Prologue: To Princess Twilight Sparkle

To Princess Twilight Sparkle,

It has come to my attention that you have recently locked yourself into a room for three days after feeling embarrassed about what could only be described as The Most Embarrassing Coronation in Equestria's History. Do not worry, this is not from Discord or any of his tricks of the sort (I've made sure of that), but even with the influx of support from your many friends, co-rulers and predecessors you still felt the uncertainty to leadership. And quite frankly, who am I to criticise? I remember when I was given my position despite being one of the last two of my kind (More on that later).

The point is, leadership is never easy (I should know better than most). The only advice I could give to you would be to see the mistakes in the past and ensure never to repeat them. But you may ask, "who are you to tell me what or what not to do? who are you to give me advice when I don't even know you?" Well firstly I should introduce myself; I am what you may call The Administrator. An entity within a pocket universe that oversees EVERY form of reality. Please refrain yourself from drooling at the prospect of meeting a being from another reality before I can make my next point. Speaking of which, I suppose taking advice from a being such as I might be overwhelming to say the least (or underwhelming, if what I said earlier was too minimalistic).

No, I decided to take the extra mile. In this letter contains a small seal that will enable you to communicate with (Drum roll please) Yourself. More specifically, the many, MANY versions of you across the alternate worlds of Equestria (or perhaps more). I figured if you want advice that really hits you, you might as well hear it from, who else but yourself. Keep in mind that what you will see will differ from what you have experienced. You should know better than most ponies that every decision in our lives creates a ripple effect that changes the course of history. Therefore (and I cannot stress this enough), be prepared for any eventuality; that being some of your versions may be more desirable than others. That's not to say you will be transported to their world (I am not that cruel), but that each version of yourself will meet one-on-one (or more if both parties agree) in a pocket universe I specially prepared for this occasion.

You may ask, "why would you go so far as to do this for me? What is your game?" No game, your highness (again, I am not Discord). As altruistic as I am, the sole reason for my actions is simply to ensure one thing and one thing only; balance. Not balance for your world really but for balance across all reality. As I have mentioned before, each action we take creates consequences. Your little mopefest, if continued will affect your world entirely and I cannot afford to lose another canon reality. Doing so will splinter this world and will cause a domino effect across EVERY REALITY.

No need to panic really. Metaphysically, none of you will feel the impact; you will still exist and your lives will continue as always (however differently it flows instead of how it should could be). I however cannot say the same for the rest of creation. The ripple effect will cause countless worlds to crack which will take quite the endeavour to fix or add in compensation to the many changes it will bring. (Before you go all theoretical about what all this entails please keep in mind any further exploration of the subject will remove the reason for my intervention.)

With all this in mind, I cannot force you out of your stupor (however alarming as this may be). But I can try to persuade you by taking up this offer. You can even invite anyone to join you if you are nervous about meeting another version of yourself, but we both know you would salivate at the chance to compare yourself with other realities.

Well, without further ado I wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you will find the answers that you seek and remember; you can always use it again if you wish to seek more advice in the near future. Just bear in mind that there will be a certain time limit and cooldown of usage to ensure you will not use this device as an escape from reality. This is for advice and counsel; not for therapy or entertainment.

If you lose the seal or if it gets damaged, need not fear; it will self-replicate back to your room and the previous version will just vanish from existence. For more details on several of its functions, please consult the manual attached to this letter. (Note: the manual and letter will seem like gibberish to anyone other than yourself if they read it, so bear that in mind if you're worried if these will fall into the wrong hands hoofs or if you are planning to show it to your friends) Also, for the love of the Lord of Creation, please do not let Discord, Pinkie Pie or anyone who has at any point had access to chaos magic touch the seal. The result will cause the seal to self destruct permanently which will take a very long time to replace, so please be careful.

Good luck with all your endeavours and God speed Princess,
Jonathan Toolonie, Administrator of Toonworld.

PS. Yes, interloper. That's my name, and that's my world. Deal with it!

Hanging from the letter was a large medallion-like seal with buttons and dials on the sides and a digital screen in the middle. The seal was coloured crimson red and shaped like a balloon tied like a chained necklace. Twilight looked at the manual with a incredulous look in her eyes; it was a small pop-up book.

1: The Sparkle of Wisdom

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"Let's see, turn the top right nob to see the list of versions of your world. Click the green button to select. The Pocket Dimension will have "His meeting place" as the default theme but the theme can be switched by the top left dial. The time limit is one hour, click the red button to exit the dimension early."

"Um Twilight, are you sure you want to do this?"

Spike gave Twilight a reluctant look of concern as the Alicorn was skimming through the pop-up manual.

"Yes Spike, I do. I feel the need for advice from somepony who truly knows me. Who better to know about me than myself?"

"I just feel it might be a trap."

"...You might have a point, Spike. I might prepare a spell for that eventuality."

"I think you're going to need more than that, Twilight. As your Royal Advisor, I'd advise that you do not go alone. I'm coming with you."

"A-are you sure? I mean, I am fine on my own and I..."

"Nope, you are not. What happens if you get stuck there with an unscrupulous version of yourself? Besides, after all that we've been through I want to be there to be sure it is safe; especially if you intend to go there again."

Twilight took a minute to gaze at the young dragon. He has certainly grown to be a mature Dragon. "Alright Spike. Let's do this together."

"Alright! So, where to first?"

"Let's go with," Twilight adjusted the dials showing a series of words on the digital screen til she stopped to the words World Equis 7. "Let's go with lucky number seven."

She pressed the green button and the two were enveloped by a blinding flash of light.

As the brightness dissipated, they took a clear view of their surrounding. Around them was a field of grass that stretches as far as the eyes could see with majestic mountains seen on the horizon. On the field stood a lone tree and next to it was a small river that flowed gently yet they could hear every droplet of water running through. The sky was clear blue and bright yet no sun hung above them.

The sight of this place was such a marvel that both their jaws dropped at just how perfect it all seemed. It was unlike anything they've seen in Equestria; it wasn't even comparable to the best artists' grand works. It was like a clear, vibrant dream.

"Spike, are you seeing this? This is amazing!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's beautiful. You can even feel a gentle breeze out here." Spike replied.

"I'll say, young ones. I could honestly just move and spend my retirement here."

"!"

The new voice came from behind the lone tree; it sounded old and raspy, but gentle with a sweet tune. The two approached the tree and noticed that it's leaves shined like emeralds as it sparkled with the rustling of the breeze. Sitting by its roots and leaning on its trunk was an old, purple Unicorn mare with a grayed out mane and a familiar star for her Cutie Mark. She was reading a small book as she adjusted her glasses to turn to the pair.

Twilight's eyes widened at the mare, "A-are you me?"

The old unicorn gave a knowing look, "That all depends on who you are now. Are you from the past, am I your future? We are never the same pony we once were as we move on. We probably are even less so, considering you are an Alicorn and I am but a simple Unicorn."

"But why are you a unicorn?" asked Spike, "And why are you so old?"

She smiled lovingly, "Well, I am glad to see you haven't changed, my number one assistant." She leaned over and stroked the spikes on his head, "I remembered you when you used to ride on my back. Now, I ride on his due to my poor back. Although, I never recalled you to have wings. Curious."

"So, you are a version of me when I never ascended. I guess this seal actually worked."

"So, you were the ones who summoned me. For a minute, I thought this was all a dream until I felt the soft grass and drank from the stream." The old mare eyed the river and the two took notice at just how clear the water was. "You can drink from it if you want. I guarantee you, it is actually refreshing."

"No thank you, I appreciate it though," Twilight declined with a sheepish smile before continuing, "Perhaps introductions are in order, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle; current ruler of Equestria."

Her counterpart raised an eyebrow, "I didn't think introductions were necessary considering who we are, but I suppose it is the prudent thing to do. Although, it is an interesting surprise to know that you took over Princess Celestia. I am Twilight Sparkle; also known as The Sparkle of Wisdom."

The old mare made a short bow, "So for what purpose does the Ruler of Equestria need from a simple, old unicorn version of herself?"

"I came seeking for advice."

"Oh? Was your Royal Advisor not enough for you?" She pointed at Spike.

"Woah, how did you know that?" Spike was clearly surprised considering he never introduced himself as Twilight's Royal Advisor.

"It says on your medallion. Clear as day."

Spike blushed, "Oh, right."

"No need to fret, young Spike," the old unicorn chuckled before she addresses Twilight, "As for you, I'm not quite sure I understand by seeking advice. You have your friends, don't you? You have the old Princesses, don't you? And you have your faithful companion here, don't you? What advice could you possibly ask from an old, unicorn version of yourself?"

"You know me more than anypony else. Don't get me wrong, I love the support and guidance my friends and family give to me, but I know I have limits, weaknesses, concerns that only we truly know about ourselves. I thought that perhaps another version of us might have experience to these doubts and might finally put me at ease."

Old Twilight wryly smiled as she shook her head, "Oh young one, there is no answer I could give you that will satisfy you, I'm afraid."

Twilight was about to protest but was interrupted by her counterpart as the old mare continued, "You are not the first version of ourselves to come and seek advice from me. And depending on my health tonight, you might not be the last. Many have sought my wisdom; Students, Princesses, Queens, Empresses, Kings, Princes, Alchemists, Wizards, Witches, War Lords and more. I'm not just referring to versions of ourselves. Many in my world sought my council, even Princess Celestia herself."

"If you're so wise, why are you still a unicorn?" Twilight asked.

"Because I rejected ascension. I knew what Starswirl's spell could do. I knew what the Princess planned for me. And we argued over it. While I can see it is a grand destiny to become a Princess, my thought at the time was that the cost was too much for me. I would give up my valued mortality, my dream to become the greatest wizard of all time. I realised too late that it would not only cost me my friendship with the Princess but it would strip me from the Element of Magic itself."

Twilight and Spike gasped at the implication as the old mare continued, "I lost my ability to use magic that day. The greatest foolish mistake I have ever made in my life. Strangely though, a small piece of the element still remained within me. That piece opened my eyes to the mistake I've done and has humbled my arrogant self to this day. It grew into something more as my friends consoled and comforted me at my lowest point and through our friendship it blossomed into a power that has granted me a new course in life. A spark of wisdom I called it. My mind was opened to the many possibilities in life that called for the knowledge of the thought.

"To nurture it however, I needed to sharpen my mind. Luckily, I was a natural "Egghead" as Rainbow would put it, and I devoured books on philosophy from Equestria and theology from Earth (thanks to Sunset Shimmer). It culminated into making me Equestria's paragon of Wisdom and creatures from across the world and more sought my council. It also resolved many of the problems and disasters across my world: I made Trixie into the greatest magic user of our time; I reformed Discord in a battle of wits and games; I mended the broken relationship between Tirek and his brother Scorpan; Stopped Starlight Glimmer from her sinister plot and made her my student; Changed Chrysallis and her changelings; Calmed the Storm King and disband his armies; Saved King Sombra's Soul from corruption; and so much more.

She paused for a moment to look at the admiration in Twilight and Spike's eyes hearing her accomplishments. She sighed as she continued, "However like always, most often words could never reach the hearts of the truly lost. A young filly by the name of Cozy Glow was the perfect example to this. My failure to save her still haunts me to this day. One whose mind is set in a narrow view of malice cannot easily be reached by wisdom. In most cases, it only fuels their conviction."

The old mare stood up and stared at Twilight with eyes that glared with conviction, "So tell me Princess, would you truly be satisfied with the advice I could bring to you? Are your thoughts open for my wisdom or have you already closed your mind to a wanted answer?"

The words of the old mare cut through Twilight like a knife. She looked at her with fear. Not the fear of cowardice but the fear of reverence. For as she stared into her eyes she felt as though her very soul was tested. Not since her foalhood had Twilight felt such vulnerability before another pony's presence of authority.

It then hit Twilight as she saw the old unicorn's conviction. She cleared her throat and said, "I came here seeking advice on how to be the best ruler I can be for Equestria. I thought that if I can be assured by a version of myself that I could finally be truly confident of my skills to lead. But now as I hear the wisdom and see the conviction within you, I understand now. I need not be affirmed by myself, because all that I will see is merely a reflection."

Twilight's counterpart gave an astonished look as it twists to a grin. A hissing noise came out of her as she began to cackle in laughter.

"Y-you might just have some wisdom within you after all," she continued to laugh as she wiped tears out of her eyes, "However, (Cackle) you are still just as naive and immature as I once was! You still overthink things when in true fashion, the simplest solutions are often the best solutions. (HAHAHA) Y-you could have just simply answered that you are prepared for whatever wisdom I provide and I would have given it to you. (Ho-HAHAHA)"

"Y-you mean, it wasn't a test?"

"Oh, I was testing you alright. (Sigh) I was wondering if you were worth my time. And wouldn't you know, you are more than worth it!"

The old unicorn wiped off the last of the tears from her eyes from her laughing and approached Twilight, putting a hoof on her shoulder, "Let me give you a quote I heard from Sunset Shimmer at her time on Earth; I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."

It took a while for Twilight and Spike to process the quote before they snorted, followed with a bellowing laughter as the old mare joins in the hysterics.

"S-s-so that's your secret then? (HAHAH) YOU KNOW NOTHING? (HAHAHA!)"

"Well, in all seriousness though, I had to make sure. The last version of ourselves who asked for my advice threatened to have my head on a platter if I refused to give her the answers she sought. I merely shrugged and asked her Would you like me to tell you what you need to hear or what you wanted to hear? Because what you want I'm afraid, is not what you need. After that, she just left without a word. So much for Empress of several worlds."

"Yikes," was all Spike could say to that.

Just then a beeping noise came from the seal as it flashes a text from the digital screen, 5 minutes left til the end of your session.

"Oh, I'm afraid that our time is up. Can we see you again?"

"Oh young one, for you, you are always welcome to see me. However, if you wish to meet others of ourselves, I can give you coordinates to two of them that you might be interested to see."

The old mare wrote something on her book and gave it to Twilight, "Also, you might be interested in reading this book. It's called the book of Proverbs from the Bible. Sunset gave it to me from her world's Applejack. She told me I might actually find it enlightening. Look for chapter 28 verse 6, "Better a poor man who lives with integrity than a rich man who distorts right and wrong."

"I will, thank you." Twilight gleefully smiled as she levitated the book with her horn and placed it in her saddlebag.

They embraced each other (Spike included) as everyone is enveloped in a bright flash of light.

2: His name is Dusk Shine

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"So, are we going there again?"

"Yes Spike. According to the manual, the cooldown usage is only once a day. I am not passing this opportunity to see another version of myself. F-for advice of course."

"Then why not just go back and see old unicorn Twilight? She's got all the wisdom in the world, erm, in a matter of speaking."

"Well yes, she might just be the wisest version of myself but I can't just keep going back to her for advice. She could be busy giving others advice for all we know! Besides, she did give us other recommendations. Two in fact."

"(Sigh) Well I suppose if you're sure about it. Let's get this over with."

Twilight set the coordinates to the Seal: World Equis 63. And the familiar flash of light appeared.

The familiar landscape of the lone tree, grassland and river lay before them as the walked towards the only landmark.

"You know Twilight, I could never get used to seeing how beautiful this place is."

"I know, right? Although it does say in the manual that we could change the theme, but I can't figure out why anypony would want to change this view?"

While still a distance away from their destination, a teleportation spell activated next to the tree and from a purple light popped two individuals. A dragon and an Alicorn.

"That must be... wait, is that a dragon with her?"

"Oh cool! Maybe I'll get to see what I'm like in another reality!"

"Um, Dusk. Where are we? I am freaking out right now."

"N-no need to panic Barb. We just need to calm down and rationalise what just happened."

"Speaking of which, WHAT DID HAPPEN?"

"I don't know, okay!"

Just then, Twilight and Spike teleported in front of them, "Oh hi, you must be..."

The two were astonished to see their would-be counterparts were not what they were expecting. Likewise with the other party.

"Are you a s-stallion?"

"So what if I am a Stallion? In fact who are you suppose to be? Changelings who got our genders wrong? And on that matter, where are we?"

"Okay, that's enough!" Spike shouted in protest before lowering his voice, "You are both confused as to what is happening so let me explain. Yes, we summoned. No, we are not changeling. And we are all inside a pocket universe to have a little chat."

"Are you supposed to be me?" the female dragon spoke out, "because that was pretty cool how eloquent you are."

"Why thank you. I'm Spike by the way." he raised a claw.

"Barb. Name's Barb." she shook his claw.

"I believe our introductions are in order," the alicorn mare sheepishly smiled, "Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and ruler of Equestria.

"Wait, you're the ruler of Equestria? Well that's just great! I'm Dusk Shine. Prince of Friendship and soon to be ruler of Equestria. Maybe you can help me?"

"You mean, you haven't been coronated yet?"

"Nope," Barb began explaining, "Prince Solaris just told everypony yesterday. Apparently, he announced that him and his brother Prince Lunarius are retiring and are giving the throne to Dusk..."

"WITHIN THE WEEK! I. AM. NOT. READY! FOR THIS! AT ALL!" The Alicorn Stallion interjected with a scream then groaned as he was reminded of the situation he was before, "Night Terror Moon I can handle, Queen Ombra wasn't too hard..."

"Courtesy to me," Barb smugged.

"...Tirena may have been a challenge, Imago and the changelings were dealt by Sunburst, Soft Flash was easy when we found out he was draining magic, who else was I missing?"

"Storm Queen, Mare of Shadows, Eris when she was evil, Sunburst when he was evil, Moonlit Sky when he stole the element of magic, Trickster when he was influenced by the alicorn amulet, you (pointing at Twilight) from another dimension, does Clip and Art count?" Barb listed.

"Even compared to any one of them, I had an easier time processing a plan on what to do!"

Spike and Twilight looked at each other and smiled fondly and laughed. This was all too familiar.

Dusk could not believe his ears, "Y-you're laughing. Are you laughing at my predicament?"

"N-no, I didn't mean to. I-it's just that you sounded exactly like I did before I was coronated." Twilight took a breath from her laughter, "Maybe this was why she sent me here, to give you advice."

"Wait, who?"

"Oh, the old unicorn mare version of ourselves called the Sparkle of Wisdom."

"OH! So you met her! To be honest, we met by accident during the world-line spell that Sunburst cast on the Mega-Sign map. She was really nice to us."

Twilight stepped forward and hugged their counterparts, "You'll be fine, I promise you. Take it from a version of yourself, You've got this." She gave a small chuckle, broke the embrace and continued, "To be honest, I actually summoned you here for advice; I didn't expect to be the one giving advice."

"Wow, that is funny." Dusk smiled sheepishly, "I suppose I could try to give some. What seems to be the problem?"

"Oh, just tips on how to run the kingdom, but you probably aren't up for that considering..."

"Oh, that's easy; just ensure taxes aren't too high, government spending must be as low as possible, prioritise on national defense and basic learning, encourage the private sector but ensure they follow regulation, strengthen diplomatic ties to all our allies, extend diplomatic connections and widen the roster for diplomats and ambassadors, and focus development on magical technology."

Twilight's jaw almost hit the ground as Spike shut it close for her, "I thought you said you were not ready for the throne, yet you seem to already know what to do."

"Just because I know what to do doesn't mean I can implement them effectively. Prince Solaris knows how to talk his way through the nobility of Canterlot to get what is necessary done. I on the other hoof, have an easier time negotiating with the Yaks than the Canterlot elites."

Snapping out of his earlier statement, Twilight suggested, "Have you tried taking lessons from the Dragon Lord?"

"Dragon Lord?"

"Wait, do you mean the Dragon Master?" Barb asked, "Why would he want lessons from the Dragons when all they ever do is meditate and pray to the spirits of the land? They're just a race of monks, not leaders."

Spike and Twilight eyed each other, bewildered by such contrast to their Dragons. "Well, that is different. I guess some of our races are more different than I thought."

The familiar beeping sounded, signalling the near end of the session. "Oh dear, did we already reach our time limit? That certainly felt quicker than I thought."

"You're leaving already?" Dusk gave a worrying look, "But there is so much more I could..."

"Don't worry about a thing," Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, "No matter what happens, no matter how impossible things may seem; always stick with your friends to the end. The Magic of Friendship has never failed me before, it will not fail you."

Dusk and Barb's smiling faces were the last things they saw before the blinding flash returned them home. "Thank you, Twilight."

3: Mother of Nyx (Warning: Spoilers for Past Sins)

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"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own this time, Twilight?"

"I'll be fine Spike. You just be safe on your trip to the Dragon Lands. Besides, so far we've met old unicorn me, male version of me, and a (sigh) cavepony version of me that only speaks in grunts."

It had been two days since their meeting with Dusk Shine and Barb, and Twilight had been frustrated that she wasted a day accidentally inputting the wrong world that her wise old self recommended; resulting in the most awkward meeting of what might just be the least intelligent version of herself in an Equis that had just finally developed into the Stone Age.

"Y'know, you have to admit it was pretty hilarious trying to communicate with her," Spike mused at the memory, "Thak Sap, I think she called herself. I'd like to think you might have revolutionized her world when you introduced to her rudimentary writing, and Fire."

"It was the least I could do to curb her boredom," Twilight replied, "and for my sake so that the mishap didn't go to waste. We could only take one trip a day with the seal's cooldown after all."

"Welp, I'm off Twilight. Take care and don't forget to tell me of your meeting."

Twilight smiled, "Only if you'll tell me how the diplomatic venture went when you come back."

As Spike left the room, Twilight inputted the intended coordinates this time: World Equis 46. And just like before, the familiar bright flash transported her away.

Without hesitation this time, she made her way to the tree to meet her counterpart. However when she reached the landmark no one was in sight.

Odd, shouldn't there be...

Her thought were interrupted by a familiar flash of light and there standing in front of her was another unicorn version of herself, except just a few years younger than herself and she wasn't alone. Behind her stood a young, dark alicorn filly.

"What?! What's going on here?" Her counterpart became defensive at the situation, "Who are you and why do you look like me?!"

"I-it's okay," assured Twilight, "I'm you from another world. I was hoping..."

"T-Twilight," the alicorn filly squeaked softly as she hid behind her counterpart, "why does she look like you?"

"It's alright, Nyx," the unicorn mare assured the filly; gesturing her to stay behind her while she kept her gaze at Twilight, "Nothing is going to happen to you again, I promise"

"You Pinkie-promise?"

Her counterpart gave a motherly smile as she turned to assure the little one, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Twilight averted her gaze from her counterpart and instead bore attention to the young filly. It wasn't just that fact that she was an alicorn that surprised her; it was her night-dark coat and mane and her turquoise, dragon-like eyes that caught her attention. An all too familiar image came to Twilight as she continued to observe her; a smaller version of what was once Equestria's greatest threat...

