> When Darkness Falls...
>  by XTech309
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: Back In Control
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Wait, what? Th... then why are you doing this?”

“Because I'm a villain! What choice do I have? All I've got on my résumé is laughing maniacally, monologuing about evil plans, and a major in Canadian History. I can't exactly go into catering!” 


***


”You have only yourself to blame. You being the hero of all this means that I have to be the villain! But I never wanted to be the villain! I wanted to be the cute sidekick who gets his own plush toy and a spinoff show.”


***


”I did all this for a reason! Don't you understand what's going on in Elmore? You have two choices: live in ignorance about what's gonna happen here, or listen to what I have to say! It might just save your lives.”


***


“Ugh! Why did they stop me?! Transformation is the only chance they have of escaping to the other place when this world...”

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake. Rob looks around nervously and loses his balance. The floor suddenly opens up beneath him, collapsing into the Void. Rob grasps the edge of the floor and struggles to hold on. He loses his grip on one hand and hangs on only by the other

“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Oh no... it's started.”

The edge of the floor disappears, and Rob falls into the Void, screaming and falling. The screen freeze-frames on him (mirroring Banana Barbara's painting from "The Future"), and the credits' first notes play as the episode ends





Rob thought back to that time, grimacing as he considered what he could have done differently. If only those two had listened, then maybe, just maybe, he could have saved them, those from his world, that is.

What he had thought to be the apocalypse for his world turned out to be something much, much worse. Beyond anything he could have ever imagined...


Halloween, approximately 2 months ago... 


Rob awoke with a start, quickly taking in the scenery around him. As he had suspected, the apocalypse had come, Elmore in its entirety, a once amazing world, consumed by the Void. It had been completely disintegrated when it had fallen into the Void, split into what must have been hundreds of individual floating islands scattered across the infinite expanse, surrounded on all sides by an endless void of static.

He rose to his feet and set out to explore, to see what had become of the inhabitants he had tried so hard to save. 


***


Rob hyperventilated, confused and terrified at the same time at what he had found. This-this wasn't what was supposed to happen. They were supposed to just be consumed by it, cease to exist. But somehow, something far more sinister had happened to them. 

The first red flag was that they were all still moving, not frozen in time as they were supposed to be. Everywhere he went, the inhabitants of Elmore were still moving, all of them dripping with a black, glitch-like substance and wandering around aimlessly like zombies. The darkness that had taken them covered the landscape, emitting a deafening, distorted, static sound every time Rob passed it. He stayed as far away from them as he could, using houses, plants, anything he could to disguise himself and stay out of sight. His mind raced as he struggled to find a way to fight back against whatever these things were. Then it hit him.

The Remote.

He scolded himself for not having thought of it sooner. The remote was his only option. But then he realized something else - he'd destroyed it. Well, not destroyed it, but he had shattered it into many tiny pieces that he could only assume had also ended up in the Void. If he was to survive, he would need to find it wherever it landed.

New target in mind, he moved again, careful not to make noise to alert the corrupted roaming the landscape. Eventually, he found it, or rather, its pieces. They were scattered in a small pile on the concrete floor of a parking garage, in the same spot where he had destroyed it. He even found the ATM machine, the same one he'd used the eject function on for the first time, causing it to spit out an endless supply of cash for him. Now he had the pieces, but that meant nothing without the tools to reassemble them. From his vantage point in the parking garage, he looked around in all directions before he spotted the Elmore Mall, which sat on a rather large island a few dozen meters above and in front of him. He crouched down close to the ground before jumping up towards it. Gravity was more or less non-existent in the Void, more akin to what you'd expect on the moon, and the force of his jump propelled Rob towards his destination, albeit slowly. 

About a minute of floating later, Rob landed softly on the pavement in front of the mall, the remote pieces in his hand. All he had to do was make it to the hardware and electronic departments. Surprisingly, his journey there was uneventful, with no corruption to speak of, leading him to conclude that they mostly resided on the lower islands. He made his way through the electronics and hardware stores, picking up the tools he needed before settling down at a workbench and getting to work.


***


Rob looked down at the fruits of his labor, filled with the hope that he might have a fighting chance now, but also with the fear that the damn thing had returned. It was a simple remote, similar to most TV remotes from the early 2010s, and nothing special on the face of it. However, it was not until it was in use that its true capabilities came to light. To quote its previous owner, the mysterious shadow that ran the Awesome Store,  It has power only a fool would not fear." Holding it tightly in his right hand, he made his way out of the mall.

He walked steadily toward the exit. All he had to do now was get out and he’d be able to end the madness that had engulfed his world. But of course, it couldn’t be that easy. His eye went wide in shock as the corruption now came for him in full force, splashing through the mall entrance like a tidal wave, emitting the same deafening static noise. He quickly changed direction, feet squeaking on the tile as he scrambled to start running backward. Not only had the corruption itself come, but it had brought those it had taken. Citizens of Elmore, reduced to mindless zombies, all of their eyes completely blank, the corruption dripping off of them like water during a spring rain. They all made a beeline for the remote wielder, moving at almost inhuman speeds.

Rob quickly whirled around, aiming the remote at the pursuing corruption. He pressed Eject first, propelling a group of 5 backward and out of sight at incredible speed. He aimed again-

Power Off.

Another swathe of them fell, completely lifeless on the tile of the mall. It was working! He aimed yet again, this time at the corruption itself. 

Rewind.

Obeying the remote’s command, a section of the darkness retreated exactly as it had come. Rob continued his assault, aiming and pressing whatever function he felt fit. Corrupted citizens fell lifeless or were propelled backward and out of the fight, and corruption ReWinded back the way it came until once again it was only him left in the mall. Or at least he thought. He gasped as he felt something grab him from behind. A small puddle had formed just behind him, waiting until then to strike. Tendrils of it emerged, each one grabbing and ensnaring his limbs. Rob desperately tried to aim the remote but found his arms bound by it. The puddle enlarged itself, dragging him down into it like quicksand. With his last breath, he closed his eye, sure that this would be the end.

Nothing happened.

Once again he found himself falling, landing hard on another island that resided just below the mall. He dragged himself back up to his feet, quickly grabbing the remote that lay a few feet from him. He opened his eyes, confused, looking down to see the darkness crawling up his arm. Somehow, it did not affect him, only everyone else. 

Then he realized it.

It had already affected him, sort of.

All that time ago, when he first escaped the void, he emerged a disfigured, glitched version of his former self, sending him on his path to become the ill-fated savior of Elmore. This glitch, whatever it was, couldn’t affect him, because he had already been affected by it, at least to a degree.

"I need to find out what happened." He thought aloud, clasping his hands together.

But first -

Revenge.

After some searching, he found him, Gumball. The source of all this suffering, and the one who had prevented him from saving them all. He pointed the remote at the corrupted cat and pressed ReWind. Sure enough, time rewinded on him, the corruption receding from his body. After a few seconds, he returned to normal, and Rob pressed the button again to stop the rewind. Gumball fell to the ground and took heavy, deep breaths, unaware that Rob was there. He stood up and looked around frantically before finally spotting Rob.

"YOU!" He shouted, pointing at him. "You did this to us!" He yelled, running towards Rob, who simply dodged out of the way of his still weakened enemy. Something snapped inside him, once again unfairly labeled the villain.

"NO, I DIDN'T!" Rob shouted, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself as Gumball recovered, before continuing. "Don't you see? Gumball? This is what I was trying to save you all from! This is what it has always been about! You wouldn't understand." He said, turning his back on him. "You wouldn't understand. Yes, I may have been the villain in the past, but not now. Don't you see?" He said, using a darkness-covered arm to gesture out into the Void, filled with various-sized chunks of Elmore, all of which were covered in the black corruption, the Void stretching endlessly in all directions. "It doesn't matter anymore. Because of you and all your little friends, it's all gone. There was a pause for a moment. "But that's not what was supposed to happen, everything was supposed to just be consumed, just cease to exist, even I have no idea what- this is. He paused for a moment before pointing the remote at a corrupted Tobias and hitting eject, sending him flying.

Rob's monologue stopped and they sat in silence for a few seconds. They took in their surroundings. The once amazing world of Gumball, reduced to a glitchy mess in an endless void. Condemned to wander endlessly in the void, corrupted forms of everyone they ever knew stalked a few feet away from them.

"But I haven't given up." Rob began again. "With this." He held up the remote. "I can still save us. But I can't let you get in the way again." He grinned maliciously, spun around and pointed the remote at his nemesis. "I hope you're happy with yourself, Waterson. Because of you, everyone you love is gone, and you alone will have to live with that. After all, is there anyone left to share that with, to make it hurt?"  He chuckled before placing his thumb over the fast-forward button. "Goodbye, Gumball." Gumball had been sobbing up to this point, tears landing on the hard pavement below as he stared at the instrument of his fate.

"WAIT! NOOO-" He cried out before Rob pressed the button. The effect was instantaneous, his body fast-forwarding back to its corrupted state. Rob watched, still smirking, as the corruption took control of his body once again, screaming silently as he was taken again. After a few seconds, it was done, his body fully corrupted again. His eyes were blank, darkness dripped from him wherever it could, and he began to limp aimlessly again. But that wasn't enough. Rob wanted him gone. He moved to the eject button and pressed it, Gumball's corrupted self shooting out into the void. Finally satisfied, Rob went back to his original goal of saving them all. He wouldn't find answers here, he had to think outside the box, in one of the most literal ways possible. 

He looked down at the button he had to push. He felt anxious, of all the functions the remote could perform, he had always shied away from this one, afraid of what it might do, never daring to press it until now. The remote was capable of incredible feats, its power had been what finally opened Rob's eyes to the reality of his existence. He feared what would happen if he pressed it, having witnessed what the other functions were capable of, from time travel to outright wiping things out of existence. But he had to, if there was to be any hope of saving them. He had to take the risk and unleash the full power of the remote.

He took a deep breath before pointing the remote directly at the camera and pressing -


Change channel.


> The Intrusion: Part One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Uhhhmm, sister?” Luna called back into the halls of the castle for her sister. She found herself on one of the many balconies jutting out from the castle they shared, doing nothing but admiring the beauty of her sister's sun and the day that came along with it. At least, she was.

In the blink of an eye, the sun suddenly dipped below the horizon, and not a second later replaced with her moon. Luna stared in awe at what had just transpired, dumbfounded, before calling for her sister. 

“Yes?” Came the reply of Celestia from somewhere within.

“You wouldn’t happen to have set the sun early, would you?”

In a flash of light, Celestia appeared by her sister's side. She didn’t immediately notice what was wrong until she looked around, but when she did she was just as confused.

“Wha- what? But it’s only noon! How di-”

The two were interrupted once again by another day change, in the same span of a single fleeting moment, the sun and moon once again changed places-

And again.

And again.


***


“Twilight!” Starlight called, teleporting into said mare's room, at the same time causing her to jump at Starlight's sudden appearance. 

“Starlight?” Twilight replied after getting over the initial shock, “What is it?”

“There’s um, a bit of a situation. . .” She stumbled over her words, “You should see it for yourself.”

Starlight teleported Twilight quickly following suit. They now found themselves outside of their castle in Ponyville, met with one of the strangest sights either had ever seen.

To their absolute confusion and horror, the sun and moon had gone completely rogue. As though someone was flipping a light switch on and off, the sun and moon changed places in the sky at breakneck speed. It created a strobe effect throughout the land, making Twilight and Starlight, as well as everypony else, feel like they were in the middle of a rave.

“What?!” Twilight cried, putting a hoof up to her face to shield her eyes, “How is this possible? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know!” Starlight replied, mirroring Twilight's actions to keep from going blind.


***


Celestia and Luna stared with complete befuddlement, as each of their respective celestial bodies continued to shock, awe, and in some cases blind all of Equestria. 

“Sister!” Luna called, snapping out of her haze. “We have to do something!”

“Right,” Celestia replied. The two lit their horns, focusing everything they had on getting the sun and moon back under control. It didn’t seem to do anything at first, but sure enough, the spectacle slowed, before stopping completely, the moon coming out on top, despite it being noon.


***


Twilight and Starlight continued to look up at the now night sky, still trying to process what they had just witnessed. Ponyville was alive with the ponies trying to comprehend it, making it as loud as a bustling city street.

“Twilight!” Spike called, running up beside them. “It’s from the princesses!” Twilight quickly snatched the letter from him in her magic, unceremoniously tearing it open.

Twilight...

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the sun and moon were briefly taken from the control of me and my sister. By the time you receive this things will hopefully be under control. However, that leaves us with a new problem. Moving the sun and moon is no small feat, let alone moving them at that speed. Given that neither I nor my sister did it, and Discord calling it an “old joke,” that means somepony else is behind this. Find them, whoever it may have been. I fear what somepony with that much power could do left unchecked, and given the events still fresh on our minds, that is something neither of us wants.

-Princesses Celestia and Luna.

“Sounds pretty serious,” Starlight stated, peering over Twilight's shoulder at the note.

“It is.” Twilight replied grimly, “We have to find whoever's done this, and fast.”

“How are you gonna do that?” Spike interjected, “Equestria is so big! It’d be like trying to find a needle in a haystack!”

“Well,” Twilight started. “As Celestia said, any pony that can manipulate the sun and moon like that must have been putting out a lot of power, all we have to do is trace where it came from and find the source. Luckily for us, there’s a spell for that, Starlight?”

“Way ahead of you,” she replied, horn lit, with a small grin on her face.


***


“So, remind me again why we’re standing outside the creepy everfree?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Because,” Starlight stated, moving in front of the group consisting of the mane six. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, there was a bit of an uh, lightshow with the sun and moon earlier today. Wait, it is earlier today if the moon is out?” She got off topic, trying to figure out the confusion caused by the moon being out at the wrong time. “Never mind, anyway, the princesses tasked us with finding out whoever did this, and fast. Twilight and I managed to trace the leftover magic back to this general area, unfortunately, we couldn’t get a precise location because the leftover magic faded quickly.”

“So we just go in, kick some butt, and be back in time for dinner! Or, whatever mealtime it’s supposed to be.” Dash stated. 

“Easier said than done,” Twilight said, “Be careful, whoever did this had enough power to move the sun and moon, and then resist the princess's attempts to take it back. Who knows what else they could do?”

“Got it,” Dash replied. The group of seven spread out, careful to stay within earshot of one another. Rainbow and Fluttershy flew just above the trees, keeping their heads on a swivel, Twilight, Starlight, and Rarity kept their horns lit, attempting to trace any leftover magic, as well as generating beams of light to illuminate large swathes. AJ and Pinkie used their naturally stronger bodies to search areas the others couldn’t access.


***


“HEY! YOU!” 

Twilight heard Rainbow yell those two words, followed by a bright rainbow streak across the sky as she started pursuing an unseen someone. 

“That way!” Starlight called from a few feet away. She had one of her front hooves pointed in the same direction as where Rainbow had gone, and even from where they were they saw trees and other foliage being blown around from the wind generated. Twilight shot herself into the air, quickly moving towards the commotion, the others following suit from their respective positions. 

Twilight suddenly heard Rainbow yell out before she was flung back through the canopy of the forest, her body twisting and spiraling out of control. Twilight pivoted, before shooting herself into the canopy where Rainbow had emerged.

Twilight landed softly on the forest floor below, quickly lighting her horn and generating a flashlight-like beam of light to scan the area. There. She saw a cluster of bushes shaking, the sound of footsteps emanating from the same direction. Twilight broke off into a sprint, quickly joined by Starlight and AJ. They closed the distance quickly, soon finding themselves staring at the back of their unknown assailant. 

It was a strange, bipedal figure, most certainly not a pony or any other creature they may have suspected. It was tall, at least compared to a pony. It had fairly long legs and arms, all of them seemingly made out of static, with a solid yellowish midsection and red shorts, its head a polygon-like shape. 

“Hey! Wait!” Starlight called out. In response, the figure turned toward them, revealing that it had one large, singular eye, along with a mouth on its face. To Twilight and Starlight, the figure very vaguely resembled a human. In one of its hands, it held a strange device, too far away for any of them to tell what it was.

The figure took off again, one of its fingers moving over the strange device before running out of view. The surroundings of Twilight and her friends quickly started to darken, a little more each time he pressed the button. It wasn’t darkness like nighttime darkness, no, this was complete darkness. 

“Twilight?!” Rarity called. “What’s happening?”

“Over here!” She yelled back. She and Starlight used their horns once again as floodlights, basking their surroundings in the artificial glow. Out of the corner of her eye, she once again spotted him, at the very edge of where their light would reach.

Rainbow had seen it too, leaving another rainbow trail as she quickly pursued him outside of the light. The chase once again commenced, Twilight and her friends determined to not let him get away. Up ahead, they heard Rainbow locked in a struggle with him,  however, before they could reach them, Rainbow flew past them once again, loudly impacting a nearby tree.

“Rainbow! AJ cried, running to her, “You okay sugarcube?!”

“Je vais bien, mais il s'enfuit! Attendez, qu'est-ce qui ne va pas avec ma voix!”

AJ let out a loud gasp, not only at the sudden strange outburst from Rainbow but also at the realization that one of her wings was bent the wrong way.

“Rainbow! Your wing!” She cried, pointing a hoof at her left wing. Rainbow looked towards it, a look of pure horror taking over her face. She screamed, before falling to the ground next to the tree she had been laying on, babbling in the same strange tongue she’d been afflicted with. Hearing the commotion, the others quickly appeared, calling off the chase. They all had their own looks of horror and bewilderment at Rainbow's condition.

“We need to get her to a doctor!” Starlight said.

"I've got this." Rarity said. She quickly looked around, gathering various leaves, vines, and other shrubbery in separate auras of magic, before quickly laying them out in the vague shape of a gurney. She worked quickly and with laser-like precision, tying leaves and branches together with vines, and within a minute, she was done.

"Wow." Was all Twilight said.

"Rarity!" Starlight said, "That was amazing!"

"A good seamstress can work under pressure and make materials where there are none." She replied.

"Alrighty then." AJ said, “Come on Rainbow, you’ll be alright, Pinkie?” Together, the two Earth ponies, aided by Rarity's magic, carefully lifted the still-babbling Rainbow onto the makeshift stretcher. Starlight moved toward them before lighting her horn and teleporting the rest of the mane six back to Ponyville, coming right back in another flash of light.

"Guess it's just us then," Starlight said. "Twilight?" She asked after getting no answer. She looked over to find a fuming Twilight, whose anxiety and fear for Rainbow had quickly turned into anger and malice for who had done it to her.

"This ends now." She announced quietly. "Come on." She said before dashing off into the forest, horn blazing.

Starlight wasn't sure what Twilight was doing at first, but she soon realized she was using that spell again, since whatever had happened to Rainbow must have left a big signature. Starlight lit her horn and did the same, realizing Twilight was right, large traces coming from the northeast, in a fairly straight line.  She watched as Twilight cast an Accelero spell, as well as a shield bubble, and Starlight quickly mirrored it so as not to be left behind. She quickly caught up and came to see the figure again. She stared in shock as Twilight fired at the creature, head down, beam after beam. The figure was able to dodge about half of them before it raised the strange device it was holding in its right hand once more. The beams Twilight fired suddenly stopped in midair, motionless as they all ran past, frozen. He used the device again. A large patch of bushes and vines right next to Twilight were uprooted and blown backwards, bouncing harmlessly off of the generated shield bubbles.

The figure turned again, pointing the device right at them. Logs, bushes, vines, and even trees were hurled at them now, bouncing harmlessly off their shields but severely limiting visibility. Twilight spread her wings, shooting herself up above the canopy before diving back down, heading straight for the goal of her rage. Starlight watched as the figure pointed the device again at Twilight. She was forcibly stopped mid-air, before with a flick of the wrist, was slammed into a nearby tree and the canopy below. 

Their chase continued, Twilight still unfazed by everything Rainbow's assailant had thrown at her. Hooves and feet pounded against the forest floor, brush, and other plant life shoved to the side by shield bubbles as the two sped along. Their chase continued for what felt like forever, an exchange of spells and other attacks as the last chances at solving this peacefully faded away.


