkie!...WHAT THE HELL ARE MY FINGERS DOING?!?! I'M FRIGGIN POSSESSED! I LIKE TO WEAR WOMEN'S CLOTHING, I LIKE TO WEAR WOMEN'S CLOTHING!

Someone, anyone, HELP ME. I can't...can't...sto-p-p-p typing-APPLEJACK SHOULD TOTALLY MARRY RAINBOW DASH-

*The author screams and runs away, leaving the desk in a strange, freaky  marionette fashion*


* * *


Up above in the star-filled Void, Discord giggles to himself and pulls on the threads controlling the author, making him paint his house in hot pink and tear his bills into shreds. 

“It’s time I made some sweet chaos, it’s been far too long.” 

Chortling now, Discord was now making our author use butter skates to slide on the sidewalk outside his house. He was tunnel-visioned on what he was doing that he didn’t notice Celestia clear her throat behind him. She cleared her throat and little louder and when he still didn’t hear her, she stamped her hoof and shouted, “DISCORD!’

Jumping, Discord let go of our author, leaving him eating the grass on his neighbor’s lawn in front of gawking children. 
“C-Celestia! How did you find me?” he stammered. 

“You didn’t think you could hide from me in the very domain I created to watch over alternate universes, did you?”

Discord gasped. “YOU made the Void? I thought it was something leftover from the Titans destroyed domain.”

“Yes, it was necessary to ensure the safety of Equestria. Nopony else knows it, but we have almost been annihilated by species seeking to conquer this planet many times, and I have recruited many powerful beings to help Equestria in it’s time of need.”

“Wow, I’m impressed actually. I didn’t know you had it in you to use innocent people to your liking, ‘Tia,” Discord said in a teasing tone.

“First of all Discord, they all agreed to help and second of all why are you abusing a poor human? I thought I told you to not create chaos! That’s what this reforming process is all about.”

“But you didn’t say I couldn’t mess with non-ponies.”

“I wasn’t being literal, and you know it. You know what the punishment is, Discord.”

Discord again gasped, only this time he did it with a whine as well. “But I hate helping the homeless!

“That’s why it’s perfect for you. It also builds character, Discord, which is something you sorely need.”

He grumbled, closing the portal to Earth. Then, something clicked in Discord. He was there this morning while Twilight ran in and gave the castle a scare with her ‘scary’ science. Celestia didn’t know it, but Discord liked to disguise himself as a Guard in the castle to fool around, and he overheard everything that went on in the throne room.

“Wait, Celestia, didn’t you say you had no idea what was going on this morning? You can’t possibly not know what that thing is that appeared in Ponyville.”

Celestia closed her eyes and said, ‘Luna knows too. That’s why I sent her along with Twilight, to make sure she can contain whatever comes next.”

“But Luna sounded even more shocked than you did. There’s no way she knew.”

“We knew what to do before Twilight came to us. We have been experiencing some small problems arising from this, but we both decided to let Twilight learn how to solve this instead of us doing all of the work. It’s important that Twilight learn how to deal with this on her own if she expects to become a full Princess, with some necessary help from Luna. This is too dangerous of a test for her to handle on her own."

Discord slowly nodded his head. “Fascinating…can I help Twilight too?”

“No, you may not. You are being punished.”

Discord sighed. He snapped his fingers and started slowly fading into nothing. He re-appeared into a room in Canterlot Castle in a flash, followed by Celestia in a lighter flash. Looking around the room, Discord saw that it was the same dusty, dark, old room in the basement filled with bookshelves and candle. He lingered for a moment, and caught Celestia’s piercing gaze of her eyes. 

“Fine, fine, I’ll get right on helping the…ugh, homeless. I don’t have to wear that silly apron again, do I?”

She nodded. Discord groaned and snapped his fingers, teleporting to the homeless shelter in a flash. Celestia grinned and cast a spell, illuminating the room in a gold glow.

Far away on Earth, our author was being arrested for disturbing the peace when he teleported back to his desk. Everything Discord did was undone, moving it back to normal. Our author felt woozy, like he was getting a head rush and shook his head. Thinking to himself about how weird that was considering he was just sitting down he made a mental note to lay off the 4lokos and got back to work.


* * *


Pinkie Pie was singing to a crying filly about sunshine and cupcakes in a corner of Ponyville. Eariler she was keeping Rarity company when she noticed a mother having a hard time calming her foal with all of the commotion going on. Soon the filly was asleep, sucking on a pacifier.

The mother was amazed and grateful. "Wow, thank you so much Pinkie! I don't know what went wrong, and it was driving me crazy because nothing I was doing was working. Being a first time mom is tough, y'know?"

"You said it! When I was foalsitting for the Cakes, it was a battle keeping them happy! Nothing I did first worked either, but I guess it's something that comes to you eventually."

Off in the distance, Pinkie heard somepony calling her name. 

"Well, I got to go. I hope everything works out later!"

"Bye Pinkie! Thanks again!"

Pinkie smiled ear to ear and hopped away. The voice called again, and Pinkie realized that it was Rarity calling. Something sounded off in her voice, like something was wrong. Knowing Rarity, it could be that her hoof has been scratched or her eyelashes became mussed up, something silly like that. Pinkie giggled to herself and kept hopping.

Rarity met Pinkie halfway and spoke in a hurried voice, "Pinkie have you seen Fluttershy anywhere? I can't find her with the animals, and she was supposed to be there!"

"Whoa Rarity, what's the deal? I'm sure Fluttershy is perfectly safe, nothing to worry about!"

"That's not it, Pinkie. Did you know that Twilight and Luna are here in Ponyville?" Rarity queried. 

Pinkie screamed in delight and bounced around Rarity. "Twilights here?!?! We should throw a welcome back party!"

"No darling, there's no time for that I'm afraid. This is serious business," Rarity said in a stern voice.

Pinkie stopped bouncing. "Geez Rarity, what's going on?"

Rarity frowned. "I think it would be best if it were explained at the library, but Twilight said to gather Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. We should split up and have them go to the library as soon as possible."

"Okie dokie Rarity! I'll find the others in no time at all!" Pinkie gave a salute with her hoof and sped off in a pink blur. 

"Now, where should I start.... Maybe I should try Town Hall first," Rarity wondered out loud to herself. "Yes, Town Hall it is."


* * *


It was 25 minutes later, and Rarity couldn't find any of the others. "Where the Tartarus did they run off to..." she grumbled. Huffing, she stomped around a corner and found Applejack and Rainbow Dash trotting away, talking to each other. 

"There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you two!" she shouted. 

Rainbow grunted in surprise while Applejack narrowed her brow in confusion. "Say what now? You've been looking for us? Why, what did we do?" Rainbow asked.

"You didn't do anything. Twilight's back in Ponyville, along with Luna, and they asked that we all meet at the library. It's very important we go there at once. There's somethings we all need to discuss."

"You're saying that Twilight's back, along with Princess Luna, and we didn't hear about it until now? Wow, things really are jumbled up," Applejack stated. "Did we miss anything important?"

"Yeah, I could have missed something awesome, and that's unacceptable to me!" Rainbow said with enthusiasm. "C'mon, lets go before we miss anything cool!" Rainbow started to fly off, but unfortunately a fast moving object was coming around the corner and smacked into Rainbow Dash, causing her and the large object to go sprawling on the ground. 

"You really should watch where you fly darling, you could hurt somepony" said Rarity.

Rainbow was flattened underneath it. "Haha, Rarity, thanks for that helpful advice," she said in a muffled sarcastic voice.

The object turned out to be three well known filles, one of them wearing a helmet with a scooter nearby, and two of them in a wagon. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, AKA the Cutie Mark Crusaders have just collided with the best flyer in all of Equestria to Scootaloo's horror. 

"Ohmygosh, Rainbow Dash, I'm so so so so sorry! I didn't see you coming!" Scootaloo apologized in a panicked voice.

"You should be apologizing to me! I think I broke my leg! I can't move it! No, wait, you're sitting on it Applebloom," Sweetie Belle groaned.

"Sorry Sweetie Belle, Ah just flew on top of it. Physics can do that, y'know," said Applebloom.  

Underneath the wagon, the cyan pegasus grunted and wiggled her hooves. "Girls, I would greatly appreciate it if you could get this off me....ow..."

"Applebloom! Help me get this wagon off of Rainbow," Applejack ordered her sister.

"'Kay sis." The two Earth ponies moved the wagon off of Rainbow, freeing her from it's crushing weight. Getting up, Rainbow nursed her bruises and said, "What are you guys doing? Don't you know that it's not exactly safe right now?"

Applebloom spoke up. "We were just trying to see whatever's causing the ruckus."

"Well, you girls should head on home. Sweetie, I want no shortcuts or distractions, you go straight home," said Rarity. 

The three Crusaders awwww'ed. "We want to know what's going on! We're tired of being left out!" Scootaloo whined. 

"Yeah! We wanna get to do stuff! Pleeasseeee?" Sweetie Belle used her eyes of persuasion.

Rarity shook her head. "You're just not old enough. I don't think it would be safe for you to go to the site."

"I dunno Rarity, you know what these fillies are like. They'll just go ahead and go there anyway. Maybe we should bring them with us to the library. To make sure they stay safe," Applejack offered.

"What? We don't want that, we wanna go to the crash site!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"That sounds like an excellent idea Applejack. Ok, new plan, you girls will come with us to Twilight's library," said Rarity.

"But-"

"No buts, you three are coming with us and that's final."

"Finally. Now c'mon, we need to get to the library right now, so I don't want you three to lag behind," Rainbow said with gusto. 

The three fillies had no choice. Their powers of cuteness could not win the three mares over, and they trudged along to the library. 
> Chapter 5 - Quantum Flux
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1430 hours
LOCATION: Washington D.C., U.S.A., Earth
MULTIVERSE: 001

Around 30,000 feet above the Potomac River, a private Cessna jet was climbing in altitude. It left Dulles International Airport around 10 minutes ago, and it was carrying a total of 3 passengers; Vince DeGerra, Kathyrn Moore, and Rick Bullman. Vince and Kat were from the International Technology Corporation, or ITC. Founded in 1989 by Robert Doniger, it was a start-up company made from Doniger's already vast fortune made from his earlier tech companies. Don't think him as Bill Gates when it comes to generosity and good-will. When he was a child at his grandmother's funeral, he didn't shed a tear because she still owed him twenty-seven dollars, which he still expected to be paid. He could be summed up as a smart, narcissistic, slimy bastard who wanted to be remembered as the Edison of his time. Pretty accurate, considering Edison was a quack himself who sold out and kicked Tesla out of history's memory, except Doniger was working on a technology that surpasses the light bulb. 

ITC was started in Geneva, Switzerland, drawing from the pool of physicists from CERN. Then in 1994, he moved ITC to Black Rock, an hour north of Albuquerque to use the existing physicists there. ITC was kept away from the media, developing a huge risk in computer technology: the quantum computer. Proposed by Richard Feynman in the early 1980's, it was speculated that it might be possible to build a computer using the quantum attributes of atoms. Unfortunately, nobody took this seriously at the time because it was implausible to even consider undertaking such a task. Implausible to everyone except Doniger. 