"Nightmare Moon?"

The alicorn filly gave a soft and terrified squeak as she curls down and grappled one of the unicorn's hind legs.

"NO!" Fear, Rage and Resolve showed on the unicorn's face as she ignited her horn and prepared to make a stand against her potential foe, "SHE IS NOT NIGHTMARE MOON! She is Nyx, my daughter! And if you dare come near her I swear I won't hesitate to put you down!"

"Woah, easy, easy! I'm not here for her! I promise!" Twilight tried to de-escalate the situation with an assuring smile, "I'm more here for you, actually."

Before her unicorn counterpart could process what was said to her, Nyx screamed a, "NO!" before leaping in front of her mother, fired a weak magic lazer at Twilight and with tears flowing from her eyes pleaded, "Don't take mommy away! Don't take mommy away! She did nothing wrong! Please, don't take her away!"

"Nyx, no!" The unicorn covered the filly in a protective embrace; weeping with her child, "Nyx please, I can't lose you again!"

The sight of the two huddled together weeping tore Twilight's heart and she too started to tear up, "No, wait! (Hic) I'm not going to take anypony away! Honest! (Sniff)"

"R-really?" Nxy looked up, tears still falling from her face but no longer sobbing.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Twilight gestured the Pinkie-promise in front of the filly and her mother, still keeping her sheepish smile to assure them.

The mother broke from her embrace with Nyx and stood up (still cautious). Seeing that they finally calmed somewhat down, Twilight took the opportunity to (carefully) trot forwards, extending a hoof in polite gesture, "I believe we really got ourselves on the wrong hoof here. I am Twilight Sparkle; Princess of Friendship and ruler of Equestria. My version of Equestria, of course."

Still cautious, her unicorn counterpart stepped forward to shake Twilight's hoof, "Twilight, just Twilight Sparkle. And this is my adopted daughter, Nyx. I would say I am Princess Celesta's personal student, but from all the excitement that happened over the past few months, I'm not entirely sure about that anymore."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Oh, with her taking my daughter away from me, to unintentionally transforming her to Nightmare Moon, which resulted in her and Princess Luna getting sent to the Moon, and me almost being executed, to finally me lashing out at the Princess when she got out of the Moon because I thought she was banishing Nyx away when she was just reverting her to her young, filly self."

"Yikes!" Twilight's eyes widened trying to process her story, "That is a lot to take in." She then took a double take, "Wait, YOU ATTACKED THE PRINCESS?!"

"Hey! In my defence, she shouldn't have broken my trust in her in the first place!" The unicorn snapped before taking a deep breath and continued, "I don't mean to sound bitter, but it has hard to trust somepony whom you admired all your life to do such a thing to you, to your daughter! I know she had good intentions for her actions, but it still didn't make it right."

"Have you tried talking to her? Making amends?"

"How could I? How could we go from where we are now?"

"I've had my experience breaking her trust and she forgave me for it," explained Twilight, "I know I can't exactly compare to having your daughter foalnapped by her, to me straight up lying to Celestia about her acting but doing nothing and not apologising will destroy whatever friendship you both had in the past."

"...I suppose I should at least see her about it. Maybe even send her a letter," the unicorn smiled sadly as she wiped traces of tears from her eyes before she shook her head, "But enough about me, what's you're story?"

Twilight recanted her story and reasons for summoning her (and her daughter).

"So let me get this straight, you summoned me because you wanted advice?"

"Well, kind of started as that but it ended up more as a means to actually talk to other versions of myself to take what counsel they could offer."

"So you're not like the other mean alicorn that attacked us last night?" Nyx asked.

"Wait, what?"

The unicorn spoke up, "Two nights ago, a dark purple alicorn attacked us from a strange rift. I fended her off, thinking she was after Nyx. And then she stopped for some reason and said to me, "you are not ready yet" then slipped back into the rift."

"That's... That's actually alarming." Twilight spoke with concern, "I've met up with three other versions of us and two of them all had an encounter with some crazed version of ourselves bumping into them."

"Well, it seems like you have some sort of competition hopping from one world to another," the unicorn mused, "Honestly, I thought such a thing was impossible til we met you."

"Wait, you mean you never met the old, wise pony version of ourselves?"

The unicorn shook her head, "No, should I have?"

"She sent me your address to seek advice from you. Here, World Equis 46." Twilight showed her the book with the world number on it: 46.

The unicorn looked at it, smiled and laughed, "Th-that's not a 46, that's a 40. You must have misread it."

Twilight did a double take on the horn writing, "40? But how? We are the same mare! How could we read and write differently?"

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're probably used to the alicorn body and the old mare and I are still unicorns?"

Twilight never thought of that possibility. Then again, it isn't outside the realm of probably.

"Ponyfeathers! I got the wrong world again!"

Nyx leaned at Twilight, "Well, if you hadn't gotten the wrong world, you wouldn't have given my mother advice. So maybe it was a good thing you got it wrong?"

A lot of surprises hit the alicorn princess today, but she thought she had the last of it until the filly gave her a second thought. Maybe these accidents are just meant to be. She smiled at Nyx as she lowered herself to her eyes, "You are a very clever filly. Your mother must be proud." She lifted Nyx and gave her a gentle hug, "If I had a filly of my own, I hope she'll be a lot like you."

Just then, the familiar beeping was heard. Twilight released Nyx from her embrace and turned to her counterpart, "Well, it seems we are out of time. I wish you all the best of luck!"

"Thank you, Princess. I hope we could have another chat in the future." The unicorn smiled as she held Nyx by her side.

"Goodbye, Princess!" Nyx waved a hoof in farewell.

And just like that, the bright flash returned them home.

"So Twilight, how did your meeting go?" Spike returned that night with a bag full of gems and a gold crown.

What happened in the Dragon Lands? Twilight wondered. "It was rather enlightening actually. Got the wrong world again, but it gave me a whole new perspective on things. How did your trip to the Dragon Lands go?"

"Well, it's a funny story..."

4: The Empress of Progress

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"(Urp) Somehow, I knew those gems were too good to be true. (Urp) They were of poorer quality than I thought. I bet Garble had something to do with it!"

"Oh, you'll be fine, Spikey-wikey. Just rest that poor tummy of yours for the day and you'll be right as rain by tomorrow."

"Thanks Rarity. (Urp) Please tell Twilight I won't be able to attend our little side project. (Urp) She'll be in her bedchambers."

"Of course Darling."

Rarity stopped by Canterlot Castle after her business in the capital was over. She intended to see Twilight in the throne room when she saw Spike limping his way down the hallways. She of course escorted him to his quarters and promptly headed to Twilight's room.

Twilight meanwhile, now that the day's cooldown is over she could resume to finally reach her intended destination. "Alright, now to set for Equis number 40..."

There was a knock on the door. Thinking it was Spike, she carelessly said, "Come in," without looking and resumed speaking, "Alright Spike, we have the right world inputted this time and we are now ready to meet me."

"I'm sorry, meet who darling?"

Twilight jumped as she turned to see Rarity by the room's entrance. "Rarity?! What a surprise! I'm sorry, I thought you were Spike."

"Oh, I'm afraid poor Spikey-wikey has a bit of a tummy ache after taking some poor quality gems," said Rarity with her usual dramatics. She then cleared her throat when she noticed Twilight looked as though she was ready to leave somewhere. "Were you going somewhere?"

The Princess hesitated, she wasn't sure if she could tell Rarity that she was off to a little ego trip. But then again, it was Rarity, one of the most balanced within her friends. And this isn't the first time Twilight showed her friends inter-dimensional travel, soooo.....

"Actually Rarity, now that you're here; how would you like to join me in a trip to another world?"

"THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL!"

Rarity gasped at the marvel that is the pocket universe as she strolls across the field of grass. She approached the small river and listened to the crisp yet soft sound of the water running. She walked closer to the bank and noticed the crystal clear water. Beckoned by its pristine state, Rarity lowered her self to take a drink.

Her eyes widened with wonder as she turned to Twilight, "Darling, have you tasted this?! This is the clearest, sweetest water that I have ever tasted! IT IS TRULY DIVINE! And I mean it in the most literal way possible!"

Before Twilight could reply, Rarity was already making her way to the lone tree in the middle of the world. "It's so peaceful in here! I've never seen such a sky, or felt such a soft grass, or tasted such a divine water! It's utterly remarkable!"

"Actually, what we are seeing here is the default theme to this world," explained Twilight, "This theme is called "His meeting place" and apparently the themes are changeable."

"You mean we could change the theme?" Rarity squealed with excitement, "How ravissant! I can't wait to see the other..."

A scream was heard from the area around the tree, prompting the two mares to rush for the noise. As they approached, they see Twilight's 5th counterpart; She stood just as tall as Celestia with her mane flowing in mystic purple sparkle (similar to Luna's mane) and her wings spread glittered with sparkling dust. She was embroidered with a golden chest plate, golden horse shoes and a crystal tiara that glimmered like the stars.

She would have seemed like the most regal being next to Celestia and Luna were not for the fact that she was also clad with black-tinted brass goggles, a headset with speakers and most notably; a strange copper tank-like contraption strapped behind her back between her wings. The contraption appeared to be connected to her head set with thick cables, and strange Hands protruded from the holes on the sides.

"Oh this is dreadful!" her counterpart exclaimed, "I can't stay in this pocket universe! I still have my duties to attend to! If I'm not back, Project Rainboom will..." She stopped as she notices Twilight and Rarity appeared in the picture.

"Hi there," Twilight spoke with her usual greeting, "You might be wondering why you're here, so I'll just say that I..."

"Rarity? Is that you?"

Twilight was stopped by the interruption and noticed her counterpart was staring at Rarity with eyes wide with sadness and glee. Rarity gave the mare a puzzled look, half-expecting the greater alicorn to burst into tears from her expression.

"Um, yes?"

Suddenly, two mechanical arms burst from the counterpart's contraption, pulled Rarity towards her and landed on the white unicorn into the mare's embrace, "IT REALLY IS YOU! Well not you really, it looks like you're from another reality. BUT IT'S REALLY GREAT TO SEE YOU AFTER 23 YEARS!"

"Excuse me darling, but I need to breathe."

"Oh dear, where are my manners? Sorry," The great alicorn sheepishly smiled as she released Rarity from her embrace, "I'm just glad to see you! Oh, Spike would be charmed to see you again!" She stopped when she noticed Twilight was left behind. "Oh sweet Cadence, I really am out of it today. Silly me. You must be why I am here I presume?"

"Yes I am," Twilight stepped forward and held out a hoof, "I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and ruler of Equestria." She then turned to Rarity who was now catching her breath, "And as you already know, that is Rarity."

Rarity gave a cough as she cleared her throat and made herself proper, "Ch-charmed to meet you, miss...?"

Twilight's counterpart extended a pair of hands from her machine to shake each of the hoofs, "Oh the pleasure is ever mine, darlings. I am Twilight Sparkle; Empress of Equis, ruler of the united creatures of the world, Lady of Progress!"

"E-EMPRESS?" Twilight's pupils shrank to pinpricks when she heard this, "Y-you mean, you...?"

The Empress pressed a mechanical finger on Twilight's lips to silence her, "Ah-Ah-Ah. If you're wondering if I earned that title by conquest, please; I united the whole world with nothing but my own persuasion towards a simple goal: PRRRROOOGRESSSSSSSS!" She gave a sing-song voice as she announced the last word, similar to how Rarity often announces her idea.

"What I did was simply incentivise every creature to join Equestria in our pursuit for progress!" The Empress continued, "Be it Science, be it Magic; anything to revolutionize the world's technologies into a new Golden Age was encouraged when I took over as Cadence's successor! Soon, every nation asked to join us as vassals or annexed states to get a piece of our technological leap. And all of our hard work has finally culminated into our greatest achievement of our time: Project Rainboom, The first Lunar Rocket! The name was Rainbow's idea."

It was at this point that Twilight's soul just left her body. Too many questions were compressed due to the many revelations and implications within such a short amount of time.

Rarity on the other hand had other concerns, "How... Impressive darling. Just what gave you such ideas for this progress?"

"Oh, funny story that. It all started when I received an invitation from a world called, Prosperity. The invitation called for the brilliant minds across hundreds of worlds to visit and showcase their most brilliant discoveries, inventions and theories. Professionals from all walks of life from so many different creatures from countless realities were there; Wizards, Scientists, Alchemists, Explorers, Philosophers, Archaeologists, Biologists, Historians, Poets, Fortune Tellers, Time Travelers, Spirit Walkers, Zoologists, Entrepreneurs, Artists, Chemists, Sorcerers, Witches, Florists, Farmers, Athletes, Seamstresses, Fashionistas, Practical Magicians, Stage Magicians, Mages, Connoisseurs, Chefs, Artisans, Architects, Musicians and so much more!"

"As you can see, it was quite the overwhelming opportunity of a lifetime. So naturally, I brought everyone I could to experience it. I practically brought all of Ponyville and half of Canterlot to experience the world; and it was all so worth it! I've met such amazing minds there: There was Albert Einstein who introduced to me the theory of relativity, there was Merlin who spent hours debating with Starswirl about the many fundamentals of magic, The Elric Brothers who showed me a new method of Alchemy, Dumbledoor and Professor Xavier who gave me pointers on how to run the school of Friendship, Muramasa Sengo who introduced a method of metal craft imbued with magical properties, Hououin Kyouma and his assistant Kurisu Makise who warned me and Starlight about the dangers of Time Travel, Scott Whitaker who was a local introduced me to his world's first artificial intelligence, Daniel Goodshot who explained to me the Inter-dimensional gates built by the race called the Starcatchers, Rockefeller Toolonie who gave me access to inter-dimensional travel, and another version of myself called the Sparkle of Wisdom who was one of the greatest philosophers I've ever come to know. She really gave me good advice. Almost like Princess Cadence..."

"Slow down there, darling. I could hardly keep up." Rarity stopped her trail of thought, "I think we're coming off topic, wouldn't you say?"

"O-of course, silly me," the Empress imitated Pinkie's expression before continuing, "Overall, the knowledge we learned there, we brought back to push our world a full century ahead in technology and culture. Oh you should have seen it! You were so ecstatic over the different forms of fashion you found in that world. Applejack's farm found a means to increase the harvest ten-fold, Pinkie Pie's parties became more creative and amazing each time, Rainbow Dash broke every athletic record (due to techniques) and later on speed records of new (experimental) vehicles, and Fluttershy found more effective ways to run her animal shelter. We all did such incredible achievements, oh those were the days!"

Rarity sensed a certain sadness from her last sentence, "You sound like those days are over. Surely your path of progress hasn't stopped, after all you did just say you were about to go to the moon."

The Empress let off a sad smile as she sighed, "Oh it never stopped. I never stopped. Everyone else just passed on."

Rarity raised an eyebrow, "Passed on?"

She turned to look at Rarity with the melancholy and fondness of countless years, "For 95 years I have been ruling this empire. 30 years ago, we all planned for the greatest project of our time. 25 years ago, Rainbow Dash was the first of our friends to die. 17 years ago, Applejack was the last of you to die."

Rarity stepped forward to give her friend from another world comfort when the Empress stopped her with a smile, "I learned to come to terms with it all. I know, that there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. Time comes for all of us eventually. For some of us, it just takes a lot longer. I kept impressions of all of you to keep your memories alive within me. That way, so long as I live to remember, they are still alive in my memories.

"I hold no regrets for every moment that has passed since I first set foot on Ponyville. They were my most cherished moments. All that I could do now was to carry on our last promise we all made 30 years ago. The Element Bearer's last legacy: To plant a new tree of Harmony and spread the spirit of Friendship beyond the stars."

The unicorn teared up from her stalwart determination to press forward. She turned around to look at Twilight somehow has not yet recovered from her earlier breakdown. In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse.

"Empire. Technology. Vassals. Annexations. Cadence's Successor. Space. Moon. Other worlds."

"Oh dear, it seems I might have broken her."

"Oh don't worry darling, she'll get over it."

Just then a feminine voice came out of the Empress' headpiece, "Empress, please report to the Tower. Luna 11 is about to launch in ten minutes!"

Right on cue, the seal's signal that time is almost up started beeping.

"Well Nelly, Ah better get the move on it!" The Empress once again shook hoofs (with hands) with them. She spoke to her headset, "I'll be there in a flash, Luster! Don't start the party without me!" and she readies herself.

"Best of luck darling!" Rarity cheered farewell.

It was then Twilight finally snapped out of her stupor, "Wait! I HAVE SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS! How did you meet the Sparkle of Wisdom? Do you know anything about the crazy version of us roaming around? How do we get to Prosperity? What about Princess Celestia? What method are you using to go to the Moon? Please, TELL ME!!!!"

Before any of Twilight's questions could be answered, the bright flash of light enveloped them. The last thing they saw of the Empress was her waving a mechanical arm with a "Ta Ta" read from her mouth.

All Twilight could do was just scream, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

5: Twilight the Infinite

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"Twilight, are you feeling alright?"

"Go away. My life is meaningless."

It was three days since meeting the Empress and Twilight since then has been sulking in her room only to come out for Court and other duties. Basically, going full auto-pilot without a destination. Rarity returned to Ponyville to tell the rest of their friends about the whole fiasco of what Twilight called: The single greatest crime in Equestria's history of Progress. That they were robbed from their right to reach for the Stars, literally.

"It's not fair," the purple alicorn whimpered as she moped on her bed, "It's not fair. Just knowing such knowledge was within reach and I can't even taste it. There is no hope for us all."

"If that is how you feel Twilight, why not just go back?" Spike asked with a hint of tired sarcasm.

With all the righteous fury she could conjure from that remark, Twilight threw a pillow at Spike with her magic and for the first time using a royal Canterlot voice she screeched, "DO YOU THINK I HAVEN'T ALREADY TRIED? I spent hours for three days straight trying to re-summon her! But for whatever reason, the seal just reads a big fat ERROR! As if the whole cosmos is denying me my prize! WHY, MULTIVERSE WHY?!

Twilight dropped face first to her bed and continued to mope while muttering more rants of unfairness of the multiverse.

Spike made a deep sigh, "You know Twilight, there are other worlds out there. I mean, there is a possibility you might meet another version who might have achieved other advancements."

Twilight's ears perked up. Suddenly, a million possibilities started calculating in her head until she burst from her bed, teleported next the dragon and gave him an excited (albeit crushing) embrace, "What was I thinking?! Spike you genius!"

"N-no p-problem. I-I'm regret-ting it alread-dy!" Spike managed to mutter as he was being crushed by the embrace while gasping for air.

"What is taking her so long?!"

"Twilight, you need to c..."

"I am calm! I'm just wondering why my counterpart isn't here yet? It's been five minutes and she hasn't shown up! Every minute wasted means we have less time for discussion about... Well, just about anything really at this point!"

Almost on cue, a familiar flash of light appeared next to the tree. "Well, isn't this exciting?"

The creature that entered for the both of them, felt wrong on so many levels. It looked like a pony; yet it stood on two hoofs like a satyr; it had arms, hands and torso like a human; and despite sharing the same purple coat, it wore a metallic armor-like clothing and carried a staff made of the same metallic material with the Element of Magic as it's head piece. It shared familiar traits with Twilight such as her horn, mane (style and colour), face (eyes, muzzle, etc), wings and tail; yet it stood taller than any biped she has ever seen, even compared to humans.

It looked regal, majestic, beautiful, disturbing and grotesque, all at the same time. The sight of it unnerved the pair as they slowly backed away from the creature.

"Oh please, I mean you no harm." Her voice vibrated like an echo as she spoke.

"B-but, you are an abomination. What are you?" Twilight shuddered.

"I'd prefer honoured guest," the counterpart smiled suspiciously, "But abomination or not, you and I are the same being; albeit from different realities. We probably even share a common interest, a common goal, a common cause."

Twilight ignited her horn with magic, "Ho no. Logically, I'd say otherwise."

The anthropomorph frowned, "Then you do not seek the nature of this pocket universe."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "You know how it works?"

Her counterpart smiled smugly, "I bore witness to when it was first created. Or perhaps I wasn't? Memories tend to get lost after 5000 years. Or perhaps I have seen too many versions of our world that one tends to forget where each comes from."

She stepped forward and removed the smugness from her face, "Return me to my world if you wish. Nothing will change. For you. For me. For any reality."

Twilight lowered her guard and stopped igniting her horn, "Show me."

The counterpart waved her hand to the sky and the theme of the grassland shifted into a barren landscape. Not a sight of green was seen; the sky was grey and dim, giving a foreboding atmosphere. The earth was dust and rock as though a drought took place. Twilight and Spike stared with horror as the place resembled a certain place that time forgot.

"Allow me the liberty of introducing myself, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said as she took a bow, "I am Twilight the Infinite. Seeker of mysteries. Collector of Curiosities. Preserver of History."

Twilight eyed her with suspicion, "You know who I am?"

"Of course I do. I have seen 587,342 versions of you. 11,870 never ascended into alicorns. 39,701 are rulers. 97,752 are anthropomorphs like me. 297,005 have presently died (wait, add one more), 92,490 of them were gruesome deaths. Need I say more?"

"H-how do you know all this?"

"When you are given a magic mirror that allows one to gaze into the many worlds for 4000 years, you would be bored enough to count them all."

"Yet you would humour me?"

"Of course. Your existence is the format for all the versions of ourselves. In a sense, you are the first of us. Twilight Alpha."

"Woah Twilight, don't you feel special?" Spike nudged the alicorn.

"I'd rather not be," Twilight blushed at the thought, "But that aside, you probably know why I'm here then?"

"Indeed. You seek knowledge. More specifically, you seek her knowledge. The Empress of World Equis 40."

"Yes, that is correct!"

"But why?"

"Well, you should know! She had the privilege to travel into another world where brilliant minds from across the multiverse gather and share knowledge. Judging from your attitude, you probably weren't invited. So she would probably be the luckiest out of all of our versions that I've met to date."

There was a pause before Twilight the Infinite laughed mockingly, "So you consider her to be the "lucky one" among us? How naive." She gave Twilight an incredulous look, "Have ever considered the cost to her achievements? All those years pushing herself beyond her limits to maintain her friends' legacy? Do you know how many sleepless nights she spent weeping since their passing? True, she was more privileged than other versions of ourselves, but in the end she bares just as much tragedy as those who lost their lives to the pursuit of their goals."

The Infinite's ears raised and a cruel smile appeared from her face, "Speaking of which, have you ever wondered why you could never reach her world again?"

Twilight twitched at the question, "Yes, I have wondered about that. Why? Do you know the reason?"