***


Starlight attempted a Rope Charmer spell, one of a laundry list she had attempted before this point. She pulled her head back before whipping it forward, a lasso made of pure magical energy sent flying towards its target. The spell worked flawlessly, perfectly wrapping itself around its target. The figure fell forward, its arms now tightly bound to its side, the strange device falling away a few feet away. It was finally over.


***


Rob’s eye shot open in horror at the sudden sensation of his arms being bound to his sides, before falling forward face first, the remote falling from his grip. He struggled mightily against his new restraints, using what limited hand movement he had left to desperately grab the remote. He couldn’t let it fall into the wrong hands, he couldn’t let his only chance at saving his world fall away as the remote had. He heard hoofsteps quickly closing in as his pursuers closed the distance. Just as they broke through the bushes and into he had fallen into, he finally got it, quickly pressing the ReWind button just as his pursuers reached him.


***


Starlight attempted a Rope Charmer spell, one of a laundry list she had attempted before this point. She pulled her head back before whipping it forward, a lasso made of pure magical energy sent flying towards its target. However, this time, Rob knew exactly when it was coming. He whirled around mid-sprint, aiming the remote at the magical lasso heading for him, before pressing the remote's ultimate function-

Delete.

Starlight screamed out in pain, Twilight looking over just in time to hear a resounding THWOOM as her Rope Charmer spell exploded out of existence, her horn sparking and fizzling as she suddenly lost her footing and spiraled into the ground. 

“Starlight!” She cried, forgetting the chase again and rushing to her side, “Are you okay?”

“Ghh, it hurts...” She replied, both her eyelids spazzing out and twitching, and horn giving out weak sparks. Twilight's attention was quickly taken away from her friend by the thought of her attacker. First Rainbow Dash, now Starlight. Somehow filled with even more fury, she took one last quick look to make sure Starlight wasn’t too badly injured, and muttered a quick “I’ll be right back” to Starlight before soaring once more in his direction. 


***
 

Rob grimaced in guilt as he heard the resounding THWOOM followed by screams and panicked mutterings a few meters behind him. Inside he hated himself for doing this. He was hardly presenting himself as the hero he wanted to be, that he knew he was. His search for answers had yielded no meaningful results so far. It had served as little more than a series of short vacations across the multiverse, accompanied by various shenanigans as he tested how well the remote worked wherever he was. Come to think of it, what was all that supposed to accomplish? Against all logic, he'd had faith that the simple act of leaving his world would somehow lead him to answers. He had been blinded to the reality of the situation by that little bit of hope that had resided within him. This whole journey had turned out to be a frivolous undertaking, but on the other hand, what else was there to do? Remain on his homeworld and rot? He was little more than a wayward traveler with no home to which he could return. Fortunately, he hadn't yet found a world where the Remote didn't work, although this was the first time its power had been directly challenged. First by the counterforce that tried to take away his sun and moon, and now by this wild goose chase that made him look like a monster. A small tear escaped from his eye, "I-I didn't mean to hurt them..." He mumbled, "I-" 

His thoughts were cut short as he heard something quickly approaching from behind him, a deep, continuous rumble as trees and other vegetation were pushed aside with immense force, as though a freight train were barreling through the forest straight towards him. He looked back just in time to see Twilight, eyes narrowed and burning with hate as magic pulsed around her horn and at the edges of her eyes, her body covered in cuts, bruises, mud, and leaves from their struggle so far. Rob's regret and sadness were instantly replaced with dread as he reflexively raised the remote in a desperate last bid to fend off who he didn’t doubt would be his executioner if he didn’t do something. Without thinking, his thumb once again slid over the remote's ultimate function, Delete.

In his final bid to fight off Twilight, his heel caught on an exposed root due to his lack of attention, causing him to fall backward with a jerk, his thumb also jerking away from the Delete key, instead drifting over to another button as he fell…
> The Intrusion: Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Twilight?!" Starlight called weakly. Her hoofsteps were slow and slurred, her body jerking back and forth as she struggled to keep her balance. Her condition had improved somewhat. She wasn't in nearly as much pain as she had been a few minutes before. She was able to walk, albeit with some difficulty, and spells were out of the question. A simple flashlight spell to illuminate her still pitch-black surroundings caused her severe pain, her horn still sparking in protest of such a simple spell. She limped on, heading in the direction where she had seen Twilight the last time. The last time she'd seen her, she'd gone after him again, the light she'd generated from her horn fading quickly in the pitch-black darkness, followed by a deafening silence. Despite her injuries, Starlight had to find her. She was her friend, and she had no doubt that Twilight would do the same for her.

Weakly, she broke through a last row of bushes and shrubs and found her. It was as if someone had frozen her in time, her form suspended above Starlight's head. She wore the same look of malice and hatred that she had seen the last time she had gone after her attacker. Her wings were outstretched and curved behind her as she had been flying when it happened. Her horn and the corners of her eyes pulsed with her magical power, a lavender trail extending from behind her for several meters. Her forelegs were outstretched, her mane and tail having been blowing in the wind behind her. 

Continuing to limp around her frozen friend, Starlight discovered the extent of Twilight's injuries from fighting the alien intruder. None of them were serious. But Starlight couldn't help but notice the number of bruises, cuts, and other injuries that covered her from head to hoof. It was both uplifting and frightening to see the lengths to which Twilight was willing to go in the name of her friends' protection. Ever since Rainbow Dash had been injured, she'd been relentless in her pursuit of him. She probably hadn't even noticed her own wounds as she'd pursued him with a righteous fury to avenge and protect those she loved. But to see what it had cost her, Starlight had never seen anything like it, whatever those spells had been and whatever power their visitor had wielded.

"Twilight?" Starlight called softly. "Can you hear me?" She moved in front of her frozen friend and repeated what she had just said, waving one of her hooves in front of her face. "Twilight!" She called out once more. She tried in vain to bring the power of her horn to bear, though she had no idea how to help, only to be sent crashing to the ground in pain. "Somepony! Anypony! HELP!" She called with what little strength she had left before she fell unconscious. 

"HELP!"

AJ gasped, “Did ya’ll hear that?”

Against all odds, they had all returned - AJ, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and even Rainbow Dash. It had been at least an hour since any of them had seen Starlight or Twilight. Despite the potential danger, they had unanimously decided to return to the forest. Rainbow Dash had even resisted mightily when one of the doctors tried to help her, settling for the most basic treatment for what was probably a broken wing and following on hoof, mute after it became clear that whatever had robbed her of her vocal cords wasn't going to go away any time soon. 

They all took off at the sound of the call, Rarity leading the way, illuminating the still pitch-black forest as they ran. They continued in the direction of Starlight's last call. They found her in a small clearing, Twilight still frozen in midair, and Starlight still unconscious. They split up between them to check on them, all gasping at the horrible sight. 

"Twilight?" Rarity asked as she walked up to her. She used her horn to create another focused beam of light. She shone it into each of Twilight's eyes, looking for some kind of reaction from her eyes. She got none, she really was completely frozen.

"Starlight?" Fluttershy asked as she walked up to the unconscious mare and nudged her with a hoof. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

There was no answer, but Starlight was still breathing, her chest still rising and falling.

"Oh, no, no, no." Applejack began. "What happened to them? Where did he go? Fuck!" She began to pace, quickly running back and forth between her fallen friends.

"Applejack!" Rarity said, quickly grabbing her and bringing her eye to eye, “It’s all going to be okay, darling.” She turned away, "Someone find me some materials!" She turned back to AJ, "I - WE can fix this, we always have, and we always will."

Rarity galloped off, returning with a similar set of improvised materials to what she'd used on Rainbow for Starlight. But there wasn't much she could do. Most of their injuries were superficial, consisting only of various cuts and bruises. Her biggest injury was her exhaustion, brought on by the miles-long chase, the combination of running, casting spells, and minor injuries adding up until she couldn't take any more. Rarity probably knew this, too. She just couldn't face the fact that there wasn't much she could do for them.

Rarity paced around the two, seeming to finally give in to panic herself. Her eyes became wild and manic, while at the same time worried, as she searched for any injury she could to “dress.” the result was a still unconscious Starlight, but now covered in various pieces of foliage.

“Rarity?” Flutterhy called.

“Rarity.” AJ followed, coming up behind her. “Rarity?” She tried once more, resting a hoof on her shoulder. “Rarity!”

“WHAT!” She screamed, her voice breaking. Tears began flowing freely from her eyes as she started sobbing, pulling AJ into a hug with her forehooves. The others soon followed, the severity and stress of the situation slowly but surely breaking them. Over time, they all embraced one another, the tears quickly forming a small, combined puddle beneath them.

“Wait!” AJ said, breaking away, “Look!”

Without any of them having realized it, a small glow had begun emanating from each of their chests, in the same locations their respective elements used to lie. Their tears quickly ceased as the glow gained intensity, one even appearing on the still-frozen Twilight. Their faces quickly lit up with hope and anticipation as it grew ever brighter, before in a blinding flash of light, the elements were invoked once more.


***


Twilight's eyes shot open in panic, before she quickly sunk like a rock in a lake to the ground, coughing and gasping for air, feeling as though she hadn’t breathed in an eternity. She took a moment to catch her breath, before righting herself and taking in her surroundings. All of her friends lay in the area surrounding her, the light emitting from each of them slowly fading. Starlight was there too, similarly getting her bearings. 

“H-Huh?” She started, “What-”

“TWILIGHT!” Before she had time to register it, she found herself in the mother of all bear hugs, given by none other than Pinkie. The rest of her friends quickly followed, and she found herself having a hard time breathing again. She didn’t care though, the only thing that mattered was that they were together. 

Twilight again gasped for air when released from the hug, taking a few deep breaths before speaking. “Starlight, how do you feel?”

“Much better” The mare replied. Most of her superficial wounds from the chase remained, as did Twilights. However, she was up and walking completely normal again. Her horn and magic, while weakened, were back up to considerable strength. The oppressing darkness that surrounded them up until then was gone, replaced by warm sunlight as the sun re-assumed its rightful place in the sky. 

They all heard a loud gasp, their heads quickly turning towards Rainbow, she was hovering a few feet off the ground, her wing back to normal.

“Hey!” She said, bringing a hoof to her throat, “I- I can talk again! WOO HOO!” The group gave a small chuckle as she did stationary backflips, accompanied by random words and statements as she celebrated having her voice back. 

“Uh, Twilight?” Twilight heard Fluttershy’s meek voice, “W-Where did he go?”

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks, and she would’ve started panicking, if not for the events that followed immediately after that statement. Twilight heard a small yell, followed by a sudden commotion in the direction of AJ and Rarity. AJ had tripped and found herself halfway down a pit of quicksand, the only thing keeping her out a desperate attempt by Rarity’s telekinesis. 

“Help!” Rarity cried. The group converged on where the struggle was taking place, AJ quickly pulled out thanks to a combined effort of telekinesis from Twilight and Starlight, as well as Pinkie biting her tail and pulling backward. Pinkie had put a little too much effort into it, AJ coming out with a pop! and sent into a tumble with the party mare.

Twilight looked back towards the quicksand she’d fallen into, catching just for a split second a shimmer of magic on the surface of the quicksand. 

“Wait a second-,” Twilight thought out loud. She walked over to the quicksand, daring to touch its now still surface with a hoof. She recoiled when the same thing happened, a shimmer of magic on the surface in response to her hoof. 

“Oh no,” Twilight said, the realization starting to dawn on her. She quickly looked around the quicksand for any more evidence of what she prayed hadn’t happened. An exposed root lay a few feet away from it, the root pulled upwards at an angle, as if something had been caught on it... She looked back to the quicksand, spying an imprint in the shape of the device on its surface that she hadn’t seen earlier.

“Oh no, oh no no no no NO!” She panicked. Starlight came over to see what was wrong.

“Starlight!” Twilight shouted abruptly. “Do you know what that is?!”

“Quicksand?” The mare replied. In response, Twilight once again put her hoof in it, letting the resulting magic shimmer speak for itself.

Starlight's eyes widened, and despite knowing the implications of what she’d seen, still turned to Twilight for confirmation.

“Is that...”

“A portal!” Twilight replied hurriedly.

“And it goes to-”

“The human world!” Twilight finished her sentence for her, grabbing her shoulders and bringing her face to face.


***


Rob shot up with a start, utterly befuddled at what had happened. The last thing he remembered was desperately pointing the remote towards the enraged Twilight, only for his foot to get caught on something, sending him flying backward into nothingness. He looked around, only seeing tropical trees and other vegetation surrounding him. He realized with horror that he couldn’t feel the remote in his right hand, his head shooting this way and that as he searched in a panic. He sighed with relief upon finding it right next to him, just out of sight. He picked it up, shaking any sand stuck to it off. He stood up, stretching for a second, his muscles aching from running for so long. He looked back towards the quicksand he’d emerged from, seeing the faintest hint of a magical shimmer before its surface settled, resuming its appearance of normal quicksand. 

“Where am I?” He thought aloud. Up until then, the only way he’d been able to jump worlds was using the remote, this didn’t make any sense! He found himself utterly befuddled that portals similar to the ones he could generate with the remote just existed here. 

“Huh?” He said, spying something moving out of the corner of his eye. It was a vine, but last he checked, vines didn’t move on their own, at least, they usually didn’t in whatever world he happened to be in. He heard a low growl above him, followed by clumps of something landing on his head and shoulders. He looked up just in time to see a giant, flytrap-type plant, jaws ready to clamp down on him. He ducked out of the way just in time, landing a few feet away. He climbed back to his feet, preparing the remote upon seeing more vine-like tendrils moving towards him.

“Stay back!” He yelled, aiming the remote this way and that at the oncoming vines. “I warned you!” He shouted again, finally bringing the remote to bear. He quickly pressed Eject, sending a vine crashing into a nearby tree. He heard a pained yell from what he assumed was the plant's head, followed by the vines quickening their assault. Not seeing any other way out of this, he quickly aimed the remote at one vine after the other, each one fading from existence each time he pressed Delete. He cried out in pain when a smaller version of the plant's main head clamped onto his leg. He deleted it with another push of the button. He spied the main head lingering in the camouflage given by the other plant life, but it wasn’t enough. With a growl, Rob charged it, stopping a few feet away before pressing Delete once more. In a split second, the entire plant just disappeared, no cries of pain, nothing. With that taken care of, Rob made his way out into the open, realizing with an exasperated sigh that he was now trapped on an island.


***


Sunset Shimmer laid in bed, pajamas on and ready to sleep in preparation for the coming Monday school day, just shooting some texts back and forth with her friends before turning in. Just as she was about to, though, she was interrupted by the vibrating of her enchanted notebook on the nightstand next to her bed. She kept it there for easy access, as there was no telling when there may be some new equestrian magic that needed containing or just wanted to catch up with her princess friend on the other side. She opened it, finding a new message from Twilight that simply read Sunset! She picked up her pen, quickly writing out a Yeah? in response. She watched as words quickly began to appear on the following lines. 

We have a problem, like, a REALLY big problem! Sunset started to become worried at the frantic message, but she was confident it was just more rogue magic, nothing she hadn’t handled before. Her response reflected that.

” What, more runaway equestrian magic?”

“Magic yes, Equestrian. . .”

“Wait, what?”

“I think it's best I just give you the whole story. Yesterday at noon, somepony seized control of the sun and moon from Celestia and Luna, switching the two like one of those light switches you find in your world. It was quite the spectacle, but what frightened the sisters was that whoever had done it not only had the power to take the sun and moon from them but also resisted their efforts to take them back. I and our friends on this side of the portal were tasked with finding whoever had done this, and fast. None of us wanted a repeat of something like Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow. Starlight and I used a spell to get a rough estimate of where this magic was coming from and traced it back to the Everfree. Oh, if only we knew what we were walking into-

“Hey, it’s okay, just try to ignore it, whatever happened, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Thanks, Sunset, anyway, as we searched the forest we came across, well, I don’t know how to describe him, just that he vaguely resembled a human, with only one eye, and his form very distorted and filled with static on his limbs and head. Rainbow Dash was the first one to find him, going in head first classic Rainbow-style, I guess wanting to end it quickly. She hasn’t gone into details about what exactly happened, and having seen it myself I can’t blame her. All I know is that one second she vanished into the treetops, fighting with him, and the next she was catapulted back, landing hard into a tree and breaking one of her wings.”

Sunset had to double-take that last bit, placing a hand over her mouth and letting out a small gasp. Sure she and her friends had gotten themselves into some risky situations before, but they’d never actually gotten hurt to any serious degree. This was new, and that worried her.

” Oh Celestia, is she okay?!”

“She is now, but she’s a bit traumatized by the whole thing. She was at least happy to receive an “awesome” metal wing addition to help keep it stable. That wasn’t it, though. I don’t know what he did to her, but for a long time afterward she spoke in a strange tongue I hadn’t heard before. Rainbow loves her voice and being able to talk, as I’m sure you know from your worlds Rainbow, so she just kind of- crumbled under the stress, and the others had to take her back to Ponyville to find a doctor. Rarity surprised us all that night by showing off her prowess as a seamstress, making a makeshift gurney for her in almost no time at all! After that was said and done, it was just myself and Starlight left to find him. It’s hard to describe, but something just sort of broke within me then. All I felt was anger and malice at this mysterious somepony for doing something so heartless to Rainbow, even now I have a hard time comprehending it. Starlight and I chased him throughout the forest, where the longer things went on the more power he seemed to unveil. For starters, he was able to keep perfect pace with Starlight and me, even when we cast Accelero. It was just so- unreal some of the things he did. For example, at one point he did, well, something, and within a few seconds our surroundings had turned completely black.” 

“Like, nighttime black?”

“No, not like nighttime, it was pitch black, and we couldn’t see even a foot in front of our faces! Luckily, though, it was easy for Starlight, Rarity and I to use our horns as floodlights to still see. All of it seemed to come from this strange device he held in one hand, every time he attacked us or manipulated our surroundings he always first pointed it at us. In anger, I started firing beams at him using my horn, only for him to raise that device and freeze all of them in mid-air! At one point, Starlight cast a Rope Charmer in an attempt to bind him and stop whatever device he was using. Frankly, a smart move on her part, to try to restrain him to end things. That’s a fairly obscure spell too, somehow, Starlight always finds ways to surprise me.”

“Strange, most of what you just listed can be done with spells, but I’ve never heard of light manipulation like that or just stopping projectiles mid-air. Block them or dodge them sure, but not freeze them mid-air.”

“It’s more so that device that continues to befuddle me, I’ve looked through every book I can find on magical artifacts and haven’t found a single thing that matches it.”

“Strange.”

“That’s not it either- I’m sorry if I start to sound weird Sunset, this next part is just particularly upsetting to me.”

Sunset's gaze quickly shifted away from the latest message, turning towards a small stain that had suddenly appeared on the page. “Is that-?” Her heart started to ache even more at the realization that it was in fact a teardrop that had landed on the page. She was both hurt seeing Twilight in a state like this and angry at whoever had done this to them, she now understood how she must’ve felt that night in the forest, fighting an unknown enemy that had just hurt one of her friends. 

“Starlight’s spell almost worked, but somehow it was like he knew when it was coming. He turned around, before all of a sudden this THWOOM sound enveloped us, and Starlight fell to the ground. Her spell had just exploded in mid-air, and when she got back up her horn was sparking and she could barely walk.”

“Starlight...” Sunset muttered under her breath. Another stain like the previous one appeared on the page. “Do you want me to come over? Even if just for a few minutes, something tells me you need somepony, sleep is overrated anyway, heh.”

“I’m fine, Sunset. Starlight just walked in, want to talk to her?”

“Yeah.”


***


“Hey, Sunset.”

“Hey Starlight, uh, how’s your horn?”

“Oh, she told you about that, yeah, I’m fine, back up to 99%!”

“99? Why not 100?”

