"Twilight Sparkle lived a normal life. Well, normal in terms of fimfic stories. In truth, the only difference from her cannon counterpart was that she was the Queen of Equestria. However, things change when some alternative realities are deemed to no longer be needed by the T.A.R.O. Now, jumping from reality to reality, Twilight must team up with iconic Mlp au's to save not just her reality, but all the ones no longer needed."
Twilight laid with drowsiness in her bed. Gazing at the crystal ceiling above her, she struggled to get some rest. It had been weak since she lost the library and for a weak, she felt a fury of emotions. Sure, the palace was nice but she loved that old tree. She loved the smell of books in the morning, followed by the ponies of town coming in to explore the possibilities of pages. Things change, and now she fears that this change may kill the interests ponies have in reading those old pony tales.
Of course, there was more to it than that, but for now, those thoughts ate her mind up like a parasite. She needed sleep, but her fears would not allow it tonight. She could feel her wings twitching from worry, and her horn throbbing from the oncoming headache, so she chose to get out of bed. Despite being counterproductive to her need of falling asleep, she know a good walk around the castle would clear her mind.
The halls were dark, yet darker at night. Twilight looked both ways before deciding to head down to the kitchen. Perhaps a midnight snack would be good for her. Her hooves clopped against the ground, echoing in the furniture-filled halls. The noise normally would have no effect on her, but Twilight was on edge tonight. Those hoove clops sounded like a ticking clock to her counting down the seconds before something bad happened.
Never to let those fears take too strong a hold, Twilight lowered her ears to fruitlessly dampen the sound. It was a lot longer a walk than expected, but she would be fine. She kept reminding herself that everything was fine. She kept blocking out the memories of the library. She stopped walking.
Ears perked up, Twilight listened to the cold darkness. A minute passed of silence. Echoing... She looked around the halls. Vases and shelves lined the walls, with paintings and cutans to match. The echo was wrong. The hall should have echoed yes, but not so blatantly. She tapped a hoof down hard and listened. The echo was instant... followed by another echo of a singular hoof clomp mere seconds after.
Trying not to overreact, Twilight walked a short distance but paid attention to the echoes. It was hard to distinguish, but she could hear a reserved echo coming from her hooves, followed by another one coming from behind. Twilight kept walking at her normal pace, but her heart was pumping. She felt like ice as the sounds stayed constant. Now she knew she had two options. She could start running, or she could keep walking.
If she ran and something was behind her, it would know she could hear it. If there was something, it would just start running too. On the other hoof, it may get board following and begin the process of-
Twilight shook her head. She had to be crazy, she just had to be. There was no way that a second set of hooves were following behind her. She would get a snack, a drink of water, and then finally go to bed. She could see the kitchen now and kept walking towards it. Closer and closer the arched doorway came. As she got inside, she quietly and slowly began to close the door. Just as the door was a sliver away from being shut, she saw something. For just a second, she saw a pony walking towards the kitchen just as she shut the door.
Twilight held in a gasp before slapping herself comically. Again, she had to be crazy with a need for sleep. Though, just to be safe she quietly locked the door.
Taking a moment, Twilight walked over to her pantry and began getting a light snack. Just some bread and water should do the trick. it was simply a part of her life to worry about, but right now she could rest. She was part of this moment, simply eating bread and drinking water. She finally had her mind off the library.
Then the kitchen door began to jiggle.
Twilight froze with a bit of bread in her mouth and turned. The handle was making a slight jingle sound as it lightly shook up and down. She could tell whoever was on the other side was trying to be quiet as they pried at the door. Twilight gulped down the piece of bread in her mouth and stared. She was processing what course of action to take in this situation. She found herself between teleporting away and calling out to whoever was behind the door. In the end, reasoning won over. She took on Tirek, Discord, and even Night Maremoon and lived. How could some stranger harm her?
"Who's there?" Twilight called, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. The door and Twilight's sense of time stood still. The few seconds of silence felt like an eternity to Twilight.
"Twi?" Pinkie called from the other side of the door. "It's me Pinkie!"
"Pinkie?!" Twilight called in surprise. She paced over to the door and opened it by a sliver. Sure enough, it was Pinkie Pie standing on the other side.
"For Celestia's tail Pinkie, what are you even doing here?!" Twilight cried as she swung the door open all the way. Pinkie stood with a smile on her face, acting oblivious to Twilight's anger.