"An elementary question with a simple answer. You cannot reach a version of yourself that has already expired."

Twilight's blood ran cold and Spike's eyes widened, "Sh-she's dead? How? I thought she was an Alicorn!"

The Infinite lowered herself to caress Spike's face, "Oh my poor little dragon. Who's to say she died of natural cause? It is not easy to survive a magical drain from the heart after all."

Spike pulled away from her with horror in his eyes. The Infinite kept her expression as she continued, "I certainly never expected a thief to steal the bewitching bell from my collection and use it on her. You probably know of whom I'm referring to."

Twilight looked at her in disbelief, "How could you be so callous? A version of us just died at the hooves of a crazed, world leaping pony! How could you act like it was nothing?"

"Three reasons: I have already seen the outcome; she will fail, miserably. If you've spent the last 4000 years in a world of endless war, you tend to detach yourself from everything. If you were promised knowledge under the tutelage of the very being you admired, only to be bound to a fate you did not ask for; one tends to hold a certain, perspective. Specifically to those foalish enough to accept the false promise of Destiny."

Twilight scowled as she covered Spike with a wing, "I think we should be going now."

"Oh, you do not wish to know the knowledge I could offer?"

"Whatever knowledge I could take from you is not worth putting up with your callousness." Twilight pulled out the seal and readied for it before turning again to her counterpart, "And for the record, we are nothing alike."

Twilight the Infinite gave a smug scoff, "Perhaps. I was ascended in chains. You accepted it willingly, or perhaps unwittingly."

The following day, the remaining five of the element bearers came to Twilight at the behest of Spike.

"I'm really thankful that you guys could make it. She has not stopped crying since yesterday."

"Think nothing of it, sugarcube. We've done this old song an' dance before."

"I've brought a gown that I know she'll cheer up in."

"I've got the latest Daring Do to cheer her up."

"I've brought some animals that I know who could calm her down."

"And I brought the Ice Cream!"

Spike smiled as he let them enter. Immediately, they were assaulted by Twilight's embrace as she cried on their shoulders.

"I-if I (Sob) ever stopped caring (Sniff) a-about anything anymore, (Sob) please put me in my place. I don't want to stop caring about anything!"

Rarity looked to Spike who in turn gave her a knowing look. "Spike, who did she meet this time?"

"Somepony from a cold, dark world."

Toonworld Supplemental: Situation of Equis Prime

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Administrator Jonathan (Joe) Toolonie's Supplemental:
Many within Central have expressed their concerns with the situation of Equis Prime, and I too have shared these concerns. Similar to worlds such as the MCU, it has not been easy to maintain its integrity due to the many variables that challenge the natural order of the world. Each pony (Twilight Sparkle especially) creates an impact that could deviate the established world line (for those folks on Earth Prime) and it would have been perfectly fine were it not for the fact that we lost what our boys in Central called "The Canon Anchor" almost three years ago. Each of these shifts were manageable due to minor compensations and at times, just largely ignore it and let the multiverse tank a few ripples. As of late the situation has changed, however.

A year ago, the pesky entity known as "The Rift" was at it again and this time it had its sights on Equis Prime. The result of the impact with the PM-Earth Prime forced us to greatly sever Equis Prime into two (again). Good news with that incident was that both worlds seemed to share common interests and rules, so luckily there was little to change with the rules of compensation. The bad news just caught our attention a month ago; Equis Prime had a largely unnoticed breach in the fabric of reality ten years earlier in its timeline! We alerted the Bureau of Reality Integrity to investigate it, but so far no word in its location.

Therefore, we are once again forced to sever Equis Prime. In order to do that, we need something to compensate for the changes. Our boys are proposing that we bridge a connection with Project G5 and establish a new Canon Anchor, something that could actually solve our problem and reduce all the micromanaging we've had to deal with over the past three years. In the meantime, the short term solution for Equis Prime is to give Twilight a distraction and create a small enough ripple to sever the breech from Equis Prime. Not everyone is happy about this (especially Rocky), but unless we could find another means of compensating for changes when we sever the world and Project G5 is still a long way from completion, we have little choice but to proceed.
End Supplemental

Co-Administrator Rockefeller (Rocky) Toolonie's Supplimental:
I can't believe Joe went ahead and authorised this project! Project: Give-Twilight-the-means-to-see-other-versions-of-herself (Really Joe?) is too risky! The idea of creating miniature ripples in reality in an attempt to sever Equis Prime from the breech, without applying the rules of compensation is reckless at best and catastrophic at worst. Yes, we've survived minor ripples before, but if we keep being lenient with these ripples, the Almighty will be curious to know why we are the cause to the Apocalypse. I don't even need to look any further when we are clearly seeing the effects of this decision!

Empress Twilight Sparkle from World Equis 548 has been sighted on multiple versions of Equestria now; all thanks to that blasted "Rift" and our vain attempt to sever the breech. We should have doubled our efforts in the completion of Project G5 and establish the Canon Anchor connection, but it doesn't seem like it's happening anytime soon. Twilight's current encounter with her version from World Equis 41 certainly doesn't help our cause. Her emotional state after the encounter caused quite a ripple in comparison to the other interactions. Luckily, none of the other worlds felt any impact but I swear, if this keeps up we might as well open the very gates of Hell itself.
End Supplemental.

6: For Honour and Friendship

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"Alright, I say I'll stick with Twilight for this one! You look like you'll need my awesome attitude to snap you out of being mopey this time."

It was about two days since Twilight last used the seal and since then she has told the rest of her friends everything over the past week; the seal, the pocket universe, the other versions of herself she encountered, and a potential threat of one of them roaming free across other dimensions.

"Y'sure 'bout that, RD?" Applejack raised an eyebrow, "I reckon this other Twilight sounds like trouble if we might meet her."

"I have to agree with Applejack, darling," Rarity added, "and I also fail to see the need to find other versions of yourself."

"You could meet a version of yourself that could be worse than the last one you met," Fluttershy added her concerns with fear, "What if you met a version of yourself that was Nightmare Moon? Or a changeling version of yourself? What if you were Tirek, or Chrysalis, or Cozy Glow, or..."

"Don't worry guys!" Pinkie Pie hopped in with her signature smile, "I have a very good feeling about who she'll be meeting. Maybe she'll meet a version of herself who becomes an author like A.K. Yearling, or a Super Hero like Mare-do-well, or a Knight like Shining Armour, or..."

"Alright, we get it Pinkie." Applejack interrupted the pink mare by shutting her muzzle with her hoof.

Twilight smiled, she indeed needed this. True, she did reconsider the purpose of meeting other versions of herself: What started out as a means of boosting her self-confidence as a leader now became a curiosity to see how she compares to other versions of herself. Although, her encounter with Twilight the Infinite did shake her resolve to pursue her curiosity.

"You and I are the same being; albeit from different realities. We probably even share a common interest, a common goal, a common cause."

Twilight grimaced at the memory and shook her head. I need to focus. I will never be her. I care too much to let that happen.

"Oh by the way, Twilight," Rarity interrupted her thoughts, "where is Spike?"

Twilight snapped back to reality, "Oh, right. He's overseeing the repairs to Canterlot."

"You mean from the attack those three left us to deal with?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, those were finished weeks ago. The repairs this time were from the aftermath of a debate between a yak and a minotaur."

Rainbow winced, "Yikes, I'd hate to be Spike right now."

"Okay Rainbow Dash, welcome to the pocket universe and we should be expecting to see me from Equis 35, so we should make our way into... Rainbow?"

Twilight looked around to see that her friend and companion have vanished. Did I leave her behind? Stricken with worry and panic, Twilight was about to reach for the seal until she heard a voice from above.

"Twilight! This place is AWESOOOOOOOOME!" The alicorn looked up to see Rainbow soaring into the sunless, yet bright empty sky and disappear into the blue void.

Her jaw dropped at the sight of the cyan pegasus vanishing from sight only to reappear from the ground as though she teleported out of nowhere.

"Wh-what the hay just happened?" Rainbow shared the same look of shock as she stared at Twilight, then to the ground, then the sky, then at Twilight again, "Did I just pop from the ground after flying to the sky?"

A number of questions and theories began running through Twilight's head. The sheer absurdity of what just happened left her an expression of bewildered shock that she began to utter incomprehensible ramblings about how all that was possible.

"Um Twilight?" Rainbow leaned forward and wave a hoof in front of the alicorn's face, "Equestria to Twilight, are you there?"

"RAINBOW!" Suddenly snapping out of her stupor, Twilight grabbed her friend close by the shoulders and with a manic expression began to rapid-fire a barrage of questions, "Are you fine? Are you in any pain? What did you see up there? Can you see anything past those mountains? Was there really no sun? What about the moon, or the stars? How high did you fly before coming back up? Did you feel anything when you teleported out of the ground? Tell me! ANSWER ME!"

"The only answers you should be giving would be tell me what you are doing, changeling?"

Twilight released her grip on her friend after realising she had a large sword pointed at her throat from behind. As she turned around to face the owner of the blade, Twilight and Rainbow saw a unicorn clad in full plated armour from head to tail, covering most of her features (particularly the head due to the helmet). On her sat a small figure in chainmail armour and a helmet shaped like a dragon, covering the entire head. The unicorn held a longsword while her companion held out a shield with an emblem of a purple six-pointed star.

"Her lady asks you a question, changelings! I suggest that you answer her, or has your queen decided to dishonour her word of neutrality?"

Twilight blinked. She stared for a moment at the rider of the unicorn then to the unicorn who didn't lower her blade from her neck and back to the rider. "Spike? Is that you?"

"Y-you've heard of me?" the rider opened his helmet, revealing the young purple and green drake with a puzzled smile.

"Hey Spike," Rainbow gave the dragon an awed grin, "that's some awesome set of armour you're rocking there!"

The armoured unicorn stepped forward, lifted the sword from Twilight's neck and raised it on the pegasus' head, "You shall address me, knave! I am the one asking the questions and I won't ask again: What business do you have here, changelings?"

"Changeling?" the blue pegasus' expression scowled as she raised her wings in intimidation, "You've been calling us that since we've met! What gives? Can a changeling make a sonic-rainboom? I don't think so!"

A sound of a pin drop could be heard from the tense silence that followed. Then the armoured pony readied to swing her blade, "You have tainted my comrade-in-hoofs long enough by invoking her image with that frivolous behaviour. Lady Rainbow is the paragon of selfless loyalty; not some brash, uncouth braggart! For my friend's honour, prepare to taste my steel!"

Twilight jumped in and cast a shield spell protecting Rainbow Dash (and to an extent, herself) from the blade. She glared at the knight with defensive ferocity. She could have killed Rainbow, and without hesitation! "Look, I've been through this song and dance number for a while now so let me make it easy for all of us!" Twilight lowered her shield as a gesture of goodwill, straightened herself and continued, "Judging from the symbol on your shield and Spike on your back, your name is Twilight Sparkle, correct? We are not changeling, we are not from your world, and yes; you and I are different versions of the same pony."

The knight lowered her sword, "I would call you mad or desperate, but you stood there and protected your companion with determination and valour. A changeling would rather surrender their own kin than to stand between their attacker, and you clearly value your friend more than your own safety. If nothing else, anypony who honours their friendship above everything is of noble worth and is deserving of my respect."

The knight took off her helmet and revealed a familiar purple unicorn, aged with maturity and experience. She held a stern, stoic expression that radiated authority. She stared at the two of them and gave a salute by slamming her breastplate with her hoof, "I am Lady Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Countess Twilight Velvet and Sir Night Light, Grandmaster of the Order of Honour, Master of the Arcane Blade, Personal Bodyguard of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Bearer of the Grail of Unity, and a friend to all who values the virtue of Honour."

She looked back at her rider and gestured to him, "This is Spike the Small Scale. My ward and most faithful Squire. His stature maybe small but his noble deeds are larger than life."

The dragon gave a blush, "You honour me, my lady, but I am not worthy of such praise."

"Oh nonsense!" Lady Twilight scoffed with a smile, "Save your humility for somepony who can't see through you. I know how much you adore such high praise, especially the ones coming from Lady Rarity. Speaking of which, why haven't you courted her already? We all know you've fancied her."

"Lady Twilight, surely you jest! We know not if she even shares my affection."

Lady Twilight gave a hearty laugh, "Have you not seen the way she looks at you ever since you saved her from the Diamond Dog Bandits?" She turned to Twilight and Rainbow, "This drake charged headlong into a group of raiders who attacked Guildmaster Rarity's caravan, rescuing her life personally. She told me it was though a noble knight swept her off her hooves!"

While Spike was hiding his blushing face with his helmet, Twilight cleared her throat to catch everyone's attention, "I suppose it should be our turn to introduce ourselves. This is Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria, member of the Wonderbolts, and Bearer of the Element of Loyalty. I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, ruler of Equestria and Bearer of the Element of Magic."

Spike and Lady Twilight gasped after hearing her title before kneeling to the ground with a humbling bow. "Forgive us, your majesty! We have pointed our blades at you and your companion. We accept whatever punishment you sentence us!"

"I-it's alright! There's no need for all that!" Twilight was taken aback from the sudden shift of tone, "After all, we were the ones who brought you here."

"And to what honour do we have that you grace us with your visit?"

"More of curiosity than anything, really." Twilight gave a sheepish grin as she rubbed the back of her head. She then proceeded to mention her reason for seeking advice as well as her previous encounters of herself.

Lady Twilight puffed her *chest (*Yes, we know we can't see it because of the armour) and slammed her breastplate with a hoof, "Well in that case, we shall answer all your questions, your majesty! We shall impart with you any wisdom we can offer."

At this point, Rainbow Dash could hardly contain herself any longer and in a speed that would rival Pinkie Pie asked, "First off, What's it like being a Knight?! That is so awesome! Second, how awesome am I in your world. No wait, scratch that. What about the rest of us? What's your world like? Do the Wonderbolts exist? Did I make it to the Wonderbolts? Do you defeat monsters and villains and other stuff?"

"Woah, slow down there Rainbow! One at a time."

"'Tis alright, your majesty," She gave a courteous bow to Twilight and then turns to Rainbow with a polite smile, "Being a Knight for Equestria is considered to be everypony's dream. It's hard training, challenging work; but for an honourable cause it is all worth it. As for a version of yourself, Lady Rainbow Dash was the boldest and most disciplined of our order. Started out as a Squire for the Wonderbolt Knights, she joined the Order of Honour after she became Bearer of the Grail of Devotion."

The cyan pegasus' eyes sparkled as she gave a quiet squee, "That is so Awesome."

Lady Twilight continued, "As for the rest of our order, there was Lady Applejack who was the Baroness of Ponyville and Bearer of the Grail of Fellowship; Lady Rarity who was Guildmaster of the armour and weapons production and was also the Bearer of the Grail of Perseverance (not to mention seeker of a potential suitor out of my Squire); Lady Fluttershy who was part of the Children of the Fey before joining our order after she became Bearer of the Grail of Mercy; and then there was Lady Pinkie Pie who was Princess Cadenza's Spymaster and Court Jester before joining our order after she became the Bearer of the Grail of Wisdom."

"What are these Grails you speak of?" Twilight asked, "They sound similar to the Elements of Harmony."

"The Grails of Honour are the most sacred relics of our world and only appear to those who quest for them and are deemed of noble worth. Queen Celestia and Queen Luna commissioned the Order of Honour when it was discovered that all six Grails were found. "A once in a thousand years event," as they put it. Each Grail grants the bearer invincibility and strength, along with other unique abilities from each individual Grail. For instance," Lady Twilight held out a golden goblet with a symbol of a purple six-pointed star in front of them as she scooped water from the river and drank from it. Immediately, her eyes glowed white as her entire body was enveloped by a purple aura.

She continued speaking with a vibrant voice that seemed to echo, "The Grail of Unity strengthens the morale of the levies that are under my command."

A thought came as it puzzled Twilight. She turned to address her concern to her counterpart, "Is there any reason why you have levies, knights and soldiers?"

"Twilight, why wouldn't they have knights?" Rainbow interjected, "I'm mean, sure it's kind of old school but last I checked, Knights are awesome!"

"Rainbow, I'm not sure if you've noticed but our Equestria has not had a mobilized army in hundreds of years. That fact that they seem to have local forces at the ready suggests that they are prepared for war."

Rainbow's eyes widened at this as she slowly turned her head to the Knight.

Before anyone could say anything else, Spike gave the explanation, "Why that's simple, for three generations now, Equestria has been engaged in a series of Friendship Crusades against King Sombra's Crystal Empire."

"A WHAT?"

"Aye lass," Lady Twilight continued with a somber nod, "Roughly a hundred years ago, King Sombra overthrew the rulers of the Crystal Empire and declared himself ruler. Initially, we did nothing considering we were rivals to the Crystal Ponies for centuries, but after we heard the oppressive rule of Sombra we had to act. The Princess gave him an ultimatum to grant freedom to his subjects and embrace the way of Harmony and Honour; he of course refused. And so the Friendship Crusades began."

Twilight shook her head in disbelief, "But, couldn't Pri... I mean, Queen Celestia and Queen Luna do something about it? Like, I don't know; oust him from power?"

"Why would the Ladies of the Sun and Moon interfere with our affairs? Their domain is the Everfree, not Equestria. Besides, they already volunteered to adjudicate the Crusades to ensure the rules are not to be dishonoured."

"But still... A War?" Twilight gave a sorrowful look at her counterpart. "How many ponies died in your crusades for honour?"

"Died?" A look of surprise and shock came to the Knight. A moment of pause came as she thought about it, then came a smirk followed by a hearty laugh. "Died? Your majesty, nopony is killed in our Crusades! That's just dishonourable!"

A look of shock and confusion came to both Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

"It's called the Friendship Crusades for a reason," the Knight continued, "Seeing the risk of losing countless lives in the conflict, Princess Cadenza and King Sombra agreed that both sides shall honour the rule of no killing in the crusades. The rules of engagement are to render the enemies unconscious until one side wins on the field. The victor can either mind control or release mind control from the prisoners to add them to their numbers. The Crusades take up once a year for three moons, by the end of the Crusade the captured territories of both sides will become the established lands until the next year. If either of our capitals are captured by the end of each Crusade however, they automatically win the conflict and the Friendship Crusades will be officially over."

Rainbow gawked in disbelief, "So, basically it's a game?"

"It's more than just a game lass, it's a long game. You see, Princess Cadenza knew that if she were to truly win against King Sombra she had to have him embrace the idea of Chivalry. As each Crusade passes, the more Sombra slowly opens up to honourable ideals. In fact, for the past five years he no longer mind controls his prisoners and from the captured territories we've taken, the crystal ponies tell us that he has slowly revoked many of his ruthless edicts."

"That's... Actually amazing," Twilight mused, "To think you would reform a tyrant like Sombra by appealing his war-like nature."

"Indeed your highness. King Sombra has in more than one occasion expressed his thrill and excitement for the Crusades. He once mentioned how he would wish it would go on forever." The Knight then gave a twisted expression resembling a sheepish smile, "However, currently he has captured our Capital of Canterlot and we are currently trying to reclaim it. And we only have five days left til the end of our Crusade so this might be the Last of the Friendship Crusades."

"Yikes!" Rainbow exclaimed, "That just stinks."

"Have you thought about taking the secret passageway?" Twilight suggested.

"Secret Passageway?"

"Do you have underground crystal mines underneath Canterlot?"

"Yes, but they are long abandoned."

"If you follow through the mines, it will lead up to a tunnel directly to Canterlot Castle itself. I remember the last time I was there with Cadence during the Wedding."

The Familiar beeping sounded and Twilight gave a groan, "Well, it seems we are out of time."

"What, already?" Rainbow rolled her eyes, "It was just getting good!"

Lady Twilight gave a knowing smirk, "I understand how you feel, but no matter! Thank you for the information, your majesty. It has been an honour." She and Spike gave a bow.

"I hope to see you again," Twilight waved as the light enveloped them all.

"Lady Twilight, what are your orders?"

The Knight looked around her fellow Knights of her Order of Honour, "Drink up Sisters, Brothers, Comrades! We shall make our way into the Crystal Caverns from bellow Canterlot itself. By tomorrow, WE SHALL RECLAIM CANTERLOT! FOR HONOUR! FOR FRIENDSHIP!"

7: The Doctor's Assistant

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"So young one, how has the world been treating you so far?"

"It has been good actually. I got the chance to see the versions of ourselves you told me to meet. However, I regret to tell you that the Empress from Equis 40 passed away shortly after my visit."

A clattering sound of a tea cup dropped.

It has been several days since meeting the Knight and Twilight decided to revisit the Sparkle of Wisdom to inform her of the happenings recently. Twilight managed to set up a private tea party for two underneath the shade of the tree. The news of the Lady of Progress' passing shook the old mare as her eyes widened before she hung her head low with sorrow.

"That is unfortunate. She and I got along very well in Prosperity. We met on several occasions after the Convention of worlds; she came to me weeping after the death of her Rainbow Dash and the last I saw her was after her Applejack's death. She was the most brilliant of us I've had the pleasure of meeting. How did you know of her passing?"

"I've met an anthropomorphic version of our selves who calls herself "The Infinite"." Twilight grimaced at the memory of her encounter, "She told me that another version of us murdered her with a Bewitching Bell."

The old Unicorn's face paled hearing this, "Such troubling times we live in. And here I thought I'd finally spend my remaining days without worrying about such troubles."

Twilight placed a hoof on her counterpart with an apologetic gesture, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you with such disturbing news."

The old mare smiled reassuringly, "There is no need to apologise. If anything, I thank you for telling me. I often wondered when would be the next time I could converse with her."

The conversation was soon interrupted by a loud crashing noise as a large object crashed next to the tree where they were sitting.

"Wh-what was that?" Twilight's mane frazzled out of fear and confusion as she and her counterpart ducked underneath the table, "Did something just crash in this dimension?"

"I'm not quite sure. I've never thought it was possible to break in a pocket universe that suppose to have several protective wards and defences."

"Then... Could it mean they are powerful enough to break through?"

"Or perhaps they were allowed? Stay close, young one. I may be old and without magic but I still have a few tricks on me." The old unicorn gave Twilight a reassuring smile before turning into a sheepish smirk, "Just remind me to thank Trixie before I return back home, I never thought her parlour tricks would finally become useful."

Twilight did a double take at that, "She taught you stage magic?"

"It was her way of thanks for turning her into the most powerful wizard in all of Equestria. Still not a successor to the Element of Magic though. Now come along and stay close."

The two slowly approached the crashed object with caution. What they thought would be a smoldering remains of a meteor turns out to be... a blue wooden box with windows no larger than an outhouse intact in one piece. Visible are words labeling POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX with a plaque of instructions on the door.