“Well, see, we’re dealing with a bit of an anomaly here. After the elements were invoked-”

“You used the elements?”

“Yeah, we did as a last resort. I guess Twilight didn’t get that far. I’m running off of word of mouth for this next portion, as neither Twilight nor I were conscious for it.”

“You and Twilight were knocked out?”

“Yeah, after my spell exploded mid-air and I collapsed, Twilight took a second to check on me, before shooting off into the forest for the final time. I wish I could’ve stopped her, but the only thing I knew at that moment was the pain radiating from my horn. There was nothing after a few seconds, just pitch blackness as I struggled to maintain a simple light spell to tell left from right and up from down. Eventually, I limped my way to a clearing where I found her frozen mid-air, whoever we’d been chasing nowhere to be found. The next thing either Twilight or I remember is waking up to find the others surrounding us, the elements activating in the bleakness of the situation. What scares us is what if they didn’t use the elements? Would Twilight have been frozen forever? It was scary seeing her like that, yes there are plenty of spells that can do things like that, but she was just frozen. It’s hard to describe. Doesn’t matter, all that matters is that we’re all still here. Plus, now we know the elements can undo whatever magic that being used.” 

“That sounds like such a tough thing to go through, but, and I’m really trying not to sound rude, what does it have to do with me? Twilight said that WE have a problem on our hands.”

“Well, there was one, teeny tiny detail we haven’t mentioned yet. Remember how I said he was nowhere to be found afterward? We have a good idea where he ended up, but I don’t think you’ll like it. In the clearing, AJ fell into what we thought was quicksand. Twilight was the first to notice it, a slight magical shimmer on the surface once we pulled AJ out. it didn’t take long to piece things together after that.”

“So you’re saying-”

“W-well, we don’t know for sure yet, there’s still so little we know about these portals and where they lead. So while it’s unlikely, there is a slight chance he ended up in your world. I say unlikely because we also think he came out of one, somewhere, he was just too strange to be from either of our worlds, so, we might be dealing with something entirely new here.” 

"Hang on, what about that 99 percent stuff?"

"Oh, that. Well, ever since he used that device on me, I can't cast Rope Charmer anymore. I can cast everything else, Accelero, Teleportation, even Duplication! But ever since then, I just can't cast this spell. Every time I try, the same pain comes back and I have to stop. This means that while the Elements CAN reverse the vast majority of effects, they cannot reverse every little thing."

Sunset took some time to think and absorb what she'd just heard. Not only had Twilight and her friends battled and technically lost to an unknown being with never-before-seen magic, but there was also the possibility that he'd fallen into their world. AND there was now the possibility that Equestria's natural portals led to more places than just their worlds. 

"So you wouldn't happen to have a plan for defeating him if he landed there, would you?"

"No, I'm not really sure how to go about it. There is very little magic in this world. Yes, me and my friends here have the geodes and the elements at our disposal, but that's only a tiny fraction of what's possible in Equestria, and if his magic still works here, that makes things even more complicated."

"Do you want me and Twilight to come over there and help you?"

"No, at least not yet, neither of you would have any magic to use here. Plus, we’re not even 100% sure he’s even here. First of all, we are going to search for him on this side of the portal and look for any new magical anomalies. Then, if we need it, I’ll message you again for help.”

“Okay, well, good luck, and be careful.”

"I will. Until we meet again, Starlight."

"Bye Sunset."

"Bye Twilight."

Sunset closed the book with a heavy sigh before she let herself fall back onto her bed. She stared at the ceiling, her mind racing at what had been said. Whoever their new enemy was, he was dangerous, and they had to find him, fast.
> The Intrusion: Part Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rob found himself in quite a predicament, holding the remote close to his distorted face as he thought. The Remote, wondrous cursed a device as it was, still had its limits, but they weren’t exactly what you’d expect them to be. Now, for example, he was stranded on what he could only assume was an island in the middle of the ocean. He couldn't go back the way he'd come, for obvious reasons, but he could just press the change channel button again and be instantly transported somewhere else. However, he'd rejected that idea. It was too easy. There had to be something he hadn't tried yet that could get him out of here without jumping worlds, he just had to look.

He had the remote close to his face, analyzing each individual button. 99% of the time he only needed a few, for example Pause, undoubtedly the most useful, the ability to freeze anything as long as he wanted was incredible and one of the most used, because a function like Delete crossed moral boundaries. Even though anything or anyone he erased could be restored just as easily, it still presented him with a moral dilemma, and he still regretted the fact that he'd had to use it on his equestrian pursuers. He pushed the thought away, using his predicament to further familiarize himself with what exactly the Remote was capable of, and went back to figuring out a way off the island. 

He quickly came to the Menu button, another one he had yet to use for the first time. When he first pressed it, what could only be described as a hologram appeared a few feet in front of him, one side a small display with many more features listed across it, presumably ones that couldn't fit on the device itself and were not really needed. The other was different-

Menu.


***


After spending the better part of the last 10 minutes scrolling through this new wealth of functions, Rob had finally found his ticket out of the island. He'd lost interest in the Tools side rather quickly, his attention grabbed much more by the Menu portion.

Channel: Discovery Family

Show: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Locations: 

Canterlot City <

Rob stared at the window in disbelief as he took it in. Ever since he'd discovered the remote and let it open his eyes, he'd had theories living in his head, threatening to destroy his sanity if any of them proved true. It was unbearable, the thought that everything he had seen and would ever see wasn't real, and how hard it would be to come to terms with that. The window that lay in front of him was just one more clue. What’s Discovery Family? What’s My Little Pony? If he had to guess, MLP was the name of the world he was in, but he had no idea what "Discovery Family" was. There was an arrow next to Canterlot City under Locations, blinking to let him know that this was the current selection. He selected it, not knowing what else to do.

He was a bit taken aback, but not too surprised, when a vertical, rectangular portal appeared to the right of the current window. On the other side was a bustling cityscape, with what appeared to be a high school, not too dissimilar to Elmore Junior High, in the center. Rob got to his feet and quickly stepped through the portal and over to the other side. He quickly froze his surroundings, freezing everything but himself to erase the portal and orient himself. Just as the menu that was brought up by the Menu button and his selection had said, he found himself in the city of Canterlot. Well, it was labeled as a city. To Rob it looked more like a suburb, but never mind.

Still frozen, he hid in the nearest place he could see, a bundle of overgrown bushes next to what looked like an upside-down horseshoe statue. He wasn't sure exactly what he was going to do, but he certainly wasn't going to be as careless with the remote as he had been before. He wasn't invincible, far from it. And with the hypothesis that wherever he ended up would probably be similar to where he was before, he was cautious. Maybe he could use this place as a playground if the circumstances allowed it, after all, he had just found a previously undiscovered menu of functions from A to Z. He looked up at the sky through the thorns and leaves and found that it was dawn, almost morning. Not too keen on waiting, he fought the urge to simply fast-forward the sun again. But he didn't, it couldn't be that long anyway. He had learned many things since using the remote, one of the most important being power consumption. Like all remotes, superpowered or not, they depended on batteries. In the case of this particular remote, you had to be careful how you used it sometimes. Functions like pause, play, slow-mo, etc. The smaller ones used a minimal amount of power, and there wasn't a hard limit on how often you could use them, well, except for pause and slow motion. The longer an object/being/surrounding was paused or slowed, the more power was used. Same with using multiple functions at the same time, the more you used at the same time, the more power you used. Strong functions like Delete were the biggest culprits, using them even once could be a big power drain, another reason for Rob to regret having used it. He wasn't sure how much power he had left, so he had to proceed with caution. When the power is exhausted, not only is the device inoperable until the batteries are replaced, but any functions that were previously in use stop until the same requirement is met. This isn't usually a problem in a controlled environment. But it's easy to see how this could be really, really bad, especially in a combat situation.


***


Sunset Shimmer jogged along the sidewalk leading to Canterlot High, spotting her friends hanging out on the staircase leading to the main entrance. She picked up her pace, her jog turning into a run as she hurried to tell her friends what she'd been told the night before.

Finally reaching the small stairs, she bent over, breathing heavily as her arms rested on her knees,

"Woah, you okay Sunset?" Rainbow asked.

Sunset took one last deep breath before she regained her composure.

"We have a problem." She announced.

"Problem? What kind, darling?" Rarity replied.

Rather than take the few minutes it would have taken her to tell her friends by mouth because of her shortness of breath, she simply pulled out the notebook and held it out. Rarity reluctantly took the book.

"The most recent entry," Sunset said, before turning her head to look around for anything out of the ordinary. The first thing she looked at was the sky, to make sure the sun was in its rightful place. Next her eyes went to her surroundings. Was anyone frozen? No. Whew. After a few more seconds of searching for environmental oddities, her attention returned to her friends, all huddled in a circle around her enchanted book. Wanting to be doubly sure that nothing was wrong, she jogged back to the end of the courtyard. She held a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun as she scanned up and down the street in front of her. Her attention then turned to the statue, where she discreetly made sure that it hadn't been tampered with, before she made her way back to her friends. 

For a time her friends were silent, their attention glued to the notebook she’d given them, their eyes moving from left to right, rinse and repeat. At one point, Rainbow subconsciously grabbed her right arm and winced slightly, the closest thing she had to a wing. 

"Wow," AJ said.

Sunset took the book back once she was certain her friends were finished. They all looked at each other with a mixture of fear or worry, or in Rainbow's case, anger.


***


Rob could hardly believe his eye. Somehow his equine pursuers had followed him to... Whatever this place was supposed to be. Or, if he was to believe the remote- “My Little Pony: Equestria girls.” He grimaced, he wasn't about to stand for this. 

For a second, he considered pausing or even deleting them, but was quickly reminded of the power situation he was in. He didn't know how much power he had left, and if he ran out, he would be stranded and thus doomed, at least until he could find new batteries. He couldn't risk exposing himself and causing panic. Now that he thought about it, a group of teenagers just disappearing into thin air would probably set off some alarms like he had before playing with the sun and the moon. No, he was going to have to be more careful and work out of the shadows. Fortunately for him, he knew just how to do just that. Using the fancy new menus, he'd been able to get more information about where he was. If the title of these worlds was any indication, friendship was the driving force here - "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic".

So he decided to do exactly what he'd acquired the remote for in the first place: Vengeance. 

Part of him said that he should just leave. Despite being low on power he was confident he had enough left for at least one more jump. It would be so easy, just switch channels again, head to some other world and let all of this be swept under the rug. However, that wasn't what dominated his thoughts. 

Whether he realized it or not, he had an almost personal grudge against "main characters." He still had much to learn about the truth of his existence, but he knew one thing for sure- he was a background character. All his life he'd lived in the background, in ignorant bliss while Gumball and Darwin always hogged the spotlight. He hadn't minded this, granted that was because he wasn't aware at the time, but still. That changed once he was swallowed up by the Void. It was a strange experience, that, one moment he was walking along, minding his own business, and the next, he woke up there. He wasn't sure how long he'd rotted there, there wasn't exactly a sun or moon, or anything really, to tell time. The only thing he remembered was crying out, begging the two main characters for help once they came to the Void themselves. Fate seemed to have it out for him, however, because they weren't there for him, no. They were there for Molly. They had left him there to rot, and he would have, had he not been able to grab onto their van at the last second as they left. He looked down at his broken, disfigured body, these thoughts a cruel reminder as to how he'd ended up like this. It ended up being a blessing in disguise, however. He didn't understand it still, but somehow what had happened that day granted him immunity from whatever that Darkness was. He didn't doubt that it would have gotten him had that not happened. 

He gave a small chuckle, it was funny how things worked out sometimes, what had initially seemed like a curse had ended up being a blessing in disguise. He wondered how his younger self would react to just what had become of his life, going from an unknown, forgotten background character, to breaking the mold, gaining his own free will, and eventually, becoming trapped in a world filled with human versions of magical horses. It seemed like a fever dream when he thought about it, but unfortunately it was not as such. If he really wanted to, he could do exactly that, go back in time and stand face to face with the younger him. He quickly dismissed the idea, while it was indeed possible given the remotes’ vast capabilities, he hadn’t a clue what the implications of time travel on that scale would be, space time continuum and all that. 

His mind snapped back to reality once more. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, and these thoughts had reminded him of his distaste for main characters everywhere. Hogging the spotlight, casting people like him to the side so they could go on grand adventures he could only dream of. What’s worse is that no one like him even knew it, continuing to live in blissful ignorance-

”I wish I could go back...”

His anger rose ever more, not just at his thoughts, but at whoever it was that ran the show, both figuratively and literally. Why him? Why couldn’t he have just continued living his mundane life? Sure there wasn’t anything interesting or exciting about it, but it was his life, and he hadn’t realized until now how much he’d taken it for granted. He quite literally had nothing left of his previous life, not even his body. 

His anger peaking, he glared out from the bushes at the outlet for his anger. On top of everything else that had become of his life, he was constantly misjudged and ostracized by everyone, forgotten even by his fellow background characters, and labeled a villain by the main characters. He had only wanted help, someone to listen to him in his darkest moments, when he was little more than a wayward traveler, and the lone survivor of a world-consuming corruption, only to be met with the same distaste and seemingly instinctual hatred. If there was one thing he had learned throughout the past few years, it was that everyone wanted him to be a villain, no matter what he tried. Fine, if that was what he was going to be labeled as, he might as well play the part. But he wouldn’t be just any villain, the kind to only last a few episodes, if that, before being defeated, no. He looked down at the remote with evil glee. If he was going to be a villain, he was going to be the best gosh darned villain there ever was.

He already had a target in mind, the girl with the rainbow colored hair. She was brave, he had to give her that, the only one before her to rush him while wielding the remote had been Gumball himself. Granted, she probably had no idea of the remote, but it was still commendable nonetheless. However, that bravery made her a threat, and he couldn’t have that. He aimed the remote, the function he intended to use already prepared- 

Parental Filter: Off..

At first glance, this function didn’t seem that useful, paling in comparison to many others, but there was a devil in the details. Whomever he used this function on lost any semblance of a filter, their language spontaneously losing any and all limits. It had been quite fun the first time he’d used it on Gumball’s parents. He had been too far away to hear exactly what had happened after he used it, but the aftermath had been undeniable. Especially in a world where friendship was in everything, a function that could destroy relationships like the snap of a finger was particularly devious.  


***


"That sounds serious." Fluttershy said, "Poor otherworld Rainbow Dash." 

"I know you didn't mean it when you wrote that-" Aj said, "But please tell me you have a plan now."

Sunset sighed. "No, I don't, well, not exactly a PLAN, but I have a rough idea of what we should do. More or less, just keep an eye out for anything unusual. There's always the possibility that whoever did this is somewhere else entirely, I mean, there's so much we don't know about these portals and where they lead."

Sunset's eyes drifted over to Rainbow, who seemed much angrier than before. 

"Uh, are you okay Rainbow?"

"I WANT TO KICK THIS GUY'S ASS!"

The sudden and very loud outburst shocked and frightened everyone, even students across the courtyard heard it and stared at the group in confusion. It was as if someone had stopped everything for a fleeting moment.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity said accusingly, "I can't believe you'd say something like that!" She was the only one who had the nerve to say anything at that moment. Fluttershy had retreated into herself under the gaze of dozens of classmates, and Pinky's hair had briefly deflated.

"Oh, shut up, Rarity, you prissy-"

Before she could finish her sentence, AJ grabbed Rainbow by the collar of her shirt and pinned her against the nearby railing.

"Rainbow! What the hell has gotten into you?"

"AJ, stop!" Sunset yelled, quickly stepping between them. She looked over at Rarity, who was barely holding back tears. When her eyes met Sunset's, she broke down and let out a loud sob before turning and running into the building. Just as she entered the school, Sunset saw both the principal and the vice-principal come out, having heard the commotion.

“Rainbow Dash! My office, NOW!” Principal Celestia bellowed.

Rewind.

“Wha- what?!” Rainbow said meekly. “What happened? Where’s Rarity?!”

“Like heck, you don’t know,” Aj replied, grabbing Rainbow by the hair and dragging her into the building.

“AJ what’s wrong with you?! Let me go!” Rainbow protested as she was being carried off.

“W-wait. Principal Celestia, I can expla-” Sunset started, but was quickly cut off.

“No Sunset, you can’t, I know what I heard.” Principal Celestia said.

“Wait!” Sunset called again, only for the door entering the school to close in her face.

“What just happened?” Pinkie said, her voice losing any joy it might’ve had before.

“It’s him,” Sunset said. “Didn’t you read the book? Rainbow would never say that!”

“What are you talking about Sunset?” Fluttershy said. “Come on Pinkie, I’m worried about Rarity.” 

Wordlessly, the two of them stood up, walking solemnly yet quickly into the building, presumably to check on Rarity.

Sunset found herself at a loss for words. Within the span of what couldn’t have been more than 2 minutes, all of her friends had somewhat literally been taken away from her. Her mind swam with thoughts. Could this have been his doing? This didn’t match any of what Twilight had told her he could do. The sun was still in the same place, nothing was moved or seemed out of place. But then again, who knew what he might be able to do? No, there was no way he could outright manipulate someone's personality like that. The only thing that could do that she knew of was some form of magic, and even then she’d have been able to see some kind of indicator, this had just been completely out of the blue. And why did Fluttershy ask her what she was talking about when she tried to remind them? Nothing made any sense, and Sunset sat back on the staircase, bringing her knees to her chest and burying her face in them.

“Sunset! Are you okay?!” 

Sunset's head shot up from its former position buried in her legs. None other than Twilight herself stood above her, looking down with a concerned expression on her face. This worlds Twilight, that is, in her frenzy, she’d completely forgotten about her. 

“Twilight?”

“Yeah? Don’t tell anyone that I was nearly late being early and-”

Sunset shot up from her sitting position on the stairs, wrapping her only remaining friend in a tight hug. It didn’t last long, though.

“Twilight, we have a big problem,” Sunset said.

“Let me guess,” Twilight said, straightening her glasses. “More rogue Equestrian magic has-”


***


Vengence had gone far better and quicker than Rob had expected. All it took was turning the Rainbow Ones filter off, and things had taken care of themselves. Granted, he couldn’t hear any of it, what with all the other people hustling and bustling around him, but he could see it all. While he recognized the majority of the ones he’d used the remote on, there was one unknown, the amber-colored girl with the fiery hair. Sure he wanted revenge, but he still had some morals, as limited as they may be, and had exempted her from what he’d done to the others, and while that was mainly for humanity's sake, he was also trying to save as much power as possible. he pulled up the menu again to check the power-

Battery Power low, please replace the batteries.

He wore a deadpan expression reading that message, hoping that it would’ve been more specific, an exact percentage would’ve been nice. it was time to leave anyway, so without a second thought, he pressed Change Channel once again-

Nothing.

“What!?” he exclaimed aloud, nearly attracting the attention of a passing student. Nothing had happened. In a panic, he went back to the menu-

The following functions cannot be used due to low power: 
Change Channel
Delete

” No no no no no!” He thought frantically. He needed to get out of here, NOW. If there was one thing that the vast majority of worlds had in common, it’s that there were almost always batteries or some other power source available, and if this place were anything like Elmore, and it was, there had to be batteries somewhere. Fortunately, unlike you’d expect, the remote took any old batteries, no unnecessary restrictions or anything like that. Nope, just regular old triple-A batteries.

He held the remote up again, just barely poking outside of the bushes he was in-

Pause

He let out a deep sigh of relief. Thankfully there was still enough power left to pause things, but not for long. He quickly got up, before starting a mad dash across the courtyard. There was a line of houses on the other side of the street, and there HAD to be batteries in one if not all of them. Just get in, change batteries, and get out. Simple, right?

Power level: Critical.

“What the-”

Rob looked to his right in horror at the sound of the voice. It was a boy, yellow, wearing a jacket and jeans, blue hair, with a symbol of a shield with a lightning bolt atop it. But- he was supposed to be frozen!

Rob quickly did a 360, coming to the haunting realization that the batteries had died, and now here he was, caught out in the open. 