When Doniger started ITC, he generically named it the International Technology Corporation to keep what he was doing a secret. Not only would building it invoke the interests of powerful entities, but attempting such a feat posed high risks that if it flopped, his investors would put him out of business for good. Doniger had already accumulated a vast fortune and worldwide fame by 1989, even making TIME's 1984 list of fifty people under the age of 25 who would be most likely to change the world, and when he disappeared people assumed he retired. Nobody noticed ITC steadily increasing in growth. When applying to the board of directors, you had to deposit a minimum of $300 million dollars, take a polygraph test, and allow ITC to tap your phone at any time without notice. In 1994, TIME made a list of 25 people under the age of 40 who were shaping the world. Doniger was not among them.

Now, there is a river in southern France called the Dordogne, known for having extensive medieval ruins that littered the landscape. Two castles in particular that are each a day's walk apart, La Roque and Castelgard, are castles from the Hundred Year War between England and France. Castelgard was your average run-of-the-mill castle that had good defense, but could very well be easily taken. La Roque on the other hand was this huge massive fortress located on a cliff. It was never taken by brute force, actually. It always changed hands either by legal purchase or sneak tactics, giving credit about how this castle was impregnable. 

In 1999, the Dordogne site was being studied by a group of Yale graduate students when they notice how strange their backer company, ITC was behaving. They knew more about the site than the ones who were studying it, like knowing where ruins are before they're discovered and keeping blueprints of wrecked monasteries that have been in ruins for centuries, and that calls for concern. The professor in charge of the dig, Edward Johnston, demanded to know what was going on and traveled to ITC in New Mexico. The students carried on, and discovered something shocking: bifocal lenses and parchments with the professor's handwriting on them in a room in the monastery that has never been opened by them. Then ITC summoned a group of them to come to New Mexico about an emergency concerning Johnston. 

Four students made the journey to Black Rock. Andre Marek, Kate Erickson, David Stern, and Christopher Hughes. Four people entered the ITC complex, and four people left the complex. Only one thing; Johnston was back with them, and Andre Marek was not. This was named the Dordogne Incident, which mysteriously happened around the time of Robert Doniger's disappearance. Official records show that he went down in a private plane over the Pacific on his way to Seoul, but the truth says different. 

Johnston continued teaching at Yale, working the college digs, while Chris and Kate got married, living in LA with one kid and another on the way. David followed up on ITC, and was hired as a physicist. Stern was never an archaeologist, he was only in France to be close to his ex-girlfriend. There he met Kat, another physicist, and he asked her out using a stapler. Don't ask them about the stapler story, it's too cute.

When ITC informed the United States government about their quantum technology in 2005, it was quickly subsidized and given it's own budget. It is in the Pentagon's interest that this technology be perfected as soon as possible, and this interest can be a little smothering. This is where Rick Bullman enters the picture. Bullman is a 40 something year old civilian analyst of the Pentagon who recently started working for the ITC division. He has worked on gathering intel on Serbian troop movements in Kosovo during the civil war, uncovering underground Al-Qaeda members in England, and other classified activities. Promoted and transferred from Europe to the Pentagon, nothing in his past could have prepared him for listening to Kat's explanations about quantum mechanics.

"Look, Miss Kathryn, how can there be bubbles in space? I was never a physicist in high school, and this is all going over my head," Rick grumbled. Rick was sitting in an armchair in the jet's sitting room/bar, with Vince making drinks at the bar and Kat sitting opposite of him in an armchair. 

Kat groaned and threw her head back. "These aren't the bubbles you're thinking of! Didn't you get any briefing on how quantum faxing works?"

"A little. I was just assigned to this division a week ago, and I haven't had time to study up on quantum tech."

"Well it's kinda important, considering you work in this field now," Kat huffed. "Why did you even get assigned to this? We needed someone with experience, and they send us a shiny!"

"Shiny?"

"It means brand new," Vince spoke up from the bar, not looking away from the bottles stored underneath the bar.

"So, how much do you know about quantum faxing?" Kat said while tying her hair back into a knot using a twistie band. It was a comfort behavior, something she's done ever since she was little. She would tie her hair back whenever she would get stressed. Flying in a plane made her feel claustrophobic, even though she was completely fine with other small spaces. It's just that the other small spaces were not flying high in the atmosphere and could plummet to the ground causing her grisly death.

Rick frowned. "Not much...All I know is that it sounds like the transporters from Star Trek."

Sighing, Kat sat up straight in her chair. "Guess we'll have to start from the beginning. Vince, make me a screwdriver please."

"Are you sure? Technically you are working by escorting Mr. Bullman here."

"Don't be a smartass Vince. Technically you're working too."

"Ah...right you are. Screwdriver coming up."

She crossed her right leg over her left and wondered where to start. 

"Mr. Bullman, you do know that what we are doing is not time travel?"

"Yes...no. I know that time travel is impossible, but I don't understand why it's impossible. I was just informed of ITC just 2 weeks ago. Before that, I was hacking into Arab hard drives."

Kat nodded her head. She immediately thought of 'wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey' and she smirked.

"What's so funny?" Rick questioned, arching his eyebrow.

"Nothing. Ok, so the way humans process time is an accident. Time doesn't flow, there is no past/present/future.There are no separate locations in time, and since there are no locations in time you can't travel to them. What we do is a form of space travel. To be more precise, we use quantum technology to manipulate an orthogonal multiverse coordinate change."

Rick had a blank stare.

"It means that we travel to another place in the multiverse." 

"What's the multiverse?...."

"It's the space defined by quantum mechanics. Do you know what quantum mechanics are?" 

"Not a clue."

At the bar, Vince was finished making the vodka drink. He came over with the drink, holding it out to her. "I used passion fruit juice. It's all the bar had...sorry." 

Kat shrugged and took the drink. "Thank you Vince. It doesn't matter to me right now, I just need some alcohol." She took a sip and wriggled in her seat, getting more comfortable. "Let me start at the beginning."

"A hundred years ago, physicists understood that energy took the form of continuously flowing waves. We still refer to 'radio waves' and 'light waves'. In fact, the recognition that all forms of energy shared this wavelike nature was one of the great achievements of nineteenth-century physics.

"But...there was a small problem," she said. "It turned out that if you shined light on a metal plate, you got an electric current. The physicist Max Planck studied the relationship between the amount of light shining on the plate and the amount of electricity produced, and he concluded that energy wasn't a continuous wave. Instead, energy seemed to be composed of individual units, which he called quanta. The discovery of that energy came in units of quanta was the start of quantum physics. Hence, quanta, quantum. You with me so far?"

"Um, I think so," Rick said hesitantly.

Kat took a sip of her drink and stared him down. "You think so, or know so? I can't go on repeating myself."

Groaning, Rick fiddled with his thumbs. "Yes, I am understanding what you're telling me. Can we please move on?"

At the bar, Vince was drinking his own concoction, chuckling to himself. Kat hates flying, and explaining all this is only making it worse he thought to himself.

Kat nodded. She took another sip and compiled her next thoughts. "A few years later, Einstein showed that you could explain the photoelectric effect by assuming that light was composed of particles, which he called photons. These photons of light struck the metal plate and knocked off electrons, producing electricity. Mathematically, the equations worked. They fit the view that light consisted of particles.

She took a long sip.

"Pretty soon, physicists began to realize that not only light, but all energy was composed of particles. In fact, all matter in the universe took the form of particles. Atoms were composed of heavy particles in the nucleus, light electrons buzzing around on the outside. So, according to the new thinking, everything is now particles. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"The particles are discrete units, or quanta. And the theory that describes how these particles behave is quantum theory. A major discovery of twentieth-century physics. Physicists continue to study these particles, and begin to realize they're very strange entities. You can't be sure where they are, you can't measure them exactly, and you can't predict what they will do because they are ever changing. Sometimes they behave like particles, sometimes like waves. Sometimes two particles will interact with one another even though they're a million miles apart, with no connection between them, and so on. The theory is starting to seem extremely weird.

"Now, two things happen to quantum theory. The first is that it gets confirmed, over and over. It's the most proven theory in the history of science. Supermarket scanners, lasers, and computer processors all rely on quantum mechanics. So there is absolutely no doubt that quantum theory is the correct mathematical description of the universe.

"But the problem is, it's only a mathematical description. It's just a set of equations. And physicists couldn't visualize the world that was implied by those equations-it was to weird, too contradictory. Einstein, for one, didn't like that. He felt it meant the theory was flawed. But the theory kept getting confirmed, and the situation got worse and worse. Eventually, even scientists who won the Nobel Prize for contributions to quantum theory had to admit they didn't understand it.

"So, this made for a very odd situation. For most of the twentieth-century, there's a theory of the universe that everyone uses, and everyone agrees is correct. But nobody can tell you what it is saying about the world."

"Excuse me, but what does this have to do with separate universes?"

"I'm getting there, hold your horses," said Kat.


* * *


Kat explained how many physicists tried to explain the equations, but they all failed for one reason or another. Then, in 1957, a physicist named Hugh Everett proposed a daring new explanation. Everett claimed that our universe-the universe we see, the universe of rocks and trees and people and galaxies out in space-was just one of an infinite number of universes, existing side by side.

Each of the univeres was constantly splitting, so there was a universe where Hitler lost the war, and another where he won; a universe where the Twin Towers were bombed, and another where they still stand. And also another world where you brushed your teeth in the morning, and one where you didn't. And so forth, on and on and on. An infinity of worlds.

Everett called this the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics. His explanation was consistent with the quantum equations, but physicists found it very hard to accept. They didn't like the idea of all these worlds constantly splitting all the time. They found it unbelievable that reality could take this form. 

"Some physicists still refuse to accept it," Kat said. "Even though no one has yet to be able to prove it wrong."

Everett himself had no patience with his colleagues' objections. He insisted the theory was true, whether you liked it or not. If you disbelieved his theory, you were just being stodgy and old-fashioned, exactly like the scientists who dis-believed the Copernican theory that placed the sun at the center of the solar system-and which had also seemed unbelievable at the time. "Because Everett claimed the many worlds concept was actually true. There really were multiple universes. And they were running right alongside our own. All these multiple universes were eventually referred to as a 'multiverse.'"

"So how do you know this is true? Please enlighten?" Rick asked.

"Gladly. Vince, do you know where the ITC Tech folder is kept?"

"Yeah, it's in the back. Lemme go get it," he said while retrieving the folder. He shortly returned and handed a manila folder that said "ITC/U.S. Pentagon" to Kat. She grunted thanks, taking some blank paper out of the folder and took out a pen.


* * *


She clicked the ball-point pen and began drawing. "This is a very simple experiment, it's been done for two hundred years. Set up two walls, one in front of the other. The first wall has a single vertical slit in it."

She showed Rick the drawing.



"Now you shine a light through the slit. On the wall behind, you'll see a white line coming from the slit."

"Okay."

"Mmhmm, and it would look something like this." Kat pulled a photo on a card out of the folder.