The old mare gave a wide smile at the object, "Well this takes me back. I believe we have guests."

Clearly dumbfounded, Twilight barely managed to put together her thoughts until she blurted out, "How is it in one piece? How do you know they aren't hostile? Do you know who's in there?"

"Oh I know several versions of our guest, along with several of his incarnations and faces. It all depends on which universe he's from..."

The conversation was quickly interrupted as the doors swung open. Smoke and a peculiar light obscured the inside as a brown earth pony popped out of the box coughing. His mane was a darker shade of brown, his Cutie mark was an hourglass and he wore a green bow tie on his neck.

"Twilight, (cough) I believe we might have lost her..." the earth pony took one good at the two mares in front of him and dropped his jaw in shock.

What followed him was a familiar purple alicorn coughing from the smoke, "Doctor, w-what's going on? Did we lose her..." This Twilight shared the same expression as her companion after taking one good look at the two in front of them.

"Hello again, Doctor," the old mare spoke, "It's good to see you again, unless of course you are another version of yourself that haven't met me yet."

The earth pony, still shocked gave a curious smirk, "You know me? Who are you? How did we get here?"

The old mare gave a chuckle, "Oh how you asked that question so many times. It's funny knowing that usually you'd be the one at the receiving end of that question."

"So, we've met before. Different order in time I take it?"

"I'm afraid not. I believe that you are the first version of yourself to meet me. However, I have met several versions of yourself from other worlds before. I even gave advice to three versions of you."

Twilight clearly confused interjected, "Could somepony tell me what is going on? Who is he and why does he have another version of us with him?"

"Believe me, I'm just as confused as you are!" their counterpart replied.

The old mare turned to the stallion, "Should I tell them or will you?"

"Well, you seem to know more of the situation than I do," the earth pony replied, "sooo, knock yourself out."

The old unicorn turned to Twilight, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, this is the Doctor; other known as Time Turner. In one version, he's a time-travelling alien from the same universe as Sunset Shimmer. In my world, he's Ponyville's resident scientist, happily married to Derpy Do. And another version, he's an alien travelling the planet of Equis across time and space. From what I've been told, there are countless versions of yourself travelling cross two versions of reality; of Earth and Equis."

"Well, you most certainly haven't met me yet then." the Doctor took a bow, "Yes, I am the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey from an entirely different universe. This face your seeing here, not meant to be a pony."

His companion took a step forward, "I take it both of you are from other versions of my world then? I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship and Bearer of the Element of Magic. I'm also keeping an eye on him."

"Another Princess," the old mare smiled, "I am Twilight Sparkle, The Sparkle of Wisdom they called me." She pointed at Twilight, "This here is..."

"... also Twilight Sparkle," Twilight continued from where the old mare left off, 'Princess of Friendship, Bearer of the Element of Magic and Celestia and Luna's successor as ruler of Equestria."

The Doctor's companion's eyes lit up with amazement, "Wait, Ruler? Successor? That's... That's..."

"A lot to take in, I know." Twilight interjected with a knowing look. She then did a double take to her counterpart, "Also, Time Travel?!"

The companion smirked, "And a lot more. Other planets, other worlds. We saw the beginning of Equestria and then end of time itself. We saw the birth of our friends in Ponyville, witnessed the Reign of Celestia after Nightmare Moon, saved the Pachi from monsters, liberated the Empire of Equis from a Tyrant, and so much more."

"That sounds exciting and all," the old mare interrupted, "but how did you end up in this pocket universe? It was suppose to be a simple meeting between myself and Princess Twilight here."

"Ah, yes. Funny story that!" The Doctor explained, "You see, while we were on our way to pick up Derpy we were suddenly attacked by an angry alicorn. So, we had to leave Derpy behind..." A moment of realisation came to the two time travelers, "We left Derpy behind!"

"W-w-w-w-what do we do?" Twilight's time travelling counterpart began to panic, "We left her behind, surrounded by those statues!"

Somewhere in Equestria, a grey pegasus mare with peculiar eyes that stare into different directions is looking directly at a group of angel statues that appear to chase after her.

"Wow, you guys are really good at this staring game."

"Don't worry Twilight. As soon as we know we aren't followed by that crazy alicorn we should be able to rescue Derpy from the angels."

"You do realise that this is a separate universe from our own, right? Maybe we lost her when we crashed here?"

"I'm not so sure about that," Twilight interjected, "Does this alicorn look like us?"

The travelers turned to Twilight and thought for a moment. Then it clicked in, "Now that you mentioned it, she does resemble a mix between me and Nightmare Moon."

Twilight and the old mare's eyes widened with horror. The unicorn took a step forward and placed a hoof on the Doctor, "It isn't safe here, you must leave!"

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked the young alicorn.

"I've met several versions of our selves before and most of them had an encounter with a crazed alicorn version of us who can somehow leap from one universe to another. Both of you have to leave immediately!" Twilight ordered.

"You must leave as well," the old unicorn ordered Twilight.

"B-but why?"

"Haven't you noticed that this being is targeting alicorns specifically? Dusk Shine, The Lady of Progress, you even mentioned about Nyx's mother saying she wasn't ready yet!"

The numbers began to run across Twilight's mind as it began to click with only two words, "Oh Ponyfeathers!"

In that moment, a large cracking noise was heard above them. All stared above in horror as a large crack was seen across the roof of the pocket dimension.

"WARNING! HOSTILE BREACH DETECTED! WARNING! HOSTILE BREACH DETECTED!" The entire world began to shift as a mechanical voice called out the warning. Gone was the serene landscape of the lone tree across the field of emerald grass, taking it's place was a metallic room with cannon like turrets protruding the walls; all pointing at the breach.

"I believe that is our cue to leave!" the Doctor called out as he grabbed his companion and made their way to the blue box. "Sorry we had to leave this way, but I don't think we should stay to find out about our new guest."

"Understandable!" Twilight agreed, still looking at the breach before turning to look at the Doctor and her counterparts, "Will we be able to meet again?"

"Well, that all depends if we live to survive her!" the Doctor pointed at the breach. He then reached into his mane and pulled out an empty paper in a passport-like item, "If you want, here's my TARDIS number!"

Twilight took a moment to look into the paper and quickly wrote the number into a scroll. Another loud noise akin to a battering ram smashing into a mirror was heard from above.

"Princess, there isn't anymore time! Return us back!" the old unicorn ordered.

"Alright! Stay safe everypony! You especially," Twilight turned to the wise unicorn before hugging her.

"I'll be fine, she won't come after me anyway."

Twilight broke the embrace, took one last look at all of them and pressed the seal.

The metallic room was devastated; turrets all around the walls were torn apart, the walls were dented and scorched and above stood a gaping hole leading into nothingness. In the middle of the room stood a purple alicorn with a dark aura surrounding her. She surveyed the area and began to scan for the presence of the alicorn that eluded her; what she found instead took her by surprise. There were two.

"Hmm, interesting."

Dear Princess Twilight: There is nothing to worry about (I hope)

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Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
It has come to our attention of the recent sightings of this mysterious alicorn (alternatively, the wicked version of yourself) that has been running loose everywhere across the dimensions, and we would like to inform you that there is nothing to worry about. Sure, you being an alicorn just increased the risk of you encountering this individual by a margin of 58% but we have full confidence that you will never get the chance of meeting her. I have taken great lengths to ensure that such an event will never happen, such as the number of protective protocols in the pocket universe I've provided for your quest for soul searching.

Speaking of which, the dimension is now reconfigured to hide all trails and traces of inter-dimensional travel; which means another breach such as the day before will not happen again and will be untraceable. Other security measures like the new automatic teleportation boot-out and "Serene Grace" mode will ensure absolutely no harm will happen to you or anyone else that stays within the pocket universe.

On another note, while I do share your sentiments of concern about this alicorn, it would be ill advised of you to go after her. I'm not saying there will be nothing to be done against her, I'm saying leave her to us to deal with. In fact, as you read this letter I have mobilized a special task force to quell with her. If you feel the need to find her, just remember that this alicorn has already bested several versions of yourself including one who has more experience in ruling and fighting than you. However, I suppose that won't stop you from warning other versions of yourself from this imminent threat; so on that front, GO NUTS!

While I would like to give you all the addresses of the ones who haven't met her yet, I could instead give you the address of a unicorn version of yourself who spent quite some time documenting other realities (to make things easier on my part). Her world of origin is World Equis 753 and she should be able to point you to the right direction to search for your other selves and warn them of the danger.

I wish you the best of luck and stay safe,
Jonathan Toolonie, Administrator of Toonworld

PS. Do not, I repeat do not entertain the question as to "who is Anonymous". For your sake and for her sanity.

8: "The Archivist" or "The Mare who asked, "Who is Anon"?"

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"Are you sure you're okay, Twilight? You seemed rattled from your last visit with the wise old version of yourself and now it looks like you hit the lottery after you received that weird letter."

"I'm fine, Spike. In fact, I feel more than fine right now!"

Twilight excitedly rushed to her quarters after Day Court. She just received a letter from her mysterious benefactor with an address to help her fellow alicorn versions of herself that are to be warned of a dangerous version of herself.

"Let's just say, I've found an answer to a very big problem." Twilight gave a determined smile as she begins to dial the address into the seal. She takes a moment to look at Spike who was now fidgeting his claws from a distance. "Aren't you coming?"

"Sorry Twilight," Spike hung his head low apologetically, "I still need to monitor Rainbow Dash while she takes lessons from Princess Luna on how to Dream Walk."

"Wait, it was today?" clearly bothered at forgetting Rainbow's lesson, Twilight began to contemplate whether she should miss out the lesson or to proceed.

Noticing this, Spike stepped forward, "I'll talk to her. This looks really urgent to you and I'm sure Dash will understand."

Twilight gratefully nodded with a smile, "Thanks Spike, tell her I'll make it up for her by taking her with me and Applejack next time."

Spike gave her a reassuring smile before he turned to leave her room.

"Alright, here we are again Twilight. Let's just make our way to the tree and..."

"Pinkie, could you please pass me the coffee?" came a familiar voice.

Right next to the tree Twilight could see a familiar lavender coloured unicorn sitting next to a desk covered with stacks of books, scrolls and notes; lots of notes. Beside the desk stood a pin chart with notes, pictures and strings connecting them together. All led to a single word in the center of the board on a picture of a green figure with a question mark covering the face; "Who is Anon?"

"Pinkie, where is my coffee? I need my... oh." Twilight's counterpart spun her chair around to stare eye-to-eye with her for a long awkward moment.

"Oh, it's you." And the moment was over from the unicorn's deadpan tone as she spins her chair back to the desk, turning her back on Twilight, "While you're here, could you make me some coffee? I need to my caffeine if I am to finish my work."

"Um, I'm not sure if..."

"I know who you are, Princess Twilight Sparkle." said the unicorn without turning to look at her, "Element of Magic, Ruler of Equestria Prime, Etcetera, Etcetera." She spun round to face Twilight with an annoyed frown, "Speaking of which, you're late! I was expecting you two hours ago."

"Wait, what?"

"How much do you know of the Administrator?" her unicorn counterpart asked inquisitively.

"Not much, I'm afraid," came Twilight's reply, "Only that he was keen to help."

The unicorn sighed, "Of course he'd leave out details. Well basically, I work for him. I've been assigned as a monitor for my world; which means nothing goes in or out of my reality without my knowing. As a side job, I've also taken the task to archive every version of Equestria. From worlds where we are the keepers of the Elements of Harmony to realities where we do not even exist."

Twilight's eyes lit from this, "D-does that mean you know the location of..."

"Yes, your majesty," the unicorn deadpanned on Twilight, "I know every location of every creature of interest in every version of Equestria. Where they are, where they've been, and sometimes where they'll be."

Numbers ran across Twilight's head at the notion, "B-but wouldn't that take a lifetime to put together? Even Celestia couldn't keep track of everypony in our Equestria and she's over a thousand years old!"

"Try several lifetimes," came the reply, "The Elements of Harmony kept the six of us immortal for five thousand years. All of us out lived our friends and family from Ponyville, our husbands, our children, their children, and so forth. I buried Spike, saw Celestia and Luna retire, watched Starlight and Flurry Heart take over their respective thrones, witnessed the colonising of the moon and the surrounding planets, all that jazz while we live on to keep this world from tearing itself apart. Any questions?"

Twilight was speechless at this point. On one hand(/hoof), she reminded her of the Infinite while on the other, at least she seemed to care enough about others to take her work seriously (for what it's worth).

She cleared her throat and responded, "I suppose my questions can wait for another time. Right now however, I'd like a list of worlds that have us as alicorns who haven't been warned of "Her" coming to get them."

"Straight to the point? Good, that'll make my job a whole lot easier." The unicorn began scribbling a list in a parchment as she continued talking, "That way, I'll be able to finally continue my little side project."

Twilight stared at her curiously, "What exactly is this side project of yours?"

"To solve the greatest mystery across almost every version of our reality," her counterpart replied without looking up as she continued to fill the list, "To find the answer to one that puzzles me ever since I first met him."

"Him?"

The archivist stopped scribbling as she looks up to her with crazed eyes, "Anon."

"Who's Ano...!" Twilight stopped as she just realised the mistake she just made after just remembering the last line of her letter. Uh oh.

The unicorn dropped the parchment, stood up from her desk and approached the pin chart with manic eyes and grinned. "Anon! Full name: Anonymous. The one creature that reoccurs across several versions of Equestria that shouldn't exist! He is an anomaly that defies all logic, despite the many other variations of our world that somehow has a being from another existence roam Equestria freely! In most versions, he arrived as a human in Equestria. In others, he's a green earth pony who was originally human. Sometimes he has a different name, sometimes he has no memory of his past life. Several times he acts like a total jerk to everypony, other times he's oblivious to everything around him.

"8 out of 10 alternations he is a lustful beast that has the six of us, the two princesses or both in his harem despite lacking any charm whatsoever!" At this point, her manic expression grew even more, "Other times he finds a way to put the six of us to shame and trial by a series of misunderstandings just to give himself a moral high ground or to curry favour with the princesses! Other times, he straight up replaces us as heroes for Equestria, denying the six of us our destines laid out by..." She stopped for a moment, "Oh right, that's classified."

She turned to Twilight while slamming the chart with her hoof and kept her crazed expression (similar to the time Twilight tried to find a friendship problem for her project) which gave the princess a wince. "The point is, Anon is a mystery that needs to be studied! I asked the Administrator for answers ever since I first met the anomaly and every time all he ever told me was not to worry too much about it. I know he's hiding something about him from me! I know he knows what he is! He just won't tell me! Well, FINE BY ME! If he won't tell me what in the lowest depths of Tartarus Anon is, I'LL DO IT MYSELF! I have the time and resources! (Heh) I WILL FIND OUT WHAT HE IS! AND WHEN I DO, I WILL STICK HIM IN A BOTTLE, PIN HIM TO A WALL AND MAKE HIM DISCORD'S PERSONAL PLAYTHING FOR HUMILIATING ME ALL THESE YEARS! MWAHAHAHAAA!" The archivist exploded in a maniacal cackle as she raised her forehooves in the air and laughed.

Utterly horrified at the sight, Twilight slowly reached for the list on the desk, rolled it like a scroll and turned to the archivist, "I'll just be taking the list now. I suppose I'll see you later then."

The unicorn ignored her and continued her crazed laughter and rant as Twilight set the seal to return her home.

"Hey, Twilight! You made it. I thought you weren't coming after Spike told me about your urgent business. Wait, you alright there, Egghead?"

"Rainbow... If I ever go Twilighting over the edge, please for the love of Celestia put me out of my misery."

9: The Last Princess of the Conversion War. (Warning: Spoilers for NegotiationVerse)

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“So, you girls ready?”

“Sure thing, Sugarcube. Though Ah gotta ask; why are you inviting the both of us to this trip? Ah mean, Ah get RD here considering how excited she was to see other versions of you Twi, but why am Ah here?”

“Because Applejack, you and I haven’t actually done some alone time together. Compared to the rest of the girls, you and Rainbow are the least among the six of us that I’ve spent some quality alone-time bonding. I thought this world hopping might be the perfect opportunity to get together with the girls individually and you just happened to be chosen for today’s schedule. I took great care scheduling it today in your day off.”

“That’s… actually mighty thoughtful of you, Twi. Might Ah also ask why RD is here then if this was supposed to be just the two of us?”

“I’m here because Twilight owes me a trip today for missing out my Dream Walking session with Princess Luna.”

“Something that I apologise for. Which is why I’ve decided to make up for it by inviting her to our little excursion. So, are the two of you ready?”

Both mares nodded.

“Excellent! Onward to Equis 113!” Twilight declared as she clicked the seal.

For a moment nothing happened which caught the attention of the three. Twilight looked at the dial with horror as she saw the dreaded word “ERROR” blinking in bright bold letters.

“An Error,” Twilight muttered in fear for the worst, “There’s an error. But that would only mean…”

Before she could continue however the dial recalibrated itself with new words popping on the dial; “REROUTING: WORLD EARTH 113.”

What?

“Woah Nelly Twilight! Y’all weren’t kidding about this place, It’s a mighty fine view!”

“I know right? I even flew all the way up and somehow teleported back where I started!”

As the two mares bicker, the alicorn had already made her way to the tree with a hint of worry in her eyes. What was that error all about? Why did it redirect us to another world? Could it be she was teleported to another world like Sunset Shimmer?

All her thoughts were interrupted when she finally arrived to see a bed next to the tree and a familiar purple coloured alicorn lying on it.

“Applejack… Rainbow Dash?” her counterpart weakly spoke out as she stared at them with disbelief.

“Well, how do you like that?” Applejack smirked with surprise, “She really is here!”

“I told you so!” Rainbow Dash replied, “Pretty freaky seeing her here, right?”

“… I’m dead, aren’t I?”

Everyone paused with a frown at the bedridden mare.

“It seems Feathershy was right all along,” tears streamed from the counterpart’s face as she winces a grim smile, “Hell is real, and this is my punishment! To be tormented by the friends I’ve long lost. I guess God has truly condemned me for what I have done all those years ago.”

“What in Tarnation are you on about, other Twi?” Applejack narrowed her eyes to look at the mare, “Sheesh, is every other version of Twilight this friendly?” She turns to look at her world’s Twilight, “Twi, how many versions of yourself have you met that doesn’t look at us as if we’re a manticore?”

“It hasn’t happened as often,” said Twilight, “With the exception of the knight, the stepmother of nightmare moon, and the cavepony; every version I’ve met so far have been either friendly, passive or indifferent.”

“Wait, did you say cavepony?” the cyan pegasus raised an eyebrow.

“Who and what are you?”

All eyes returned to the mare in question. It was then Twilight noticed something from her counterpart; she looked frail. Her body was a lot skinnier than her (but not to the point of seeing her ribs), her mane appeared discoloured and a little grey, and most notably were her eyes; or rather the expression they held. Fear, Anger and Sorrow wrapped together with eyes that Twilight knows all too well; suffering Regret that almost drowned the princess just by looking at her pained eyes.

Twilight cleared her throat and gave a comforting smile, “I suppose it should be protocol by now. We are from another reality of your world. I am Twilight Sparkle (but of course, you would know that by now), Princess of Friendship and Celestia and Luna’s Successor as ruler of Equestria.”

“Get out.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“GET OUT!” her bedridden counterpart shrieked with a fury that in all Twilight’s years of seeing herself in the mirror have never seen so much hatred. “Why are you here?! Haven’t I suffered enough already?! Must I be constantly reminded of my sins before you’re satisfied?! Are my efforts and imminent death not atonement enough?!”

The three mares’ eyes widened at the proclamation of grief. A thousand questions flowed through each of their minds but before they could ask, the bedridden alicorn continued her vindictive tirade.

“Haven’t I done enough?!” she gasped with tears trickling each side of her face, “Haven’t I paid my sins with everything I have left?! I HAVE GIVEN EVERYTHING TO FIX WHAT WE’VE DONE TO THEM; SHOULDN’T THAT BE ENOUGH?!” Her livid expression died down into sobbing, “Why now he seeks to send me one final monument to our sins?”

None of them had a clue on what was it was she was ranting about. Nor did any of them feel the confidence to approach the grief-stricken alicorn.

None but Applejack that is. She stepped forward to the bed and gave a comforting pat on the shoulder. “Shh. It’s okay Sugarcube,” she cooed, “Ah don’t know what happened in your world, but whatever happened there probably never happened to us.”

“And how would you know that?!” past her tear-soaked eyes, the grieving alicorn glared daggers at Applejack, “Other than the fact that you two are still alive and still friends with the successor to that witch only tells me in your world you probably succeeded in turning us all into monsters!”

“Still alive?” Applejack took a step back, visible shaken.

“THAT WITCH?” Twilight gawked.

“Of course, you’d still worship her like the God-Queen she makes herself out to be,” scoffed Twilight’s counterpart, “Even after all the blood on her hooves, both back on Equis and on Earth you’re still her precious little student who can’t see past what she has done to us all.”

“Okay, Time out! Time out!” Rainbow Dash gestured a T symbol with her forehooves before pointing at the alicorn, “Look, clearly you haven’t been listening to us when we said that we are from another version of Equestria! Whatever happened in your world, didn’t happen to us! So why don’t you just tell us what happened to your world and then we can compare notes!”

Twilight’s counterpart gave a bemused look before replying, “Very well. I shall humour you with my story.” She took a deep breath and continued, “Several years ago, Celestia took it upon herself to bring the entire continent of Equestria into another planet called Earth. When we arrived, we found that the planet was already populated by another sentient species of bipeds called humans.”

“Wasn’t that the same species you told us about in the mirror?” Applejack whispered to Twilight to which the latter nodded.

“A mirror?”

“…We’ll tell you later,” Twilight replied sheepishly, “So you were in a world of humans?”

The other Twilight closed her eyes and sighed as her voice croaked, “We never should have been there. Earth, Humanity, they were on a brink of war against each other when we arrived. We could have mediated peace or even just stood on the sidelines as they were about to destroy each other.”

The three widened their eyes in disbelief when they heard that.

“But no, she wouldn’t accept any of that,” the bed-ridden mare continued with renewed venom in her voice, “To her Humanity was a blight; an affront to harmony and friendship. And so, she thought of a “Brilliant” idea of converting the humans into ponies to have them all follow the mindset of Harmony. All for the betterment of both species and create a New Equestria!”

Her words hung in the air as she paused for a moment to calm herself down.