”Oh no.”

Just to make things worse, when he looked right behind him, he saw her, the girl that he’d been stupid enough to exempt from his effects. Upon making eye contact, their eyes opened wide in horror, before he saw her eyes turn to determination and malice. Pushing aside the still oblivious Twilight, Sunset broke into a sprint-

The chase was on.
> The Coming Apocalypse: Fallen Hero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Come along with me

To a cliff under a tree

Where we can gaze upon the water

A͋͜n ḛ̿v̭͆e͍̍r̤̊l̹̆â̩stì͕ng̹̚ ͖̾d̓͟r̼̃e͎̔a͈̓ṃ͋




> The Intrusion: Part Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset Shimmer broke into a sprint upon realizing what she was seeing. It was so unexplainable, one second there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and the next, well, he just appeared. Of course, there was no way Sunset could know if who she was chasing was actually him, but for one, normal people don’t just spawn in random places, two, his appearance, and three, the fact he started running once Sunset started giving chase, she was pretty certain.

“Sunset, what’s going on?!” Twilight called. No response. But, given the talented mind she possessed, she quickly put two and two together, seeing Sunset start chasing a being so otherworldly it almost broke her logical mind just looking at it. She quickly turned around, before dashing into the building, intent on finding their missing friends.





Rob continued to look around in horror at the predicament he now found himself in. Not only had he completely exposed himself, but he now had a very angry and determined Sunset right behind him, closing the distance very fast. And all because he had wanted revenge... He flipped the remote over, quickly lifting the flap, digging the dead batteries out, and throwing them at his pursuer, to little effect as you’d imagine. He noticed something, however, a small flap buried under where the batteries usually lay, poked up slightly at an angle. It was hard to read, but he was just able to make the words out while sprinting.

Emergency LP44 button cell battery, for emergency use only.

Realizing that this could be his saving grace, he quickly fixed the flap covering the emergency battery, before quickly opening the tools menu on the fly, the hologram-like projection it created keeping pace with his sprint.

Emergency power enabled.

Rob's body filled with hope, all he needed to do was get away, find batteries, and leave this world filled with more of his own mistakes for good. He quickly pressed pause-

Insufficient power, battery level critical.

Of course, the power was still low, he was on the absolute last traces after all.

” Ugh! What CAN I do?!” he thought to himself. Without really thinking, his thumb moved over to the first one he could think of that used little power-

Blur.

In an instant, everything turned blurry, and I mean everything. Fortunately, this wasn’t the first time Rob had used this otherwise obscure function, and he was still able to somewhat run towards the vague outlines of houses in front of him, albeit with frequent trips. 


***


Sunset tripped, falling and landing hard on the pavement below her as everything turned blurry. She felt dizzy, very dizzy, what she imagined a hangover would feel like if she’d ever done drugs or drank. Despite her blurred vision, she was still able to discern Rob's figure in the distance, and with major difficulty, was able to get back on her own two feet and continue the chase, albeit much slower to avoid falling again.


***


POWER LEVEL CRITICAL, PLEASE REPLACE THE BATTERIES IMMEDIATELY.

Rob's hope once again dimmed as the blur effect ceased, what he could assume were precautionary measures kicking in to preserve power. Everything clear again, he lost the one advantage he might’ve had over Sunset, who once again started closing the distance fast.

Panicking, he hurriedly pointed the remote at Sunset, pressing the first thing his thumb landed on in the hope of doing something.

Info.

The holo menu appeared in front of him again, but this time it was different. Now there laid a wall of text in front of him, along with a picture of his pursuer-

Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset Shimmer is a female unicorn-turned-human and a main character in the Equestria Girls franchise, initially appearing as-

He ignored the rest of the wall of text. Although utterly amazed at what had just happened, it wasn’t doing anything to stop “Sunset Shimmer” from chasing him. What does “Unicorn-turned-human” even mean? Didn’t matter.

He finally made his way to the front yard of the house he was running for. Frustrated, he smacked the remote against his hand, before turning it at Sunset and pressing Eject.

Seemingly having overridden the safety features temporarily, this function just barely worked, forcing Sunset backward and to the ground as though she’d been shoved. Unfortunately, however, the remote completely died after this, even the floating menu flickering out as the last power was used. It was all he needed though, running up to the house before grabbing a stray brick and throwing it through a window, quickly catapulting himself inside. 

Rob got up quickly, running through each room of the house he found himself in. There, a TV setup, a normal, run-of-the-mill remote sitting on a coffee table in front of a large sofa. He quickly ripped the batteries out of it, before shoving them haphazardly into his own. Thankfully it flickered to life, the power LED in the top corner briefly flashing red. He wasn’t sure how much power those batteries had, but all he needed was enough power to escape. He lifted it, before pressing Change Channel.

Or at least, he should have. 

Before he could press it, Sunset threw herself into him, arriving just in time to stop his escape. She quickly got herself on top of him, holding the arm wielding the remote down-

“Who are you?! What are you?! Why did you hurt my friends?!” She yelled.

Her geode flashed a bright orange.


***


” Be careful with this universal remote, it has a power only a fool would not fear. Tell me, for what will you use it?

“Oh you know, TV’s DVD players...

VENGENCE!”

“No! It cannot be used for evil!”


***


”You turned me into the villain, Gumball Watterson, you left me with this broken body, and you gave me this ridiculous voice! But now, I am in control. And the time has come for you to pay.”


***


”Why? This is where my story ends! I belong here with the rest of the universe's mistakes! Like socks and sandals, the helicopter ejector seat, and ...whatever that thing is.”





Sunset fell backward, losing her hold on Rob. She held one of her hands to her head, her mind completely overwhelmed with what she’d seen. It hadn’t been much, only lasting a fleeting moment. It was like how she imagined someone's life flashing before their eyes in a near-death scenario. In her haze, she almost didn’t notice Rob get up, ducking out of the way just in time as he used a newly powered remote. The aforementioned sofa from before shot through the wall as the Eject function was used, bringing down a large piece of drywall that clouded the air with smoke, hampering visibility and causing the two to cough and gag. Sunset was the first to recover, quickly going for the remote itself. It became a tug of war, their hands fighting over the remote as they yanked it between one another. Various buttons were pressed accidentally, activating many functions and draining a lot of power. A window broke, a ceiling fan disappeared from existence, and things briefly became blurry again as they fought.

Sunset eventually came out on top, she jumped back, before aiming the remote at Rob and pressing a button without thinking. As you can imagine, this was never going to end well.

Zoom.

Sunset fell backward as she felt something cold and hard smack her in the face. Sunset is not aware of the fourth wall, and Rob barely. By pressing zoom she caused the camera we’ve all been watching this with to, well, zoom, and smack her in the face as a result. You’d think that a function called Zoom would just zoom in on a target like a camera, but nope. 

Sunset still dazed from being hit with the camera faltered while Rob took the chance and grabbed the remote, before running outside to hopefully have enough time to press Change Channel. Now that he’d finally been caught, revenge all of a sudden didn’t seem too appealing, all of his prior hate and malice giving way to fear and regret. It was in his best interest to leave as soon as possible. But once again, before he could press it, Sunset was again on him, engaging in another tug-of-war for the remote with him. With one final yank, the remote flew from both their grasps, but not before activating another function.

Slo-mo.

Everything now moved in slow motion, and while this had numerous advantages, such as giving the two time to re-evaluate their strategies, there was now no way either of them could surprise the other, or wrestle for the remote effectively. Sunset’s eyes widened in surprise at what had just happened. No matter how much she willed it, her arms refused to move at a pace faster than a few inches per second, ditto for Rob. The same applied to their surroundings, pieces of grass, dirt, and dead leaves moving at the same pace through the air as they struggled. They both glared into each other's eyes, before moving back towards the Remote. Now able to get a good look at it, Sunset couldn’t help but become even more confused. To her, it looked like quite literally any other remote one could find. But what it was capable of was undeniable, and it was paramount that she get it away from him, for her friends’ sake.

“Give me that remote, you little-” Rob managed to say despite the slow speed, his words coming out slurred and drawn out. Both of their hands reached the remote at the same time, and while Sunset had gone only for the remote itself, Rob had gone for the slow-mo button again to stop the agony of moving at that speed.

Slo-mo: Off.

Sunset's geode activated again.

This time, she saw- Darkness, endless darkness, and static. She saw Rob again, this time a much more recent version of him. While before she’d seen a far less flattering part of him, the part that used the remote as an instrument of vengeance and domination, she now saw something completely different. She saw him wake up in the Void, to a world consumed by static and corruption, and a completely new side of his character. She didn't see an evil, vengeful monster this time, rather, a scared, desperate victim of something completely beyond his control.

Sure, he was a bad guy, always was, but later on, he still had good intentions. He was the only one who knew what the Void was all about, and what was destined to befall his world if he didn’t do something. Unfortunately, his attempts bore no fruit, his past sins against the citizens of Elmore coming back to bite him. He was labeled as the villain once again, and as the paintings foretold, the apocalypse had come to pass. She watched him evade various characters consumed by a glitch-like corruption, before re-harnessing the power of the remote to not only fight back but escape. In his mind, he’s a hero, the sole survivor of what would become the Cartoon Apocalypse that befell his world. 

Sunset stepped back again, holding her hands out and in front of her in a non-aggressive manner. “Wait!” She said. 

Rob took advantage of the opportunity, yanking the remote away, before aiming it right at her. At her sudden exclamation and step back, however, he hesitated. 

Sunset, upon realizing she had his attention, continued. “I- I just want to talk.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He snapped back.

“Look, I know this might sound hard to believe, but, I can read minds,” Sunset replied, holding her geode out.

“Do you really think I’d find that hard to believe?” He said, holding the remote up and pointing to it with a deadpan face. “Just to be sure...”

He paused things again, Sunset included. He aimed the remote at her, before using his newly discovered Info function for the second time ever.

It took him a good minute of scrolling, but he eventually found what he was looking for-

In the film Legend of Everfree, Sunset Shimmer appears as the secondary central character, serving as moral support for human Twilight. At Camp Everfree, Sunset is paired up with Twilight in the Sapphire Tent. While at the camp, Sunset's magic undergoes a dramatic change, and she develops the ability to sense others' thoughts, memories, and feelings through physical touch.

He chose not to think about the implications of “In the film” too hard for the time being. There was still so much he didn’t know about the truth of their existence, but what he did know terrified him. This confirmed what “Sunset Shimmer” was telling him, she really did just see into his mind, his personal thoughts and feelings. Part of him felt offended that his very personal thoughts had been violated not once, but twice. Another part of him felt scared, scared that she’d unintentionally exposed herself to the same knowledge he’d been cursed with.

He looked up at the top right corner of the menu. His battery was slightly below 50% from what he could tell, there wasn’t a whole lot he could discern from a battery icon with a rough estimate and glowing yellow.

He saw the icon flash before the battery on screen went down a bit more. Knowing he didn’t have much left, and needed enough to be able to leave once all was said and done, he unpaused everything. 

“You’re not lying.” He said.

“No, I’m not, and I know you’re not a bad guy, at least, not as bad as we thought you were.”

“We? Who’s we?”

“I know this one might be hard to believe as well, but, I know what happened, between you and those in the other world, and, not just because I touched you.”

He thought about it for a second, it would explain why the titles were similar on the menu screen. “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” and “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.” 

He sighed, “Yeah, I believe that too.” His previously defensive and hostile demeanor had faded away, he was now the same as he had started, a wayward traveler with no home thanks to his own actions and failures.

“I didn’t mean to hurt them.” He said, “I just panicked.”

“Well, you really did hurt them,” Sunset replied. She was keeping up an act, trying to buy enough time for Twilight to hopefully get their friends in time. She was the only one besides her who hadn’t been exposed to the remote’s effects and remained their best hope of finally ending this. She had seen much more than just memories the second time and knew he was lying. If he didn’t mean to hurt them, why would he have gone out of his way to try and break them up out of spite? She’d seen him use it on her friends not too long ago, that was why Rainbow had snapped, and the others not remembering what they’d read seconds prior. Not to mention, she’d seen what he’d done to “Gumball,” an act so dark and heartless it made her ill just thinking about it. While she knew what was happening, her main question was, how? How could a seemingly normal TV remote be capable of such things? Interdimensional travel, freezing time, mind manipulation, the list goes on. 

“I- I know, and, I’m sorry.” He replied. “I just- I don’t know. If you saw into my memories, then you know what happened.” He paused, exhaling. “I’ve lost everything, yeah I was a bad guy, I’ll admit it, but in the end, all I wanted was to save them. I was the only one who knew what was coming. If it had worked, I wouldn’t be here. But, well, you saw it didn’t you?” He said, his voice becoming significantly more panicked towards the end. “Please tell me you saw it too.”

Sunset was snapped back to attention, her mouth hanging open slightly as she tried to remember what he’d said. Her gaze had gone to the area behind him, where she spied Twilight, hiding in some of the bushes and small trees that separated the houses in the small suburb they were in. Trying not to give herself away, Sunset looked around slightly as he monologued, finding all of the others close by. Twilight held a finger up to her mouth in a shushing motion. Sunset quickly put two and two together, surprised and impressed at how quickly and how well Twilight had coordinated them all. All she needed to do now was make the first move.

Without a word, Sunset yet again went straight for the remote, this time catching Rob completely off guard. Sunset quickly delivered a hard punch across the face to him, causing him to stumble. 

“Does that feel real enough to you?!” She yelled, before going for the remote, which had tumbled a few feet away in the short struggle.

Rob landed hard on the ground, dazed, before hearing Sunset yell that. A lightbulb went off in his head, and he quickly realized what had just happened.

“You’re just like the rest of them!” He cried out in rage as he retaliated. He lunged at Sunset, the remote once again falling to the ground as they fought. To Sunset's horror, she realized that it had been activated again. Their surroundings had been paused once more, meaning that her friends couldn’t help her. To confirm, she looked over to where they had been hiding. As she feared, they were trapped in limbo just like everything around them. If she was to have a fighting chance, she had to free them. 

She and Rob remained struggling on the ground for a time. Her geode activated again, but this time instead of memories, she saw what his next move would be. She quickly moved her torso to the right as he attempted to go for her throat. Her terror and desperation increased ever more at the sudden coldness that had overtaken him but confirmed that what she’d seen was true. This was a threat unlike anything she or her friends had faced before, but she refused to give up. She quickly rolled back around, delivering a left hook as Rob’s hands hit the grass below where her throat would’ve been, sending him down again in a daze. She looked around, before spotting and getting to the remote. She picked it up, desperately scanning over it for whatever function it was that would free her friends. She spotted it soon enough, the pause button. The remote wasn’t too unlike the remotes that existed in this world, so finding it had been easier than she’d thought. 

Sunset heard a cry of rage behind her, turning around to see Rob charging her again, this time with a brick held in his right hand. Her eyes opened wide in horror before she dodged out of the way as the brick went by her head. She took off in a sprint, Rob following right behind her. She aimed the remote at him, once again taking a gamble as she pressed the first thing her finger landed on. 

Eject.

Rob went flying backward, landing hard against a nearby fence. Sunset quickly looked back to the remote, not wasting any more time, and pressed the pause button.

Sunset's momentary joy ceased as she felt something hard hit her in the right shoulder, a flash of intense pain washing over her as she fell to the ground. This was quickly followed up as Rob quite literally kicked her while she was down, before grabbing the remote and pressing another previously unseen function-

AV.

Sunset sat up from where she’d been knocked down, just in time to hear something behind her. She turned her head, just in time to see a large, rectangular-shaped portal appear behind her. She looked into it, seeing nothing but static as far as she could see. Her gaze went downward, where she was greeted with a very different sight. Islands, floating in the abyss, each containing sections of what she assumed had been a small town, each covered partially with a mysterious black substance, similar to the static that surrounded it. She could almost swear she saw figures among them, wandering aimlessly. 

It was real.

Her gaze went back in the opposite direction as she heard Rob walking up to her, remote in hand. His face was deadpan, almost completely devoid of emotion as he stood in front of her.

“I thought you were different.” He said, a tinge of sadness audible in his voice. He slowly raised the remote, preparing to banish Sunset into the Void. “Too bad.”

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” A voice called. Sunset looked to the side, just in time to see a Rainbow trail come towards Rob at lightning speed-

Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow body-slammed herself into him, sending him and the remote flying half a dozen meters away. The portal behind Sunset closed, the eldritch horrors it contained sealed away. 

Sunset winced, looking down towards her shoulder. Nothing seemed broken, a quick but painful flex of that area confirming it, still, she was in a lot of pain, barely able to move it beyond that.

“You okay, sugarcube?” She heard. Looking back, she saw AJ looming over her with a hand outstretched. Sunset gratefully took it, allowing herself to be hoisted to her feet just in time to see Rainbow go back after Rob.

Rob got back to his feet once again, remote in hand, just in time to see Rainbow coming at him.

“You don’t learn your lesson do you?” He said, before moving to what he thought to be the perfect function-

Slow-mo.

Everything moved in slow-motion again, Rainbows sprint included. He smirked, it was poetic really, the group's speedster reduced to a mere crawl at the remote’s command.

Then it happened.

He noticed it first, what seemed like a small rock dangling from her neck. Now that he thought about it, they all had one, having enough time in slo-mo to look over them all more carefully. He watched as the rock started emitting a glow, before to his shock and horror, Rainbow started moving at normal speed. 

”Impossible!” He thought, he would have said it too, but his mouth had only barely opened by that point. He rushed to press the button again as she closed the distance, just barely making it. Things moving normally again, Rainbow overshot it, sent careening past him.

He looked back, just in time to see the rest of the group coming right for him. He aimed the remote at them again, pressing Pause.

Nothing happened, well, at least, nothing happened to them.

Their surroundings froze again, but they didn’t. He watched as they all started to glow in response to the command, and could do nothing as he was temporarily blinded by a flash of rainbow-colored light. He stared in utter befuddlement at what he was seeing. All of them now sported new clothes in addition to what looked like pony ears, accompanied by wings on some.

Growling, he aimed the remote again, pressing pause, again. 

Nothing happened, again.

Now able to see better what had happened, he noticed a transparent shield surrounding them, reacting with a shimmer each time he attempted to freeze them. His thumb moved over to the Delete key, but he hesitated, he was still on a relatively low battery and needed every charge he could get to finally escape. The group had stopped moving towards him, and realizing they now had the advantage, simply stared him down. 

“There’s nowhere else to run!” Sunset exclaimed.

“It’s over!” Rainbow followed.

They were right, it was over. But not in the way they were expecting.

He started to laugh, only slightly at first, before it eventually became a maniacal cackle. It didn’t make sense, how could all of this be happening? It wasn’t real! Nothing was, their entire existence was a lie! Part of him missed that ignorant bliss, when he was unaware of it all, and the weight it had all placed on his back. He missed those days. Sure, he was a background character, but at least he still had a place, however insignificant it may have been. He wondered who it was that pulled all the strings, who had made him into this monster. If all of this wasn’t real, he doubted fate was either. He’d seen it with his own eye, the past, present, even the future of his world with the help of the paintings. How could that be possible if someone else wasn’t pulling the strings? He wondered why he’d been singled out, out of everyone they could have done this to, it was him. No no, that wasn’t right, this was all his fault. He’d broken the mold the moment he’d first picked up the remote. All of this was his fault. He wondered what the implications of what he’d been doing meant as well. He’d probably completely messed up reality as he knew it just by being there. More importantly, he knew that it was coming for them. You think he hadn’t tried to stop it? Rewind, Delete, all of them. No matter what he did, it always returned, more and more oppressing each time. And you know what? He didn’t care! None of this was real, nothing he’d known was. Elmore, Gumball, these horse girls, all of them! So why should he care!?

Sunset and the rest of the group's faces flattened as Rob broke into that maniacal laughter. It lasted a lot longer than any of them would’ve expected, but eventually, he did calm down, staring directly at Sunset.

“I know what you saw. How could you deny it? None of this is real, it never was! You can’t deny the truth!”