Kat continued to sketch. "Now, instead of one slit, you have two vertical slits in it. Shine a light on it, and on the wall behind, you see-"



"Two vertical lines." Rick said.

"No. You'll see a series of light and dark bars." She showed him:



"And," Kat continued, "if you shine your light through four slits, you get half as many bars as before. Because every other bar goes black."



Rick frowned. "More slits means fewer bars? How come?"

"The usual explanation is what I've drawn-the light passing through the slits acts like two waves that overlap. In some places they add to each other, and in other places they cancel each other out. And that makes a pattern of alternating light and dark on the wall. We say the waves interfere with each other, and that this is an interference pattern."

"Ok...so what's the catch here?"

"The catch is that I gave you an eighteenth-century explanation. It was perfectly acceptable when everybody believed that light was a wave. But since Einstein, we know that light consists of particles called photons. How do you explain a bunch of photons making this pattern?"

"Well, I suppose that the photons in the beams of light interfere with each other since there are billions of them," Rick said, shrugging a little.

"You are correct in some regard, except I wouldn't say billions; instead, I would say a googol of them." she said.

"Whats a googol?," Rick asked with a scrunched brow.

"It's a number followed by a hundred zeroes or so. But, we should we asking whether it's whats really going on? Is this really true? One way to find out is to eliminate any interaction among the photons. Let's just work with one photon at a time. This has been done experimentally. You make a beam of light so weak that it emits one photon at a time. You put very sensitive detectors behind the slits-so sensitive, they can sense when one photon hits them. Got it?"

Rick nodded slowly. 

"Now, there can't be any interference from other photons, because we are dealing with a single photon only. So: the photons come through, one at a time. The detectors record where the photons land. And after a few hours, we get a result, something like this."



"What we see," Kat continued on," is that the individual photons land only in certain places, and never others. They behave exactly the same as they do in a regular beam of light. But they are coming in one at a time. There are no other photons to interfere with them. Yet something is interfereing with them, because they are making the usual interference pattern. So: What is interfering with a single photon?"

Rick had nothing. "I suppose the molecules in the air-"

"Irrelevant. The photons are smaller than the molecules floating in the air, so they pass around or through them. Remember, this is a real experiment, done with real detectors and real photons. Something real interferes with them. What is it?"

"It has to be other photons," Rick said. 

"Exactly," Kat said, "but where are they? We have detectors, and we don't detect other photons. So where are the interfering photons? 

Rick leaned forward. "Coming from the multiverse?"

"Correct. Reality is much greater than what we see in our own universe, and sometimes other universes interact with our own universe."


* * *


"Wait, hold up. You said they interact with our own universe? Why?" 

Kat took a drink from her screwdriver, and set the glass down on the table. "It is the nature of the multiverse. Remember, within the multiverse, the universes are constantly splitting, which means that many other universes are very similar to ours."

"Except for that stupid particle we found that proves there's much much more," Vince groaned from the bar.

"We'll get to that at ITC. What you should know is that everything in the multiverse interacts with each other, as explained with the photon experiment. What ITC does is use a technology we invented to travel by making wormhole connections in quantum foam."

"So you mean the soap bubbles in space."

"No. Look, why don't we cover more of this when we get to ITC, we still have 5 hours to get there. Rick, what do you want from the bar?"

Rick became flustered. "I'll just have water, and it's Mr. Bullman, thank you."

"Sorry Mr. Bullman, but I hate flying. I'm not myself when I'm put aboard these flying coffins. C'mon, lighten up, it'll make me feel better," Kat whined.

"Uhm," Rick mumbled, "......sure, what the hell. I'll have some scotch."

Kat gave a little whoop and hopped to the bar. "I have a great idea! Lets play Winners and Losers!" she said while pulling out a deck a cards. 

"What's that?" Vince asked.

"Well...there's winners...and there are losers. You will see." Kat said with a smile.


* * *


When the plane landed down on the tarmac in Black Rock, the passengers where slightly drunk. Not hammered, but drunk enough to be noticeable that they've had alcohol. The door opened, with the gangway being lowered shortly after. A pilot came out first, holding the arm of an unseen person. Kat came stumbling out, holding on his arm for support. Vince came out  after Kat, with lipstick on his face in a pattern of a penis pointed toward his mouth. Rick hobbled down, almost falling but catching himself on the railing. 

Across the tarmac, David Stern was waiting for the group leaning on black SUV. He saw Kat being helped out of the plane and chuckled. Looks like she drank again. Too bad I couldn't take her place, but work shmork. Sighing, he started walking over to meet them halfway. 

"Look, look, I'm finne. See? Davids coming! You don't need to help me anymore, you go back to being a pilot," Kat mumbling to her escort. 

"Ms. Moore, I have to help you all the way, you drank too much", the pilot said. 

"Bern! Bern, me miss you", Kat giggled as David came close.

"Hey hun. How much did you drink? I swear, we need to remove that minibar from the plane" David said while helping the pilot. Kat went through an exchange between the two, with David grunting thanks to the pilot. He nodded and said it was no problem and headed back to take care of the jet.

"I..drank enough to kill the feeling of moving."

"Kat, when can I remove this from my face?" Vince asked, standing close by with Rick burping next to him.

"Remove wh-WHAT THE FRICK?" David yelled when he saw the penis on his face. 

"Heeee's the lossser! Harhar!" Kat laughed in David's arms. "Not until we get to ITC, remember?"

"If we can, I would like to remind everyone that we are on a schedule? I need to report to the Pentagon on what ITC has found," said Rick. 

"Right. Well, let's all get in the car, shall we? Kat, honey, sit in the front with me please. You'll feel better." 

Kat grunted acknowledgement and she hobbled into the passenger seat with David's help. When she was comfortably secured, David shut the door. He motioned for Vince to get in the back and opened the door for him to crawl in, and then opened the door for Rick.

"Here you are," David offered.

"Thank you, Bern," Rick said in return. 

"Oh no, my name isn't Bern. My name is David. David Stern"

"Then...why did Kathyrn call you Bern?" Rick mused.

"It's just a pet name she calls me. Kinda cute, really."

As Rick was getting in, David put an arm on Rick's shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry that Kat got too wild on the plane. If she offended you, then I'm sorry."

Rick laughed, making David raise his eyebrows in surprise. "No, don't say sorry! We actually had a good time, don't worry about it. Now come on, I'm eager to see this secret company." He got in and closed the door.

David raised his brow, thinking about what happened on the plane, and got in the driver's seat, starting the car. The trip took about 15 minutes, with Kat making fun of Vince's face and Vince whining about it. When the SUV rolled up the security gate, the guard took the ID paperwork from David and ran them through. Handing them back to David, he caught a glimpse of Vince's face and snorted, trying to keep a calm face. Vince violently rubbed off the lipstick using a napkin, but in effect his face was now smeared in red. . 

Rick saw only a small number of two story glass and brick buildings around, making the place seem not like the high-tech company that it is. To Rick, he was kind of expecting more guards walking around but there was only partial security around. He mentioned this to David and he said, "Oh, everything important is kept underground, where security is much tighter and hard to get to. We like to keep a low profile."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"It's also where the quantum machines are. ITC also used an old mine so we didn't have to dig our own tunnels. We have to keep them underground to keep them shielded." 

The SUV pulled up to a three-story L-shaped glass building, parking next to the entrance located in the concave of the L. Rick got out, putting on his sunglasses. The twilight sun was reflecting off of the window panes of the building, blinding him, and the sunglasses gave him sweet relief. Vince got out and opened Kat's door, helping her to her feet and walking her to the entrance. 

"Hehe...your face is red." she giggled.

"No shit, Sherlock." Vince shot back. 

David handed the keys of the car to a valet and stood next to Rick. "Trust me, all the good stuff is underground. After you?"

Rick nodded and walked through the front doors. He removed his sunglasses and took in his surroundings. Up ahead at the desk, the receptionist was typing and talking on her headset, not even looking up at the new arrivals. The atrium was tall, using the full height of the building and filled with fading light from the huge skylights in the ceiling. Two hallways were leading away from the atrium, both looking the same. The tiled floor was in a nice pattern of black and white, leading off into the building. A sign above the receptionist's desk said, "ITC" and below it, "Paving a path into the unknown". 

David beckoned Rick to follow him. Vince and Kat went to the left hallway, and David and Rick went right. The hallway on the right had windows looking out at the New Mexico desert, looking very beautiful with the sun setting. The pair came upon a crossing, and went left, and turned another left. There was a small dead-end hallway, with a couple of doors. David started for the door on the right when-

"Hey, isn't all the important stuff underground? What's in here?," asked Rick.

"This is just a formality. We need to clear you for entry into the depths, no biggie," answered David.

Rick nodded and they went in the room. Inside, Rick got his picture taken, ID confirmed that he was Rick Bullman, a new ID badge printed and laminated, and Rick left with a security badge on his shirt. David took his badge out of a locker in the room and they proceeded to the elevators. 

They left the office space for a more industrial feeling part of the building. Rick noticed that they were walking on a downward slope. He saw a broad concrete ramp up ahead, wide enough for a truck to drive through, and a a pair of heavy steel doors at the end. About a dozen security cameras were positioned in different locations around the ramp. They followed the movements of the pair as they walked down the ramp. David walked up to the steel doors, and a panel was on the right of them. David pressed his thumb to the plate, looked up at the cameras, and waited.

The doors opened. David led Rick into a small room beyond, and the steel doors behind them closed shut. Forward, there were another pair of doors. Again they waited.

The doors opened, and the pair entered into a industrial-looking metal cage. The air was cold, faintly musty of earth. The doors closed behind them, and with a whir the cage began to ascend.

"Odd way to enter a complex," Rick commented.

"It's the surest way that the people that go down here are the ones we want to go down. Speaking of going down, we're descending a thousand feet, so this will take awhile." 


* * *


The cage stopped and the doors opened. Ahead was a long concrete tunnel, with lighting on the ceiling every 10 feet or so. They walked along, making echoes with their footsteps.

"So, where are we going?" Rick asked.

"We're going to the maintenance room, where the machines in question are being kept. They're the ones that have made it to the separate multiverse's and have made it back."

"Have you gotten any data so far?"

David shook his head. "Not much. We've only gotten one picture so far, every other machine we sent has not come back. We are assuming they have been destroyed, but we still have hope they can return in one piece."

"What was the picture of?"

"Just this green valley with a town in it. We sent another machine with more sophisticated equipment to tell if it's safe or not for us to enter the multiverse."

"When will it be coming back?"

David checked his phone. "It should be soon." 
> Chapter 6 - Variation 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1040 hours
LOCATION: Ponyville Public Library, Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

At the Ponyville Public Library, a frazzled looking light green unicorn was working the library. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings, and she was not in her comfort zone. After Twilight, the original librarian left for Canterlot, Lyra was 'volunteered' to take care of the library until a new proper librarian could come take over. 

"Oh, where does this go? It's about trees, so under T? Or does it go into the section with plants 'n stuff?" Lyra whined. She was levitating a book using her telekinesis trotting around in circles, scanning the shelves wildly with her eyes.

The door knocked three times.