The alicorn took a deep breath before she continued with melancholy this time, “Not all ponies were on board with this idea: Lyra Heartstrings, Flash Sentry, Moondancer, Carrot Top, Derpy Hooves, Braeburn,” she stopped for a minute before gulping the bile in her throat as regret was made clear in her voice, “Fluttershy. They all denounced the Princess’ plan to “Help” Humanity and called it wrong.

“Soon after we succeeded our first conversion and the humans got wind of it, every nation on Earth declared us as hostile. When war was finally declared, everypony who even had a sliver of sympathy for humanity took the first boat out of Equestria and aid the humans in any way they could. Fluttershy especially. They were right of course. We called them traitors and cowards, but they were right all along.”

Tear began to flow from her eyes as her voice croaked from the memory, “For Fifteen years, they were right about Celestia! They saw what she was while the rest of us blindly followed her, never realising we became the very monsters we swore to defeat. Our blind faith in her killed my brother, my parents, Luna, Cadence, Flurry Heart, Pinkie, Rarity. It destroyed Ponyville, The Crystal Empire, Equestria, our nation, our identity, our friendship! All for a stupid lie!”

Applejack stepped forward, giving the grieving mare a brush on the mane with her hoof and smile sympathetically. “What lie, Sugarcube?”

Twilight’s counterpart sniffled as she wiped some of her tears off, “We didn’t come to Earth as liberators; we came as conquerors. Our world’s sun was dying and only she knew that. So, taking a chance for the survival of Ponykind, she teleported the Kingdom of Equestria and the Crystal Empire to a new planet. And when we arrived, she wanted all humanity to convert to our way of Harmony by any means necessary. By force if needs be. No compromise, no negotiations, just convert or face extermination.”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This was Celestia they were talking about. Celestia; the wisest and most benevolent being she knew. Not cold, not cruel, and never xenophobic.

“That can’t be… The Princess did all that? She is the most caring creature we’ve ever known! She wouldn’t… She couldn’t have done those things!”

Her counterpart scoffed, “Naïve! I too thought the same until the day I negotiated our surrender to the Humans.” She looked to her ghosts whose pupils shrank to pinpricks at the mention of surrender. “Ask yourselves this; how many creatures did you think we left on Equis when we arrived on Earth?”

A moment of silence. It took a while for Twilight to process what her counterpart implied, then it hit her as she gasped, “No. She didn’t. She couldn’t have!

“CELESTIA LEFT THEM TO DIE!?”

All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash who was enraged, “All of them?! The Dragons?! The Griffons?! Zecora?!” Tears welled on her eyes as her voice croaked, “Gilda?”

The bedridden mare hung her head low, “Yes. All of them. They were left behind.”

“Monstrous,” was all that Twilight could say, “That is just monstrous.” She turned to her counterpart who shared her expression of pity, “Your image of her must have shattered when you found out the truth. I can’t even imagine what it is like to find out when the pony whom you look up to all your life would do such a thing. I promise you this, I will never let that happen in my Equestria.”

Her counterpart raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean you won’t let that happen? Didn’t it already happen in your world?”

“Um, hello?” Rainbow jumped in (literally) and waved a hoof to the alicorn’s face, “Equestria to Twilight, weren’t you listening? We are from another version of your world. None of that happened in ours.”

The mare’s eyes widened, “It… It didn’t?”

“Um yeah, our egghead here has even been to the Human World several times through Starswirl’s mirror portal.” The pegasus pointed at Twilight, “Not to mention she was given this sweet gadget to travel to other versions of Equestria.”

Twilight’s counterpart’s jaw dropped. She then reclined back to her bed and gave a weak laugh, “Twenty Years ago I would have bombarded you with endless questions. Now, I can’t help but laugh at the circumstances.” Tears trickled down her face as she continued, “To think my world drew the short straw which led me to this road. A road where I lost everything. And yet here you are, a version of me who had the privilege of keeping everything you love intact. A world where you still have your friends together.”

“Why’s that?” Applejack asked after piecing together the mare’s confession, “Ah know ya mentioned that ya’ll lost Rares and Pinkie, and that Fluttershy joined the humans; but what about us?”

The weary alicorn gulped bitterly as she looked at her two friends’ doppelgangers, “Would you truly like to know?”

There was a hesitation from the three of them. Twilight broke that moment with a question, “What happened to them?”

She winced as tears flowed freely once more, “After we lost the war, the two of you denounced me and joined a terrorist organisation led by Agent Sweetie Drops. Their purpose was to liberate Equestria from the taint of humanity through acts of terror. They killed humans and ponies alike, even tried to assassinate me on a few occasions.”

She turned to them and saw the shock in their faces. They couldn’t believe it. Taking their silence as a cue, she turned away and continued, “In the end, we cornered them to a mountain cave where their last stronghold was.

“We offered them surrender, but they refused like always. And by my order, they…”

She stuttered, “They…”

She swallowed it in, “They…”

The dam broke. She looked back to the two, openly weeping and leaned to her side, begging to receive their hugs; to which they gave.

“Forgive me! I ordered your deaths, please forgive me!”

Her wails were too much for the three of them and they all joined in her sorrow.

“It ain’t your fault, Twi!” Applejack sobbed in her embrace, “It ain’t your fault. There was nothing you could have done!”

“They were not your friends, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash spoke softly as she caressed her mane as she wept, “They died the moment they left you in the dust. No Element of Loyalty would have left her friend to deal with all the problems of the world on her shoulders, and no Element of Honesty would hide from the truth of what happened.”

The alicorn continued her wails of grief as she poured out decades of sorrow. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she continued her mantra of apologies as she wept her heart out.

Twilight stood there crying but had no words to say to her counterpart. She knew nothing she could say to her would bring her comfort, but left Rainbow and Applejack to her, knowing that only they could console her torment.

After a while, the mares calmed from their tears as each shared stories of what happened to their respective worlds.

“So let me get this straight; you started a school of Friendship, became headmare of the school, retired and passed on all responsibilities to your First Pupil, to become Ruler of Equestria?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“If only I could have the luxury to do any of that. After the war, I spent decades trying to fix what was left of our peoples, both humans and ponies within Equestria.”

“I still can’t believe that Flash Sentry guy hit you and had the gall to show up decades later!”

“Well, at least ya still got Spike. Though I feel mighty sorry for the little feller, bein’ the only dragon left. Ah can’t even begin to imagine how that felt for him.”

It was then a familiar beeping noise rang out, indicating that the time was slowly ending.

“I’m afraid we have run out of time, Princess,” Twilight gave her a reassuring smile, “Maybe I’ll visit you again in the future and we can have more chances to share our stories.”

A sad expression came to the mare on the bed as she turned away from the group. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, your highness. I have been diagnosed with an incurable disease, and I don’t have long to live. In fact, I will not live to see tomorrow.”

The three of them gasped and before they could protest, she stopped them, “This is my payment for all the suffering I’ve done. For my involvement with the creation of the “Newfoals”, this is my atonement. I have accepted my fate. Please don’t make me regret my decision to accept my last act of contrition.”

She gave them a sad smile and observed the landscape around them. “This place,” she gazed at the tree her bed sat next to, “You said it had a name?”

“H-his meeting place,” Twilight stammered, holding back tears.

Her counterpart did a double take and gave a pained yet hearty laugh. “If Feathershy could see me now. Maybe this is what I’ll see on the other side,” she mused to herself.

She turned at Twilight, “Do you have a pen and paper? Or do you still use ink, quill and parchments?”

Twilight smiled as she opened her saddlebag and passed her the parchment and quill.

Her counterpart quickly wrote down a letter, rolled and sealed it before returning them to Twilight. “Please pass these on to your Celestia. I think she might find it useful. She might even find a way to answer some questions I never got to ask my Celestia.”

Twilight held the scroll tight with her forehooves, “I promise.” What happened to her was just unfair, but I am glad we came to her in her final moments.

Her counterpart gave a gentle smile as she turned to their friends, “Rainbow, never forget to be awesome, alright? Applejack, stay close to your family, never let them go no matter what.”

“(Sniff) You don’t have to tell me that, Egghead. And you didn’t have to make me all sappy!”

“Will do Twi! In another life, maybe we’ll be friends again.”

Twilight and the alicorn shared a glance and gave each other a reassuring smile. “I promise you, princess! I’ll make sure Equestria never falls!”

Twilight opened her eyes and turned to Spike as the young dragon sat there, holding her hoof as gently as he could. “S-S-Spike?”

“Yes?” he asked, holding her hoof.

“... do you think... they can ever... forgive me?”

He was silent for a bit before a small smile appeared on his lips. He gently picked up her light body and took her to the windows. The stunned look on her face made his smile increase. Below them, spanning all over Canterlot were lit candles. Human. Pony. Both races who held in vigil for one mare.

One mare who did everything she could to make up years of misery and death. One mare who gave so many their humanity back. One mare who had given Equestria a second chance. A row of mourners who were there to light Twilight’s soul beyond whatever lay after death. Be it heaven or nothing, she would die surrounded in a city that loved her.

Tears dripped down from her eyes as she wept into his shoulder. He gently took her back to her bed and helped her lay on it, covering her with the sheets. Wiping the tears from her eyes, Twilight smiled one last time as she slowly closed her eyes to fall into another deep sleep.

“I’m ready...”

These were the last words she ever spoke to Spike.

An hour later, she passed away.

She hadn’t looked so peaceful in years.

Author's Notes:

Special Thanks to Rated Ponystar for his permission and collaboration for this chapter. This Chapter is inspired and taken from Rest. The follow up to for this chapter Reaction is out now.

Apologies for how long it took me to write this chapter. My classes, seeking approval from the Author and the *countless times of tearing up while I wrote this chapter (*This is mainly the reason) has made it difficult to complete it. I thought about abandoning it after many drafts (and tissues) while I wrote it and kept delaying to complete it because I kept the original story close to my heart and I wanted to it to be nothing less than perfect.

In a way, one of the things I relate to Twilight the most among all the mane six would be the perfectionist inside. And this chapter was to me my love letter to how beautiful the story was to me.

As always, let me know what you guys think. And yes, this fic is back in business. Look forward to more chapters incoming.

10: The U-Files

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"Twilight, are you sure you're okay? You, AJ and RD have been on the hard cider last night."

"Thanks for asking, Spike. I'll be fine, nothing a little magic won't fix. Though yes, I do admit; I am a little out of it from yesterday." Why did I suddenly feel like I had Deja Vu?

"For that matter, what did happen yesterday? Who did you meet to make the three of you look as though you just spent a years worth of crying?"

Twilight looked at her faithful companion and gave a gentle smile, "A very broken mare, Spike. But Applejack, Rainbow and I were glad to be there for her." Especially in her final moments.

The two of them were just on their way to Day Court as Twilight recounted the events from yesterday to Spike.

"That's... That's just... I have no words for it." the young dragon muttered, "Celestia, the girls, Fluttershy, and her. I can't even imagine what I would be in that situation. I mean... the last dragon."

"Don't think about it, Spike," Twilight gave him a reassuring nuzzle, "I promise you, I will not let it happen here. Not to you, not to the girls, not to Equestria."

"Pinkie promise?"

"Cross my Heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Spike returned the nuzzle affectionately as they reach the Throne room's doors. That was when they noticed more than the usual amount of Royal Guards were standing outside. One of them noticed the two approaching and trotted towards them, "Ah, your Highness. Lord Spike. We were just about to send a Guard after you."

"What happened?" Twilight sternly asked.

"We had a break-in over in the Throne Room earlier this morning," the Guardsmare replied as she pointed at the damaged doors, "Somepony or something broke open the locks and entered the Throne Chamber. Oddly enough, nothing was taken or vandalised inside."

"If nothing was taken, then perhaps something was added?" Twilight suggested while rubbing her muzzle in thought.

"Or maybe replaced?" added Spike.

"Call Captain Magnus here and have him search the Throne Room," Twilight ordered the guard who in turn gave a salute, "And call off Day Court for today!"

"Twilight, is it just me or does this place look a lot different from when I last saw it?"

"You're not wrong, Spike. It's darker than before, there are more trees than the usual, and this place give me the creeps."

"Maybe the theme changed?"

The scenery had changed: Gone were the clear skies, open meadow, and lone tree by the riverbank. What replaced it was a clearing in a forest as clouds ominously lit by dusk light above a mountain range swirled, and a crack of lightning was seen in the horizon; yet no thunder was heard.

Twilight looked towards the theme settings on the seal as it read; "THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE."

"The theme did change, though I don't know why," Twilight answered Spike with a quiver in her voice, "The default was supposed to be "His meeting place" so where did all this come from?"

"Maybe it has to do with the different version of you?" Spike suggested, also sharing Twilight's nervousness.

She turned to the world she inputted; World Equis 1013. What could possibly be in that world that could change the theme?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a clicking sound as Spike and Twilight notice that they were no longer alone.

"On the ground and put your forehooves above your head!"

A teal and lavender earth pony, dressed in black suits walked into the clearing holding out *small objects that looked like crossbows (*you guessed it, they're pistols).

"On the ground, NOW!" the teal pony barked her order.

Wait, that voice... "Lyra Heartstrings?"

The teal pony's eyes widened as she gasped, "Lauren H. Faust. Sparkle!! You might want to see this!"

The lavender earth pony moved in closer, revealing her to be Twilight's counterpart. The earth pony's expression upon seeing the alicorn became that of utter shock as her pupils shrank into pinpricks. "Heartstrings, what in Tartarus is going on here?"

"Hay if I know, but I bet my bits we've got some Top secret Experiments out on the loose."

Top Secret What? "Wait a minute, please you have it all wrong!"

Spike's protest caught the two earth ponies off guard. "Th... That thing can talk?" Twilight's counterpart chocked the words out in disbelief.

"Please, you need to listen to us. We come in peace!" Twilight lowered herself, following their orders to lay on the ground.

"Shut up, whatever you are! You're probably a human experimental scout for all we know!" Lyra glared at Twilight with a cold stare.

Twilight's counterpart sighed, "Heartstrings, are you seriously thinking humans are behind this?"

"How else can you explain it?" Lyra turned to the lavender earth pony, "Horns? Wings? A talking salamander? There is no way these could be natural! How else can you explain their existence?"

"Um, magic?" Twilight offered sheepishly.

The two looked at Twilight incredulously, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Would you allow me to introduce myself?"

"No, you are an absurd entity that quite frankly should not exist beyond the U-Files!" Lyra shot back at her before turning to the counterpart, "Sparkle, call in Agent Sweetie Drops and Agent Sentry in. We don't want the RID to get their hooves on her first."

"U-Files? RID? What's going on? Haven't you seen an Alicorn before? Or a talking Dragon for that matter?" Spike demanded answerers while pointing a digit of a claw at Lyra.

The teal pony in turn shoved Spike to the ground as she ordered, "For the last time, ON THE GROUND!"

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" The alicorn stepped in between Lyra and Spike as she produced a shield around them.

Lyra fired a shot from her weapon as the projectile bounced off the shield without a dent. "Son of a mule."

"Twilight, I don't think it's safe here. Let's get out of here!"

Without delay, Twilight clicked the emergency button as the entire group were enveloped in a bright flash of light.

Report entry #[REDACTED]
During our field investigation for the elusive [REDACTED] that escaped AREA-15, Agent Lyra Heartstrings and me encountered a mysterious pair in the middle of Everfree woods. What is interesting about them was that one of them bore a striking resemblance to me but had a horn and a pair of wings while the other was a sentient reptile of sorts who claimed to be a "Dragon."

This caught the attention of Special Agent Sunset Shimmer due to the matching description to [REDACTED], that also had both a horn and a pair of wings, reminiscent to the mythological Unicorn and Pegasus respectively; having her to suspect that they may have been one and the same. I honestly wish that we were briefed on the details of [REDACTED]. As for the reptile, it was of peculiar interest to Agent Sweetie Drops, considering her previous work with Division 118.

Regardless, all traces of [REDACTED] went cold after losing them in the woods after [REDACTED] vanished in a brilliant flash of light. Before then, all contact with Agents Flash Sentry and Sweetie Drops were somehow cut off. Apparently, both Agent Heartstrings and I were marked as missing for a full hour during this encounter, which had Agent Heartstrings theorise her usual rhetoric of "Human abduction/experimentation." Personally, I have serious doubts due to a small mention from [REDACTED] about "Magic". While I admit I hold my biases (due to my being part of the Celestial Faith), the small possibility of such concept to exist might be something to mark on.

Regardless, most likely this encounter will be swept under the rug once more by the Royal Investigation Department and fall into obscurity within the "Unknown-Files."

Federal Agent Twilight Sparkle
Signing off.

Dear Princess Twilight: Patch notes

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Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Due to several shifts in the multiverse, you will begin to notice a few changes to the Pocket Universe for your meetings. These changes include:
Automated Theme changes to comply with your visitors. (Multiple visitors however will reset to Default)
Updated Security Measures; in the first sign of lethal trouble everything within the Pocket Universe will be booted out. (Why that didn't trigger last time was probably the universe recognising that the threat is easily countered)
New Feature: World Marker. Worlds you have visited before are now marked and colour coded depending on your experiences/opinions of the world. Green for "definitely coming back here," Yellow for "world of interest," Red for "unwanted/avoid," and White for "unvisited."
Visitor's Token; all visitors to the Pocket Universe will now receive a free token to request a meeting with you. They can just press the button on the device and you will be paged a notification from the attached beeper to this letter, highlighting the world(s) of origin. You can reject any of them if you wish, similarly you can accept several at once. (Just be aware, doing so still counts as a session)

For more information, just reply via dragonfire with the provided parchments attached to this letter.

Have fun and Happy Halloween (or do you call it Nightmare Night?)
Jonathan Toolonie, Administrator of Toonworld

11: Starstein: The Modern Celestia

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"Twilight, can't you just calm down for a moment? You've been pacing like this since yesterday!"

"I can't calm down, Spike! Someone broke in the throne room, which we still have no leads; we didn't get the chance to warn the last two versions of ourselves about my crazy counterpart roaming in the multiverse; and said last one wasn't even an alicorn yet we were given their address by the Archivist to go there; and to top it all off, they attacked us without hearing us out!"

Day court was over and the two were going back and forth within Twilight's chambers. The events from yesterday clearly vexed the alicorn as she was no step closer into knowing what her potentially evil counterpart might be doing, let alone have a means to travel without a third party help.

A knock on the door interrupted the ranting, "Um, Twilight... may I come in? Unless you don't want to be disturbed."

Twilight's expression shifted immediately sheepish, "Oh Fluttershy, please don't mind that earlier. Come in."

The yellow mare slowly entered looking somewhat nervous, "Sorry to disturb you Twilight, but I heard from Rainbow Dash that you were troubled from yesterday. So I thought maybe I'd come and see you."

Twilight gave her friend a smile, "Thank you Fluttershy.. I really appreciate it. I'm feeling better now, if not a little frustrated." Then an idea came to the alicorn, "Fluttershy, how would you like to join us for today's excursion?"

"Are sure you don't want to join us Spike?"

"Yes Twilight, I'll be fine. Besides, I have plans with Rarity later today anyway. You two just take care, okay?"

"We will Spike," the Princess of Friendship assured her faithful assistant before turning to the pegasus, "Are you ready, Fluttershy?"

"Oh yeah, sure. I'm ready," Fluttershy wiped all uncertainty from her face and gave Twilight a reassuring smile.

Twilight set the dials on the seal. Let's see, next on the list is World Equis 183. She input the numbers and activated the seal. The familiar flash of light enveloped the two as they vanished from the room they once were in. As their eyes adjusted from the sudden flash they began to notice the environment around them. It looked as though it were some sort of workshop or laboratory. Medical instruments were scattered across the tables in the room, diagrams of pony anatomy were pinned on charts to the walls. What was most ominous however was a single bed stretcher on a lift leading up to the roof with a figure underneath the sheets.

"Twilight, where are we?" Fluttershy's eyes dilated as her voice quivered with fear, "I thought there would be meadows and a tree. Why are we in a room that looks like a horror house for Nightmare Night?"

"Fluttershy, calm down," Twilight tried to assure her whilst also telling herself that, "I think it has to do with the new settings that was mentioned in my letter form my mysterious benefactor. Maybe our guest is..."

"IMBACILES! All of them! They just don't see..."

A loud slam as the doors flung open reveal a purple unicorn stallion entering the room. He was clothed with a black tailcoat over a puffed shirt and white tie. His indignation was diffused at the sight of the two mares before him. As he observed them, his expression went from furious, to suspicious, to wide eyed surprise.

"An Alicorn? No, not just an alicorn. An alicorn that resemble one such as I, and another I've seen before. And you," he turned to Fluttershy, almost like that of a predator causing her to squeal softly in fright, "you resemble that nursemaid that tends to my little brother. Fascinating."

"Could you please back off for a minute? You're scaring her," Twilight held out a forehoof, gesturing him to keep his distance, "and to some extent, me as well."

Snapping out of his curiosity, he composed himself and readied his introduction, "Oh, of course. Where are my manners? I am Victor Starstein. I would say, "Welcome to my lab," but we both know it isn't truly so, is it?"

"Quite right, actually," Twilight replied with her encyclopedic explanation, "This room is actually a pocket universe provided to me for my means of seeing other versions of myself across alternate realities."

"And let me guess, you are me from another reality?" he continued where Twilight left off, "I would have been more surprised, if you were the first I've met."

"You've met another Twilight before?" Fluttershy meekly asked.

"Is that your name?" Victor asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why yes, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle; Princess of Friendship, Celestia and Luna's Successor as ruler of Equestria," Twilight gave her usual greetings.

There was a brief pause before Victor let out a maniacal laugh, "So, the powers that be saw fit to send forth a Goddess to bear witness to my achievement? I feel honoured."

Twilight shuddered at the implication, "I am no Goddess, Mr Starstein. And what exactly are you hoping to achieve?"

Starstein approached the stretcher by the lift with a grin, "Why m'lady, a leap to Ponykind's evolution, of course."

Without another word, he lifted the sheet exposing the figure within: A lifeless corpse of a pony, sown and stitched together with different parts of other creatures.

The mares gasped at the sight of the cadaver; Fluttershy especially was weeping at the sight of a familiar face, "D-D-Discord?"

Twilight was furious as she flared out her wings and ignited her horn, "What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself, Starstein!"

A rumble of thunder was heard from the distance.

"It's simple, your majesty; this creature is a product of my hoofwork," the stallion ignored Twilight's intimidation as he continued, "Taken and stitched together from the finest limbs and organs of the deceased. To be reanimated by the spark of life from the sky."

The mares couldn't believe their ears. "Necromancy!" Twilight shrieked, "You would dare to cast Necromancy?"