Sunset grimaced, he was right, in the sense that he knew what she’d seen. She looked around, greeted by the kind and warm smiles of her friends. She quickly shook it off, before staring straight back and responding.

“I don’t care if you’re right or not. Yeah, let’s assume that none of this is real, even if it isn’t, the bonds and memories I’ve made with my friends are.”

He let out a cry of frustration, “You haven’t seen the last of me!” He roared.

“Yes, we have,” Sunset responded. She and her friends began glowing again, before the familiar Rainbow laser shot down from above them, heading straight for Rob.

A great cry of pain and rage was heard, and when Sunset and her friends touched ground again, it was over, he was gone.
> Eyes Opened
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset sat in one of the many chairs surrounding the cutie map, Starlight beside her and Twilight across from her. Shortly after her and her friends' climactic battle with an intruder from what they could only assume was another dimension, she had decided to visit Twilight in person, both to tell her what had happened and to work together to explain it. While Sunset had made it sound simple enough, there was another, unseen factor involved. Ever since she'd fought him, Sunset just didn't feel like herself. If all that had happened to her was being forced to listen to the nonsensical ramblings of an interdimensional anomaly like her friends, she'd be fine. But that wasn't the case, not only had she seen things far beyond her comprehension from her geode, but she had seen them with her own eyes as well. 

She shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if things hadn't gone perfectly. If she'd been thrown into the same void she'd seen in her flashbacks, or even worse, killed. Would her friends have had any idea of her fate? Could she have found a way out? Was there a way out? Or would she remain trapped there? Imprisoned in a static-filled hell with incomprehensible horrors. Her mind raced with a seemingly infinite number of questions. Everything from what that place was to the glitch-like substance that seemed to reside there. She didn't have the slightest idea what it was, and yet it frightened her to no end, a primal, instinctual fear like nothing she'd ever felt before. 

She squeezed her eyes shut and took slow, deep breaths, trying to keep the swirling thoughts from overwhelming her. She was on the verge of a panic attack, she had no doubt. She had experienced them before, most ponies had at one time or another. The most prominent example was the one she had when she first went through the portal, when she left everything she had in Equestria behind because she felt Celestia was denying her her destiny. 

She came to see her Geodesic Power as almost cursed, so to speak. On paper, the ability to see into people's minds so that she could understand them in a way that no one else could had sounded great. But a scenario like this, where she was completely mentally unprepared for what she saw, had never occurred to her. She couldn't control what she saw and what she didn't see, and she hadn't given that a second thought until now. The experience had significantly affected all of them, Twilight had been frozen, Starlight had been rendered incapable of casting a certain spell, and Sunset's friends on the other side of the portal had been almost irreparably broken, but Sunset had to deal with more than just her first-hand experience. She'd been cursed with some of the same knowledge he had, and he knew that, but she also knew he hadn't wanted her to. 

She wanted to know more about him, more than just what she had been shown by her geode. Before all of this, what was he like? If there was sone thing Sunset knew for certain, it was that almost no one was ever born truly evil, and most certainly not to that degree. What in Celestia's name could have happened to turn him into what he was? Did he once have friends? Was he once a caring, empathetic individual like her? Made into what he was by circumstances beyond his control?

She shook herself out of it, subconsciously realizing what she'd been thinking and refusing to let it drag her down any further. "So, what do you have for explanations? Totally radical, based on no logic or reasoning at all, conspiracy theories." She blurted.

"I have no idea, Sunset, both Starlight and I have gone through every book and note we could get our hooves on. Here, in Canterlot, we even had Sunburst go through the libraries of the Crystal Empire, and nothing!"  Twilight said in a defeated voice.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.” Sunset replied. She felt impending doom start to well inside her again. She had vainly hoped that Twilight and Starlight would have at least something as far as an explanation.

“Well.” Starlight started. “My leading theory is that he came from a portal somewhere. For so long we thought the only portals to other worlds was the crystal mirror, but then you found one in the Everfree during that whole ‘leftover Storm king magic almost sank your cruise ship’ thing. Equestria is such a big place.” She said, raising her forehooves and spreading them out dramatically. “Who knows what else could be out there? It raises a new issue for Twilight’s upcoming reign as Princess. If something like that could come through, who knows what else?” 

"I'd rather not think about that." Sunset replied nevously.

In the silence that followed, as the three processed what had been said, Starlight noticed something. During her time as guidance counselor at the School of Friendship, Starlight had subconsciously developed a keen sense for subtle interpersonal cues. Her ability to detect and decipher these obscure signals at times and places where they would usually fly under the radar for most was almost a sixth sense. Twilight wasn't hard to read. She was obviously both stressed and exhausted by the events of the past few days, especially with her coronation and reign over Equestria on the horizon. But that was not the thing that really caught her attention. Rather, it was Sunset. 

She noticed her eyes moving quickly around the room, seemingly analyzing everything around her. Her breathing was quickened and the pupils of her eyes were unusually small. Combined with the general feeling of unease she was putting off, Starlight couldn't help but feel that something else was bothering her, something more than what had already been said. Her discomfort was well disguised, for she seemed to make a conscious effort to tilt her head forward so that her mane covered most of her face, hiding her anxious eyes and flaring nostrils. Starlight started asking if everything was okay, but Twilight cut her off.

"Ugh!" Twilight shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump. "This raises so many questions!" She said, beginning to pace the room. "If this came from another world, or worse, another dimension, wouldn't that prove that there are more universes out there? And that any old portal anywhere could let aliens into Equestria at any time?! What if some world-conquering monster decides to step through one day!" She cried, standing up on her hind hooves and placing her forehooves on either side of her head. "What if-"

Starlight placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, slowly but surely bringing the panicked mare back to the ground. "Whoa there Twilight, relax."

"Yeah!" Sunset chimed in, Twilight's outburst seeming to knock her out of whatever trance she'd been in. "The important thing is: We banished him. Plus, we now know that the Elements work on cross-dimensional beings!" 

Starlight walked over to Sunset, placing her muzzle in her ear and whispering.  "Between you and me, I think she's just nervous about her upcoming coronation." She gave a chuckle.

Sunset whispered in reply. “But isn’t she right? Sort of? Age-old theories about the multiverse and other dimensions, finally proven right beyond a shadow of a doubt. I mean, yes, the human world has technically proven it already. But that's just another version of Equestria. How do you explain this?!

"What are you two talking about?" Twilight asked from a few yards away.

"Nothing!" The two answered simultaneously.

"Right." Twilight said with a deadpan expression. "I'd stay and pester you two about what you're hiding." She let out a yawn. "But the events of the last two days have left me with a grand total of 6 hours to sleep." Sunset thought about what she'd said. Now that she was fixated on it, she noticed the bags under Twilight's eyes and how her movements seemed - delayed.

She trotted off, presumably to take a nap.

"Whew." Sunset remarked.

“You and me both, Twilight admittedly isn’t the easiest to be around when she’s sleep-deprived, and I doubt confirming her fears would help that.”

"Do you mind if I share something with you?" Sunset asked, her eyes darting around the room. Starlight took notice of this.

"Sure!" She replied.

"Remember how I said my geode power activated twice during my fight with him?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, there were some parts I left out, and it's really been bothering me."

"Well, what is it?"

Sunset inhaled. "The second time my geode activated, I had a glimpse of more recent events. I saw him, but not as the violent, unpredictable intruder the rest of you saw him as. He was afraid, waking up in some, some void. It's like, some kind of pocket dimension that exists outside our reality, I think, and it's holding something in it."

"Sunset, you're not making any sense. I'm getting worried."

"Well, I'm trying!" She responded. "I don't know how to describe it. The world was full of static. It had these floating islands in it, scattered about like gravity didn't exist. He was hiding from something in there, I saw it! Some sort of glitchy stuff!"

"You're still not making any sense. We've established that other dimensions exist, big deal! There can't be any expectation that they're anything like ours."

"Ugh!" Sunset groaned, placing her forehooves on either side of her head like Twilight had. "Wait!" She said, a light bulb going off in her head. "I've got it! Starlight, what if I could show you exactly what I saw?"

"I still don't follow."

"My geode power, but in reverse, what if I could show you the memories I saw, a replay!" Sunset said with rising enthusiasm.

"Uh huh, and you want to do that so I can see for myself what you saw."

"Exactly! We're two talented unicorns, we can think of something!"

Starlight sighed.





A short time later, with books and notes scattered across the Cutie Map, the two of them had figured something out, sort of. They were kind of on the clock, and only had a prototype of what they wanted to do. 

"Are you sure this will work?" Starlight questioned.

"Like, seventy percent." Sunset replied. "What could go wrong?" She said in a sheepish tone, seeming to realize herself the flaws in that logic.

Starlight glanced at the notes they had placed in the middle of the small pile of books they'd been leafing through. Sunset was right, there wasn't much that could go wrong. Even in the worst-case scenario, she estimated, there would only be a small magical explosion that could possibly shatter a few windows and have the risk of waking Twilight. Of course, that's still pretty bad, but Sunset seemed pretty set on the idea, and her attempts at a verbal description weren't getting them anywhere, so it was worth trying. Besides, in the relatively niche situations where it might be needed, a spell like this could be really useful.

"Ready?" Sunset inquired.

"I guess so." Starlight said with hesitancy.

They both sat down facing one another. Sunset began first, followed by starlight. Tendrils of magic the same colors as their auras slowly snaked out of their horns, meeting in the middle and intertwining like two pieces of string wrapped around each other. It was Sunset who had to put in more effort, since she was the one who was trying to project her memories of what she'd seen onto Starlight.

Sunset stayed there, trying to make it work, for what seemed to be a small eternity. Her eyes remained closed, focused, before they suddenly opened, glowing the same white they had during the use of her powers. Shortly thereafter, Starlight's did as well, and in each of their minds was a projection of what Sunset had seen.

They stayed like that for a few seconds, mouths agape, while the binding held their minds in perfect sync, replaying for both of them what Sunset had experienced. For both of them, it felt like an eternity. Every second was shown in excruciating detail. In reality, it had only been a few seconds.





The replay ended, and the tethers that held the two of them together exploded out of existence, sending them tumbling backwards to the ground below. Starlight shot up first, while Sunset breathed deeply, sprawled on her back.

"Wha - hu -" Starlight babbled from a sitting position. She stared at Sunset with wide eyes as she pulled herself together. 

"See what I mean?" Sunset said after seeing Starlight's reaction. 

Starlight continued to babble in utter confusion for a few seconds before finally starting to pull herself together. "Count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale." She muttered to herself. She repeated this process a few more times, Sunset watching.

"So, now you've seen what I have, so, anything as far as helping me understand it? It's been giving me a really hard time ever since it happened, it's almost the only thing I've been able to think about lately." Sunset said.

Starlight took another deep breath before answering. "I noticed. What I said before still applies. It's another world, dimension, reality, whatever. We can't expect any of what we already know about Equestria, or the human world for that matter, to apply in any meaningful way. If I had to guess, I'd say it's what you said it was: A void, some kind of "in-between" that exists outside of any one reality. Something like that is really hard to wrap one's head around, heck, I confused myself just saying that, but wild theories are really all we have, so it's best if you don't dwell on it too much."

"Okay, I suppose that makes sense." Sunset said. "But what about all the glitchy stuff? Forget everything about alternate worlds and dimensions for a second. What was that? Whatever it was, it must have been really bad to even make our intruder seem to fear for his life."

"I have no idea, even with what we've established so far. And that scares me."

"Which brings me to my next point." Sunset said. "What would have happened to me if he had thrown me into that - that void? What would have happened to the rest of us if it had gotten here somehow? You saw what it did to those poor creatures in my flashback!"

"Again, let's try not to think about it too much. The important thing is that none of that happened. Maybe that's why this 'void' exists, to keep whatever it is trapped." She took another deep inhale. "Which brings me back to one of my earlier points, it does us no good to keep talking about this because for every 'answer' we get, two more questions arise. Maybe we were never meant to see whatever that was. Maybe higher concepts like that can't be grasped by our feeble minds, or something like that. Jeez, that's such a cliché." She chuckled.

"You're right." Sunset said, admitting defeat. "We should just drop this and pretend it never happened. It's over. Me and my friends defeated him, and whatever it was, we'll never have to worry about it affecting us again."

"Good, let's do just that. Come on, I'll walk with you to the portal if it'll make you feel better, I'm sure your friends miss you." Starlight said with relief. The two of them did just that, trotting over to the portal as a pair. All the way there, though, there was still one burning question on Sunset's mind, without a doubt the biggest of all. She didn't know if it would be right to bring it up with Starlight, she seemed to be tired of the conversation and Sunset didn't want to force the issue any more. It was over, and as she said, it was in her best interest to just forget that it had ever happened.

They reached the room where the portal was. Sunset slowly trotted towards it, still debating whether or not to ask. She was right in front of it now, and just as she was about to step through, her mind made the decision for her.

"Wait!" She exclaimed. "I have one last question."

"I thought I told you that talking about it would only make it worse." Starlight replied wearily.

"It's the last one, I promise." Sunset said. "It just happens to be the one that's been haunting me the most."

Starlight's face softened. "What is it?"

"Are we real?" Sunset said, meeting Starlight's eyes. She seemed to be taken aback by the question, her eyes widened a little, and she even took a small step back.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?" She replied in a very audible state of confusion.

"Well, you've seen it!" Sunset exclaimed. "Both his memories and mine. In both flashbacks, both into his past and his confrontation with me and my friends. He said to 'Gumball', 'Can't you see that none of this is real? And he said to me: "None of this is real, it never was! You can't deny the truth!'"

"But why should you believe any of it? He's so obviously evil, of course he'd try to play mind games like that. It's not exactly a new concept, even in Equestria."

"It's not just that. If it were, I wouldn't be here talking to you if it was. It's, it's that device. You saw what it could do! You still can't cast Rope Charmer, can you? She said. Starlight winced, before shaking her head solemnly. "I've never seen or heard of anything that powerful, with those specific powers, and neither have you and Twilight."

Starlight opened her mouth to answer, but Sunset stopped her. "Yes, yes, I know. He's not from our world, so we can't expect him to play by the same rules we do, yada yada." She paused. 

"At one point during my fight with him, while we were wrestling in this house, he pressed a button and I saw with my own eyes the ceiling fan above us just fade out of existence. I didn't even blink! It was just there one moment and gone the next! There was no poof or flash of magic, it was just... gone. It made me realize something when I started thinking about it. In the other world, we have cell phone technology. I know you've seen it, so I don't have to do a lot of explaining, but here's the thing: With programming software, coding, all this fun stuff, I learned some of the basics during my time at CHS, we can create our own little worlds on these devices. It was something I became familiar with when I got into video games there. Over time, there was one similarity that I noticed that once I did it, I could never get over. When you're using this technology to make things like video games, it's possible to get rid of things by pressing a button, by swiping a pen. That's exactly what the device that he had was doing, deleting things, pausing things, whatever. It's like our world is nothing but a program like the ones I've seen, and this device is just the pen or the mouse. It can manipulate us however it wants, and there's nothing we can do about it." 

Sunset finished, taking a breath before collapsing to the floor under the weight of what she'd just said. What she'd just said didn't just apply to her, whatever that device was, it seemed to know no bounds, for it worked just as well in the other worlds she'd seen using her Geode.

Starlight stood there with her mouth agape and her eyes wide open as she tried to take it all in. She took a few deep breaths, repeating her 'count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale' routine.

Sunset still lay on the floor, now on the verge of tears. It was just too much, all of it. She cursed whoever her intruder had been. Not just for hurting her friends, but for cursing her with knowledge that a part of her knew she was never meant to know.

She heard the sound of hooves in front of her and looked up to see Starlight once more, a hoof outstretched to help her up, a gentle smile on her face. Sunset accepted it gratefully, and Starlight waited for her to calm down before speaking.

"Sunset, I want to ask you a question." She said.

"What?" Sunset replied nervously.

"Can you feel the ground beneath your hooves? Can you see the castle walls surrounding you?"

Sunset was silent for a moment, puzzled by the question. "W-what-" She began, but was cut off.

"Just do it. Focus on it." Starlight said.

So she did. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let herself focus on her hooves. She moved her right front hoof aimlessly, taking in the feel of the hard ground and the sensations it gave her. She moved on to the second request from Starlight. Opening her eyes, she focused on the castle that surrounded her now, the mirror in which she saw herself reflected. She blinked. She moved her head around the room, looking at the surrounding books themselves. Contrary to when she'd been doing it before, she wasn't psychoanalyzing everything, just being in the moment, her mind completely clear. She exhaled, before her eyes finally returned to Starlight. 

"Why did you make me do that?" She asked.

"To show you that you're overreacting." Starlight answered. "You needed something to focus on so you wouldn't keep spiraling out of control, and to realize that what's around you is real, despite what you've been told and what you've seen." 

"But - that doesn't answer my question." Sunset said.

"It doesn't have to." Starlight said "I think what you're struggling with is not whether we're real or not, but rather the knowledge that there's more out there, more than just Equestria and the human world. Knowing that, there is no hard and fast definition of what is 'real' or not. For example, until we Equestrians interfered, magic didn't exist in the human world. Do you think they believed in magic before that? I'm willing to bet they didn't. My point is this: What's "real" or not varies from world to world, I can say that with confidence. I was just trying to help you see that, and ground you back into our interpretation of what 'real' is."

Sunset was silent for a moment, her mouth agape, again trying to comprehend what had been put in front of her. "That-that makes perfect sense, actually. Thank you, Starlight! How did you--"

"How did I know how to do that?" Starlight cut her off. "I work as a guidance counselor at the School of Friendship, and helping ponies through crises like this is just what I do." She said with a smile. "Admittedly, even I was beginning to be overwhelmed by some of what you said, but I'm better equipped to deal with and reason with this sort of thing, it's just part of the job. Your main takeaway should be this, Sunset: Don't let one bad experience ruin everything for you. Use it to learn that you shouldn't try to make every little thing make sense. Ponies' minds are different. That's part of what makes us unique. We also have limits, and I think it's important that you understand yours, that sometimes, as rare as it may be, you just can't understand or empathize with someone, no matter how hard you try. Take your own advice. Learn to let go."

Sunset pulled her into a hug. "Thank you, you have no idea how much that helped me, I felt like I was losing my mind." She said, slightly choked up.

"Heh heh, you're welcome, it's understandable really, that's an awful lot to put on someponies shoulders, I'm just glad I could help you through it, after all, what are friends for?" Starlight said.

"Well, thanks again." Sunset said, turning to the portal. "I should probably get going."

"Yes, your friends probably miss you. Go spend some time with them. Keep your mind occupied."

"Will do." Sunset replied with a smile.





Sunset lay sprawled out on a towel in a clearing just outside the city limits of Canterlot, just staring up at the night sky full of stars. She had followed Starlight's advice to the letter, spending as much time with her friends as she could. While the memory of what had happened still ached in the back of her mind, she had chosen to look on the bright side. She found herself with a newfound interest in the unknown. A curiosity about what else might be out there. Knowing that there were other worlds and dimensions beyond the human world and Equestria. She couldn't help but wonder at the possibilities. How many other fantastical worlds and realities were out there? While the one she had seen had had a less than happy ending, she was certain that they weren't all like that. A part of her hoped that one day she would be able to do just that, to explore other worlds and hopefully make some new friends along the way...

She closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift off to sleep.
> Mad Twi-ence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have any of you seen Twilight?" asked Rarity.

"Uh, no, why?" Sunset replied. It had been over a month now since their interdimensional intruder's visit, and they had all been in surprisingly good spirits. In fact, as long as none of them brought it up, it was almost as if it had never happened at all. Today, as they all sat together at their usual lunch table, they were faced with a rather mundane predicament. Twilight had not been seen for two whole school days. For them, this was completely unheard of.

"Well, none of us had a face-to-face meeting with her over the weekend, and she hasn't even been in contact with any of us for the past two days."

"Hmm, do you know if she's sick?" Sunset inquired.