"Come in! It's open!" Lyra shouted to the door.

It opened, and Luna came in. Lyra gasped and dropped her book. "P-Princess Luna! What a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you?

"Hello, Lyra Heartstrings. It is not I who requires your help, but all of us." Luna replied.

"All of who?" she asked with her mouth in an O-shape.

Twilight came in through the door, followed by Spike and a unicorn Lyra has never seen before. She had a violet coat that looked like a purple sky set on fire by the setting sun. Her mane was fiery red, and she was wearing a lab coat with a watch on her left hoof. On her lab coat, a badge had her picture on it with "EASM" in big blue letters. Meanwhile, Luna disappeared into a corner of the library.

"Twilight! Hi! Please, help me! Get me outta here!" Lyra cried. 

Twilight giggled. "It's okay Lyra, it's good to see you too," she said, embracing her. After a moment they stood apart. "How is the library doing?

"It's ok, I think." Lyra said. "I'm having trouble remembering where the books are when ponies come in to borrow them, and so far Rainbow Dash has accumulated 24 bits of late fees for some Daring Do books she hasn't returned yet, an-"

It was difficult for Lyra to go on because Twilight shoved a hoof in her mouth. 

"Oooook, thanks Lyra! I get the picture!" she quickly said. "Don't worry, I'll sort out everything and clean this place up before I leave, ok?"

"Mmmpf! MmmHmm!" Lyra nodded her head in quick successions. Twilight smiled and lowered her hoof.

Nova was getting impatient. She checked her watch, wanting to get started on solving this as soon as possible. Social interactions just slowed everything down, and Nova found small talk annoying.

"So, I wager that you're with the ponies in town that are studying the meteorite? My name's Lyra, what's your name? Lyra said to Nova, smiling while extending her hoof for a hoofshake.

Nova took Lyra's hoof and shook it, saying, "My name is Nova Red. Yes, I am here studying the phenomena." Nova looked around, seeing the library in disarray. "Are you a worker at the library?" she asked tentatively.

Lyra shook her head. "No, I was "volunteered" to take care of the library while they get a new librarian."

"Ah. Well, we need to use the library. Excuse me." Nova said briskly, trotting past Lyra. 

Lyra frowned. "She's not very talkative, is she?"

"I don't think so. I've only met her 10 minutes ago, I don't know much about her. But, if there's anything friendship has taught me it's not to judge a book by it's cover. If you want, Lyra, you can help us with our search. Can you gather all the information we can gather on the 1249 Trottingham Riots?" Twilight asked.

"Uh, yeah. No probs Twilight, I think I remember where they are." 

Luna walked up behind them. "I have a book concerning magical particle theory. This will be of some use." 

"Great. Let's put all the books we need over there." Twilight said, pointing at a table with her hoof. She took the book from Luna and floated it over to the table. 

The group of ponies gathered all the information they could find about unexplained electrical ground storms, things appearing and/or disappearing, and mechanical entities. They couldn't find much, since ponies haven't written much about their desired subjects. After some time, with books being thrown around after deemed useless to their search, the place was starting to look like it was being ransacked. 

"Got anything yet?" Twilight moaned to nopony in particular. 

"Nope." Lyra sighed. She was draped like a rug on a book pile.

"I do not." Luna said with her nose buried in an old dirty book.

"Did you say something, Princess?" Nova mumbled by the bookshelves.

Spike, who had been sifting through a medical tome, suddenly looked up and asked,  "Hey, Twilight? What's a vagina?"

Twilight whirled and snatched the book out of his claws with a flustered flurry of telekinesis. The book flew behind her back as she blushed, "N-Not until you're older, Spike!"


* * *


Just outside the library, the group of ponies arrived. The CMC were lagging 45 feet behind, grumpy about being forced to follow Rarity, AJ, and Dash to the boring library when they could easily be looking at the metal thing everypony was talking about. The three older ponies were in a heated discussion about an unfortunate misunderstanding.

"So on and on I'm rambling about danger in Ponyville and it's not until 5 minutes after I told the pair of you did you then tell me the truth! I can't believe you would lead me on like that! It's uncivil and rude!" Rarity cried.

"But sugar," Applejack said. "We were just joking around!" 

"Yeah, how were we supposed to know you were going to cry "there's a monster in Ponyville!,"" Rainbow did in a mock voice sounding like Rarity. "Are you scared of the big scawey metal monster?" 

"Of course not! It's just hard to tell the difference between a normal pony's voice and your own unrefined boorish voice Rainbow. Anypony could easily misinterpret your's for a voice of a thug." retorted Rarity with her nose in the air. 

Before things could get any nastier, Applejack stepped in between the two hot-headed mares.

"Alright, now that's enough!" Applejack said with as much force as she could muster, "You two best behave yourselves from now on! We are dealing with ah crisis, and we need everypony to work togethur, not fight like bickering diamond dogs! We have both a princess, and a great friend who'se waitin' for us inside the library. Do you want Twilight tuh see the two of you shooting nasty words at each other!?!"

"no" Rarity whimpered.

"..no" said Dash.

"Then I want th' both of you to apologize to each other before we head inside."

The mares sheepishly looked at each other. They both had pride, but they were both humble enough to realize when they were wrong.

"I'm sorry, Dash"

"I'm sorry too, Rare."

"Well that's more like it! Not everypony is perfect, and we're all bound to make mistakes. The best thing we can do is apologize for 'em," said Applejack.

Rainbow fluttered over to the door. "C'mon, lets get inside already."

"Wait, hold on Rainbow," Rarity said with concern in her voice. "Where are the girls?"

The three wildly looked in all directions, but the CMC were nowhere in sight. 

"Arrghhh! We were too busy arguing like blockheads that we forgot to keep an eye on them!" Dash moaned while face-hoofing herself.

"Quick, I'll head over to the crash site, that's where they most likely went off to. You two go inside and tell the other's about what's happened." Rarity said. 

"Alright, good luck pard'ner!" Applejack said to her friend. 

"Wait, shouldn't I go? I'm the faster one, I could find them more easily!" said Rainbow.

Rarity shook her head. "Fluttershy isn't with us, so you're the only pegasus here. Both Luna and Twilight could need your assistance."

"But they're both alicorns! They're fine without me!"

Rarity face-hoofed. Of course they have wings, Rarity. Keep it together! "Alright Rainbow, we'll both go! Now let's stop lollygagging and find them!"

"Best words I've heard all day! Let's go!" Rainbow yelled, and flew off leaving a rainbow trail behind her. 

"Go find my little sister before she does somthin' crazy, y'hear!" Applejack cried after Rainbow.

Before Rarity went to join Rainbow, she turned to Applejack. "Applejack, I want to thank you for stepping in like that. We were both getting out of hoof, and I'm glad nothing anypony would regret happened. You are a true friend, an-"

"GO!"

Rarity started galloping after Rainbow. 

"I'm gonna kill Applebloom when ah see her. No, first ah'm gonna lecture her. Then ah Kill her." Applejack mumbled to herself as she opened the library door.

> Chapter 7 - Quantum Foam Merging
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1130 hours
LOCATION: Ponyville Public Library, Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

"I think I found something!" yelled Nova.

Feeling ecstatic, Nova hopped over to the table carrying a very old book with her telekinesis. Slamming the book on the table, it made a thud that resounded through the library. Lyra jumped awake, falling off the book pile she was sleeping on and flopped onto the floor. 

"I almost found it too...almost found the man of my dreams...," Lyra moaned.

Spike waddled to join Nova at the table. "Don't you mean stallion?” he asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“You don’t understand, little dragon. I’m not into stallions-“

“Oh, so you’re gay?” Nova blurted out.

Lyra leaped onto her hooves, blushing profusely. “Of course not! I-I’m not gay! You didn’t let me finish! I was going to say I was into humans!”

Nova furrowed her brow in confusion. “Hu…mans?” 

"Just a crazy story Lyra keeps telling everypony," said Spike. "She says she had an encounter with one 3 years ago, but nobody believes her" he said, putting an emphasis on 'says'. 

“But they are real! I remember the night as if it was just last night...” sighed Lyra. 

Some years ago, late in a fall evening, Lyra Heartstrings was nervous. Nervous because she was walking home alone on a street in Ponyville. She left the bar alone because her friends were acting like drunken jerks, and she had to get out of there. 

Lyra was disoriented with her surroundings. She has never been through this road before, and she didn’t know how she was going to get home from here. She also had about three drinks in her system, and five was her limit. It was difficult for her to walk straight, but not too difficult. The area was gloomy, with no street lamps lighting the way and sparse buildings here and there. Only a couple of ratty houses and a single shack made of corrugated steel. To her left was a wide, dirt field and to her right was a long, big clump of oak trees. She was in the rural part of town, which is opposite of where she lived. Lyra was indeed very lost.

She shivered. The warmth of the booze was wearing off, and it was only getting colder. Her short, hot breaths were hanging in the cold air. She took a deep intake of air, but instead of the crisp autumn air, she smelled something strange. The air smelled of banana’s mixed with copper. She was starting to hate this neighborhood more and more with each second.

Suddenly, the temperature warmed up incredibly fast. It went from chilly to sweltering in 2 seconds flat. The banana/copper smell intensified, and Lyra wrinkled her nose in disgust. Thirty feet away in the area filled with oak trees, bright flashing lights arced through the ground like lightning, and an ominous blue glow emanating from the lights filled the surroundings. Lyra gasped, crouching in fear. She looked at the intense lightning dancing around the ground like they were alive on their own, racing around in an oval. They never left the oval pattern, surging in and out of the ground in chaotic movements. 

In the middle of the oval, a small, bright blue ball of light appeared, hanging in the air and grew larger in size as the lightning started revolutions around it. The oval began to flux in shape into a circle, the lights on the ground becoming more organized, until they eventually became one big circle of light. Rotating at blazing speed, the ball became so bright that Lyra had to shield her eyes. She could only hear the crackling of the lightning going faster and faster. She started to cry as the sound of the lightning overtook her senses completely, going on and on until they stopped.

Lyra could hear nothing. The temperature started to fall back to its normal coldness, and the banana-copper smell disappeared entirely. She slowly lowered her shaking hooves from her eyes, and opened them to a slit. 

She saw a creature left behind in the circle. It was hard to see what it was in the now-dark night, but she could see it was slightly larger than a pony. Lyra gingerly stepped closer. Every instinct in her body was screaming for her to turn tail and gallop as fast as she could out of there, but curiosity and booze-empowered will drove her to proceed. Just as she was about 4 feet away, it spoke. It shocked Lyra because she could understand what it said.

“Oh…Fuck…It worked...”

Lyra furrowed her brow. Not only could it speak Eqquish, but it also knew colorful curses. The creature groaned and started to get up, failing to do so. Lyra still felt wary around this creature, but pity and the want to help overcame her fears, and she put her head under an appendage. She grunted to help it up, wishing she could think straight and just use telekinesis to hoist it up, but the alcohol buzz made it too difficult to attempt. The creature grunted thanks for the help, using Lyra as a crutch to stand up. 