"Sorry worry, but I needed a midnight snack, and the cakes locked their pantry, so I tried going to Fluttershy's place, but she locked her door, so then I went to Apple Jacks place, but she got that new fence in, OH OH then I went to Rarity's but she was busy doing stuff in her basement so I left, then I went to Pinkies place but she was out looking for somewhere she could get a midnight snack and was also me, so since you were the last person I hadn't tried yet I just broke a window and came in like I'm surprised you didn't hear me but then again I was super sneaky because I started hearing walking and decided to walk in that pace and-"
Twilight covered Pinkies mouth.
"Forget it Pinkie. Just take something to eat and go home, I'm not having a good night."
Pinkie nodded in agreement, letting Twilight know she could remove her hoof from Pinkies face. Twilight turned back to her bread and water and continued her snack as Pinkie scavenged the kitchen. Pinke chaotically opened every cabinet she could as she searched for food.
"So, how's the investigation going? I know Tirek put that on hold, but I wanted to know if you started it up again?" Pinkie asked.
"It's going as you would expect. That is to say, it's going cold. I mean, it's so strange to think somepony as important as Rainbow Dash could just disappear like that." Twilight took a bite of bread. "I mean... she is one of the element bearers. We almost DIED because we didn't have her with us."
"You find any blues clues to use?" Pinke asked as she rummaged through the utensils. A big smile plastered on her face.
"Well, yes actually," Twilight said.
"OOOOOO What is it?!" Pinkie pressured.
"Well, we were looking through some old spells when we found one that may let us follow her tracks before she disappeared. It's called the Moody Blues spell, and it can replicate a pony's movements and paths. If we can set it up to track what and where Rainbow Dash was the weak she disappeared, we may be able to find her!"
"That sounds fun! What ponies can cast this spell?"
"So far, only me and Celestia have it figured out. We plan on meeting up tomorrow at Rainbow Dash's house so we can start tracking her."
"So Celestia's gonna come here tomorrow?"
"Yep, want to join?"
Pinkie laughed. "Don't worry, I'll be there. After all, it saves me having to look for her after this!"
"Look for her? What-"
SHLICK
Twilight's eyes went wide as a large knife pierced her through the back of her head, with the bloody tip poking out of her mouth. Blood dripped on the floor just as silently as Twilight's muffled screaming. Pinkie began twisting the knife so that the sharp part would face upward, followed by her sawing the knife back and forth. Over the next few minutes, Pinkie sawed Twilights head in half from the mouth upward. Twilight's tears became tainted with blood as she lost all senses. She tried to use her magic, but by the time the shock of being stabbed was gone, Pinkie had already reached her brain. Twilight's eyes ran wild as Pinkie finished the sickly act. Her body fell to the ground, the two bran haves becoming misaligned.
That area of the room was covered in blood from the dead, but Pinkie didn't mind. She had wanted to do this without Twilight even knowing she was there, but it was a good thing she failed at that. Now she knew that Celestia would be a threat too.
Queen Twilight and an older Pinkie laughed as they closed the book.
"I can't believe Rainbow would write something so...hehe... actually, I can see her MABEY doing this," Twilight said. She and Pinkie had a tradition of coming together every month and reading what over-the-top gore story Rainbow had published that month was. Today, it seemed she took Pinkie up on her offer of being the antagonist of one and went with it all the way.
The book was titled "Pinkamina" and they were on the fifth chapter. In chapter one, Pinkie had killed Rainbow with a poisoned cupcake and an over-the-top gore story. Then, in chapter three she drove Rarity insane by making her a masochist that loved pain. Now, here in chapter five, she had just killed Twilight and planned on killing Celestia.
However, the real Pinkie was nothing like this. She was sweat with an overpowering sense of humor. Though, she did love the book. In fact, even though they laughed at the absurdity, they still loved every page.
This was the way Twilight loved to live as queen. Sure she loved writing laws and such, and working on taxes never failed to make her smile, but spending time with those she was close with truly made it worth the days that ticked by.
Twilight and Pinkie spent the rest of the night reading, laughing, and talking unaware that in a home far from her, Rainbow Dash had just passed away from old age.
Twilight stared at the books that lined her shelf. The stories that once entertained her for hours now collected unwanted dust. Under normal circumstances, Twilight would organize them alphabetically, but here the stories were set from oldest to newest. It was easier to remember when the good times happened that way. It had only been two years since Pinkie passed, but she had felt so cold through that time. The last of her friends to go.