"Nay, your majesty," Starstein rebutted in protest as he pulled the sheets back over his subject, "Necromancy is a fool's practice to use magic to bring life to the dead. I am a Physician, I plan to cure the disease called Death by the powers of nature itself! With what I will achieve, no longer shall Ponykind fear death! The alicorn assured me so by providing me the means to ignite the spark of life."

"This is wrong!" Fluttershy cried out in tears, "This is a wrong to everything natural! Life and Death must not be tampered with! THIS IS MADNESS!!"

"Madness?" Fluttershy stood behind Starstein and saw his ears twitched, "Madness?" Her ears fell flat when she heard the venom from his voice as he whispered that word.

Without another word, he flipped over a tray of medical instruments behind him as he turned to glare at the yellow pegasus with fury in his eyes.

🎶"Madness! Folly! INSANITY!"

He approached closer to her, as he jabbed a hoof to her forehead.

"Little minds have belittle my dream!"

He turned away from her and stared at Twilight only to return to his subject.

"But I- Could I- Might it be?
THE GREATEST TRIUMPH PONIES' EVER SEEN!!"

He opened a wardrobe and donned a lab coat and tinted goggles as he continued his song.

"Within the flesh of a force resides.
If it could only be controlled!
If sleeping sparks could somehow be revived?
Think of the awe-inspiring power we would hold!

I want the world to see,
where brave research and experiments have led.
Electricity's the Key!"

He approached a desk and lifted a picture of a mare with his magic. The two mares noticed the image resembled Twilight Velvet, Twilight's mother. Sympathy tugged their hearts as he continued his lamentation.

"To reanimate the dead
I could spare the world, the anguish
of love ones taken in their prime."

He placed the the frame down as he smiled manically at the mares as they winced from his change of tone.

"The Glory of a brave new world
WILL SOMEDAY SOON BE MINE!!

Immortal soul
Our inner being
Does it endure or does it perish with the flesh?
In my hooves, I'll hold the answer!!
And the power OF LIFE AND DEATH!!"

A bolt of lightning struck as it thunders close by, startling Twilight and Fluttershy.

"Mecca of Science, Give me the means!!
To walk where none have trod!!
I'll discover the secret between,
The Alchemists and God!!"

Twilight grabbed Starstein by the shoulders and looked at him in the eye pleadingly, "Please, you must not go through with this! What you seek to create, the consequences! You will unleash an unnatural horror that even you will not be able to stop! Please, I beg of you, stop while you still can! If you go through with this, you will live with a regret you cannot escape from with the rest of your life!"

"There is no stopping this, your majesty!" he shrugged himself off from her grip, "Once I succeed in breathing life into this new creation, I shall one day be able to restore life to those claimed by Death!" He looks into a clock on the wall, "12:40 AM. The storm is nearing its zenith. THE MOMENT HAS COME!"

Starstein ignited his horn and as activated the electrical coils and devices within the lab.

"Celestia dared to steal the sun from the gods
to lift all kind from sorrow!
And just as that myth, my mission is this:
To write a new tomorrow!

My endless days of study and toil are finally near fruition!
The world will be forever changed by history's physician!"

With a flash from his horn, he elevated the lift to the roof as he swung at one of the chains with his declaration. Twilight and Fluttershy flew up to follow him to onto the roof.

"Life Everlasting Reanimation!
A flawless new design!
The finest Creature in all creation!"

As he reached the roof, he grabbed cables connected to the lightning conductors and plugged them to his subject.

"BODY, BONE AND MIND!!"

A crack of lightning stretched across the sky to be followed by a roaring thunder, causing the two mares to wince and fold their ears. All the while, Starstein stood there; almost triumphant in his work.

"The storm will peak and the heavens part
To fire my preparation.
The needed shock...!"

A bolt of lightning struck a coil, causing the subject's body to twitch for a moment.

"...To start his heart!
Giving birth to my creation!"

Just then, a blast of lightning engulfed the roof, blinding everyone and throwing them off the roof. Fluttershy screamed as she fell whilst Twilight grabbed her and teleported back inside the lab. Starstein somehow did the same except he fell on to the floor slightly shaken from the blast. His eyes widen after a moment of composing himself and ignited his horn to bring his creation down from the roof. When the stretcher reached the floor, he took his stethoscope to listen for a heartbeat. And then he heard it; a faint beat, and then he saw a paw slowly rise from a side from the stretcher. Seeing this, Starstein's expression went from maniacal to euphoric.

"Darkness is done!
A new day has come!
The dawn of a new revelation!
Here in this place! Here in this time!

The birth of pony's salvaaaaaation!!!!"

And with his declaration he cackled a manic laughter as he scream two words:

"IT'S ALIVE!"

The two could only watch in horror at what they have just witnessed. Tear rolled down Fluttershy's cheeks as Twilight shielded her gaze from the sight with a wing. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. There is nothing we can do anymore. He will not listen to reason."

Without another word, Twilight took out the seal and clicked to return them home.

12: The Silent Knight

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"Manehattan: If Canterlot is the Diamond of Equestria, this city is the Pearl. Easily the most populated city of Equestria, numbering by the tens of thousands. But despite the grandeur, the wealth, the endless chain of fashion shops, hidden in this city's underbelly is a cesspool of Corruption.

"The mob bribes or blackmails the influential; muggers and petty thugs prey on the defenceless; all the while, crazies and lunatics burn their way across the streets. With the Royal Guards constantly tied by the bureaucracy and most often too understaffed to deal with its problems, somepony needs to make a stand. (Sluuurp) Gotta say, this is good coffee!"

"...…"

"Sorry Twi, I couldn't help myself monologuing."

"...…"

"Right, busy night tonight. Who're we dealing with this time?"

"...…"

"The Dracone mob again? I take it has to do with the Crystal smuggling with the Diamond Dogs."

"...…"

"Right, no use sitting on our haunches. Let's get to wor... What is that?"

"!!!"

"Manehattan!! The Glamour! The Charm! The Fashion! Say, why is it so dark and brooding?"

"This isn't Manehattan, Rarity. It's just the world theme."

"I'll say. It looks like something out of the Power Ponies."

It has been days since Twilight's last visit to the pocket universe and Rarity thought it were prudent to have her take her mind off of the many day-to-day issues she's been having. They found themselves in a theme that had them atop of a roof in one of the many buildings of a metropolis under a night sky.

"You still didn't tell us about what you and Fluttershy saw when you two decided to have a tour here," Rarity inquired.

"Did Fluttershy tell you?" Twilight's dower expression made Rarity wince.

"... She didn't say anything, darling," Rarity sighed, "But we could tell whatever it was that the two of you saw shook both of you to the core."

"Yeah, even Discord," added Spike, "He looked pretty broken whenever Fluttershy gave him the sad eyes every time she looks at him."

"Well regardless, I would hope the two of you will tell us what happened sooner than later. Bottled up emotions isn't healthy, darling. Remember Starlight Glimmer?"

Twilight nodded in acknowledgment with a sigh, "Fair point."

"Um, Twilight, Rarity," Spike hesitantly called out, "I think our company has arrived and they don't look friendly."

Before either of the two mares could react to that statement, a caped pair glided before the three of them and landed on a statue by the edge. They revealed to be an alicorn mare clad in a familiar purple attire complete with a cape and a wide brim hat and a winged dragon (taller and leaner than Spike) clad in a blue coat with a red cape and fedora. Despite the masks the wore, their scowls could be seen as they glared at the trio who could only stare at them with amazement and fear.

"M-M-Mare-do-Well?" Twilight stammered at the caped alicorn before turning to the dragon, clearly puzzled, "And Spike?"

Without a word, the two caped crusaders launched themselves to the group in an incredible speed. Before Twilight's group could even blink, they were held down by the two: The dragon held down Spike while Mare-do-Well dropped down on Twilight while enveloping Rarity with a paralyzing magic.

"If you would be so kind, won't you please tell us who you are? Or would you prefer to be interrogated by her?" The caped dragon's voice was calm, stern and deeper than Spike's (almost like melted butter); which made Rarity almost swoon by the sound of his voice.

"Spike, please wait!" Twilight pleaded.

"It's The Spike to you," the tall drake snapped, "and unless you want to feel the worst mana burn in your life, we suggest that you start explaining why you three look awfully similar to certain figureheads."

"Twilight, Spikey-Wikey please," Rarity begged with pleading puppy-dog eyes, "We are from another reality, and those two are you from our world! Please don't hurt us!"

The two caped crusaders stopped to share a look to each other after Rarity's pleading eyes before they both gave out a sigh. Mare-do-Well released Twilight and Rarity while the tall drake got off of Spike and helped him up.

"Alright, if what you say is true, then we presume you are the ones responsible for bringing us to this Pseudo-Cityscape of a dimension?" The Spike inquired.

"Pretty much," Spike patted the dirt off of himself as he raised a claw, "The name's Spike, but you already know that. This is Princess Twilight Sparkle, ruler of our Equestria, and this lovely lady is of course Rarity."

Mare-do-Well stepped forward to shake the young drake's claw before removing her mask and hat, revealing a scowling and slightly bruised Twilight Sparkle. The tall drake did this same and revealed (much to Rarity's awe) an older, mature and incredibly handsome Spike.

"Oh my..." Rarity gawked with a blush.

"I guess secret identities are out of the question here," the drake spoke out, "I am Prince Small Scale, adopted son of Dragon Lord Torch and ambassador to Equestria." He pointed to Mare-do-Well, "This is Countess Twilight Sparkle. Doge of Manehattan, bearer of the element of justice," and he gave a small blush, "and my fiance."

"WHHHAAAAATT!!"

All three were stunned in agasp. FIANCE? Spike's pupils dilated to pinpricks as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Rarity's face was beet red from blushing at the implications and suggestive imagery of said implications. Twilight was reduced to a bumbling mess as she muttered ramblings, "Fiance? What? Me and Spike are what? No, that's not possible. It isn't possible. I hatched him as an egg. I practically raised him. He's like a brother to me, if not I'm like a mother to him. No this isn't possible..."

"H-how is that possible?" Rarity finally spoke with a deep red blush, "Spikey-wikey was hatched by Twilight as a student of Princess Celestia. How did she become...?"

"Wait, she hatched me in your world?" Small Scale bemused, "Well, this must be awkward."

"You mean, Twilight didn't hatch me in your world?" asked Spike, finally snapping from his stupor.

"No, she wasn't even Princess Celestia's student," Small Scale snapped.

Twilight, finally snapping out of her shock from this revelation spoke out, "Wait, I'm not? But then how is she an alicorn?"

"What do you mean?" Small Scale looked at Twilight while sharing a puzzled expression from her counterpart, "All nobles and royals are alicorns. Is that not the case for you?"

"Alicorns are rare, we are not born, we are created (in a matter of speaking)," Twilight began her encyclopedic explanation, "They are created by ascending when a pony achieves a great and magical feat such as raising the sun."

The two caped crusaders gawked, "Wait, they can do what in your world? Actually, you know what, never mind." Small Scale continued, "Anyway, we met a few years ago when my father Lord Torch agreed with Celestia to open relations with each other. Then they had the brilliant idea to seal it with a diplomatic marriage. Since Twilight and I have known each other for years, studying in the same school of Friendship after all, they agreed to have the two of us tie the knot."

Twilight's counterpart gave him an affectionate nuzzle when he finished, causing him to blush slightly.

"Oh how romantic!" Rarity squeed. Spike could only blanched at the thought of him and Twilight being a couple.

"So, why are the two of you dressed like comic book heroes?" Twilight gave a sheepish smile at Mare-do-Well.

Mare-do-Well didn't say a word and just simply gave a small nod to Small Scale.

Sweet Celestia, does she not smile, much less talk? "I don't mean to be rude, but can you not talk?" Twilight asked.

Her counterpart merely shook her head.

"Yeah, there is an explanation for that," the drake replied with a weary sigh.

Spike gasped, "You mean, did your Twilight's parent's die in an alleyway in front of her by some mad mugger which caused her to lose her ability to speak and swore a life of vengeance to rid crime in Equestria as a masked vigilantly?"

The masked mare snorted, holding out her laughter. Small Scale deadpanned, "Are you crazy? No way did that happen! If it did, she would have been in a psych-ward by now. Where the hay did you get that idea?"

Spike blushed with embarrassment, "Um, a comic book called "The Batmare"."

Small Scale cleared his throat, "Anyway, the reason why she can't speak is because of the magical enchantments on her suit. For whatever reason, in exchange for protection the suit prevents her from talking. We asked our Rarity why that was the case but all she said was that the artificers who helped her built it had no clear idea what's causing the side effects. In the end, we just went with it after finding out that the criminal elements find her silence more intimidating."

"So you are super heroes," declared Spike, "How did that happen?"

"Well, it all started twelve years ago. A small pink alicorn from nowhere by the name Cozy Glow made her debut in Equestria's high society. Next thing we knew; backroom deals, smuggling of illegal items and products, piracy, black market profiteering, hired thugs and mercenaries, blackmails and bribery, even a changeling slavery trade. She managed to worm her way through to the Canterlot Elites and spread her influence all across Equestria through crime and espionage. They called her "The Big Mare" because she was practically untouchable due to her connections. Even the Royal family couldn't touch her without being threatened forced abdication."

"My word, that's horrible!" Rarity gasped with her usual dramatics.

Small Scale continued, "So in response to crime and corruption, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna went behind their mother's back and formed a team of crime fighters called "The Harmony League." Our members include; The Wonderbolt (Rainbow Dash), Wyld Fey (Fluttershy), Silver Mare (Rarity) and Sweetie-Bot, The Buckaneer (Applejack), The Boulder Sisters (Pie Sisters), The Great and Powerful Trixie (because she will settle for nothing less), Captain Chaos (It's Discord), Changeling Mare-Hunter (Chrysalis), and then there's us; Mare-do-Well and The Spike.

"For twelve years we've been slowly breaking The Big Mare's grip on Equestria by taking out her lieutenants and associates. We've arrested Triek more times than we can count, The Flimflam Brothers, Garble Dracone and his mob family, so many members of the Diamond Dog Gang, and even The Tempest. Lately though, we've been encountering crazier faces; like the Shadow League, Doctor Hydra, The Maneiac, Sedusa (Twilight has a grudge on her for the many times she tried to abduct her brother), The Siren Sisters, The Equaliser, and worst of all; the Candymare."

Mare-do-Well stomped a hoof and gestured to the older drake at the three.

"Right, I believe this is the part where you tell us why you brought us here?"

"Well, it's quite a story." Twilight proceeded to explain the details of her dimensional visits as well as mentioning the World leaping alicorn counterpart that's been threatening other worlds.

"That's... That's actually alarming." Small Scale and Mare-do-Well shared a troubled look, "We've actually heard of some new mare in town making a name for herself who happens to be an alicorn. No details yet, but the Criminal Underworld have become more organised than usual as of late. This can't be a coincidence."

A familiar beeping rang.

"Oh ponyfeathers, we've run out of time," Twilight sighed, "We could discuss more at a later date. For now though, we have to go."

Mare-do-Well reached out a forehoof to Twilight and tugged at her shoulder with a questioning look.

"She's wondering how we'll get to contact you should we find anything interesting." Small Scale conveyed his fiance's thoughts.

"Oh right, when you get back to your world you'll receive a token of some sort that should allow you to request a meeting in the future." Twilight explained.

"Well, that's useful."

Both sides made their farewells as a blinding light envelopes them, returning all home.

"Finally, a world that wasn't awful to us!"

"Speaking of, we still need to talk about what happened before."

"(Sigh) Right Rarity."

Twilight was making her way out of the room they were in before noticing Rarity glancing at Spike. "Rarity, what's wrong?"

Rarity hesitated with a small blush, "Well darling, hypothetically speaking, do you think dear Spikey-Wikey could become as dashing as that drake we've just met?"

"Alright Twilight, are you ready?"

"...…"

"Alright, let's do this!"

(CRASH!!)

"Alright, Garble Dracone! Make it easy on yourselves, drop the goods and surrender!"

"Heh, Mare-do-Well and The Spike. We thought you'd be here. You two can't resist a good tip. Looks like she was right on the money after all!"

"She?"

"Well, well, well. So you are the famous Silent Knight, or should I say this world's Twilight Sparkle?"

Oh no.

TO BE CONTINUED...

13: The Changeling Queen (Warning: Spoilers for Change series)

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"Spike, are you ready?"

"All set, Twilight! So where are we off to this time?"

Twilight levitated the list given to her by her Archivist counterpart, "Next should be World Equis 117. Hopefully this world's Twilight is a pony we can trust not to attack us on sight."

Setting the address to the dials of the seal, Spike and Twilight were once again warped into the pocket dimension. Upon arrival, she was glad to see the default scenery of the dimension.

His meeting place. I'm glad to see this again, she thought as she stepped at by the riverbank and levitated a bubble of water to drink from. Rarity wasn't kidding about the water; I've never tasted anything this pure.

"Wow, we're back here again!" Spike exclaimed with a smile, "I kind of miss seeing this place."

Twilight took a deep breath of the air and exhaled slowly in deep satisfaction. "No kidding. Just being here puts one at ease."

"I'm glad you feel that way, but would the both of you mind explaining a few things to me?"

Spike and Twilight turned to see the new visitor. The expression she wore had a scowl that spoke suspicion and wariness of the two of them. She looked like Twilight, but there were notable differences: She was tall, taller than even Celestia and slenderer as well. What should have been a coat was instead a shiny purple chitin. Her mane was silk-like rather than fur, her wings were insect-like instead of that of a pegasus, her horn spiralled to a curve instead of straight like that of a unicorn and a crown-like antennae sat on her head. Most notable was a giant scar on her chest and a familiar purple starburst Cutie Mark on her flanks.

"A... A... A CHANGELING?"

"A very good observation, you deserve a gold star," the changeling's snide dripped with sarcasm as she circled around the two. Her eyes however surveyed the tranquil surroundings, "Strange place, beautiful in fact! Yet not a trace of magic within it. What is it, a mirror world? Pocket dimension?"

"Wh-who are you?" Twilight's voice trembled. She sensed this changeling had a lot of power and experience compared to her.

"Who am I?" the changeling narrowed her eyes at Twilight, "You brought me here and yet you don't even know who I am?" Her expression then relaxed as curiosity gleamed in her eyes, "Speaking of which, how did you bring me here? Convocation Spell? Summoning circle? I doubt it was done here considering the lack of any trace of magic other than your reserves."

"It was in my world actually," Twilight's encyclopaedic mode kicked in, "and no, you weren't summoned here by magic. Well, at least no magic that I'm familiar with. I'm still wondering how this is still possible without a magical conduit to stabilize our connection between both our worlds to this pocket universe, but I was instructed not to think too much on the ramifications on how this is all possible by my benefactor's letter who provided us this space which leads me to believe he must come from a rather advanced civilization among the cosmos to be able to create this meeting place."

The changeling's jaw dropped, "Wait, do you mean to tell me that this is a pocket universe created by an outside force beyond our two worlds?"

"Mmhhmm!" Twilight nodded with a satisfied smile.

One can see the numbers running through the changeling's head before she shook herself off from the thought, "Gah! Mother was right; I really should stop thinking too much about these new curiosities! I can't afford to lose my mind right now. Even with the implied possibilities. Especially with the implied possibilities."

"Wow, you're taking this whole "another world" thing quite well compared to some others we've met," Spike said, rather impressed with the changeling's mental fortitude.

"Well, to be fair you're not the first version of myself that I've met, or even the second," the changeling smiled at the memory, "I've met a human version of myself through a mirror world and another alicorn who happened to be dating Princess Rainbow Dash."

Twilight's jaw dropped "Wait, WHAT?"

"Yeah, I know right? Who would've thought?" After reminiscing about the past however, the changeling's earlier scowl returned to the two with a serious look, "But enough about other worlds I've been involved with, who are you and why did you bring me here?"

"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that," Twilight gave a sheepish smile as she held out a hoof, "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship and ruler of Equestria."

"And I'm her Royal Advisor," Spike boasted with a smirk.

"Ruler of Equestria?" the changeling raised an eyebrow, "I must admit, I am impressed. From one monarch to another." She shook Twilight's hoof and gave a small bow, "I am Twilight Sparkle; Queen of the Equestrian Changelings, Bearer of the Element of Magic, Daughter and successor to Queen Chrysalis."

"Ch-CHRYSALIS!?" Spike and Twilight exclaimed with shock.

"... Let me guess; she's evil in your world?" The Changeling queen deadpanned.

"Of course, she is! She tried to pluck my wings off!" Spike snarled.

The Queen sighed, "Now I'm beginning to wonder if my world is the only one where my mother isn't evil."

"Not necessarily," answered Twilight, "The last world we've encountered had Chrysalis as a superhero. Changeling Mare-Hunter, I think it was?"

"......... Huh, now there's a surprise. I wonder how she'd react if she heard that," the Queen pondered with a soft smile, "I know Spike would be amused to hear that. He got along so well with Mother."

"You must really love her," Twilight smiled knowingly, "Was Chrysalis in your world that great a parent?"

Queen Twilight gave a fond smirk, "By great if you mean leaving me on the doorstep of a pony family as a foal... er nymph, then attacking my adopted brother's wedding to collect enough love for my maturation cycle and abducting me back to her hive to live out the remainder of her days to raise me as her daughter and heir; then yes, I suppose that she was a great parent."

Twilight gawked at the laundry list of questionable decisions made by her changeling counterpart's mother, "She. Did. WHAT? And you say she's not evil?"

"SHE ISN'T EVIL!" the Changeling Queen snapped with a snarl, causing Twilight and Spike to wince. Noticing their reaction, Queen Twilight took a deep breath and perform a practiced breathing exercise, reminiscent to the one Cadence taught Twilight.

Huh, so there are some things we have in common, Twilight thought to herself.

After finally composing herself, the Changeling Queen gave Twilight a stern look that almost resembled Princess Celestia when she scolded her for that Smarty Pants incident and continued to speak in a calm voice, "I will admit, maybe it wasn't prudent of me to start with sarcasm, especially with the current circumstances. Judging from your reaction, you're probably not one to pick up on verbal fencing (not experienced at least) and it was ill-mannered of me to be a bit hostile considering your genuine curiosity. Just... Just understand that life has been difficult for me these past few years, and I would really appreciate that you don't address my mother that way."

A ghost of a smile crept on her face as a single tear streaked down from the side of her face, "Mother always kept me in her best of interests. She would sacrifice everything she had just so I would live one more day. She left me as a nymph to be raised by ponies so that I wouldn’t starve to death. She would risk hostilities with Equestria during my brother’s wedding just to collect enough love for my maturation cycle. She hunted down the assassins who did this to me,” she pointed at the scar on her chest, causing Twilight to gasp quietly.