She could see it more clearly now in the bright moonlight. It stood on two legs, with two arms hanging from its shoulders. It had no fur, save for a small crop of it on the top of its head. It was also wearing clothes, which made Lyra guess it was a pony (or rather stranger) of stature. She could also see it had masculine features, with a muscular body, a sharp toned face and its voice was too deep to be female. It, she decided, was a he. 

He blinked a couple times, apparently getting used to the darkness around him. He coughed, and started to fall, as if he were dizzy and used his arms to balance himself. “I want to thank you, whoever helped me up, but I can assure you: I am not an enemy, so please don’t stab or shoot me,” he said with a loud, unwavering voice. His eyes squinted in Lyra's general direction, trying to see who was there.

“Um, I’m not gonna hurt you. Who are you? WHAT are you?” Lyra asked tentatively.

“My name? You…you can call me Ernst. Ernst Mauer.”

"W-well my name is Lyra."

Ernst coughed. His legs were shaking, unable to keep his weight after such an ordeal. "Lyra, eh? Why are you on all fours?..."

She was taken back at such a silly question. "Because that's how ponies get around, duh."

"Ponies? Why would you..." Ernst mumbled. He leaned closer to look at his friend in the dark. When he saw her in the bright moonlight, he saw her more clearly. She was mostly colored in light green, had a horn on her head, huge amber eyes , and she was a pony. The shock was too much for him. He faltered in step, and fell flat on his face, out cold.

Lyra blinked her eyes. "What the hell did I drink tonight?"


Lyra was dreamily reminiscing the remainder of what happened that night when Nova threw a small book at Lyra’s head. It smacked her and abruptly cut off the flashback. 

"OW! what gives?!?" Lyra cried in pain and surprise.

"We can't have you wasting our time with this human nonsense," Nova said. "Either you help us, or leave." Nova glared at Lyra with a deadpan intensity, letting her know she wasn't kidding around.

Just then, Twilight had trotted into the room, followed by Luna. They both were looking as regal as ever, but they also had signs of fatigue showing on their faces. “Humans are biped creatures that Lyra claims are real. So far, no other pony has seen them, so no pony can say they aren’t real, but Lyra has yet to give us evidence that they are real,” said Twilight.

Luna looked down at her hooves, shifting her eyesight as if she knew something. But nobody noticed. 

It was then that Applejack knocked on the library door and entered without waiting for it to be answered. She trundled into the room and gave out a big, "Hi y'all!"

Everybody in the room shouted, "Applejack!", save for Nova and Luna. Hugs and happy talk were exchanged between AJ and the ponies who knew her, but then Applejack waved everyone to calm down.

"Ah got some bad news, everypony." Applejack paused, sighing. "Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are missin'."

The room gasped. "Is anypony trying to find them?" Twilight asked with concern. 

"Rainbow and Rarity are goin' to where we think they might be headed, down at the crash site." AJ replied. 

"Well, why are we just standing here reading old dusty books when fillies are in trouble? We need to go save them!" cried Lyra. She hopped onto her back legs and struck a pose, holding her right hoof in the air as if she were waving a sword.

"Um, excuse me? Do I look like the swashbuckling type?" Nova sarcastically said. 

"Nobody asked you, egghead!" Lyra sneered. 

"You just did, ignoramus!" Nova shot back.

"Oh sweet Celestia, more of this?" Applejack sighed, facehoofing. 

The two ponies started arguing. In the back, Luna narrowed her eyes. The room became enveloped in darkness, and her eyes flashed white. Her horn sparked out lightning and thunder, silencing the bickering ponies. "We will attend to thy young fillies. Twilight, thy shall accompany us. Everypony else will stay here and continue to look for the answers we seek."

"That sounds acceptable." Nova said.

Lyra moaned. "Don't leave me with her!," she said, pointing a hoof at Nova's smirking face. "She's mean!"

Luna passively trotted up to Lyra. "Lyra Heartstrings, as a Princess of Equestria and as Princess of the Night, we give you our word that Nova Red will not force you to do anything dangerous that will damage your well-being." She looked at Nova with calm eyes. "Is that clear, Nova Red?"

Nova nodded impassively and bowed. "Crystal clear, Princess Luna."

Lyra made a scrunched face. She felt better that Luna stuck out for her interests, and felt special.

Turning to face Lyra, Luna made a stern face. "And Lyra Heartstrings; thou shalt not hinder Nova's research. Is that understood?"

Lyras pride was crushed. "Yes Princess Luna" she whimpered. 

Luna nodded. She beckoned Twilight, and they both teleported out of the library in a flash. The three ponies and dragon all stood looking at each other with blank faces. Then Nova pursed her lips and marched over to the table with the books they were reading. 

"Well, you heard the princess. Help me research the entity." she said with a pompous flair. Lyra looked at Applejack for guidance. AJ just shrugged and followed Nova to the table, and Lyra frowned in defeat and joined them at the table. 

Spike hopped on the table. Eager to do the Princess' wishes, he enthusiastically said, "C'mon girls, let's get cracking on these books!" 

"Thank you, little dragon! See, researching is fun!" Nova said to Applejack and Lyra. The other two mares sighed and face-planted the books they were reading. 


* * *


"It's all clear, sir. No contaminants here." A pony in a hazmat suit said to a military officer. They were in the command tent set up inside the temporary command post that the Equestrian Army had set up next to the crash site. He saluted the haz-mat pony as acknowledgement for the report.  

"Thank you private. Tell the corporal to get his men out of the bubble, but tell those science folk to keep that bubble up. I don't want to lose any precaution here." 

The haz-mat private saluted the major and galloped off. Sitting down, the major sighed and started his report on the contaminant sweep. He was a pegasus, young for an officer of his stature. His name was Candor, and he was a Major of the 89th Battalion. His history is short and simple; he was enrolled in military school when he got his cutie mark in leadership, and quickly climbed up the ranks. He served the Army in border skirmishes between the Diamond Dogs and Minotaurs, but he emerged unscathed. In essence, a pony who had a bright career in the military ahead for him.

He was in the middle of writing his report when Luna and Twilight materialized in front of his desk. He didn't display any shock. Instead, he stood up and bowed to the Princesses. 

"Greetings, Princess Luna and Princess Sparkle. What brings you to Command Post Alpha?"

"Greetings, Major. We are here to prevent danger befalling three fillies who were lost around here." Twilight answered.

"Fillies? I don't believe little fillies can have gotten past the guards at the fences-"

"They are amazingly resourceful. Believe me, they are quite the troublemakers." said Twilight.

Candor just nodded and trotted to the tent entrance. "Then they could be at the shield by now. I don't doubt resourceful little ponies' abilities, as I was resourceful myself when I was young. I shall accompany you until they are found, Princesses."

Before Candor could open the tent entrance, the screams of ponies rang throughout the post. All three burst out into the open, the wind howling loudly, and saw a spinning blue sphere in the place of the metal entity. It surged brighter and brighter, until it became too bright for eyes to look at it comfortably. Ponies stuck inside the bubble were pounding the shield with their hooves, banging the unicorns holding it up to let them out, but the science ponies couldn't risk opening it and letting whatever was happening inside loose. 

Luna flew over to the shield station. "Let those ponies out!" she commanded in a stern voice.

"Luna! It's too dangerous! We can't!" a unicorn screamed back. The wind was surging more strongly near the blue sphere.

"We will hold the danger back! Open thy shield!" she yelled. 

"Yes ma'am!" The science unicorns concentrated and lowered the shield. Immediately the area flashed bright blue, but Luna cast a spell and the wild energy was forced back. The ponies stuck inside the bubble scrambled to get free, and once they broke past the barrier Luna yelled for the ponies to put the shield back up. A pink bubble sprang back up, and Luna gasped. The effort was exhausting on her. She was a powerful alicorn, but the energy she was holding back was simply too much for her to handle for long. The pink bubble wasn't as strong as the old shield; a proper protective shield took time to prepare and install.

The sphere spun faster and faster until it gave out a mighty flash and a shockwave went through the camp. It wasn't that powerful, but it still unsettled ponies and the equipment they set up. Inside the sphere, the dust was settling and it was hard to see what was going on. It was like a snow globe that had been shaken up and you couldn't see inside.

Twilight appeared at Luna's side. "Luna, are you alright?"

Luna grinned. "I am alright, Twilight. 'Tis was a difficult task, but we were able to contain the burst of energy." But, then Luna frowned. "However, I sensed some peculiar reactions inside the phenomenon."

"What type of reactions?"

From inside the bubble, a hissing resounded. The hiss sounded like glaring death that could rip you apart and there was nothing you could do to stop it. It invoked fear through the fiber of your very being, and Twilight shivered as a cold slithered down her spine. As the dust settled, three shapes appeared from the spot where the metal entity used to be. 

They were unlike any creature that pony had seen in Equestria. Teeth glaring, claws shining, and red stains around their mouths, they looked like they were ready to kill. And they were the smartest predators to ever set foot in Equestria.



"Luna?..." Twilight whispered. "What are those?"
> Chapter 8 - Quantum Foam Merging Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 2115 Hours
LOCATION: Sub-Level 4, ITC Laboratories, Black Rock, New Mexico, U.S.A., Earth
MULTIVERSE: 001

Deep down in the bowels of ITC's underground facilities, a group of lab techs were combing over an assortment of probes, working in a large open area illuminated by fluorescent lights hanging on the ceiling. The room had temporary partitions set up between each of the gadgets, with equipment and tools sporadically located around each station. These probes are the basis for ITC multiverse travel. Each one was individually designed for specific purposes. Gather atmospheric data, take pictures, and other simple tasks. Designed to be enduring and unfaltering in the field. However, each of these "reliable" machines are broken-down. Four probes, each sent to the new found separate multiverse and they each came back with problems. 

Joshua Turney stood up over a probe. He was the head technician, keeping everything moving was his job and right now nothing was moving, not even his employees. Sure they were moving, but they were moving at a very slow pace. He was a short, 30-something year old man, about 5'6 with black bedhead hair and a 5 o'clock shadow wearing a smudged blue lab coat with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His boyish face made people think him as young and inexperienced, but the reality is is that Josh is the type of man who will "kick your ass if you give him smart-alec remarks" with his Air Force Spec Ops training.

Josh threw his arms up in disgust. "Come on people, we don't have all day! We need to repair these a.s.a.p.! You, Jenkins, why isn't that rover working yet?" 

"Sorry sir, I just don't know what went wrong! One minute the air scrubbers are working, but then the EPS conduits start frazzing out. It's like it doesn't want to work."

Josh groaned and walked over to the probe Jenkins was working on. He squatted next to Jenkins, and said, "What do you mean the EPS conduits are fried? Those shouldn't even overheat."

"You see here?" Jenkins shone a flashlight into the bowels of the machine. "The conduits normally are cooled by the water system, but it's like the water isn't cooling it down. I don't even think it's normal water anymore, it has to be altered."

Josh stood up. He massaged his temple, and said, "Take the water cooling out, and send it upstairs to the lab to be analysed. But don't forget to wear protective gear!"

"Yes Mr. Turney."

Josh's phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and read the text message. 