She still hung the there photos on the wall right next to the door. Spike sat at the top dressed in the knight armor he was buried in. Bellow was Rarity and Apple Jack having a lovely day in an orange park. Bellow was Fluttershy and Discord drinking tea in an impossible room. And finally was Pinkie and Rainbow Dash at the Wounderbolts reunion. Every one of them wore a smile that Twilight had lost.
Twilight stopped reading those books. She stopped leaving her castle. She stopped making public appearances. She simply did her job and left things at that. Over time, she became nothing but a silent drone to her work with but one exception.
Twilight stared at the books that lined her shelf. She wanted to enjoy them again but without her friends, there was just no joy to have. The only company was the void of air that surrounded her.
The room felt cold.
A year went by with this cycle unending, with only one exception. Less and less, Twilight visited the books she once loved and turned to her work. Soon, after a few hundred years she even convinced herself none of it truly happened. If it was ever brought up to her, she would laugh and brush it off as a legend. Even if she started acting like her old self again, she was but a cog in the machine of life now. She simply did her job and did it well. She had no time for stories.
The cog had spawned back around to the summer sun celebration once again, and Twilight prepared as usual. She combed her long hair, acquired her golden crown, practiced smiling, and finally placed her golden horseshoes on. She was as ready as she ever was.
She didn't remember when she hired castle staff, yet she saw them running around cleaning the crystal palace. She walked past them as if they were shadows, and they treated her as such back. The cogs did their work. Twilight walked out the Castile without fan fair into the night. Everypony was already at the designated celebration spot as commanded by Twilight.
The moon was bright, just as Twilight wanted it to be. She wanted to make sure everything went as smoothly as it did every year. She couldn't remember a time where she didn't control the sun and moon. To her, it had always been her job.
Twilight was about to take the direct way to the celebration but stood still. She just needed a second. Twilight looked back up at the moon and started to think to herself. Life was quiet. There were no threats to fight, no dangers to run from, it was peace. Yet, she felt empty, as the same could be said toward the positives she lacked. There was no time for friends, or birthdays, or even... reading. Twilight couldn't remember the last book she read. She tried to think of its title, yet not even a letter from its pages came to her mind.
Twilight took a breath before convincing herself to walk. The ground crunched under her hooves as the only noise she could hear. She looked around the empty town and felt uneasy. She knew everybody was by that old apple barn, yet the coldness of the night truly made her feel paranoia.
Twilight decided to focus on something else. Looking down and listening to the bunch of her walk, she took deep breaths.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch.
That did the trick. Now along as she didn't look up her mind would be at ease. Taking but a quick lookup, she could tell she was halfway to the barn. Twilight smiled a little smile. Almost there.
The sound of cracking kept pace behind her. Twilight looked behind but saw and heard nothing but the night. The cracking of ground stoped with her. Twilight scanned the aria a little longer before continuing her walk. The cracking did not continue, but even so Twilight no longer felt at ease by the sound of her walking.
She couldn't put a word to it, but this felt dreadfully familiar.
Near the barn, sounds of celebration began to make their way into Twilight's ears.
Ponies were drinking, talking, and those that saw Twilight praised her. She tried to sneak behind the stage that had been set up, but her earlier paranoia caused her to be sloppy. She didn't like being seen before the celebration.
Making it behind the stage, Twilight took a minute to prepare.
"From fillys to Colts and mares, changelings and dragons, even the griffons' buffalo and Hippogriff of Equestria and Ponyvill" Twilight whispered to herself to rememorize her speech. "Once again, we are at the dawn of Summer, and once again it is my time to raise our sun."
Twilight took a breath. "I'm very grateful to have you all here tonight, as it shows me that after all these years we still stick together like..." Twilight paused for a moment. "Oh right... We stick together as chains forged from friendship. Together, we are at peace. We are safe."
Twilight paused and looked up to her moon. She felt like a lier. She had kept herself separated from her subjects so often that she could not believe they remembered her every year. She only did as needed, but not much more was needed. She remembered she used to help make laws, or join celebrations, or even go visit other nations. She also remembered setting up a branch of her castle to make laws without her, staying cooped up, and sending diplomats off to do the hard work. She felt useless.
Twilight looked up and whispered "By my tail, I wish... I wish I had a reason to be." The moon sparkled in the sky.
Twilight took a peek out from behind the stage. Looking around at all who attended. Once again, mostly ponies. She could see the other races isolating themselves more and more every year. She wanted to get to them and talk, but that could never work. She was a cog to be used. She had a set path, and they were not on it... And yet her cog would be freed from her machine at but a glance.