"Please," Rainbow interjected. "That egghead would never miss school for something like that. Remember when she had to be forced to stay home when she tried to attend with the flu?"

"That's... worrying." Fluttershy said. "I hope everything's all right."

"Well, if that's the case, I think I'll stop by her place after school, I have nothing planned." Sunset said.

"Ooh, can I come with you?" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I'll be fine. Besides, if she's sick, we'd both risk getting sick too. I'll text you as soon as I find out. Sound good?" Sunset said.

"Yep, sound's good." Rainbow said, sitting back and putting her legs on the table.

"Um, could you not, Rainbow?" Rarity said. "No one wants to look at the soles of your shoes."

Sunset giggled.





A few hours later, Sunset found herself standing on the porch leading to the front door of Twilight's house, shortly after the last of her classes had ended and everyone had been sent home. It had been a while since her last visit, and Sunset had forgotten how massive the towering purple, almost mansion-sized building was. As far as Sunset knew, the only house within a few miles which could compete with its size was the one on Applejack's farm. Uncertain of what she would find on the other side, she knocked cautiously on the door. The door opened quickly and Twilight Velvet stood in the doorway.

"Oh!" Sunset exclaimed. "I didn't expect to find you here."

"You didn't expect to find me in my own home?" She replied, laughing a little.

"Right." Sunset shook her head, "I'm sorry, I'm just a little brain fuzzy from school, hehe."

"Sunset... Shimmer? Right?" She asked.

"Yep. That's me!"

"I thought so. I've heard a lot about you from Twilight. Out of all the people in your little group of friends, I hear the most about you."

"That's nice to hear! Is Twilight home?"

"Ah, about that... Would you mind coming in?"

"Not at all! I don't have anything planned for this afternoon anyway. I just thought I'd drop by because me and the rest of her friends were getting worried." Sunset said before following Velvet inside.

"Do you want something to eat?" Velvet said, walking further into the house and disappearing around a corner towards the kitchen. "Something to drink, maybe?"

"No, I'm fine. My lunch block is towards the end of the day, so I'm still full." Taking a seat in the living room, Sunset waited patiently. Like everything else about this place, it was very large, big enough to fit three couches, a large coffee table, and a television that was easily at least sixty inches on the far left, with bookcases on either side to accent the furniture. Speakers of various sizes, part of what Sunset could only assume was a surround sound system, hung from hooks on the wall around the room. At the far end of the room was a doghouse built into the wall, containing a sleeping Spike. While the colors of the outside of the house weren't too dissimilar to Twilight's colors, the living room was more in tune with her father's colors. Everything except the speakers and the TV were various shades of blue. Velvet came back and sat down on the couch next to her, holding a purple cup in her hand that contained a liquid that Sunset could not see.

"So!" Sunset began. "Where's Twilight?"

"She's down in the basement, doing what she does best. I'm not exactly sure what she's up to myself, but whenever I or anyone else from her family asks the few times she's come up from there, she just says she's 'experimenting."'

"Does she do that a lot?"

"Yes, but this one seems to have her particularly... invested."

"You mean obsessed?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.

Velvet sighed. "Yes, but I think that's too strong a word. I am her mother, after all, and I try to be sensitive to her work."

"I wouldn't normally use that word either. As a way of teasing her, her friends and I came up with the word 'twilighting'."

Velvet laughed. "'Twilighting!' Yes, that's the perfect word for it!"

"Are you aware she's missed two days of school? Not to be a snitch or anything, but I know her enough that it's very unusual."

"Absolutely, but I have noticed her leaving the house every day and coming back half an hour later both days with what I assume is her classwork, so I guess she figured that out."

"Is she still down in the basement right now?"

"Twenty-four-seven, I think she even sleeps down there now. The only time she comes up is to eat and to go to the bathroom. This particular 'project' of hers seems to be much more long-term. She seems to have been working on it for the last month or so. At first it was like any other time she goes down there: She works, but goes on with her life as usual. But she's much more involved now. Three weeks ago she and Shining started moving stuff in, like you would have thought someone else was moving in. I didn't see most of it because it was in boxes. But one thing I do remember was definitely a 3D printer. I have no idea how she could have gotten one of those, other than probably borrowing it from Crystal Prep, I'm pretty sure their labs are where everything came from.Then the week after that, she came home with a high-end laptop, a bunch of cables, and a smartwatch. I thought she would wear the watch, but I haven't seen her with it once."

"Hm, do you mind if I go down there and talk to her?"

"Be my guest, I was thinking about doing it myself, but after the 3D printer, the laptop, and the watch, I got scared of what I'd find down there, hehe. Besides, she has Shining to help her, and she always wears her safety gear and lap coat. So I trust her enough to just let her do her thing. I just wish she wouldn't get so obsessive about it that she shuts herself off from the rest of us sometimes."

"I understand." Sunset nodded before heading down to the basement. "Wish me luck!" She called back as she walked down the hall in front of the place where she'd been sitting.

"Tell me what you found before you leave!" Velvet called back.





Sunset opened the basement door. It was dark, just like any other basement, but it was just as well kept as the rest of the house. Her view of the room where Twilight was staying was blocked by a flight of stairs, but as soon as she got a glimpse of it, her jaw dropped.

"Woah." Sunset said flatly. She took a look around the basement. Almost the whole of it was covered in all the things that Twilight had been working with. Liquids, metals, wires, blueprints, computers, and a whole lot of other things that she couldn't immediately make out. The room itself was poorly lit as well, with only a single dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling, giving the entire room a very forbidding feel. The only other light came from various electronics scattered about. "Twilight?" 

"Sunset?" Twilight's voice called back. Even though she couldn't see her because her back was turned, Twilight instantly recognized the voice. She jumped, almost fumbling with whatever she was holding at that moment.

"Yeah." Sunset said as she came down the last step of the stairs. "W-what were you doing down here?" She asked as she looked around the room in amazement.

"Well, to explain that, first we have to go back a month, to uh, the incident." She replied, standing up straight and turning towards Sunset. She was dressed in her labcoat and googles, just like Velvet had said.

Sunset felt a chill run up her spine. "What does that have to do with- this?" She used a hand to gesture around the room.

"Well, it didn't just affect you, it brought some things into perspective for me as well." She started. 

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Sunset asked, now sounding worried.

"That we've been using the elements, and magic in general, as too much of a crutch when the going gets tough." Twilight answered as she walked over to the other side of the room, taking off a pair of gloves she'd been wearing. "Yeah, they've worked every time we've needed them so far, but I want us to be prepared for the possibility that we get in too deep and don't have the elements, something we could fall back on." She finished, heading over to another part of the room and drinking from a mug sitting next to a coffee maker.

"So that's what you've been doing here? Creating a 'back up plan' in case we're in trouble and don't have magic?" Sunset said, tilting her head curiously as she looked at one of the many blueprints strung up around the room.

"Sort of. While that was my original intention, it didn't end up panning out. You might not have noticed, Sunset, but magic doesn't exactly obey the laws of physics. I tried, definitely, but it's simply impossible to recreate what out geodes are capable of with tech alone.  So, I went with the next best thing, combining the two." Twilight said while using hand gestures to emphasize her point.

"Elaborate."

"Well, my theory right now is that out geodes contain only a limited amount of magical energy inside them, which would explain part of why each of us only has one magical ability. Picture this: If I could find a way to re-harness the magical energy inside our geodes, and use technology to make up the difference, we could be capable of so much more. You could even upgrade yourself to be capable of what you are as a unicorn!"

Sunset didn't reply immediately, thinking for a second how something like that would be feasible. "That's... actually really cool. I would love to do what I can as a unicorn. I love it here, but I do really miss my magic sometimes. Though, I thought you didn't want to experiment with magic again? Not after uh, midnight."

"True. But I see this as a necessity. Don't get me wrong, I've had the idea and basic blueprints for a while now, I just hadn't had the nerve to actually work on it until well, him. Now that I know there are other realities, dimensions, etcetera, out there, and that the beings inhabiting them aren't exactly friendly, I told myself I had to in order to make sure we could all stay safe. I want us to be on par with what's possible in Equestria and well, this is the way to do it."

"So, what have you achieved so far?"

"I'm still in the early stages, but I have a working prototype of the device you see in the blueprints around the room. I'm starting small, with abilities that could both improve our quality of life and come in handy when needed. Figuring out what to accomplish first didn't take long: Teleportation."

If Sunset had had a drink, she would have done a spit take. "Teleportation?! I'm not sure you're aware, but that's a fairly advanced spell, it takes a lot of ponies some time to master it, and it's certainly not something just anyone can manage."

"I figured as much, but I thought it would be nice to get some of the harder stuff out of the way first. The idea of  teleportation is far from a new idea here, long before you showed up. Many had considered it impossible, including myself. The main problem with trying to achieve teleportation here without breaking the laws of physics is the following: You can't simply move something from one place to another. Teleportation here wouldn't really be teleportation. You would just destroy something in one place, move its atoms, and rebuild it in another place. A teleportation device here wouldn't really be that. It would be a deconstruction-slash-reconstruction machine. I don't know about you, but the idea of being destroyed and then rebuilt elsewhere every time you 'teleport' doesn't sound very attractive. Besides, that method has a lot of disadvantages in comparison to what magic can do."

Sunset thought for a second. "Yeah, that doesn't sound very pleasant. My first thought is what would happen if such a device broke down in the middle of a teleport. Besides, it wouldn't be anywhere near as fast or as convenient as a magical teleport."

"Exactly, but since magic violates the laws of physics for breakfast," she said, her voice getting a bit annoyed.  "It's much easier for me to make that possible in a manner similar to how it works in Equestria. With my prototype, I think I've achieved that, but its capabilities are rather limited for now. You see, since it's impossible for technology to teleport in any meaningful way, I've ended up just using it to re-harness the magic and bend it to this purpose. Since our geodes presumably have a limited amount of magic for me to work with here, based on what I know so far, we'd only be able to teleport a handful of times before our geodes' magic wears out. In other words, teleportation would have to be a last resort. It's not ideal, but it's something." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Then again, I could be completely wrong. The fact that I still lack any solid understanding of magic has certainly been the hardest part of this project. " She looked over at Sunset, who was now wearing a worried look on her face. "Though I don't need to understand it, at least not completely, just enough to work through what I'm doing here, which I think I have." 

"Have you tested this 'device' yet?"

"No, not yet. Although..." She trailed off. "Since you're here. Now is probably the best time."

Sunset jerked slightly, excited. She'd always missed her unicorn abilities, but she hadn't realized just how much until she was faced with the prospect of it actually being possible. "Y-yeah!" She said excitedly. "I'd love to try it with you!" She replied eagerly, a smile creeping across her face.

"Come, I'll show you the prototype." Twilight said, gesturing for her to follow. She walked over to a laptop and reached behind it, pulling out what looked to be some kind of a bracelet or a watch, only a little bit larger. She gestured for Sunset to come over, which she eagerly did. 

"What, is this thing?" She asked, taking it carefully out of Twilight`s hands. It looked much like what she'd seen on the blueprints that adorned the walls of the room. It strongly resembled a smartwatch. It didn't have any kind of definitive color to it, rather it was just a collection of all the different colors that each of the individual components had, resulting in it being mostly a metallic silver with the occasional wire and the green of the circuitry visible. The clock portion of it was hollow, at least as far as Sunset could tell. Wires extended from side ports, each looping back to connections on the laptop's side.

"The prototype." Twilight answered. "The product of nearly a month of uninterrupted work. It didn't end up being as hard as I thought it would be, a lot of the work was already done by past me in the creation of the Amulet, I just recycled some of the tech and built on it. I wanted it to be something that was easily accessible, something that could be used in the shortest amount of time possible, given its intended purpose. So I looked to modern technology for inspiration and quickly found the smartwatch. After that, it was just a matter of taking what I already had and adapting it for this new purpose. You may have noticed the wires coming out of it towards this laptop, the code on the screen, and the fact that there's a big hollow area in the middle. When I get to the final product, everything will be done on the device itself, but for now, it needs an external device to hold the code in order to work. Watch." She chuckled. "Pun not intended. Anyway..."

Twilight stood back up into an upright position from the laptop, taking her geode off and placing it gently within the hollow area on the watch. She turned back to the laptop and pressed Enter, setting the program on screen into motion. What looked like medium sized metal prongs shot out from the inner lining of the device, activating and causing her geode to float up into the center. Magic began to flow out of her geode and into the prongs, a process that continued for about five more seconds before the prongs contracted back into the openings from which they'd come, leaving Twilight's geode still floating in the center. 

"What did you just do?"

"Simple, I took what I think is the appropriate amount of magic for a teleport from my geode. Now all I have to do is put the device on and run the second program, and I should teleport.

"Hey, wait, shouldn't you..." Sunset began, but was cut off by Twilight as she set the next program in motion. To Sunset's shock and horror, Twilight did in fact teleport, the problem was, she had no idea where.

"Twilight!" Sunset yelled. "Twilight where are you!"

A scream. It was definitely Twilight, but where it was coming from was the last place Sunset would have expected to hear it. It was coming from directly above her.

Sunset turned and charged up the stairs, stumbling a few times but managing. Velvet greeted her as she came out, having heard Twilight scream as well.

"Sunset?" She asked frantically. "What happened?!"

"Long story, but to sum it up: Twilight's little project hit the fan, so to speak. Have you seen her?"

"No!"

"SUNSET!" Twilight could be heard screaming again.

"TWILIGHT!" Sunset yelled back. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"THE ROOF!"

"What." Velvet said, completely confused. "How is that possible?"

Sunset sighed. "Let's just say you don't give your daughter enough credit."

The two of them made their way outside, having to walk around a dozen meters away from the house in order to spot Twilight. Sure enough, there she was, perched at an angle on the side of the roof facing them. Thankfully she seemed to have a good grip, using her legs and free hand to hang on while her other contained the watch and the laptop.

"You know, I really don't think you thought this through!" Sunset shouted to her. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I'm okay!" She yelled back. "In retrospect, I really should have thought to program a target!"

"Well, at least we know it works!" Sunset answered. She turned to Velvet. "Do you have any way we can get her down? A ladder maybe?"

"Yeah! Yeah, there should be a ladder in the garage over there." She said, pointing to the garage sticking out of the right side of the house. Sunset promptly took off for it. 

"Don't worry, sweetie! You'll be fine!" Velvet called to her daughter.

"I'm fine, Mom!" She replied. She seemed to forget her fear for a moment, her eyes sparkling with enough excitement to be seen by her mother on the ground.  

"IT WORKED!" She exclaimed.





Twilight shambled in through the front door, casting off her googles, labcoat, watch and laptop and throwing herself onto the nearest couch.

"You really didn't think that through, did you?" Sunset asked playfully as she and Velvet followed her inside. 

"Yes yes, I get it, I'm a moron." Twilight replied through the pillow her face was currently buried in.

Sunset chuckled. "Just be glad I was here. I can't imagine how much more of a shock this would have been to your mother if I hadn't explained it to her. But, it works!"

Twilight shot up into a seating position. "Precisely! Now I know I didn't waste a month slaving away for nothing!"

Velvet spoke up. "What even was that?" She asked. "How could Twilight have gotten to the roof in the first place?" 

"She, uh, teleported." Sunset said uncomfortably, looking over at Twilight. "Your daughter's really outdone herself this time. Do you think you can keep this a secret? There shouldn't be any need for me to explain the repercussions if this gets out."

"Uh, yeah?" She replied, still seeming to be trying to wrap her head around the situation as it unfolded. "I'm so proud of you, Twilight!" She said after a few seconds, her confusion having given way to excitement. "But don't ever do anything so dangerous again."

"I won't Mom, it was just a simple oversight on my part." Twilight replied. "Sunset, do you want to go back down there and help me work out the kinks?"

"Of course. Sunset replied.





"So, now that you have a proof of concept that this can work, how do you want to move forward with it?" Sunset asked as she closed the door to the basement behind them. 

"Well, first we need to add a way to set a destination for the teleport." Twilight said, moving to a nearby table and setting down the laptop and watch. "I got lucky that time, that easily could've been so much worse than it was."

Sunset winced. "Yeah. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"Why keep this from us? I mean, as your friends, don't we have the right to know what's going on? Especially when it comes to missing school. You had us worried."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I just got too caught up in my work, is all. I mean, look around! This is a huge undertaking. I wanted to wait until I had something to show for my work when I finally told you all. Besides, I was afraid you'd shut me down, considering how midnight happened with this kind of experimentation. And since something like this has never been done before, we don't know what the possible side effects might be."

"True, if you had come forward with this earlier, I probably would have shut you down for those very reasons, and because I have a feeling the other you wouldn't have been on board either." She paused. "But since you've put so much time and effort into this, and you actually have a working prototype, I kind of want to see where it goes. Besides, now that I know that it might be possible for me to get my unicorn abilities to work here, how could I possibly say no?"

Twilight's eyes lit up. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

Sunset nodded her head. "Yes, it does. With your knowledge of technology and my knowledge of magic from being Princess Celestia's student, I think we can make this happen a lot faster. I still have to inform the other you about this little undertaking, but I think there's good reason to continue because well, you're right. We do need to upgrade ourselves in case this kind of extra-dimensional threat ever happens again. It was really close back then, and I don't want us to be in that kind of danger ever again."

"Yes!" Twilight said excitedly. "Where do you think we should start? Replicate more abilities like Applejack's super-strength? Rarity's diamond shields? Or should our focus be on the development of the device itself?"

"Well, first I think we should make it so you don't get teleported to the roof again." Sunset said walking over to the corner of the room and picking up a spare labcoat and goggles. "Now, let's get to work!"
> Interlude: The Disruption
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and Starlight trotted through the halls of Twilight's Castle in Ponyville, discussing the affairs of the School of Friendship when, to their surprise, Discord appeared out of nowhere in a flash of light. 

"Gah!" Twilight exclaimed, jerking back involuntarily and spreading her wings. "Discord? What are you doing here?"

"Well, Princess, if you must know, I recently caught wind of the fact that you and Starlight are now aware of the multiverse. Frankly, you two should be ashamed of yourselves. As your friend, I would have liked to have known this sooner." He replied condescendingly. 

"Fine, I'm sorry." Twilight huffed. "But even if that were the case, you haven't exactly been around. Speaking of which, where have you been?"

"Oh, you know, just Lord of Chaos things. I may be reformed, but I still have an image to uphold, you know."

"So, what, you want to talk to us about it? We've already sorted it out mostly on our own." Starlight said.

"Yes, I am aware of that, but I thought maybe you two would like some more clarification for peace of mind, I imagine the multiverse pill has been a hard one to swallow." 

"H-hang on, wait a second, pause." Twilight interjected. "You already knew about this?"

"Of course I did, Princess. I'm actually quite offended that you think I wouldn't!" He replied with mock offense.

"O-okay, well, since you're offering... What is the 'multiverse'?" Starlight asked.

"Think of it like an ocean, a very vast ocean." He began, snapping his fingers and manifesting a small replica of an ocean in front of him. "Now think of Equestria as an island." He manifested an island in the small ocean. "And now imagine hundreds, if not thousands, of other islands scattered across the seemingly infinite expanse." Countless other islands also manifested. "In the case of something like the human world where your friend Sunset lives, think of it as two islands very close together, close enough that you only have to jump to reach it," he used two fingers to make a jumping motion from one island to the other. "Now, the further away you get, the harder it is to make the jump, and the more different they are from Equestria. While the human world is more or less a mirror of this one, others couldn't be more different."

"Have you been to any other worlds besides Equestria?" Starlight asked.

"Back in my more villainous days, yes, but I rarely if ever got directly involved in any of them, I was more of a spectator back then. The laws and continuums and whatnot of the multiverse are something even a being like me can't be bothered to deal with. So sometimes, even now, when I'm bored, I like to peek into other 'islands' and see what's up there. And since I can't do what I used to do as a reformer... I've been watching a lot more".