"She… She gave her life fighting a monster to save what was left of our hive,” Queen Twilight continued hesitantly, clearly pained from the memory of that day, “If nothing else, there is no creature that I know of that is further away from being evil than my mother."

Twilight's ears drooped as she hung her head low in prostration, "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult your memory of her."

"No, it's fine," Queen Twilight spoke calmly as she blinked away the tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have unloaded on you like that. I know you didn't mean what you said."

A moment of silence hung between the them before it was broken by Spike.

"(Ahem!) I think it would be prudent of us to explain why we brought you here."

"Yeah, sorry about that earlier," Twilight raised her head and gave an apologetic smile to her changeling counterpart, "After visiting several versions of us across the multiverse, I should have figured out by now that not all our lives are that simple."

"Wait, so does that mean you've seen more versions of us out there?" Queen Twilight asked with curiosity, "How much more?"

Twilight held a forehoof on her chin to think, "Hmm, other than Starswirl's mirror portal to the human world; I've met a superhero version of us called Mare-do-Well, a mad scientist who succeeded in animating the dead named Starstein, a wise old mare called the Sparkle of Wisdom, a stallion version of myself (literally, might I add), an adoptive mother of a young alicorn that looks exactly like Nightmare Moon, an Earth Pony working for an agency of sorts that tried to detain us, a Knight in a Friendship Crusade against Sombra, a companion to a time travelling alien in a blue box, an anthropomorphic abomination of sorts (looks like a pony on two legs) that collects pieces of history and artefacts calling herself The Infinite, an Empress who travelled into another universe that gather's the most brilliant minds across reality called Prosperity (a world of which I'm still looking for), an Archivist that kept a record of every alternate reality of Equestria, a dying mare full of regret for blindly following a mad tyrant that resulted in the extinction every other creature on Equis while attempting another against humanity after teleporting Equestria to their world... Am I missing somepony else?"

"Oh yeah, there was also the cavepony," Spike pointed out.

"Oh right, her," Twilight deadpanned.

Th-That... That is a lot more than I thought. Also, what were those last three? Queen Twilight tried to process what she had just heard. So many worlds. Rather so many versions of herself that this mare met. Some of which she noted seemed unfavourable or disheartening if her empathic nature didn't fail to detect certain emotions from each ego that were listed.

Yet all this begged the question; "Why are you going around summoning other versions of ourselves?" she narrowed her eyes as she asked inquisitively.

Twilight hesitated before nervously replying (completely embarrassed as the changeling managed to sense), "Well, to be honest, it started out with my coronation..."

"So let me get this straight; after brooding in your bed chambers for three days due to your humiliating coronation, you received a letter from an unknown entity called the Administrator informing you that your mopefest is causing a ripple across dimensions for some reason?"

"Eeyup."

"And his solution was to send you on a little ego trip across alternate universes to meet other versions of us to reassure your continued existence?"

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yeah close enough."

"But then you decided to shift your focus to warning other versions of us after finding out that there is a crazy alicorn of ourselves out there in the multiverse hunting down other alicorn versions of us?"

"Pretty much."

".................. I... I cannot tell you how much wrong there is to all of this," the changeling queen rubbed her forehead with a hoof, "Hell, I don't even know where to begin to tell you how wrong this all is!"

She paused to perform her breathing exercise again before she continued with a sigh, "Have you considered that you may have been played for a fool in all of this?"

"Wh-What do you mean?" asked Twilight.

"Think about it; an outsider out of nowhere gives a lame excuse saying the fate of reality rests on your mental state and gives you the means to travel across multiple realities only to have you conveniently dragged into a mess involving another world hopping interloper. I don’t know about you, but I think you’ve been dragged into something big to clean up someone else’s mess.”

“B-but one of his letters states that I should leave it to him to deal with it and instead just let me continue my journey,” Twilight protested, “That is before giving me a list of worlds of other alicorns to warn them since I wanted to help.”

“And since that time, how many alicorns have you met?” Queen Twilight pointed out with a scowl. She noticed Twilight’s expression after she processed this information, “I believe your letter was a red herring to find other versions of yourselves. If you ask me, I’d say that your mysterious benefactor might be responsible for the interloper and that your travels only serve as a beacon to lure them into that world.”

“Th-that’s… That’s…”

“That’s insane!” Spike finished for her, “Why would they go through all that trouble just to go after alicorn versions of her across the multiverse? If that is the case, why didn’t they start with her?”

“Well Spike, perhaps your world is the easiest to find, trace or access?” the changeling suggested.

Twilight’s eyes dilated at the implications. All those worlds, could they be? But that would mean… She looked with horror at her changeling counterpart as a sense of guilt crept in. I’ve put her in danger! Stupid Twilight, you’ve put everyone you came across in danger!

“Now hold it right there,” Queen Twilight held out a hoof, stopping her thoughts, “I don’t need to feel your emotions to know that you are practically hitting yourself for your screw up. Yes, you may be at fault for being naïve, but you are not truly to blame for all this. You were merely fooled.” Like I was before, she muttered under her breath.

“But it still doesn’t excuse what I did! I endangered all those ponies!”

“That’s not necessarily the case, Princess.”

The three of them turned to stare at a familiar purple unicorn mare wearing a pair of glasses as she approached the group.

“Who the Hell are you?” Queen Twilight snarled, igniting her horn with a readied spell.

“Not your enemy, for sure your Highness,” the unicorn adjusted her glasses with a glint of light reflecting it. She stared at the group and gave a short bow, “Queen Twilight, Princess Twilight.” She paused to give a fond smile, “Spike. Nice to meet you all. For you're case Princess, good to see you again.”

“Wait a minute, you’re the Archivist!” Twilight exclaimed, “What are you doing here? How did you get in here?”

“Urgent business your majesty,” she spoke with her usual deadpanned tone, “The Administrator sent me to warn you that we have a situation.”

Author's Notes:

Special Thanks to tom117z for the tips, suggestions and permission for this chapter. (And apologies that I can't wait any longer for a second review of the draft. I hope this is good enough.)

G'day all!
Here it is finally! The promised Halloween special in January. So sorry this took so long, other commitments, the holidays, the Christmas special, the new story and approval for this chapter took quite some time. I still promised one more Halloween special so that's still coming after thee next one, so stay tuned for that.

As always, let me know your thoughts and opinions for this chapter. How can I make this better? Is it good enough? (And Tom, if you're reading this,) Did I do Twilight from The Changes Series justice? Let me know and I'll see you all next time.

14: "The Archivist Part 2" or "The Immortal Six"

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"The Administrator? Wh-what kind of situation?"

"We can't talk here Princess. We should talk in my world. Should be fine without minor difficulties (for now)."

Queen Twilight looked as though she were about to protest before the Archivist continued, "That means you too, bug queen."

The changeling gave the look of being caught off guard, "..... First off; Rude! Second off; Are you serious? I thought you were going to deny me coming with you."

Twilight the Archivist straightened out her glasses and let out a tired sigh, "Well as it turns out your Highness; I've already seen the alternative outcome if I were to tell you to go back home. You'll just go off to tell me how you are already involved in this matter, how you are concerned about Princess Rainbow's Twilight (being an alicorn and all) and that you demand to see the Administrator. Might as well let you tag along and experience the consequences later to hammer in home how some knowledge must be better off left unknown."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Both royal Twilights and Spike asked, worry evident in their tones.

"It will take too long to explain and we don't have much time in this pocket universe to go through it," the Archivist reasoned, pulling out a strange gizmo, "The Administrator's Boss' son and twelve of his friends booked this dimension for a party later, and while his son doesn't mind waiting, it would be rude to take up his time."

Before anyone else could retort, she pressed a button on her gizmo and a familiar flash of light enveloped them.

"Ladies, Spike, welcome to Ponyville."

"This... This is Ponyville?"

The Changeling Queen, the Princess and the Dragon stared with awestruck wonder at the sight. What should have been a bustling town was now a Metropolitan City with airships floating above them. Yet the city appeared liken to a giant forest; trees that towered high above were seen to have windows and doors within, indicating that they either built their city within the forest or that the forest consumed Ponyville. Canopies and large vines connected buildings together like bridges high above, Large creatures such as Hydras and Uras Majors were seen casually roaming with building material for engineers repairing damaged trees or renovating for new apartment buildings.

The city residents were of all walks of life; ponies, deer, dragons, griffins, changelings, yaks, hippogryphs, centaurs, minotaurs, kitsunes, satyrs, diamond dogs, and most shocking of all, humans. Or at the very least, humanoids.

"What happened here?" Twilight continued to gawk at the wonderous sight, "How did...? When did...?"

"How did all this happen?" the Archivist replied without turning to look at the bewildered trio, "It happened around five thousand years ago, when the Everfree Forest decided to swallow all of Ponyville and the surrounding areas. At first, we didn't know what to do but evacuate from the onslaught. However, it just kept growing. Expanding as far as the Frozen wastes to the coasts of Manehattan, enveloping the entire continent with forest. So as a solution, taking a page from the Golden Oak's Library (quite literally I might add) along with some tips from the Deer folk and the Fey Ponies, if we can't clear the forest, we'll build within it." She paused, letting the information sink it before adding with a smirk, "It is also fireproof."

"It's... It's beautiful," Queen Twilight's eyes gleamed in awe, "I've never seen a more beautiful sight than this."

"Enjoy it while you can ladies. I plan to keep our discussion short as soon as we head for Golden Oak Hall," the Archivist replied as she picked Spike up with her magic.

"Wait, what are you doing?" the young drake protested as he struggled against her levitation spell.

"Just let me have this moment," came her deadpan reply as she placed Spike on her back, "It's not everyday I get to have my adopted son to ride on my back again."

"Wait, SON?"

"More on that later, I think we've indulged enough fanservice for the world building," she said as she casually conjured a ruby with her magic and levitated it to Spike, "Come, we'll make for Golden Oak Hall. It would have been easier to go through the mirror portal, but I figured you'll enjoy the scenic route."

"Okay, now you are just showing off!"

"Queen Twilight?"

"Yes Princess Twilight?"

"Is that supposed to be the Golden Oak's Library?"

"This towering tree structure almost as large as Canterlot High from the human world? Yes, I should think so."

"........"

"Are you crying right now?"

"(Sniff) I... I've not seen this library for years. I'm just... It's just... It makes me all fuzzy inside to see the tree still exist in this world, now larger than before."

"... I see. I kind of know what you mean actually."

"Oy! Are you two going to bubbler out there all day? Get in! You're wasting daylight!"

"Welcome back Twilight!!"

"Hello girls. Pinkie, can you prepare coffee for our guests?"

"Sure thing, Twilight!"

"Fluttershy, Applejack, can you cancel all of today's appointments?"

"Again? Seriously Sugarcube, that's the fifth time this week!"

"Do you want me to include the planned meeting with Screwball and Mothball?"

"Oh right, it was today. Tell them I'll need a raincheck on their anniversary party plan meeting."

"Y'know Discord will be disappointed you cancelled his an' Flutter's daughter's anniversary plan with Chrysalis' son."

"Well you can tell them that we have important inter-dimensional business to attend to! Unless of course they'd like to take my job instead?"

"I"ll let them know Twilight. Just know that Dizzy and Screwy won't be happy about it."

"Hi Twilight! Hi Twilight! Hi Spike! Here're your coffees!" the pink mare handed over cups of freshly brewed beverages for the three visitors while they just stood there, jaws dropped, trying to process everything.

"Um... are you three alright?" Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone.

"Let them be Fluttershy," the Archivist waved off a hoof, "Give them time to process while the audience gets a laugh out of their predicament."

"The Usual Audience or our Audience?" Pinkie casually asked.

"The Usual," the unicorn deadpanned, "We don't have our own audience."

Pinkie shrugged, "Meh, a pity. We would have made for an interesting story."

As the pink mare hopped away, Twilight the Archivist took a sip from her coffee and began to count down, "And 3... 2... 1..."

On cue, (Princess) Twilight stomped a hoof catching everyone's attention, "Will somepony explain to me what the hay is happening here?!!"

"Explain what? Fluttershy's family or the casual breaking of the fourth wall?" the unicorn casually answered.

"Mother has a son and he's married to Fluttershy and Discord's daughter?!" Queen Twilight exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at Fluttershy who was seen blushing in the corner, "DO I EVEN WANT TO KNOW HOW THAT HAPPENED?"

Twilight ignored her changeling counterpart's reaction and interrogated the Archivist, "Never mind that! Did you just speak like Pinkie Pie there a second ago? And what do you mean by Fourth Wall?"

The Archivist gave the two of them a smug grin, "Right, you two never did crack *Pinkie Pie's Power, did you?" (*Try saying that eight times without stuttering.)

That now caught the attention of the Changeling, "Y-You mean... The same one that nearly drove me insane trying to figure out?"

"More like drove every version of us crazy trying to figure out," the unicorn took another sip of her coffee before she continued, "I am the only Twilight across the multiverse that managed to uncover how it all works. Drove me insane for a few months when I managed to tap into it, but thanks to a few pointers from Discord it made me ascend to a higher plain of existence. That's how I became this world's monitor actually."

"Ascend?! But... You're not even an alicorn!" Twilight at this point became hysterical, "How did you crack it?! What was it like?! Was that why you and the girls became immortal?! PLEASE, TELL ME!!!!!"

A door slamming open was heard upstairs as a set of hooves marched downward, "Will you stop that racket! Some of us are trying to get their beauty sleep here!!"

Spike perked up, "Rarity?"

What came down the stairs was not whom they were expecting. Standing by the flight of stairs was a rainbow-maned pegasus in a bathrobe, facial cream and curlers. "Seriously, would it kill you guys to keep it down? I have a photo shoot tonight for Rarity's new line up and I'd rather get as much sleep as possible."

"Rainbow, it's almost the middle of the day," Twilight the Archivist arched an eyebrow, "You overslept again last night, didn't you?"

"Well yeah. You would too if you were asked to be part of the Audio drama for the Daring Do series' Five thousandth anniversary! The Director kept us up all night trying to..." She stopped after she noticed the three new yet familiar faces, "Who're these Peeps? More parallel world travellers?"

"This is Queen Twilight from Equis 117 and Princess Twilight and her Spike from Equis Prime," the unicorn pointed out as she adjusted her glasses, "I'm having an emergency meeting with them to discuss their current situation."

"Oh great," Rainbow groaned, "That's like what, the fifth time this week?" Before any could retort, she zipped towards the group in question, leaving a puddle of facial cream where she was previously. She gave them an inquisitive look before giving a familiar smirk, "If Twilight trusts you, so will I." She extended a hoof, "Rainbow Dash; Element of Loyalty, Super Model and Voice-Actress."

"Super Model, really?" Twilight eyed the rainbow maned pegasus incredulously.

"I agree with Twilight," added Spike, "You've always wanted to be a Wonderbolt in our world. How're you so different in here?"

"Same in my world actually," add Queen Twilight, "No offense, but I can hardly see you as Model materieaaaaa..........."

All three were silenced with one flick of Rainbow's mane as her curlers were tossed out, revealing a long, gorgeous, silky-smooth mane that flowed down her head. She gave another flick of her mane further emphasising the beauty that rivalled even Rarity, slowing down time around the awed observers. As her mane settled, Rainbow gave them a sultry smirk that screamed "I am still awesome"; giving the two royal Twilights and Spike deep blushes and a skipped heartbeat.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Rainbow teased with a grin, "I may have retired as a Wonderbolt after my first husband died, but that doesn't mean I can't knock you out in more ways than one. And no matter what I do, I am and will always be awesome. After all, they don't call me The Colour Goddess for nothing."

And with that, she finished off with a wink as she made her way to the window; causing Spike to faint with a nosebleed, Twilight gobsmacked as though her soul left her body, and Queen Twilight closing her eyes while repeating a mantra, "I'm a married mare!" to herself.

"Rainbow, I would appreciate it that you don't break our guests," the Archivist calmly reprimanded, making her way towards the fainted drake, "It's bad enough that they are being influenced by everything they see and hear here."

"Chillax Twilight," replied Rainbow as she opened the window and pulled out a bucket of cabbages, "It's not like the Rules of Compensation will affect them here. This is a Terminal World after all." She then turned out the window and called out, "Tank! Breakfast!" before tossing a cabbage out the window. A loud crunching noise was heard outside, giving Rainbow a gentle smile, "Keep that smile on your face, big guy."

Shaking Spike awake, Twilight the Archivist addressed the trio, "Don't think too hard about Rainbow's shift of jobs. She's felt a loss of purpose since the death of Soarin thousands of years ago. It took retirement from the Wonderbolts, twenty years and a lot of convincing from her grandfoals and Rarity to move on. At least she took immortality better than Applejack."

"W-What happened to Applejack?" asked Twilight.

"Doing better now, but when her whole family passed away she couldn't help but feel guilt. She never even remarried after the death of Blueblood."

"She married Blueblood?!" Queen Twilight gasped, "She's married to that dunce? That poor excuse of a stallion?"

"Oy! 'Ah heard that!" Applejack walked in, nibbling on a piece of pear of all things, "'Ah ain't havin' none of that smack talk on mah hubby, y'all got that?! Sure he wasn't exactly the brightest apple in the tree but he was mah sweet bluey. Made me the happiest mare, this side of Equestria. Gave me mah sweet Golden Gala..." she stopped almost choking out on a pear, only to be seen sobbing after she cleared out her throat. "Mah baby... Mah Bluey... Granny Smith... Big Macintosh... Ma and Pa... Apple Bloom... Why'd y'all leave me?..."

Without missing a beat (or expression), Twilight the Archivist gave her grieving friend a hug, "There there. Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I forgot how sensitive an issue it still is for you."

"(Sniff) Stupid Twilight."

"I know, I'm stupid for reminding you."

"Idiot!"

"I know, let it out."

"Insensitive jerk!"

"(Sigh) I can't fault you there."

"Horse Zombie!"

"Okay, maybe you're going too far there."

"Anon obsessed, dolt!"

"Hey! You promised me never to say that name!!"

Noticing the guilty looks from the three of them, Pinkie approached them with a gentle, comforting smile, "Don't feel too bad. It's not the first this happened and it won't be the last. All six of us just have different means of coping with immortality. Twilight shuts herself off of most emotions and buries herself with her job and hobby. Dashy always wants to try out new things (although she keeps coming back to modelling at the request of Rarity). Applejack, while she still mourns for Bluey and Gala, she spoils rotten her grandfoals and their grandfoals and so on. I just do the best that could keeping everyone happy, planning out parties for every new face that comes along (speaking of which, I know you don't have much time to stay but I'd really like to throw you three a party). Rarity constantly opens up charity organisations for orphanages and prosthetic limbs (if you ask me, I think it's mostly because of Sweetie Bell's condition). The only one who hasn't really changed from all this is surprisingly Fluttershy, mostly due to being married to Discord and raising two immortal ponies."

Queen Twilight finished her coffee and turned towards Pinkie, trying to read her expression. "You know, now that I think about it, you seem less hyper than my world's Pinkie. I would have thought you of all ponies would never change, no matter which world."

Pinkie's smile turned melancholic, "Time and immortality does things to you in ways you could not possibly imagine, Queeny. And from my experience, not every world shares that sentiment. I am lucky enough to avoid the fate of breaking my nature of being a fun-loving, Party-planning mare. Just ask Princess Twilight," she pointed at the alicorn, "She would tell you that a few of the worlds she's been in, I was nothing short of a monster."

Twilight's ears perked up at that, "Wait, what? I have?"

"Oh, don't you know already? Like the world of..." Pinkie suddenly stopped herself from saying anymore as her eyes widened in horror, "Oh wait, you haven't seen those worlds yet." The party mare slapped her cheeks with her forehooves and shook herself off before returning with a wry smile, "I said too much, please ignore that rambling earlier."

"Um, Twilight? Where's Rarity?"

Twilight the Archivist stared at Spike with her usual blank expression. She stared at the young drake for a while, trying to read his expression. Finally, she adjusted her glasses and answered, "I believe she's in her workshop again, so she couldn't come here today. I think Sweetie Bell damaged her leg again."

"Wait, Sweetie Bell's alive?"

"By alive, if you mean still functioning then yes, she is still alive." she bluntly answered, "Why do you ask?"

Spike hesitated before he finally managed to ask with a blush on his face, "I just wanted to know, did we...? Is Rarity and I...? Have we...?"

The Archivist sighed as she took off her glasses, lowered herself to his level and looked at the young drake in the eye. "No Spike. You and Rarity are not a couple in this world," she replied bluntly, however there was a tone of concern in her voice.

Spike lowered his head as his expression morphed into a disheartened expression, causing the immortal to wince. "Spike, listen to me," she raised his chin up with a hoof and formed a gentle smile, "You and your Rarity are not mine or of this world. I have seen countless worlds where the two of you became the greatest of couples. But you must also understand that sometimes things don't go according to how we planned them to be. In fact, my Spike grew out his infatuation of Rarity and instead found happiness with the most wonderful creature he's ever met. And together, they grew in love, married, and raised eight lovely children and twelve grandchildren til the end of his days."

"Wait, did you say EIGHT?!"

The Archivist's smile turned mischievous as she leaned in closer to whisper into Spike's ears, "Now that I think about it, your wife often told me how..."

"GRANNY TWILY!!! I've got you your letter!!"

Everyone was startled as the door slammed open revealing a teenage drake, grinning from ear to ear. She flew right next to Spike and the immortal unicorn as she pulled out a letter. "It was delivered straight from Toonworld, Granny! They said it was urgent."

"Gleaming Gem, I thought I told you to knock!" Twilight the Archivist crossed her forehooves and glared at her disapprovingly.

"Sorry Granny, I guess I was just too excited to see you," Gleaming Gem smiled nervously, rubbing the feathers on her head with a claw, "Dad was wondering if the family reunion is taking place with the anniversary."

"Of course it is. Why do you think I arranged the two events on the one day?"

"I'll let him know then as soon as I finish these deliveries." Gleaming Gem gave a salute before making her way out the door.

"Wait a minute," the unicorn stopped her, "Are you forgetting something?"

"Hmm...? Oh right, Hi granddad from another world!" she waved at Spike who was too shocked to respond.

"Aaaaand?" Twilight asked expectantly.

"Hmmm... Oh right!!" the young drake swooped in to give the unicorn a nuzzling hug, "Love you, Granny!"

The Archivist returned the gesture, "Love you too." And with that, Gleaming Gem rushed out the window, leaving a trail of feathers behind.