It was only for a second, but she saw it. She could not put a name to it, but she saw it. A pink-haired pony walked through the crowd. One she knew could not be there. She didn't remember why they caught her eye as they did, but she could not look away from the spot where it hid in the crowd.
The pink pony walked past the crowd, following a compass stitched into the sleeve of her coat. She was told not to move out of the crowd for a second but ended up slipping out to grab a plate of food. After all, it was only for a second she was visible outside the large group of ponies. Nobody would see her.
It didn't matter anyway. She was close to the Core of this reality anyway, so it wouldn't matter. Nopony was in the barn, and the only important pony in this story would never recognize her.
She took one last look at her tablet to make sure she knew whats he was meant to do.
The screen shows: "Reality-title---'Twilight-100-years'___Timeline-Rating-'Everyone'---_Status_-CANCELED---Scheduled--_--DELETE."
She stole a random ponies drink and took a sip. Oh well, even if that ponie would get mad it didn't matter now. She remembered a time where she felt bad about deleting worlds, but not now. Now she knew how little it mattered.
She failed to notice the purple alicorn following her, even as said alicorn tried to calm the crowd that swarmed her.
No pony was meant to be in the barn. Not for the reason that the barn was old and falling apart, but due to its historical past. If you were to ask anypony about what that past was, they may not have any meaningful answers.
The pink-haired pony began looking through the barn as if it were as boring as any old building. She occasionally looked down at the compass sewed into her sleeve, but it only lead her in circles. Finally taking a proper look around, she almost imminently saw something that caught her eyes. A dusty chest peeked out from under an oil-stained cloth.
She gave a little chuckle about missing such an obvious spot before prancing over to it. Removing the cloth caused generations of dust to blow into her face, distracting her from the yealing outside.
She fell coughing like death, as she reached into her pocket to pull out a face mask. It was only now she took notice of the age of this barn. On the outside, it looked cared for, but its neglect showed when one entered. Putting on the mask, she pulled herself back up and opened the chest.
This time, she was ready for the explosion of dust that failed to enter her lungs. The mask kept most of it out, but she still covered her eyes. When it felt like the dust had settled she took a look down.
The chest had only three objects inside; A duty photo album, an old yoke, and exactly what she was searching for.
When she first came here, she was surprised to see the elements we're not with the tree of harmony. In this reality, it seems the six bearers kept them. She hunted the elements down one by one like a shadow in the night. Each one, she meticulously placed into the sides of a strange-looking black square. Each side had an element save for two.
In the chest, an apple-shaped gem was lovingly tucked into a glass picture frame.
The pink-haired pony picked it up, gave it a somber smile, then violently smashed it onto the ground. Only the gem laid unbroken.
Pulling the box out of a pocket too small to have possibly held it, she placed the gem on an empty side. The gem fused into the box and began to turn gray and crackle with anguish. Only one side remained. The pony was wondering how she would get the last gem when she heard a yell.
"What in my name are you doing?!"
A little earlier outside the barn, the pink-haired pony had just entered the barn. Twilight struggled to get past her subjects who either froze up, bowed, or even began running up to her with questions. Some of whom did all three.
Twilight tried yelling to the pony, but the crowd was too noisy with their excitement.
"Please" Twilight begged, "Just let me past!" The crowd tuned out her pleas.
Eventually, Twilight finally made it to the barn. As she did, a pony tried to grab her legs. Recoiling, the last straw in her patients finally snapped.
"THAT'S IT!" Twilight yelled over the crowd. Twilight cast a magic barrier around the barn filled with annoyance. Even so, some ponies began banging on the barrier to try and get her attention.
As Twilight entered the barn, Twilight felt waves of emotions. She could not understand why, but the barn made tears roll down her cheek. She looked around and felt empty. She took note of the dust and wounded when she last entered the barn. She was broken from her thoughts when she spotted the Pink-haired pony.
The pony was next to an old chest, holding up some sort of thick picture frame. Twilight was about to call to her, only to be shocked quiet when the pony slammed the frame hard into the ground.
Twilight's eyes widened and her jaw fell at the sight. This pony was destroying history as if it were a paperweight. The shock continued as the pony pulled a familiar looking gem from the rubble and held it in front of her to... well Twilight couldn't see what she did since the pony was facing away from her, but Twilight could feel it wasn't good. Deciding now was as good a time as any, she tried to calmly announce her presence...
Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs "What in my name are you doing?!"
The pink pony turned to face Twilight. They both stared... Twilight with a confused scowl and the pony with absolute shock.