FROM: Dickey Stern
coming in w/ the guy from washington. meet me at the doors.

Fuck me, it's babysittin' time... Josh frowned and walked over to the entrance to the maintenance room. Josh walked for about 50 feet, crossing the large expanse of the huge maintenance area. The entrance are large sleek metal  double doors, 10 feet tall. A panel with a thumb plate and a screen was on the right side of the door.

On the other side, David and Rick were waiting patiently for Josh to open the doors. 

"How does this door work? The same like the other one?" asked Rick.

"Not exactly. There's a video feed showing who is outside of the door. One person presses his thumb to the plate on his side, and the other guy has a five-second window to press his own thumb to the plate." said David.

"But how do you coordinate that when there's a slab of steel between you?" asked Rick.

"Ready when you are, Dave." a voice said. 

David pointed at the panel. "Speakers." David pressed his thumb to the plate. It scanned his thumb, and clicked. The plate was flashing red, and then dinged green indicating Josh scanned his thumb. Metal bars started lifting out of their sockets, and the doors slowly slid open. Josh was standing there with his hands in his jacket pockets. 

All Rick could do was stare with his mouth open. The area in front of him was vast, at least the size of a football field. The feeling was unnerving to be in such a large open space when you knew you were at least 1000 feet underground. He could see sparks flying off of machines people were welding, cranes lifting equipment overhead. Catwalks ran above the floor, workers in hard hats controlling the cranes. Rick saw lots of strange machines. It was like he was looking at NASA building space rovers, but they were different than the NASA ones. Off in the distance, Rick saw tanks and helicopters. He figured it was normal, with this being a Pentagon facility, but the weapons of war had add-ons that he couldn't decipher from where he was.

"Well, don't just stand there gawking like an retard! C'mon!" yelled Josh. 

Rick jumped in surprise and jogged after David and Josh who already took off. He caught up to them while they were having a conversation. 

"-taking forever to get these damn probes working," grumbled Josh. "These so called "unbreakable's" are starting to piss me off, David. The damn EPS conduits are fried, and those are irreplaceable! Where the hell are we supposed to get brand-fucking-new EPS conduits?" 

"I am confident Development can build new ones. Just give them the time-"

"We don't have the fucking time! Pentagon wants an in-depth analysis of Multiverse 2 by 3600 hours, and we don't even have the atmospheric data to show!"

"Well they have to understand that this is an entirely new expedition for the company, so of course there will be delays, everyone has delays."

Rick chose that moment to barge in. "Excuse me, but I need to inspect these operations and report back to the Pentagon."

"Oh yeah, they said some pencil pusher was coming," Josh said. "What, they send you in with orders to "ascertain the threat to national security"? Yeah, I was part of that too, 'till I left because I couldn't stand the bullshit. Carlos, easy with that cooler! Don't let it sit on top of those digital relay sensors! Put it somewhere else!" A technician working in a probe partition frowned and started to lift a box off of the relay.

"No, they sent me here to verify this new technology and it's abilities. As part of the charter, the United States military still intends not to use ITC technology for weapons of war. But, this is still a company that works for the government. You are still expected to do research that could be used for national defense," said Rick. 

"Course we are....", Josh said with sarcasm. "Right this way. My office is over there." The three men walked to Turney's office located near the west wall. It was a normal office, with a large window surveying the workers, and desk with a chair. Josh opened the door and sat down in his chair, sighing. 

"Look, how much do you know about quantum physics? Pentagon usually sends people who know nothing about what we do here." he said.

Rick kept his face blank. "I was debriefed on the plane by Miss Moore. I feel like I understand how you discovered quantum travel, but I am still unsure how ITC does it."

Josh facepalmed, and looked at David with a resigned look. "Well, you're here and there's nothing I can do to make you go away. I'm going to make this short and sweet. Do you know what a multiverse is?"

"Yes," Rick said, nodding.

"You do know we do not travel through time?"

"Yes."

"Do you know how we connect to other universes?"

"No."

Josh frowned and rubbed his chin. "Alright, let me put it to you this way. Phones work by sending a transmission to a receiver and you get a message. What we do is similar. Each universe has what we call quantum foam. Quantum foam is the remnants of the birth of the universe, or the Big Bang. The foam is the grease of the pot, which is the by-product of it all. Foam is subatomic. It's smaller than an individual atomic particle. So, get this: there are wormholes in the foam. We send a transmission through the wormhole, using the quantum computers we built. These computers are very powerful, they can compress the information we send so small it can fit through the wormhole. It's very difficult though, it's like trying to stick your dick through a Cheerio. We scan whatever we need to send through; people, rovers, probes, whatever. Then we destroy the information and it instantaneously gets sent to the destination."

"Wait, if you destroy a person to send them through, don't they die?"

"It's instantaneous, as I said. Listen. We have made our system much much better than it was 10 years ago. I wasn't around 10 years ago, I came here 8 years ago. We used to have problems; transcription errors. You know how when you put a paper through a copy machine and you take the copy and make another copy? After so many copies, the picture is degraded and inferior to the original. Well, the same exact thing was happening to what we sent through. People came back with misaligned veins in their fingers, liver failure, brain damage. So we had a rule: You can only travel twice. This kept us back, and we were a zip company until we hired Mauer. This German scientist figured out that you had to send the data in separate packages, so the machine could handle each one with more care. After that, no more transcription errors. The guy basically saved the company, and got us with you Pentagoners. Poor sod though, he disappeared 3 years ago after working on the theory that got us here in this predicament. He was on to separate multiverses, although he didn't know it at the time. You know cocky scientists, they always go ahead with their experiments and fuck it up when something goes wrong. Here, let me show you what happened. You are cleared for this, right?"

Rick nodded. "Type A1 clearance."

Josh started typing on his desktop computer, and turned the screen to face Rick and David. A black and white video that said 11:36 PM on the bottom right of the screen showed Mauer in a white lab coat working on a big round machine, with his back turned to the camera. The machine stood at 5 feet tall, and had a pulsing blue center. Mauer turned around and faced the camera, grabbing a tool and turned back to the machine. He fiddled with it and put the tool down. Walking over to a panel 6 feet away, he typed something on the keys and put on some goggles. The blue center pulsed brighter and stronger, and Mauer was nodding and typed something. Then the machine started groaning and shaking, causing the room to vibrate. 
Mauer typed furiously on his keyboard, looking back and forth between the reaction. Suddenly, the build up exploded in a surging blue-white blast, bathing in the room in blinding light. When it faded, Mauer was gone, and the machine a smoking wreck in a destroyed lab, and the video stopped. Josh turned the monitor back to it's original position.

"We lost a valued colleague and friend. We all agreed that we continue his work, because it is what he would have wanted. We hoped that if we could perfect the technology, we could find out exactly what happened to Ernst and possibly bring him back. But I think it's a wild goose chase. There's no way we can guarantee Ernst is still alive, let alone open the gateway to the same multiverse he may have went to. It's been three years; all multiverses continue at the same rate in time as we do."

"We have to get Ernst Mauer back. Without his work, we can't perfect this technology and make it usable to the world as a safe technology." said David.

"So that's the situation here then." said Rick. "I trust that we-"

Josh's walkie-talkie on his belt crackled. "Sir, is Stern with you?"

Josh grabbed it. "Yeah, he's here with me." he responded.

"You guys better head over to the transit pad. We have a field buck coming in from the other multiverse"

"Roger that." Josh clipped the walkie-talkie back on his belt and stood up. "We should go over. This could be the first probe to come back unharmed, and I want to collect the data before it could degrade."

David stood up, along with Rick. The three left the office and started for the transit pad. They took an elevator, going deeper into the earth. It stopped about four stories below the maintenance level. When they opened, they led into another concrete hallway. Ahead of Rick, he saw blue double doors. When they approached, Rick noticed the doors were filled with water. The water sloshed as the doors slid open, and they went through another similar set of doors. The transit pad was a huge, cavernous room where ITC made their quantum transmissions. It was water shielded, with three giant curved tanks filled with water to shield the area from interference from the outside. Each tank had gaps where a person could walk through, and the gaps never lined up, giving it a maze-like appearance. About a dozen cage-like machines were on the pads, sitting on rubber pads. Heavy black wires snaked everywhere, giving the area a cluttered feel. A control room was located above the pads, with no windows. An observation deck was above the control room, and that had floor to ceiling heavy tinted windows.

"We're going to the control room. If you would please get on?" David waved Rick onto a elevator, and the three were lifted onto a catwalk that ran across the entire space of the room, and entered the control room. Inside it was a normal looking control room. Computers were lined up against every available wall space, and technicians were manning their respective stations. Video cameras gave the people inside live feed of the transit room.

Standing in the middle of the room, Dennis Noble was looking up at a monitor.hanging off the ceiling. He had his arms folded  and held a walkie-talkie in his right hand. He didn't look at the newcomers, he just waved them over. 

"We should get a field buck in about a minute. It first came in 15 minutes ago, but it finally cleared just now." he said.

"Can anyone tell me what a field buck is?" said Rick, sighing.

"A field buck is a subtle irregularity in the magnetic field. Our computer can detect them, and they tell us when a machine is returning." said David.

Down below, metal bars were lowering slowly from the ceiling. Violet laser beams shot out into a focus on the floor, and the metal bars started whirring around the pad. The laser focal point glowed brighter and brighter, causing the water to glow blue. A small metal cage grew from the focal point, and grew bigger and bigger. The cage grew to the size of a hamster cage, then a large dog, then it skyrocketed to it's normal size at eight feet tall. Inside the cage was a rover. Workmen filed out to take it out of the cage out.

Dennis grabbed a microphone. "Bring that rover to the Checkpoint so Turney can go over it." he said, having his voice magnified in the transit room. One of the workers gave a thumbs up to a camera. He put the microphone down in it's set and turned to face David. 

"When the new data comes in, I want to talk to you about the pictures we took from the other multiverse. I think-"

"Sir! We have an energy surge building up in the transit room! I don't know what it is, but they got to get out of there now!" yelled one of the technicians. 

Dennis snatched up the microphone. "Clear the pads! We have Code Purple!" and smashed a red button. Alarms started wailing in the transit room and the technicians scrambled to get through the doors. 

"Whats going on? Are we safe here?" asked Rick.

"The control room is shielded from everything, they made sure of that after Dordogne. Unless a nuke goes off in there, we should be safe." explained David. Down below, the workers have exited the room, leaving the rover inside the cage. Red lights were flashing and the alarm was still blaring. 

Dennis marched over to the technician's console. "I want to know what happened down there, Ikara. As far as I know, we have just delayed this operation even more."

"Sir, the quantum computer says that there is an influx of an unknown particle building up inside the transit room." said Ikara. "I can't even tell if this particle is dangerous. It's proton count and neutron count isn't even the same. It's like it's made of something else. According to this, there aren't even any electrons."

"Does this make any sense to you?" asked Rick.

"No...Remember, we aren't a sub-nuclear laboratory. If we were, we would have a Hadron Collider. In physics, each particle is made of atoms, just like everything in the universe. Sometimes, atoms can be different, using different quarks but what he's describing is unearthly. Atoms always have protons, neutrons, and electrons. Sometimes they don't have neutrons, but they always have electrons." David replied.