"Why have you never bothered to tell us about this before?" Twilight asked accusingly. "If you had, maybe we could have been more prepared than we were!" 

"Well, you see, it's not that simple, Princess." He replied. "Remember what I said about islands? That brings me to my next point: This should not have been possible." 

"W-what do you mean?" Starlight asked in a worried tone.

"The farther out you go, and the greater the distance between 'islands,' the harder it is to get from one to the other. So hard, in fact, that almost every world has absolutely no idea that there are others; they just live in their own little bubbles forever. Equestria should have been no different. After a certain point, multiversal travel becomes extremely difficult even for me, and there are very few beings who can do it at all.

"If giving us peace of mind was your goal, you're not doing a very good job." Twilight said.

"My apologies, Princess, but to be quite honest, part of the reason I came here was to ask if you two knew anything of significance; ever since I heard about this little incident, it's been a difficult puzzle to solve."

"I can give you a brief description of our intruder, if that'll help. Imagine something like one of the humans from the other world, only with one eye and mostly covered in static. He didn't seem to have any magic of his own, because he used this weird remote-like device every time he did something. It was, uh, how I got frozen, apparently. I don't remember much about it, but according to my friends, it was a really scary thing to witness. Also, Starlight here still can't cast Rope Charmer, and it's been a month. Have you heard of anything or anyone like that?"

"No, I can't say that I have. Again, the multiverse is so vast that even in all the time I've lived, I've only scratched the metaphorical surface of what's out there. Truth be told, I never really cared to explore that much. Equestria is where I've always been at home, and just watching other worlds makes me feel like a fish out of water. It is best for all of us that we stay away from each other. We're separated for a reason, you know."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked.

"Hm." Discord thought for a moment. "To make it easier for you to understand, I'll use you as an example. In the vast majority of cases, worlds aren't supposed to cross over for the same reasons that evil Starlight couldn't be allowed to stop the Rainboom."

"...Because it could change the timeline?"

"Exactly. A crossover, should one happen, introduces a wild card into things and has the potential to dramatically change the timeline of events, just like back then, only on a much larger scale. Yes, sometimes it works, the human world being a case in point, of course, but this sort of thing is unpredictable and therefore dangerous. Even at my most evil, I was well aware of the risks of imposing my will on other worlds, and fortunately never interfered directly. I did come close once, but that's a story for another time.

"Do you think this 'crossover' might have already changed the timeline?" Starlight asked.

"Technically, yes. I mean, we're having this conversation, aren't we? I doubt this would have been part of the original timeline, if there had been one.  But since this crossover was so short and there were no long-lasting effects, any changes would be minimal at worst. You said it yourself, Starlight, you figured it out on your own. It could be argued that this was just a little detour from the original timeline, and nothing more than that. On the other hand, one might say that this was part of the original timeline. And that is why I have never told any of you, the laws of the multiverse and reality as we know it can sometimes be so complex that telling you unnecessarily would only place an unnecessary burden on you both. Best to leave that to me."

"I see what you mean." Starlight said, putting a hoof to her temple and rubbing it as she tried to make sense of what Discord was saying. "Forgetting all that for a second: Should we be worried?"

"Overall, no. While I've never heard of a being like the one you described, or an all-powerful device capable of this kind of multiversal travel, and that does raise an eyebrow, you and your friends still defeated him. And since there weren't any huge, Equestria-destroying changes made to the timeline, I'd say just go on with life as usual. Think of the multiverse as a well-oiled machine in the context of small, inconsequential crossovers like this. Even though it's meticulously maintained, there are still going to be mistakes, but they're so rare that you shouldn't expect anything like this to happen again."

"What about the human world?" Starlight asked. "It seems to have had more of an effect there, especially in Sunset. It wasn't too long after it happened that I had to help her through some mental struggles regarding her experience. I mean, he tried to kill her over there. I'm honestly surprised she's not worse off."

Discord's eyes widened slightly at that. "Well then perhaps that should be my next destination, I've been ovedue for a visit there anyway. Until next time, my friends!"

He disappeared in an explosion of confetti.
> Cracked Glass
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daring Doo boldly made her way through the Everfree. She'd heard whispers before, whispers that Twilight and her friends, by now the most famous heroines in Equestria, had faced an unknown foe in these very woods only a month before. Now, under normal circumstances, that would not have piqued her interest, but this time was different. Unlike anything else she'd ever heard of, what exactly had happened remained shrouded in mystery, kept under wraps for some unknown reason. Still, it didn't take long for word to spread. After all, it had been hard to miss that the sun and moon had been temporarily seized from the control of the two sisters. 

It was this mystery, and the rumor that it all had to do with a mysterious, all-powerful artifact, that motivated her to make the trip to Ponyville, and set out into the forest where it was believed to have happened. Not only to find out what had happened, but to find and retrieve the artifact if it had been lost. That is, if there was one. As time passed, she had heard many stories of the wild and fascinating adventures the six of them had had, and she had come to admire Rainbow Dash in the midst of it all. She chuckled as she used a machete to cut through another vine that was in her way, remembering how it used to be the other way around. Funny how things worked sometimes. 

It didn't take her long to find confirmation that something had indeed gone down there. She quickly found various uprooted bushes, pushed aside vines, and even the occasional felled tree. This immediately piqued her interest. It was unheard of for the supernatural Everfree not to grow back almost immediately and cover up any damage that had been done to it. A magical disturbance perhaps? Something that hindered or completely stopped the forest's usual regenerative properties?

She continued forward with renewed vigor, soon after discovering three very distinct trails, plant life pushed aside in three straightforward paths, one far in front with two others flanking it just behind. She sheathed her machete, no longer needing it. With no large plant life in these unnatural paths, she could now use the clear moon in the night above to be doubly sure of where she was, in case there was some interference with her compass. She began to think about what could have made the trails that she was traveling on. It didn't take her long to narrow down two of the tracks to Twilight and Starlight. The way the plant life had been pushed aside suggested something spherical as the cause. And since there were no large boulders around, it had to be a shield bubble moving at high speed. 

"Twilight and Starlight must have used shield bubbles in combination with accelero," she thought. But that still left the third trail. She concluded that it must have been whoever they had encountered here, since using the two spells mentioned before was something beyond the abilities of the rest of her friends. 

She looked at the surrounding trees, noticing clear blast marks along the trees near the third path. She smirked, figuratively patting herself on the back for putting it together so quickly. 

A few more minutes of trotting and she found two more trees bent at awkward angles. Both looked as if something had been thrown into them. She couldn't be sure what, though, until she got closer. The first one was to the right of the left trail. And though it was very faint, Daring could almost make out the outline of a pony in the dirt underneath.

There. Something just sticking out of the dirt in the upper right corner of the outline. She used a hoof to gently uncover it, then picked it up. A feather, a light blue feather. 

"Rainbow Dash?" She asked aloud. 

She put the feather in her saddlebags before moving on to the next tree. It was mostly the same as the previous one, and with her new knowledge, she knew that a pony had to have been thrown into it, the question was, who?.

"Twilight." She said upon messing with the ground and discovering several purple feathers. She looked back to the tracks. From where Twilight had supposedly been thrown into a tree, her trail and the third one quickly merged, the right one stopping about a hundred yards past that landmark. Where the right trail stopped the vegetation was broken in a way that indicated somepony tumbling through it. Following the damage, she found the very clear outline of Starlight in the dirt.

She put a hoof to her face and thought. "So Rainbow is thrown into a tree, followed by Twilight. Something happens to Starlight and Twilight goes on alone." She began to worry now. Rarely did one of them fight alone. After all, they were the Elements of Harmony, and strength through unity was practically their motto. That something could eventually leave only Twilight as the last one standing was worrying, to say the least. She was beginning to understand why this was being kept under wraps; even with what she had pieced together so far, there were still a lot of unknowns, and she couldn't imagine what exactly had happened here. Nevertheless, she continued, she had not come all this way for nothing.

"Huh?" She said after walking another few hundred feet. In the distance, hidden by the new plant growth and vines, she saw something bright shimmering through the undergrowth. Her trot turned into a gallop, and she drew her machete again as she closed the distance. As she cut down the brush in her path, she gasped.

"What the..." She said in shock. In front of her was some kind of - portal. A rift in reality itself, hovering a few meters above the ground. It resembled shattered glass, with a large hole in the center where she saw only static. Her senses of adventure and self-preservation clashed within her, both wanting to know what this was and at the same time wanting to turn tail and run. Eventually, her curiosity won out. She approached it, but with extreme caution. It didn't change much as she got closer, only getting bigger as she drew nearer. She was only a few hoofsteps away from it now. What she could see on the other side hadn't changed. She tentatively reached out a hoof to touch it. She closed her eyes in anticipation when her hoof reached it. She let out a sigh of relief when nothing happened, but now there was something else she had to worry about as well. How could she just reach her hoof through it and nothing happen? She moved her hoof around in a circle to be sure, before pulling it back in favor of her head. 

To her shock, what lay on the other side was infinitely larger than she'd expected. What had just seemed to be static ended up being much more than that, a massive void instead. She looked around and saw what appeared to be large islands floating in the abyss not too far below her, each of them covered in a strange black substance.

Daring continued to stare in awe at what she was seeing. Then something began to move on the island below her. Her eyes opened wide in horror as the black substance started moving. It built upon itself, quickly forming a towering column that was at her eye level. Even though whatever it was did not have eyes, she couldn't help but feel that it was staring into the very soul of her. She pulled her head out of the portal, more and more horror rising in her as the massive column of darkness began to move toward her, tendrils growing out of it and reaching out for her.

"AH!" She screamed, falling backwards onto her haunches. She quickly got to her feet again, desperately trying to figure a way to close whatever it was before that thing got to her. She had a lightbulb moment. It was a long shot to say the least, but it was all she had. She used each of her forehooves to grab onto either side of the portal, before using all her might to try and pull them together. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but after a few seconds, it began to give way, finally closing completely with a resounding THWOOM. It threw her back a few feet, just before whatever was on the other side reached her.

Daring scrambled back to her hooves before retrieving her hat and saddlebags, which had been blown away in the explosion. She stood there panting for a few seconds, deeply regretting her decision to come here.

"I have to tell the princess!" She exclaimed before galloping back the way she had come, waiting to gain enough momentum before spreading her wings and taking off, leaving a greyscale trail in her wake as she flew.
> Nightmares
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset sat up from where she'd been knocked, just in time to hear something behind her. She turned her head just in time to see a large rectangular portal appear behind her. She looked into it and saw nothing but static as far as she could see. She looked down, where she was greeted by a very different sight. Islands floating in the abyss, each containing parts of what she assumed to be a small town, each partially covered with a mysterious black substance similar to the static that surrounded them. She could almost swear she saw figures among them, wandering aimlessly.

It was real.

Her gaze went back in the opposite direction as she heard Rob walking up to her, remote in hand. His face was deadpan, almost completely devoid of emotion as he stood in front of her.

"I thought you were different." He said, a hint of sadness in his voice. He slowly raised the remote, preparing to send Sunset into the void. "Too bad."

He pressed the button and before Sunset could react, she was thrown into the Void. 

She had failed.

Contrary to what she'd expected, the landing, when it finally came, wasn't nearly as painful as she'd thought it would be, the Void's zero-gravity effect kicking in at the last second. With a painful groan, she quickly scrambled to her feet.

"Where am I?!" She asked, but got no answer. She desperately looked around her for a way out, but saw nothing but floating islands and an endless amount of static in all directions. "No, no, no, this can't be happening!" She exclaimed. "I have to find a way back!" She thought. "My friends!-"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. A small puddle of a strange, glitchy substance she hadn't noticed when she first started looking around. Not letting her curiosity get the better of her, she ran and jumped off the island she was on, afraid of the substance. Not used to the weightlessness here, she tumbled aimlessly through the air before finally landing on another island. This one was quite large, containing a considerable portion of what she assumed was a suburban district. She saw much more substance here, almost completely covering all the houses and most of the street before her. She was on the verge of making a run for it again, but hesitated when she realized that there were no other islands around she could see. Still hoping that she might be able to find a way out, she made her way down the corrupted road, being careful not to get too close to any of the puddles.

A short while later, she spotted something, a figure croutched around one of the corners of the house. 

Gumball.

Against her better judgment, and increasingly desperate for a way out, Sunset approached. "Hello?" She called.

As she got closer, she heard the sound of crying. It was muffled, but still there. "Hello?" She said again. "I-" She started, but was cut off. The crying sounded...strange. It, along with Gumball's body as a whole, became more and more distorted, pixelated, and glitchy. Soon the crying turned to laughing, cruel, demented, pained laughing. Sunset froze. She saw the figure turn to face her. Its arms were now lowered. Instead of tears, tendrils of darkness spilled from its eyes. It had a forced, distored smile on it's face, that now matter how hard it tried to convince her, represented only pain and suffering.  

The figure began to laugh again, and Sunset took a step back. It got louder and louder, but Sunset didn't cover her ears. With one last wail, the figure attacked, closing the distance between itself and Sunset in the blink of an eye. She had no time to react before it pounced, and everything faded into incomprehensible static.





Sunset woke up in a flourish, shooting up into a seating position in bed and letting out a small scream. She quickly recognized the familiar surroundings of her bedroom, taking the opportunity to compose herself and take a deep breath. She looked to her left and met the gaze of her gecko Ray, who had been awakened by her outburst and was staring at her from his position on a decorative log.

"Bad dream, SunShim?" A voice called.

"Yeah, I-" She started to answer, but stopped. "W-who-"

"Do not be alarmed, Sunset, it's just me, your friendly neighborhood Lord of Chaos." The voice replied.

"D-discord?" Sunset stammered. "Is that you?" She looked around the room for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. Just then, a part of her wall started to move, slowly shifting itself into the visage of the Lord of Chaos. 

Sunset panicked and crawled backwards in bed until her head hit the wall behind her, causing her to flinch.

"Off to a shaky start, but this'll still work." Discord said, seemingly to himself. "Surely Twilight's already told you everything you need to know about me?"

Sunset blinked away the pain from hitting her head before asking: "W-what are you doing here? [Why are you here?"

"Ah, the million dollar question!" He replied. "Simply put, I recently heard through the grapevine about the events of the past month. I came to check out this place, and you in particular. It seems that I have chosen just the right time to show up."

"Yes, and in a totally non-creepy way." Sunset remarked.

"Point taken." Discord replied. "My plan was to reveal myself to you in the morning, in human form, so as not to scare you too much. But as you can see, that didn't quite work out. I am sorry that the circumstances of our first meeting could not have been better. Excuse me if I'm wrong, but it looks to me like you had a nightmare."

"Yeah, I did." She replied, shifting in her sweat-soaked sheets.

"Would you like to tell me what it was about?"

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

"Oh." He said. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"I guess. How much do you know about what happened?"

"Enough, thanks to having this very conversation with Twilight and Starlight not too long ago. For example, I know that you had a particularly personal experience with our little invader because of your unique power. The details, however, I don't know, which is why I decided to pay you a visit."

"Yeah, I don't like to think about it too much. My friends and I have fought all sorts of villains and rogue magic, but we've never had one of those things actually try to kill any of us. It was a bit of an eye-opener to finally find myself in real danger that day. " 

Discord nodded thoughtfully. "And my guess is that was what your nightmare was about?"

"Yeah, let's just say it wasn't exactly a happy ending."

"Would you like to explain it to me? He asked.

"Sure." Sunset said before launching into a monologue about her experience. She couldn't use the spell she had used with Starlight because she lacked her unicorn abilities, but she still gave detailed descriptions.

"Hm." He said thoughtfully after Sunset had finished describing how she and her friends had defeated the intruder. "That was a bit darker than I expected. Do you have any questions about it?"

"Not really?" She answered. "There's not much I haven't already sorted out with Starlight. Sure, there are still some unknowns, but I'm not going to burden myself with trying to answer them. Actually, knowing that there's more out there than just this world and Equestria feels euphoric to me. Knowing that there are technically infinite possibilities. Sure, it wasn't exactly a nice experience, but I refuse to believe that all realities, dimensions, whatever, are bad.

"And you would be correct in that assumption." Discord replied. "While some worlds are... questionable, to me the vast majority of those I have seen, while different, could not be called 'bad,' because different does not necessarily mean so." He paused, waiting for Sunset to take in his words. He raised an eyebrow when she showed little reaction. "What? Aren't you shocked to learn that I can travel the multiverse? Twilight and Starlight were."

"To be honest, not really." She started. "I've been here much longer than either of them. When I first heard about the ancient myths of dragons and things like the Loch Ness Monster, it raised my eyebrow. But it was only when Fluttershy told me about a stuffed animal at a carnival that looked suspiciously similar to what Celestia had described to me when I was her student that it finally made sense. Couldn't help yourself, huh?"

"Clever!" He exclaimed. "Guilty as charged. Do take note though that my involvement in this world never went beyond the point of reinforcing already existing myths. I always loved the faces these people made when I took these forms for laughs."

"Since you seem to know so much about the 'multiverse' or whatever it's called, how does Equestria fit into things?"

"I'm glad you asked!" He replied, manifesting the same ocean and islands he had for Twilight and Starlight. From there, he gave her the same overview, up to the point where he mentioned that interfering with other worlds had the potential to drastically alter timelines and events.

"Hang on." Sunset said. "Do you think I could be guilty of that? I mean, doesn't my jumping through the portal from Equestria to here count as a 'disruption'?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that. Technically, Celestia, Luna and Star Swirl are guilty of that, since they made the thing in the first place. Why is something beyond even me, but..." He shrugged. "It could be argued that the disruption, if there was one, started with them, not you. Then there's the counterpart issue: Haven't you ever wondered where your counterpart is in this world? That raises a whole new set of questions which unfortunately lack answers. If we assume that the disruption starting with Celestia and Luna wasn't something that was supposed to happen, then it could be argued that it caused your counterpart to either end up somewhere different, or not exist at all."

Sunset became visibly distressed.

"But!" He followed quickly. "You could also say that all of this was always meant to happen, and your counterpart either never existed or lives somewhere else because you were always meant to come here and fill that role. To spread the magic of friendship beyond the borders of Equestria! It's quite the conundrum, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." She replied, shaking her head. "One more question: You explained the whole thing about Equestria being an island on an ocean, so to speak, but if the worlds are islands, what's the water supposed to be?"

"The Void." He declared.

"The Void?"

"It's not a very original name, admittedly but it's the best way to describe it. I don't know much about it myself, just that it's the metaphorical 'water' between worlds, a place where... where..." He paused, thinking. "I can't even think of a way to describe it, which should tell you what you need to know. It's a void, that's all. Most don't know about it, and those who do don't care, because it's an optional destination for any being capable of cross-dimensional travel. If you can just jump from world to world, why stop in a literal void? I certainly wouldn't. To answer the question I know you're about to ask, yes, this Void and the one the intruder tried to banish you to are one and the same. The only unknowns to me now, are who exactly our intruder was, along with the 'corruption' and 'Gumball'. It doesn't make much sense to me how you understand so little about what your power showed you and yet are so afraid of it.

"Because I saw it with my own eyes. I can only describe it to you, you don't understand how it felt to witness it with my geode power. That's where my nightmare came from, knowing so little and yet being so afraid of what I saw. It's just so... unfathomable to me that someone could be so  heartless, not hesitate at all to inflict unimaginable suffering on another being. Makes me all the more glad that we defeated him."

He nodded. "I wish I could be of more help, but to be honest, I'm at a loss for words myself. I hope this little conversation has helped you at least a little. The knowledge of the multiverse is not something most are equipped to handle, and I decided to visit you so I could be sure that nothing too negative has come of all this. Has it?"

"No." Sunset answered. "While what I saw with my geode still scares me a bit, I'd say life here is mostly business as usual. Well, besides the uh, project, this world's Twilight has started."

"Project?" He inquired. "What kind of project?" 