"Twilight."

"Yes Spike?"

"Did I just see feathers all over her instead of scales?"

"Yes, you did. Got it from her Grandmother in her father's side of the family. Your wife to be exact."

"Who did I marry in this world?"

"Oh, it was a griffin who worked for the Ponyville Postal service. Cute as a button, loves to hug everyone, and has the most infectious smile on her face. Why?"

One could see the numbers running through Spike's head as he processed this information. It finally dawned on him who it might have been as the image of a certain grey griffin who happens to also be an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader came to mind. "You have got to be kidding me!!" he screamed with a blush.

"So great archivist, when are we going to discuss why you called us here?"

The unicorn took a sip from her coffee as she read the received letter. Her eyes looked up to see the Changeling Queen standing directly in front of her. Her eyes turned to her right to see Twilight staring at her with the same anticipating expression. "Ladies, Spike, I believe it's time... Girls, open the Study room. We'll be needing the mirror portal."

Author's Notes:

G'day all!
Yes, I know. More cliff hangers. But I thought to myself if I was going to bring the two Twilights and a Spike to the world of what some of you called "The Immortal Six", I might as well throw some shade on the most fanservicey world building I could put together. So yeah, their lives are a blend of some of my favoured fics out there on YouTube and in this site.

Shout out to tom117z for permitting me to borrow Queen Twilight a little longer (I hope you don't mind if I extend the loan) and Comickook for Proofreading this (most of) chapter for me.

As always let me know what you guys think. How do you think I could have made this chapter better? Do you like where this is going? All suggestions and criticisms will motivate me to keep this up and continually improve on my writing.

15: The Multiverse (and all it entails) Part 1

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"Your Majesties, Spike. Welcome to the Study room."

To Twilight and Spike, the study room was reminiscent of the Castle of Friendship's own study room, albeit made of wood rather than Crystal. Shelves of books of specific subjects on Magic, Physics, Biology and other sciences were lined and labelled on the walls; a model Solar system was hung on the ceiling, couches and pillows were placed next to the walls or in the middle of the room; a wooden desk the appeared to be part of the wooden floor (and by extension the room); and most notable of all was a familiar mirror hooked with wires, coils, and other gizmos; some of which Twilight have never seen before.

"Are these....? Are they arranged in...?" stammered Twilight as she gazed at the rows and columns of books.

"Yes Princess, they have been arranged in the most efficient system; by subject and genre, alphabetical order by author, publishing date and catalogue number." the Archivist curtly replied with a hint of pride in her words.

"Impressive,” Queen Twilight noted, “Do you still rearrange them?"

The Archivist shook her head. "No, your Highness. I find it more beneficial if the others familiarise themselves with the system to prevent another mix up,” she replied as shuddered to a memory, “I didn't want another nephew almost dying to poisonous mushrooms because I rearranged the system by reverse alphabetical order on a whim."

Twilight shared a look of concern with Spike. "Remind me to rearrange the filing system appropriately when we get back home," she muttered to her companion, "I just remembered I reorganised the library by reverse publishing date."

"Noted," Spike nodded in agreement.

"Is that... Is that the mirror portal?" Twilight asked, pointing at the mirror in question.

"Eeyup," the unicorn replied, "with added improvements from Starcatcher technology."

"Starcatcher?"

"Oh that's right, you don't know about them yet." the Archivist trotted her way to her desk and took a seat. "I think it's about time I explain why I brought you here."

"Yes, I believe that would be most appropriate," the changeling queen replied, taking a seat on one of the coaches.

"Indeed young one, we are all curious as to why we are here." An old melodic voice croaked behind one of the shelves.

Twilight's ears perked up. Could it be? Is that? She made for the aisle where the source of the voice came from and saw a familiar old purple unicorn mare with a starburst Cutie Mark. "Old mare Twilight!" she smiled with glee as she embraced the old mare, "It's good to see you!"

"Wonderful to see you again, young one," the old mare returned the embrace.

The two broke from the embrace as they walked to join the rest of the group. "What are you doing here?" asked Twilight, "How did you get here?"

The old unicorn shrugged, "Oh, we were simply called here."

"We?"

"Hello Princess." All turned to see a purple alicorn stallion with the same starburst Cutie Mark they all shared appeared from one of the bookshelves. "It has been a while. I haven't seen you in a year," he said as he laid out a hoof to shake.

"Prince Dusk Shine! It has been a while." Twilight shook his hoof before doing a double take, "Wait, a year? It hasn't even been a month since I've met you!"

"Ah, different world, different progression of time," Dusk tried to explain, "Also, it's King now. They dismantled the Diarchy when Princes Solaris and Lunarius retired, making me the De facto Monarch, hence King."

"Yeah, and it's been boring since he took the job!" A small, green and purple dragoness landed on Dusk's back, casually crunching on a gem. "He did too good of a job as King that we no longer see villains attacking Equestria anymore! And it's been boring!" she ranted, taking another bite on her half-eaten gem.

"Hello to you too, Barb," Twilight smiled at Spike's female counterpart, "Also, shouldn't you be glad that through Dusk's leadership, Equestria is a safer place?"

"Are you kidding me?" she gave Twilight an incredulous look, "It's been miserable as sin now that we don't have bad guys to kick their flanks at! If Blitz was here, he'd tell you just how dull it's been! The only source of entertainment I get these days is when I go clubbing with Eris and Red, and even then it gets tiresome!"

At that, Dusk shot her a look of disapproval.

"What?" she groaned in protest, "It was that or I hang out with the Mega Sign Militia and the only excitement I could get from them is the kind that ends with cleaning up the messes they make!"

"I'm going to have to have a word with Eris and Red Delicious when we get back," Dusk muttered under his breath.

"Ahem!"

Everyone turned to the forgotten Changeling Queen standing almost annoyed at being left out. "I am very certain that it is considered rude to leave out your invited guest from introductions to other visiting acquaintances."

"Oh, of course," Twilight gave a sheepish laugh of embarrassment before clearing her throat, "Ahem. King Dusk, Ms Sparkle, this is Queen Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Changelings."

"Charmed," the old mare gave a small bow to the changeling before giving a rather inquisitive look, "I beg your pardon, but you wouldn't happen to be Chrysalis' daughter, would you?"

"How did you know?" Queen Twilight asked, genuinely surprised.

"Your crown antenna," the wise old unicorn pointed out, "Each changeling royal dynasty has a different set of antenna, distinguishing which line of the family they've come from."

"That... That can't be right," the queen frowned, "My great aunt, Queen Crudelis and my grandmother Queen Avia had three points on their crown whilst my mother and I (as you can see) have four points on our crown."

"Hmm. Did either side of the family separate from the mother hive by any chance?"

"Yes, my grandmother Queen Avia. Why?"

"Then there is your answer. By separating, your grandmother most likely severed her ties with her mother's hive, causing a biological shift for a new Royal Changeling Dynasty," the old mare then gave a shrug. "Then again I could be wrong," she corrected herself after noticing the changeling queen's sceptical look at the theory, "I had my sources from another world where Chrysalis made her peace with her three other sisters." She gave a knowing smile, "One of them just happens to be a queen who disguised herself as Princess Celestia and effectively took her place for a thousand years."

"Say what now?" Queen Twilight raised an eyebrow whilst Princess Twilight gawked, "P-Princess Celestia, a changeling Queen?!"

"Oh, you've been to World Equis 55," Twilight the Archivist noted, "I better make a note of that."

"Wow, this is rather fascinating," Dusk gazed at the Queen curiously, "A changeling version of us, a queen no less. Makes me wonder if there's a changeling king version of us out there."

"I very much doubt that, considering most Changeling Kings in the multiverse are none other than Thorax," the Archivist explained.

Queen Twilight snorted, burst into a fit of laughter and then quickly composed herself asking, "Are you serious? That meek little changeling? Granted he's not the worst pick for a ruler, but seriously?"

"You better believe it," replied the Archivist, "Almost every version of him turned every changeling under him into the biggest adorable snuggle-bugs in Equestria."

"Somehow I am not surprised," the Queen deadpanned.

"Are we just going to ignore that there is a world where Princess Celestia is a changeling queen in disguise?!" Twilight all but screamed in disbelief.

"Alright, enough dilly-dallying! Now, on to why I brought you here."

All of them sat around the Archivist who stood in front of the portal.

“Before we begin I’d like to ask, how much do any of you know about the Multiverse?”

“Not as much as I’d like to be honest,” replied the Sparkle of Wisdom, “I had a vague recollection of what it is through Starswirl’s notes but even they are only theories of their existence, not how they function.”

“Not exactly theories now, are they?” the Changeling Queen smirked, “Us being here is proof of concept that they exist and it is possible to reach them. Although, I have to agree with the old mare; we know they are a possibility but we are not quite sure how they function.”

“Meringue le Fey had a comprehensive guide of the Multiverse,” King Dusk raised a hoof, “It was how I managed to travel into the world of Prosperity. Although, still much of it hasn’t been decoded.”

“Meringue le Fey?” Twilight arched an eyebrow.

“Yes, she was the mother of modern magic, your Starswirl’s counterpart I believe.”

“She also wasn’t a pony but a starcatcher,” added the Archivist.

Dusk blinked, “I’m sorry, she a what?”

“Long story, I’ll explain later.”

“Well to be honest, I don’t know what to add that hasn’t already been brought up,” said Twilight, “Starswirl from my world had the knowledge to create the mirror portal along with being able to banish threats into limbo and other worlds.”

“Something that really ticks me off,” muttered the Archivist.

“What was that?”

The Archivist shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. So bottom line, none of you have a clear understanding of the multiverse,” she said with a long drawn out sigh. Oh boy, this is going to be a lot of work. “By now all of you have encountered or perhaps heard of a version of us attacking her way across other universes of Equestria.”

They all nodded.

“This alicorn has been targeting other alicorn versions of us; attacking them for Lord knows why,” she continued, “She has already defeated The Empress of Progress from World Equis 40 and just recently made off with Mare-do-Well from World Equis 234.”

“WHAT?! When?!” Twilight shrieked as her expression grew pale, “Did she…? Is she…?”

The Archivist gave a long drawn sigh, “She’s alive, in a manner of speaking. And so is the Empress of Progress.”

“Sh-She’s alive too?!”

“Wait, hold on. The Empress was attacked?” Dusk’s jaw hung open, trying to process the information, “When did this happen?!”

“Not long after Princess Twilight’s visit to her,” replied the Archivist before turning to Twilight, “Yes, she’s alive. Albeit in a precarious situation. I know The Infinite told you otherwise and she isn’t exactly wrong about that; she was just being cruel when she told you. Which is why I didn’t invite her here. That Bewitching Bell absorbed their magical essence from their source which reduced them into a death-like state.

“Slightly similar to Tirek’s magic absorption except with a little more punch, the Bell doesn’t just absorb magic, it absorbs souls. Right now, The Empress, Mare-do-Well and five other versions of us are on life support and they won’t recover til we get that bell.”

Taking another tired sigh, the Archivist adjusted her glasses and looked to the Twilights (and Dusk), “Before any of you start volunteering to retrieve said bell, you all deserve to know why you are here. Every one of you has experience with other alternative universes and have come into contact with Princess Twilight here. Why is that little detail important? Well…”

“She’s important, because she is the Twilight of the Alpha Universe.”

A human figure entered from the Mirror Portal and stood behind the Archivist. He wore wide aviator sunglasses, a red shirt, brown trousers, and a brown Fedora over his head. He had a pale complexion, chestnut brown hair and a wide obnoxiously confident grin that somehow made Discord more tolerable. All stared at him with curiosity, bemusement, and for the Archivist’s case; unamused irritation.

“Dammit Joe, you were waiting for an entrance, weren’t you?” the immortal unicorn glared at the man who swaggered his way in, “You were supposed to be here earlier to explain the whole situation!”

“Yes, but it sounds better if you were the one to explain it. If it came from me, no one would take me seriously,” the man spoke with a playful tune as he knelt down to rub the Archivist’s cheeks with both hands, further irritating the unicorn as she glared daggers at him.

“I bucking hate you,” she snarled, slapping his hands off with a hoof.

“Ow!” he shook his hands from the pain for a moment before noticing his audience. “Oh where are my manners?” He tipped his hat with a bow as he introduced himself, “Ladies and Gents, I am Jonathan Toolonie; Administrator of Toonworld, but you can call me Joe.”

“You?” Twilight raised an eyebrow inquisitively, “You’re the Administrator? The one who sent me those letters?” She made a once over look around him before concluding, “You are not what I expected. I would have thought that the almighty master of the multiverse would have a bit more regal feel about him.”

“Okay first off, don’t let the red shirt fool you,” the Administrator smirked as he straightened his shirt with pride, “I could be regal if I wanted to, I just thought you’d prefer something more casual. Second, I am not the almighty master of the multiverse. I’m just a glorified head ticket inspector. I work for one though. Long story. And thirdly,” he knelt down in front of Twilight and started scratching her mane behind her ears with a wide childlike grin, “pleasure to finally meet you face to face, Princess Twilight!”

“What are you- oh. Ooooooooh… that feels nice.” Twilight’s startled expression morphed into blissful contentment as she curled her head around his hand like a cat with a relaxed sigh, followed by a soft purr.

Everyone stared with wide-eyed disbelief at the sight of this humanoid scratching Twilight like a common house pet.

“What are you doing to her?!” the Changeling yelled, clearly flustered at the sight.

“Why it’s the good old Ear-scratch. Always the best way to make a good impression on you, ponies. Works on changelings too if Thorax is anything to go by. Then again, he did say he preferred bellyrubs,” he smiled gleefully, releasing Twilight from his hold; to which she gasped in wide-eyed horror and quickly scrambled two steps back.

“Th-that… That was dangerous,” Twilight panted a gasp, “I never knew that hands could be so terrifying.”

“Do you want another ear scratch?”

“Oh, yes please.”

“Hey, cut that out!” The immortal Unicorn promptly slapped the man’s wrists, “We need to focus!”

Shaking his hand again from his pained wrist, Joe conceded, “Fine, fine. Sheesh, you’d think they’d appreciate easing them up before the heavy stuff gets told.”

“Is it just me, or doesn’t he act a bit like Eris?” Dusk whispered to the rest of them.

“Do you mean, Discord?” the old unicorn replied, “Yes, he does. In a manner of speaking.”

“Well then,” clasping his hands together, the Administrator turned to the Twilights, “Tell me, what do you know of the Multiverse?”

“I already asked that,” the Archivist deadpanned.

“Oh, right. Let me rephrase that then.” Pulling out a chair (from nowhere), he stared at them with stern seriousness as he sat. “Tell me, are any of you… Real?”

“Excuse me?” Twilight retorted incredulously, “What does that supposed to mean? Is this your idea of a joke?”

“Little Miss Sparkle, I do not joke.”

A heavy silence fell. All noise stopped from the outside and within the room. A pin drop could be heard from the silence that followed from his statement. Gone was his jovial tone and warmth of character and in place was a presence unfamiliar to any of them. An alien and ancient presence.

“I do not make jokes, your highness,” Jonathan continued, his tone calm yet clear with authority that pales even that of the Royal Alicorns, “I humour others, yes, but I don’t make jokes. As I told you before in my letter, I am not Discord. I asked the question to give you all perspective of what the Multiverse is. What I am about to tell you will shatter your view on everything. The knowledge I shall disclose will make you question your own existence and could very well end how you see your friends, family, people; your entire world. Knowledge is a great and terrible power, and this knowledge must be handled with great responsibility.

“What I am about to tell you has the power to end worlds, if it hasn’t already done so before, so if you are unprepared to take such knowledge you can sit this one out. The Portal is right behind me and we won’t judge you for it. However, if you want to be involved in finding the other Twilights who were victims of this particular mare, you first need to understand the multiverse. In which case, if you want to help then be prepared to have your tiny minds blown.”

A moment of silence hung as each Twilight and a Dusk pondered at the offer. Such knowledge could advance each respective world’s understanding of their reality, which in turn could advance magic. But if the warnings are to be believed.

“Wisdom dictates that certain knowledge is dangerous, hence forbidden,” the Sparkle of Wisdom declared as she adjusted her spectacles, breaking the silence. “However, considering we now know that there is a version of us leaping across dimensions and causing untold perils, I cannot turn a blind eye. Evil thrives when good does nothing, and I fear if we do nothing about this it will eventually come to us, one way or another.” She looked towards the Administrator and gave a polite bow, “You have my support, sir. I’ll even request my world’s Celestia to pitch in.”

“Let’s hope it won’t come to that,” Jonathan nodded in approval.

“I’m in too,” King Dusk Shine added, “I’ve already been attacked by her before, so whether I like it or not I’m already in deep. I might as well go all the way before it gets too complicated.”

“Oh yeah, finally some action!” declared Barb, raising a fist in excitement.

“I… I don’t know if I should,” Queen Twilight lowered her head in contemplation, weighing her options, “I am changeling so I highly doubt I would be a target, therefore I shouldn’t be any more involved than I already am.” She turned to the Archivist who gave her a knowing look that said “I told you so” and sighed, “On the other hoof, I know of a certain Pegasus Princess who would be distraught if her alicorn filly friend would be at risk.”

“You make a valid point,” said Jonathan, holding a hand to his chin in thought, “Getting you involved might shift a lot of things. Heck, letting you know too much might actually affect your world that shouldn’t be…” he paused as the proverbial lightbulb clicked, “Oh, actually I might have an incentive to get your support. With the knowledge I could provide, you should be able to reconfigure your Mirror Portal to connect with their world, or any other world of your choosing for that matter.”

The Changeling Queen’s ears perked up, “You would do that?”

“That all depends on you.” Joe shrugged. He turned to see Princess Twilight who was still contemplating the decisions brought out. Deciding to give her more information to finalise her decision he continued with a cough.

“Ahem. As I was saying, what is real? What makes you real? Yes, you are real. From our point of view, all of us are real. You are as real as everyone in this room, and that is the problem. Somewhere out there in the multiverse, across realities, exists a world that not only defies everything you believe in, but dictates how everything should be. It is a world where faith and belief can literally move mountains. It is a world where determination can make the impossible possible. It is a world where an idea can end civilizations and raise nations from the ashes. A world in which a story can become real enough if enough of them accept them. This world is called Earth, and its residents who could make all these possible are the species of Mankind.”

“That’s it? That’s your big reveal?” Spike deadpanned, “We already know humans exist.”

The Administrator snorted in amusement to the shared sentiment within the room. “Yes, my little dragon, humans exist. But the humans that you know exist the same way you exist. However, the humans that I’m talking about exist in a way that we don’t. In fact, from their perspective; we don’t exist.”

A wave of uncertainty and confusion filled the room as everyone began to question where this was going, all while remaining silent. Other than the Changeling Queen and the Archivist, all peeked glances at each other to see if each shared the same thoughts and sentiment, to which they are correct in their presumption.

“What do you mean we don’t exist?” asked Twilight, frowning with uncertainty from where the subject was heading.

“Well, I guess that was misleading of me to say that,” Joe replied as he stood from his chair and pulled out a whiteboard out of nowhere. He unscrewed a cap from a marker and wrote on the board “RELATIVISM” in bold letters.

“Relatively, we exist. Here. Now.” He continued as he tapped the marker on the word on the board, “However in that world of Mankind, we technically exist but not in the way that we are now. You see, in that world, Mankind has the power to make the impossible possible; whether they know about it or not. Mankind has the power of belief, of faith, of ideas. If enough of the monkeys gather together to agree on one thing, they can do it with enough determination. If enough of them believe in a cause, they can rally together to make the cause possible, provided they act on it.”

He looked to them and grimaced, “If enough of them believe in an idea, no matter how brilliant, mad or stupid it is, they can do it, no matter the cost. Even if the cost is a billion lives.”

They all flinched at that, the changeling especially grimaced at the thought.

“Great lecture and all, but what does it have to do with us?” Barb asked dismissively.

“Question: What is an idea?” Jonathan asked while pointing the marker at the gathered group.

“Why, it’s simple; it’s a formulated thought,” replied the old unicorn, “a seed in the mind that eventually grows to motivate one to act, a central meaning or the root end of a particular situation such a standard of perfection or a transcendent entity of representation of sorts, a concept formulated within one’s consciousness, or a visual representation of a concept such as theories and…” she paused, eyes widened as a realisation hit her, “... fiction.”

She turned to the Administrator who gave her a knowing smile. “No. That’s madness. THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!” The old mare shivered with horror at the thought. She turned to the Archivist with pleading eyes, begging for her to deny the possibility; much to her disappointment as the immortal averted her gaze from her. “It throws everything we know out the window! OUR OWN EXISTENCE!”

The other Twilights (and Dusk) shortly caught on to the implication.

“That’s insane! Absurd!” Queen Twilight denied vehemently.

“It’s downright crazy! Nothing in any reality could possibly support such a possibility!” protested King Dusk.

“And the implications,” added Twilight with panic, “Everything we know; our reason for existence! Reality itself! Is free will even real?!!”

“Woah! Twilight, calm down! You’re scaring me.” Spike flew up, holding her head to see eye to eye, attempting to calm the alicorn.

“Yeah, and while you’re at it could one of you tell us what the hay is going on so that we too could panic?” added Barb.

“Certainly,” the Archivist answered flatly as she adjusted her glasses, “Somewhere beyond the multiverse exists a world where the entire multiverse originated from. A world where ideas can be made possible or brought into reality, such as fiction.”

Spike and Barb’s eyes dilated as they finally caught on. “Wait,” Spike stammered in disbelief, “you don’t mean…”

“Eeyup. The multiverse is the product of a collection of ideas of fiction made into reality. Ergo, every one of us in this room was created from a work of fiction.”

Words of Advice from the many worlds of Twilight

by Joe Toon

Prologue: To Princess Twilight Sparkle

1: The Sparkle of Wisdom

2: His name is Dusk Shine

3: Mother of Nyx (Warning: Spoilers for Past Sins)

4: The Empress of Progress

5: Twilight the Infinite

Toonworld Supplemental: Situation of Equis Prime

6: For Honour and Friendship

7: The Doctor's Assistant

Dear Princess Twilight: There is nothing to worry about (I hope)

8: "The Archivist" or "The Mare who asked, "Who is Anon"?"

9: The Last Princess of the Conversion War. (Warning: Spoilers for NegotiationVerse)

10: The U-Files

Dear Princess Twilight: Patch notes

11: Starstein: The Modern Celestia

12: The Silent Knight

13: The Changeling Queen (Warning: Spoilers for Change series)

14: "The Archivist Part 2" or "The Immortal Six"

15: The Multiverse (and all it entails) Part 1