"Sir, it's spiking up again!", said Ikara. Everybody turned their gaze over to a group of monitors showing the transit pads. Next to the cage, a blue ball of bright energy was rapidly spinning and growing in size. To Rick, it looked like the experiment Mauer was working on. It flashed a brilliant white, flooding the camera's view. The control room was slightly shaking, getting more and more vibrations as it passed. 

Then a shockwave shot out and the camera's frizzed out, leaving behind static. The control room shook like a bomb went off in the next room, and everybody tried to get their grip on something to hold their balance. 

"Holy shit, are you sure that wasn't a nuke or something?" said Rick.

"Of course! I'm more worried whether the water shields are still intact! We need eyes down there!", said David. He grabbed the microphone Dennis used and held it up to his mouth. "What's going on in there, we lost our eyes."

Through the mike, he heard the tinny screams of the technicians. He could hear them saying "Run", "Oh god", "Get back", and "Help". He put the mike back to his mouth, and said "Help is on the way. Just stay calm." He put the microphone back on it's set and took out his cell. 

"Checkpoint, we've had an accident in Transit. We need medical assistance."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, something just flared up. I think it has to do with the Mauer experiment. Get people down here a.s.a.p."

"On our way"

Dennis was arguing with Ikara, making stabbing motions with his finger at the computer screen. "Something came in there. I don't know what it is, but I want you to keep this data in here and have it analyzed. I want nothing else to take up your time, this data is your whole life now."

"What's up?" asked Josh.

"Apparently living tissue came into transit. I don't know what the hell Ikara's talking about."

Back on the microphone, someone was yelling in a crackling voice. "Oh my god, they're all dead! We need security down here!"

David snatched the mike. "What the hell are you talking about? We had the techs vacate transit, how can there be causalities?"

"I'm telling you, there's something alive down there" said Ikara. 
> Chapter 9 - Quantum Foam Merging Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 2145 hours
LOCATION: Transit room, ITC Laboratories, Black Rock, New Mexico, U.S.A., Earth
MULTIVERSE: 001

The control room was in utter pandemonium. Scattered reports were coming in from all over the lower level with deaths and injuries of technicians. Thanks to the blast wave that knocked out the video cameras the technicians had no eyes anywhere in the entire Transit level. Ikara and Dennis were yelling into radio's, trying to find out what was going on. David was furiously typing on a computer, trying to reboot the video system. Rick stood over David's shoulder, anxiously watching him type. They couldn't hear what was going on for themselves; the control room was shielded from sound as well. All in all, a control room's nightmare.

One person in the room still held a calm demeanor. Joshua Turney used to live in chaos in the Air Force Spec Ops. He did covert operations into hostile territory, and he had a lot of things go wrong for him before. To him, this is child's play. Down below the control room, he could smell bloodshed. It terrified him. Inside, his body was screaming to hide but his logistical side, his military side told him someone needed to provide control with at least some vision. It burned at him to do something. He made sure his radio was strapped on his belt.

Josh tapped David on the shoulder. "I'm going to the observation deck, someone's got to see what's going on. Keep in contact on channel six."

David stopped typing, and looked at Josh with a deadpan stare. "...Are you sure? The deck isn't exactly safe-"

"I know perfectly well what I'm doing. What we should all ask here is whether YOU are. Why don't you just concern yourself with YOU and stop worrying about me." Josh stamped over to a wooden door that lead into the facility and slammed the door behind him.

David just went back to typing. Rick though was shocked and did a double-take between David and the door Josh went through. "What's his problem?" he asked David.

"He wouldn't want me to talk about that without his permission," he replied without looking up. "Sorry, I have to get back to this."


* * *


Above the control room was the observation deck. It was built as a showroom for dignitaries to see the transit room in action after ITC made the deal with the military. Built with floor-to-ceiling windows and comfortable furniture, it was a nice room to view the happenings down below. 

Josh walked down the brightly lit corridor. He was looking for the adjacent staircase that joined the observation deck to the control room, and when he found them he hopped up it 3 stairs at a time. When he got near the top, he pulled out his radio and turned it on.

"Testing, testing, can you hear me? Over." he said. The radio was silent for a couple of seconds. Josh spoke up again, "Can you hear me? Over."

The radio crackled. "Yeah, I hear you, over. Still don't have video up, and Dennis is slamming Ikara's head into the keyboard, which isn't helping... Be careful, over." said David's voice.

He grimaced and put the radio back in it's holster. Josh didn't need his concern, the slimy weasel. Stern got on his nerves, with his constant righteous opinions about quantum travel and how it should be used. Stern even knew less about quantum physics than Josh did, and yet what happens? When they both apply, Stern gets the upstairs desk and Josh gets stuck in Gollum's smelly asshole of a cavern. Josh investigated about why Stern got the job he wanted, but all he got was classified information. He's a backdoor dealer, the swine. Josh always earned his place with hard, honest work. He understands how even though Stern was basically given the job, he does manage with it. If he's going to get out of the Pit, which is what the workers call the underground facilities, he's going to have to claw his way out.

The door was locked with a 4-digit pass code mechanism, and thankfully it was still working. He punched in his personal code and the door buzzed open, opening just enough to leave the door ajar. Pushing it ever so slightly, Josh slowly leaned forward to peek inside. 

Inside the room was dark and ominous, which is what it was specifically designed not to be. The floor-to-ceiling windows showcasing the transit room were shattered, with pieces of broken glass showered inside the room. Flickering lights shone from the transit room, glaring in Josh's eyes. He squinted, stepping gingerly into the room. A sudden crunching sound scared him. He stepped on broken glass. It wasn't clear glass from the windows, but white and opaque. He looked up, and the overhead light fixtures were smashed above, a result of the earlier shock wave. Josh pressed on, as slowly as before. Looking ahead into the transit room, he could see the wires hanging from the ceiling and the mangled tops of the machines, their spires covered in carbon scoring. In his head, he could estimate just how bad the damage must be from looking at the tops of the machines. They were very precise instruments, and any severe internal damage would have fried them and rendered them useless. 

Josh reached the edge of the showcase room. His feet were unavoidably crunching the glass shards, and he looked down below. It looked like a nightmare. Bodies littered the floor, twisted, contorted, and burned into ash pockets where the blast didn't vaporize them. Outward, the damage was shockingly minimal. Only a few objects that got thrown and smacked the wall did any damage. No energy burns were found on the walls. To Josh it looked like the explosion only reached a diameter of 10 meters, and the chamber was about 30 meters long. It didn't look like any explosion damage he's seen before.

"Stern, come in, over"

"Yes, what is it?"

Do you know of any explosions that actually 'contain' themselves? Over."

"What do you mean"

"There's a lot of damage done here, we're going to need a hazard team down here and good PR about the dead bodies. The damage branches out but it just..stops. No burn marks, no scorches at around the...twenty foot mark."

There was silence for a couple of seconds. "I..don't know."

"Well, I don't see anything alive down here. Over."

"Come on back up then, we need your help getting the systems back online. Also, about the explosion, best I can say is that I'm going to have to look at it myself. I don't know what to tell you, Ernst was the expert. Over" 

"On my way." Josh pocketed his radio and turned around. Something caught his peripheral vision at the last second though. Looking back, he scanned the entire room with his eyes again, but saw nothing new. Shrugging it off as debris falling, he left the observation deck for the control room.

Down below, a shape 6 meters tall moved against it's background. It was transparent, camouflaging in with the environment, making it extremely difficult to see unless you were up close. The shape moved closer towards a service entrance, dragging its steps and making clunking sounds. It tried to open the door, and got denied because it was stuck closed due to the power failure. First, there was silence for a moment. Then it started slamming into the door, forcing it open. The shape stomped out of the transit room, leaving behind a mangled 30mm inch steel door.
> Chapter 10 - Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1210 hours
LOCATION: EASM Site Camp, Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

When the creatures first appeared, nopony moved. They were all shocked to witness the arrival of a new species right into the heart of their homeland. The newcomers were also frozen in place, with the exception of their eyes twitching, scoping out the environment. There were three of them, all which could be categorized by another certain intelligent species.The three creatures were of the Dromaeosauridae genus, with characteristics of the Deinonychus and the Velociraptor, and they were warm-blooded featherless bipeds. The name for them is an archaic name, but it suits the genome so much it has stuck for the past century and a half. They are dinosaurs of Earth's past, and they just got smacked right into the middle of Ponyville.

No, this is happening too fast. Something has gone very wrong here. These creatures, why are they familiar to me? Luna thought. No matter, these creatures display the intention for violence, I cannot let them commit such an act!. Luna looked around her. The pin has dropped, and everypony was scattering. Luna lost Twilight and Candor in the commotion , and the thundering hooves kicked more dust into the air and hiding the raptors from Luna's line of sight. She was getting a grip of the situation, trying to protect her little ponies from these monsters that just invaded her land. Ponies were running away, scientists and civilians who got too close. The soldiers stood their ground though. They were trained for worse to happen, they're not going to let some magic spell scare them away. Visibility was still low because dust clouds were still hanging around, and Luna let out a tsch in frustration. She could blow the dust away, but she was worried about the monsters attacking her ponies. If she had a hard time seeing, then they must be too.

"Twilight, where are you? Are you safe?" Luna called out.

"Yes, I'm here! Candor is with me." replied Twilight's voice. 

"Twilight Sparkle, I want you and Major Candor to round up any civilians and any other ponies who should not be here and get them out of here!" ordered Luna. 

"You got it!" cried out Twilight.

"Yes Princess!" Luna heard hooves scampering, but instead of leaving, they were getting closer. Luna pursed her lips as she watched the two ponies emerge in front of her. Her scathing looks of disappointment made Twilight and Candor blush profusely. 

"Ahem," Luna coughed. "Go that way..." she motioned with her hoof. 


***


Rainbow Dash and Rarity couldn't find the three fillies who had a knack for getting into trouble. Ever since that bright blue explosion, the whole town went to Tartarus, making finding them impossible for Dash and Rarity. Royal Guards and Army soldiers were trying to control the panicking populace, but to no avail. The two mares were both pushing their way through the crowd, Rarity on the ground and Rainbow Dash naturally flying a few feet above her.

"Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo!" Rarity cried out. 

"Applebloom! Where the buck did you guys go?" shouted Rainbow. 

"Really, Rainbow! Watch the language, there are children around!" scolded Rarity.

"I don't care! We have to find them right now!" said Dash.

Rarity paused in thought. "Why?...Do you know something I don't?"

"It's not that. It's....just a gut feeling I have. Like something really bad is going to happen if we don't find them in time."


***


TIME: 0217 hours
LOCATION: Conference room 00B12, ITC, Black Rock, New Mexico USA, Earth
MULTIVERSE: 001

The hazard containment procedure was almost finished. When the explosion rocked the facility, it let loose the toxic materials used inside the transit pads into the room. Giant fans were sucking out the last of the poison gas while maintenance teams gathered any radioactive material that could be laying around. While that was going on, senior staff was having a session in a conference room topside. The air was cool, so the windows were open, letting in the cool soothing breeze.