The Pony gave a louder gasp before rushing over to Twilight at hyper speed. Twilight tried to step away, but the excited Ponie was too fast. The pony snatched Twilights crown and ran back to her side of the room.
"THANKYOU" She screamed at Twilight before placing her gem into the cube. She started making strange motions with it that Twilight analyzed and memorize. The Pink pony didn't seem to notice at first due to the distraction the cube brought. Twilight tried to think about what to say to do, but nothing came to mind.
The Pink pony suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked over at Twilight. She looked Twilight up and down which made Twilight step back.
"Wow, you're tall." She said. "Like, I knew Twilights could get tall, but in the name of space and time, you are tall."
Twilight took a second to process. "Um... Thank you? What... do you mean by 'Twilights'?"
"Oh right, you're not..." The pony got lost in thought before looking Twilight in the eyes. Twilight glared at her. "Hay you look at me like a stranger, don't tell me you've never met your realities Pinkie Pie?!"
Twilight tilted her head and scowled. "Pinke... Pie? I think I know that name... You see I... I saw you earlier and-"
"Ooopsie poopsie" Pinke said with a giggle as she went back to working on the cube. "And I tried so hard to not have you see me. I was doing well too! Like when I was walking with you on the way here, or yesterday when I snuck around your castle looking for your element. I have it now but still..."
Twilight's eyes widened. This pony had... followed her? AND snuck into her castle?! This was a criminal offense. Twilight wanted to say something, but then she had a thought. She could barely remember why, but those gems were important. If this pony was messing with them, then they must be doing something important...
That's when Twilight's brian clicked something together. She didn't remember where she had heard it, but there was this story. In it, a pony is distracted by her killer through seemingly pointless conversation.
Twilight began walking towards Pinke as she spoke. "So... what brings you here?"
"Oh nothing much, just working don't his silly old thing. Almost..." A sudden click sound is heard. "Ah done!" Pinke turned with a gun held in her hooves to see Twilight right next to her. Twilight blasted the gun and stared down with rage. Pinke gave a giggle when the box began to shake.
The box began to levitate out of Pinkies hooves and spin. Twilight stared at it in shock. Pinke pulled out a strange device that seemed to generate a force field around her while Twilight was distracted. The box began to split open, revealing a glowing orb center. and absorbed everything in its path in a spiral motion. First, the color was stripped, then the object began to distort into it, ending with the object getting fully absorbed.
Twilight screamed in agony as her color was ripped off like a bandaid. Seeing what happened to the other objects, Twilight decided to take a stand. Twilight aimed her horn at the box and began to release a powerful blast! At first, the blast did nothing as it hit the other elements. It did nothing until it hit Twilight's element.
The black ooze that began to shoot out from the gem latched onto her blast. The black slime-like stands began to consume her blast as if it were a physical object. Leaching closer and closer to the source.
Anti-Magic. Twilight may not have the best memory, but when it comes to magic she was an expert. Anti-Magic was a purely theoretical concept of a way to drain magic from something and release it into a sort of power source. So from that, Twilight could tell that whatever magic was in those gems was being pored into that box. More specifically, the contents inside it.
Pinke banged on her forcefield trying to get Twilight to stop, cluing Twilight into knowing she was on the right path. She kept her beam focused. The Anti-Magic crept closer, but she stood her ground. Then the Anti-Magic from the other gems began to join in and leach towards her. It was only once the goop touched her horn did Twilight realize she could not stop her beam. It began to creep over her fur, and dig its way into her skin. One strand even attempted began to peel her eyelids open. When Twilight began to scream, the Anti-Magic began to enter her mouth.
The ooze proved too much, and Twilight collapsed to the ground. The Anti-Magic was no longer safe, as it was pulled towards the box, getting absorbed by the bright core. The core got brighter and brighter until nothing else could be seen. Pinke began typing something on her tablet in a panic as Twilight struggled to move.
Then the barn exploded.
...Chrysalis looked around for who through that at her head. Nopony was around, yet she knew it could not have just fallen from the sky. She adjusted her glasses and looked up. Not even a cloud stood above her.
Mabey it was Discord or Shadow Surprise who did it. They were known for their pranks... no, this was too simple for them. Looking down, the object was strange.
A black box with oddly shaped gems attached laid on the ground beside her. Chrysalis stared down at it as if it would vanish the moment she blinked.
Shrugging the moment off, she used her magic to levitate the box into her satchel to be analyzed later. Right now, a strange box was nothing for the top student of Princess Luna to worry about.