"Vince, shut the windows. I'm freezing." said Kat.

"I don't want them closed. It's stuffy as hell in here." growled Josh. 

Vince started for the windows, but stopped mid stride. "Y'know, it is kind of cold outside, and the desert only gets colder at night..." he said.

Josh opened his mouth to retaliate but Stern cut him off. "I can see where this is going. Look, I need all eyes up here. We need to find out what the hell happened on the transit pad, and you guys bicker way too fucking much. I'm not having that right now. Here's what's gonna happen. Vince, you close those windows. Josh, lower the A/C to something comfortable. Kat..."

Kat glared at him. "Yes David?"

"C'mere, I need your help with this."

In the conference room, there was a long table with a projector aimed at the wall. Besides the four mentioned, there was John Gordon, the CEO, Dennis Noble, the Recon leader in charge of the operation, and Rick Bullman, the Pentagon representative. Rick and John were the only ones sitting down. While John was reading something on his phone, Rick leaned close to him.

"My superiors are going to want to know whats going on here," he whispered. "Can we trust that this staff is competent enough to find out why this operation is put on hold...again?

"These people are the most experienced workers on the whole planet with this type of technology. You yourself only learned it's intricacies on the flight here, and you presume to doubt their capabilities?" grunted Gordon, not bothering to look up from his phone.

"Er...I'm just trying to do my job."

"And let them do theirs. Now excuse me, I need to make a phone call to a family about the loss of their family member." Gordon got up from his seat and went into the hallway outside, leaving a flustered Rick sitting alone at the table. 

On the other side of the table near the projector, David had his laptop set up into it. Kat and Dennis was watching over his shoulders, watching the video record of the explosion.

"Ok, so there's the rover coming in. Everything looks normal, field buck nominal. Why the hell did my transit room explode? Spontaneous combustion shouldn't happen. It doesn't happen. I want suggestions people."

"Well, we are exploring a new frontier. Maybe this is a common side effect of visiting other multiverse's." said Kat.

"I don't like that idea. My team has put a lot of effort into this, and to have this come up and ruin everything we've worked for is unacceptable." Dennis said.

"Uh, excuse me?"

Everybody looked up at the new voice. Rick had crept up on the scientists while they were brainstorming over the computer. His nasally voice spoke for a second before his throat caught and he started coughing.

"Do you really think you have some input into quantum physics?" leered Dennis.

Rick held his deadpan expression despite Dennis's comment. "Maybe you just need to think outside the box. When I was working as an analyst, a lot of unexpected shit happened. Maybe something connected with your machines while they were travelling or something."

The three physicists fell silent. The room got 10 degrees hotter from the tension, threatening to break any of the already thin spirit of cooperation. 

"That's just impossible." grunted Stern. 

"Stern, you of all people should know there's nothing impossible in quantum physics..." Josh shot from across the room.

TIME: 1213 hours
LOCATION: EASM Site Camp, Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

"I don't know who you creatures are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking to conquer, I can tell you I don't rule this nation. But what I do have is a particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for ponies like you. If you depart from this town at once, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, But if you don't, I will fight you, I will defeat you, and I will kill you."

Luna was standing her ground magnificently against the saurian intruders. Her horn was glowing menacingly, and her eyes were full of a thousand-years of torture and destruction. Her wings flared out fully to make her seem bigger, giving her a look of a warhorse. Her hooves stamping the ground gave off thunderous shakes that could have toppled over a jenga tower, a very large jenga tower, and her hair was flowing more fiercely than before. She was ready to engage in battle.

The raptors of course had no idea what she was saying, but they could read her body language. This prey, this prey would be difficult, but if evolution has proved anything, it is that the raptor pack were/are the best hunters to exist on Earth. The pack slowly started moving out, two of them each moving to separate sides and the last one approaching Luna dead center. 

Luna bared her teeth. "Take any more steps closer and you're all dead."

The raptors continued on their plan. They kept getting closer to the princess.

"So be it! HAVE AT THEE!". 
> The Power of the Alicorn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIME: 1214 hours
LOCATION: EASM Site Camp, Ponyville, Equestria, Caalos
MULTIVERSE: 002

The three raptors charged, teeth bared and screeching terrible crys. Luna quickly chose a target, and fired a combustible magic blast out of her horn, obliterating the raptor on the left into exploding red chunky bits of flesh. The dinos reared back in sheer shock and surprise, they've never seen such raw destructive power before. Rage quickly overcame fear though, as does it always does in species that are intent on surviving. Roaring in anger over their fallen comrade, the remaining two launched themselves into air using their powerful quad leg muscles. Luna was surprised at their agility. She didn't know that these Deinonychus variants of the velociraptor family were some of the most powerful pack hunters of the Cretaceous period, able to take down a twelve-ton hydrosaur with at least three raptors. Luna was a lot smaller than a hydrosaur, but she packed a much bigger punch. She knew magic. When the first eager raptor to reach her, it lunged into the air and viciously swiped with its giant 6 inch toe claw at her neck with mere millimeters of air between the claw and her exposed skin. She was barely able to dodge it, but then the second raptor landed on top of her, executing perfect pack hunting strategy. It dug its teeth into her back posterior, while anchoring itself on the rest of her back with its feet claws. The princess unfurled her wings and quickly jumped into air. This only made the raptor dig in harder onto her back, she had to get rid of it soon or she would suffer serious wing damage. Reckless it may be, taking to flight will give Luna the edge she needs to effectively and efficiently take one of them out. She started to climb, rapidly gaining altitude to pull off her fighting technique, Alicorn's Throe. 

The alicorn is a unique variant of the pony. A powerful being composed of magic and harmony, any alicorn can perform powerful feats of might. This might can move mountains, crush armies, and even topple ancient eldritch beasts that live for causing Dis-Harmony. This might kept a nation secure from threats that would otherwise destroy it for their own nefarious purposes. The history behind the unique species is not concrete in its origin story, but most experts agree: do not question the origin story. Celestia and Luna are so far the oldest alicorns known to have existed. There might be older unknown alicorns, but as so far as that knowledge goes, the Royal Sisters remain on the top. Celestia and Luna have fought many wars, some through the use of their lackeys and soldiers, and a few personal wars. The personal wars weren't generally fought for the sake of their own personal pride, but actually because they fought them alone. Alone against thousands of combatants, alone against monsters and malevolent spirits, and alone against nations. Usually it's because they did it to protect the lives of those who serve them, but who knows. Maybe they had to flaunt the destructive power of their magic every few decades or so, to instill perpetual fear in their enemies and undying loyalty in those who fly their colours. Luna herself was very proficient at fighting, while Celestia only indulged in her basic aggressive instinct when her rational logic fell victim to what goes wrong in the world. The Princess of the Night fought armies, beasts, dragons, even named legendary adversaries like Carul of the Lowlands and Iirlia, Rebel Queen of Cirrculous. These opponents all had their own unique traits that made them deadly in their fights. Brute strength, clever magical tactics, and unparalleled agility. An alicorn has all three of these traits. Experts agree that alicorns try too hard, and should leave the poor normal folk to practice what makes them feel special. 

Princess Luna therefore made it one of her life goals in trouncing people's dreams in fighting, making them feel less special when she pins them to the floor or sends them flying across the stadium. Alicorn's Throe is a move which acts as a instagib, it completely defeats the opponent in terms of how much destructive force is appiled to the move. Will it be an instant knock-out, or will it utterly destroy them? How the move works is that Luna either picks up her opponent(or they latch onto her, as the poor raptor did), flys straight upward to gain the momentum she will need for the finishing move. She continues until she reaches the height for the level of pain she wants to apply, so for like 20 meters in the air, it's a KO. For 50 meters in the air, it's generally death. For 100 meters, she must be really pissed for whomever won the courtesy of being shown the Throe. When Luna reaches her preferred altitude, she takes possession of her victim either by grappling them with her powerful limbs or using telekinesis. Mass size is the factor in deciding this, if they're too large she levitates them. First she bucks them hard in the face with her rear legs, sending them flying even higher. If that doesn't knock them out first, then the rest is torture. Dashing quickly to continue the assault, she then applies a one-two punch, sending them downward. She spins like a cartwheel in the air, giving them a further roundhouse kick downwards even faster. When they are hurtling down toward the ground at neck breaking speed, She gives the final touch by blasting them into the void with an alicorn magical death ray, sending their battered body hurling down like a meteor. 

They flew 140 meters into the air, and the raptor was still gnawing on her back. She fought against the tears of pain, as the dinosaur chewed on her flesh. It was going to be over soon, though. She flew an extra 40 meters for the audacity of the raptor to jump on her Royal back, so she hoped no pony was around what was soon to be Ground Zero. 

The air and scenery around them was quite nice, though. Pleasant sky, you could really congratulate the pegasi on their job well done. The sun was shining high and bright in the sky, birds even flew past, trilling quite cheerfully. Ponyville below looked marvelous as ever, with its quaint rustic buildings and its denizens out and about. 

Too bad about the peace.

Gripping the raptor with magic, she bucked it very hard in its snout, launching it skywards. It cried out in pain, apparently that didn't knock it out. Sucks for him. She rocketed to it, relentlessly pounding it twice in the gut. After it careened downwards, she flew to it, delivering a roundhouse kick even Bruce Lee would give awe and respect to. She waited for a full second. A deep, bright ultraviolet beam that radiated pure energy and power slammed into the raptor, encompassing it while it sailed toward the hard ground at unbelievable speeds. The beam pushed the unfortunate raptor straight down at the other raptor, which has been watching this entire time. It felt so much shock and fear as it saw the beam firing its compatriot at it, that not another living being will have ever been as scared or bewildered as to what just happened will ever match it's peak.

The sky even blackened out for a brief moment around the epicenter of the blast that encompassed the battle site. You might be expecting sheer destruction of everything in the general vicinity, but that's what makes the alicorn race so scary. The destruction was limited to a 15 meter radius, making a curiously small crater compared to the power that created it. Physics dictates their must be a equal reaction to every action, but apparently to alicorns: fuck physics. Most of the Equestrian military or scientific material was untouched, and the foreign metal probe was still menacingly sitting there, as if it were gloating or sneering, or both. Ponies started peeking out from their hiding spots, still unsure if the danger has passed. As they were gawking, Princess Luna majestically descended onto the ground, landing near the still smoldering rocky crater. She was covered in cuts and bruises. Blood was dripping rather fast to the ground, staining it red. Having been mauled by a late generation velociraptor is an arduous experience at best, but she still had to look graceful in front of her citizens.

"Are there any casualties, Major Candor?"

The major trotted out to respond, "A few ponies are shocked and a few small injuries, but that's it."

She lowered her head, blankly staring at the glowing bits of earth. "That's good." 

After looking at the crater for a couple of seconds, she slowly walked off to find Twilight. "See to it that this mess gets cleaned up and the metal entity properly contained, Major", she said with a tired note in her voice.

They think it's easy being an alicorn, but it's not. It just means you have to do everything and be expected to succeed, whether you think you can or you cannot.