"After all was said and done, this world's Twilight started experimenting with magic again, even though her previous attempt at it led to Midnight Sparkle. She's combining this world's technology with the Equestrian magic in our geodes to enhance our abilities. Simply put, if this works, I'll be able to do everything I can do as a unicorn here. Like I said, this is the first time that any of my friends or I have ever been in real danger, and she's doing this so that it doesn't happen again, because she feels that we rely too much on our magic alone. It's really heartwarming to know that our friendship means so much to her that she would go to all this trouble for us.

"That's quite the endeavor. Are you sure that such a thing is possible here? After all, magic isn't exactly native here, and who knows what the Princess Twilight would think."

"I was wondering the same thing, but believe it or not, she already has a proof-of-concept prototype that allows her to teleport. She botched it a bit, but the point was that it can work, so I decided to help her. Don't worry, I'll tell Twilight eventually, I just want to see where this goes. After all, she has me to help her now, and well, I hadn't realized until now how much I missed my old magic."

"Cheeky, I like it." He said with a smirk.

"But yeah, that's about all you need to know about this little intrusion and how things turned out. If anything, I'd say this was good for us. I mean, I'll have my old magic back, and we'll be on par with what can be done back home, so taking care of any rogue  magic, or in this case, extra-dimensional threats, will be much easier and safer."

"Well, in that case, I believe my work here is done!" He exclaimed. "Until we meet again!" He snapped a finger, and a gust of wind somehow blew through the apartment as his form disintegrated into dust, leaving no trace. Sunset relaxed, exhaling, before in another flash, Discord appeared again. Sunset jumped again.

"Forgive me ShimShim, but I almost forgot! Because I want to leave here on a more positive note: In my humble opinion, you were always fated to come here. Think about how much of an impact you and Princess Twilight have had on this world, and what would have become of this place had things like the Sirens and all those lost artifacts gone unchecked. Your efforts to protect this world and spread the message of friendship across dimensions have not gone unnoticed, especially in the wake of this unexpected crossover. I'm just saying, stay tuned, becuase Twilight may not be the only one with something big on the horizon."

He winked before disappearing again in the same manner as before. Sunset looked down at her lap, noticing something that hadn’t been there before. Two plushies. One was of Discord, with a note attached that said "Something to remember me by." The other plush was of her pony form, with alicorn wings and a crown.
> Mad Twi-ence: Part Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was now the second week that Twilight and Sunset had been working on their now joint project, and things had been progressing quite well. Now that there was an extra set of hands, it was possible to either get things done twice as fast, or have one of them work on one thing and the other one work on another. School had thrown a wrench into things, as it wasn't possible for either of them to miss it. But with the start of a new semester, it had been made possible for them to opt for easier classes, so the burden would be lessened. Combined with the fact that it was their senior year, which meant an early release for both of them, it worked out pretty well. 

They were both dressed in lobcoats and safety goggles. Twilight sat at one end of the room, typing on her laptop, screen filled with code. Sunset was on the other side of the room, a small set of tools laid out in front of her, as well as the prototype. She was hunched over, sweat beading on her forehead as she worked with what was in front of her attempting to place a transparent display over the housing that contained Twilight's geode and wire it to the existing circuitry. 





"Phew!" Sunset exclaimed, getting up and walking over to the coffee maker, pouring herself another cup and taking a big sip.

"You've been over there a lot today." Twilight inquired. "How come?"

"I just didn't get enough sleep, that's all. Bad dream. How's the coding going?"

"Good, we should be ready to test it in a couple of days."





"Hey Rainbow! Glad you could make it!" Sunset exclaimed as she opened the door.

"Sure! I've had a lot more free time since it's senior year and all. Mind telling me why you called?"

"I think it'd be better if I just showed you." Sunset said, taking a step back and motioning Rainbow to follow. The two of them made their way down to the basement. There they found Twilight making final checks and adjustments to the next stage of their project.

"Whoa!" Rainbow exclaimed once she could fully take in the sight. "This place looks like a mad scientist's lab out of a horror movie!"

Sunset snickered. "I guess it does, doesn't it? We really should bring some more light into this place."

"So, what's going on down here?"

"Twilight and I have been working on a way to enhance our abilities as heroes here, in light of our encounter with the interdimensional intruder six weeks ago."

Remembering what Sunset was referring to, Rainbow's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, that! Heh, I don't think I've ever hit anyone that hard before!" She said, striking a pose with her fist punching the air in front of her.

"Yes, and for the next phase we need your superspeed."

"What for?"

"To test our prototypes of a force field and a replication of your superspeed ability." Twilight interjected.

"Replicate my ability? As in copy it?"

"Yeah, basically." answered Sunset. "The main goal is to make it possible for all of us to use each other's abilities, instead of just relying on the one embedded in our geodes themselves."

Rainbow paused for a second, seeming to do the math in her head. "That would make us... one hundred and forty percent cooler! I've always wanted to be able to use Twilight's telekinesis for when the TV remote is on the other side of the couch. Ooh, or Applejack's super-strength!"

"Glad you're on board." Twilight said. "So does that mean you'll help?"

"Uh, yeah!"





"Okay, phase two: test one." Twilight said. "Ready Sunset?" 

"Ready."

They were now in the front yard of Twilight's house, Twilight and Rainbow on the grass while Sunset sat under the porch outside the front door with the laptop for Twilight's program and her cell phone to record the test. With the new prototype, the device gained the ability to work over a wireless connection. They were still a long way from having complete autonomy, but they were still proud of how far they'd come. Twilight straightened up, holding her arm with the device in front of her, the front facing Rainbow. 

"Aaand... go." Twilight said. Sunset hit enter on the laptop, and a large barrier the color of Twilight's magic with her cutie mark in the center appeared before her, emanating from her geode, which sparked and glowed with power and the electric current going through it. All three's eyes widened.

"It worked." Sunset said plainly.

"It worked." Twilight said in disbelief.

Rainbow did a little celebratory victory dance, which Sunset noticed was the same one she did at her soccer games, before exclaiming, "WOO HOO! This is so awesome!" She paused. "Now what?"

Sunset reached to her side and picked up a baseball before tossing it to Rainbow. 

"Okay? What am I supposed to do with this?" Rainbow said after catching it.

"Throw it at me." Twilight said in a steely tone. "As hard as you can at super speed. We need to test the strength of the barrier." 

"I don't think that's a good idea. I mean, not to brag, but I don't think you can handle my best."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Just do it, aim for the edges if you're worried about Twilight, or don't make it as hard as you can, ignore what Twilight just said, let's try to play it a little safer."

"Okay then." Rainbow said, shrugging. She went into her focus mode, winding up a pitch with the baseball, staring directly at Twilight before throwing it, in a scene that to Sunset looked straight out of a wild west movie. The ball soared through the air, hitting the barrier with a loud magical CRACK before reflecting off it and flying back over Rainbow's head at a forty-five degree angle. Rainbow turned around and watched it go for a few seconds, until it was out of sight and she put a hand over her eyes to block out the sun.

"Home run!" She exclaimed.

"Interesting," Twilight said, "instead of stopping the projectile hard like a shield, it reflected off the surface like light going through a prism. Sunset, did you catch that?"

Sunset gave a thumbs up before ending the recording on her phone. 

"I'm wondering if the barrier will behave differently depending on what is hitting it. Maybe the next thing we should do is test it against a blunt force trauma, a hand-held instrument instead of a projectile. Any ideas?" She asked to nobody in particular.

"How about a bat?" Rainbow said in reply. "Since we've already used a baseball."

"That sounds good, but I don't think we have one of those here." Sunset pointed out.

Rainbow smirked before disappearing and reappearing a second later with just that, a short rainbow trail as the only indicator that she'd used her superspeed.

"Right, superspeed." Sunset said, pulling out her phone again. "Phase two, test two: Blunt force trauma." She said to the camera. "Ready?" She asked.

"Ready." Twilight and Rainbow said in unison.

"Go."

Rainbow moved quickly up to Twilight's barrier and swung at it with all her might. As with the baseball, the force of the swing was reflected back, causing the bat to fly out of Rainbow's hands and back a few yards.

"Hmm, same result." Twilight noted. "Sunset, as the Equestrian here, how accurate would you say this is to the shields you can make as a unicorn?"

"Pretty accurate, the only differences I can see are the fact that the replication only covers your front half and your cutiemark being in the middle."

Just then, the barrier flickered and made a strange noise before shutting down completely. Sunset and Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise.

"I was expecting something like this to happen." Twilight told them. "After all, we are pushing the magic in our geodes to the limit with this. Let me try something." 

She tried to use her standard telekinesis to levitate the bat over to her. But she found she was straining just to get it off the ground, let alone bring it to her.

"Hmm." She said as she put a hand to her chin in a moment of deep thought. She looked at Rainbow, a light bulb going off in her head as she did so. "Sunset, do you remember when Rainbow used her super speed for everything, and because all of our geodes are connected, it caused a power surge for all of us, making our abilities uncontrollable?"

"How could I forget?" She replied. "I was able to hear everyone's thoughts without having to actually touch them. Fortunately, I didn't hear any bad things that day, but I'd hate to try my luck again."

"I think that might be the solution to our problem." Twilight began. "Think about it. This test has confirmed that using these devices is a huge power drain and can't be sustained for very long. If we started using our powers like that again, especially Rainbow, we could constantly store and replenish the energy, and since the excess energy would leave our geodes as soon as it was generated, we could theoretically have an infinite supply to power the replication of each other's abilities!"

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Rainbow said with growing excitement.

"Yes, Rainbow, you can start using your super speed again for whatever you want, but not yet, it will have to wait until me and Sunset are finished and we all have our own versions of this device so we don't lose control of our powers again."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Twilight and I have been working on a theory on how to go about it." Sunset said. "The other Twilight, being an Alicorn, embodies the magic of all three tribes: Unicorn, Pegasus and Earthpony. We have used this as the basis for designing an experiment, and this is where your geode and your super speed come into play once again. We think if we extract magic from your geode and Twilight's, mix it in another device Twilight designed based on the amulet, and put it back in Twilight's geode, we'll be able to replicate your ability because some of your geode's magic would be embedded in hers. If that works, we'll be able to do the same thing for the others, and our geodes will all be embodiments of each other's magic, making us 'alicorns' in a sense."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We really hope it does. It might still be possible to do it otherwise, but it would take a lot more effort and it wouldn't work out as well."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's find out."





"Okay, everything seems to be ready." Sunset said. "Twilight? Rainbow?"

"Ready." They answered in unison. The three of them were now back in the lab, getting ready for the biggest hurdle so far in Twilight's journey to replicate each other's powers. In front of them on a table lay the machine they would be attempting this with. It consisted of a large transparent container with a solid metal base and lid. From the base extended two large tubes, connecting with two holders for Twilight and Rainbow's geodes, not too dissimilar in design from the device they'd been using thus far. Twilight and Rainbow both took off their geodes and placed them in the holders in front of them. Sunset tapped another key on the laptop. The experiment began.

Prongs sprang out in unison in the containers for each of their geodes, causing them to levitate into the middle and magic to start flowing from each of them. The magic gathered in the center of the container, and the wisps of magic from both geodes mixed and swirled within it. After a few seconds, the magic took on a blue-violet color, a mixture of Twilight's purple and Rainbow's blue. The resulting mixture then filtered back through the tube leading to Twilight`s geode, before being forced back into it. Her geode began glowing, getting brighter and brighter before it became too much for the three of them and they had to turn away and cover their eyes. After a few seconds, the reaction stopped, and the three cautiously looked back to see what had happened.

They all stepped up to Twilight's geode and looked over it. It looked normal, but now instead of pure purple, there was a distinct blue whisp visible toward the center.

"D-did it work?" Sunset questioned hesitantly.

"Only one way to find out." Twilight said. She took her geode out of the holding device, flipped open the display of the watch-like device on her wrist, and put it back in the device, closing the lid on it. She played with some of the buttons on both sides of it, as well as with the transparent display. 

"Okay, here goes." She said. Her eyes widened slightly after a second. "My magic feels... different."

"Different? How so?" Sunset inquired.

"I can't quite put my finger on it." She replied. "Rainbow, how do you use your super speed?"

"There's not much to it really. When I want to go fast it just happens, when I don't it doesn't. You'll get it if you really have my power now. Trust me."

"Alright, here goes." Twilight said. She took a running stance and looked up at the stairs. Without warning, she took off, leaving a purple trail behind her as she blurred and disappeared up the stairs. A moment later, she came back, another trail overlapping the first one. They all stood in shock for a second.

"It worked. Again. Wow." Sunset said incredulously.

"So how was your first run?" Rainbow asked playfully.

"Invigorating!" Twilight exclaimed. "I can see why you like your power so much! It was amazing!"

"Glad you finally get me. So what's next? Wanna take a few laps around town? Loser has to buy dinner!" She said, playfully punching Twilight's shoulder.

"Not yet, there are a few things I want to test." Twlight replied. "First, how well can I control this?" She paced aimlessly around the room, testing what it would take to activate her new power. She stopped after about a minute.

"Huh, you were right Rainbow." She said. "It's just a matter of will, just like my telekinesis."

"Now that we know it can work, can you do the same with my geode?" Rainbow asked impatiently. "I want to use your telekinesis!"

"Not quite yet." Twilight replied. "Sunset and I need time to fully test this and ensure that it does not have any adverse effects. If there aren't, then we can all start mixing our powers together."

"Okay, do you need me for anything else?"

"Yeah, one thing." Sunset said. "Keep a close eye on your geode after you leave, let us know if there are any changes as a result of what we did here today."

"Alright. Well, if you guys don't need me anymore, I'll be on my way. When you're done, be sure to let me know!"

"Don't worry, you'll be the first to know." Sunset said with a smile. Rainbow disappeared with a flash of her super speed.
> Something Amiss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A series of loud, hurried knocks eminated from the front doors of Twilight's castle. Spike, who just so happened to be walking past when it happened, turned around to answer it, albeit reluctantly as he had been on his way to take a nap. He pushed the door open. In his half asleep state he didn't immediately recognize the pony standing before him, and started giving the same answer Twilight told him to give for unfamiliar faces.

"Sorry, but Twilight's busy right now, maybe-" He paused, thinking for a second while he stared at the hooves of the pony in front of him. He looked up, and then his eyes widened in shock. "Daring Doo?!" He cried out in surprise. 

"I need to see the princess, now!" She said.





"A-and then it went KA-BOOM!" Daring said, hovering in the air above Twilight and Starlight as they finished making their way to where the anomaly had occured.

"And you're absolutely sure it happened here?" Starlight inquired.

"Positive!"

Starlight gave a worried look to Twilight.

"This doesn't make any sense." Twilight whispered. "How has the forest not grown back by now?" She said looking around at the marks still clearly visible in the surrounding area from their fight with the intruder.

Starlight placed a hoof to her forehead. "We should've kept a closer eye on this place!" She said scolding herself. "Who knows what other left over effects there could still be!"

Twilight bowed her head down in shame, knowing Starlight was right. They shouldn't have placed so much faith in their Element magic. They were dealing with something completely new here, given the obvious fact that this villain in particular and the magic he used was still so unknown to them.

Twilight looked back up to Daring, who was using a pair of binoculars draped around her neck to scout the path ahead. "Do you happen to have any other way of telling us what you saw? A drawing, or something?"

"Oh! Yeah!" She responded, landing and digging around in her saddlebags, puling out a journal and proceeding to tear out a page. "I made a rough sketch of it while I was flying to your castle."

She handed the page to Twilight, who grabbed it in her aura and hovered it in front of herself and Starlight.

"It looks like cracked glass." Starlight stated, noticing the glaring similarity.

"Aka, yet another thing we've never encountered before." Twilight said in an exasperated tone. 

"This is it!" Daring called from in front of them. Twilight and Starlight looked past the page they'd been examining towards the clearing ahead. They recognized it as the location where the Elements had been used, where Twilight had been frozen and where the other portal leading to the human world was located. They both silienty thanked their lucky stars that Daring hadn't accidentally fallen into the portal. What lay in front of them, where there had once been lush vegetation like anywhere else in the Everfree, there was now nothing except the quicksand portal off to the right, everything else for a good twenty feet gone leaving a barely noticeable crater, and the vegetation beyond that blown over at an angle from the shockwave.

"Thank you Daring, I think Starlight and I can handle this from here."

Daring let out a relieved sigh, before waving goodbye and taking off without another word.

"Okay, let's think." Twilight said to Starlight. "If this was a portal, or rift or something, there had to have been some kind of disturbance here that would mess with reality enough for this to be possible."

"The energy output from that device and the Elements." Starlight said. "Since whatever powers that being used aren't of this world, the leftover residue is probably what made this possible, hence why it's here of all places."

"So our first order of business is making sure nothing else is still left over." Twilight said lighting her horn. She and Starlight both did so, scanning for anything else out of the ordinary.

"Nothing." Starlight said after a few seconds.

"Good, then what Daring did likely finished reversing the effects of what happened here... somehow."

"So we don't have to worry abour anything else happening here?"

"...Maybe. We still know so little about that being and what he was capable of, so unfortunately the only way of knowing is by waiting. I think we should write Princess Celestia and have a Royal guard battalion stationed here just in case."

"What about what Daring described was in the portal? It sounded eerily similar to what Sunset showed me shortly after it happened, maybe there's a connection?"

"Most likely, it sounded too similar to be just coincidence."

"Should we tell her?"

"...No, this doesn't concern her, we'd just be worrying her. If what we've put together from what little we know is correct, we shouldn't have to worry about anything else happening." She turned and starting trotting back the way they'd come. "Come on, I need to write that letter to Celestia and get back to the castle, all this reality, dimensions and other universes stuff is really starting to wear me down. Hopefully Celestia knows something we don't."





"Starlight! I have good news!" Twilight exclaimed upon appearing with a teleport in-between Starlight and Trixie, where the former had been teaching the latter in front of Trixie's caravan, which was parked to the left of the entrance of Twilight's castle.

"What? Have you gotten a reply to the letter you sent to Celestia? That was quick." Starlight replied after getting over the shock that came with Twilight's sudden appearance.

"Yes! Turns out we have nothing to worry about!" Twilight said with considerable excitement and relief, her wings spread out.

"Well, don't leave us in suspense." Trixie interjected.

"She confirmed that our current thinking was true, and that as long as there isn't anything else left over, it's not possible for any more anomalies like that to occur!"

"How does she know that?" Starlight inquired.

"Well, as it turns out, she knows about the multiverse, or whatever it's called, as well. She learned of its existence when she, Luna and Starswirl created the mirror portal connecting this world to the human world. The reason she said she was so sure that there was nothing else to worry about is this: One of the key reasons why they never went further than the portal to the human world, besides the obvious implications of continuing to mess with reality, was because they couldn’t, even if they had wanted to. The human world portal was possible only because of the similarities it has with Equestria, with it essentially being a mirror of ours. Other realities are simply too different, and so it's impossible to reach them. She told me that this works both ways, which is what made the intruder so dangerous, since he was an exception to this, and why these things are so rare."

"So, that's it?" Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow. "We can finally put all this multiverse stuff behind us?"

"Yes!" Twilight said.

Starlight looked back to Trixie, who shrugged.

"So! What is it that you two have been doing? If you're teaching Trixie here some new magic, could I help?"

"Sure!" Starlight replied.

And everything went back to normal.
> Mad Twi-ence: Part Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been another week, and with the completion of the final tests to ensure that the mixing of their magic had no ill side effects, and with a greater understanding of how to handle her modified geode, Twilight had finally decided it was time to break the news of her and Sunset's innovation to the rest of the group. So here they were, all seven of them, gathered in front of a PowerPoint presentation that Twilight herself was giving, using a projector on the wall behind her.

"Okay, for starters, I'm sure you're all wondering why Sunset and I have you here today." Twilight said, addressing the remaining seven friends gathered in her basement that day. While they were all at least aware of the project after Rainbow had become involved, the exact details remained a mystery to them, and so Twilight's statement was met with a confused murmur among them. When it died down, she continued.

"As I'm sure you all know, seven weeks ago we encountered a threat the likes of which we've never seen before. A being from another dimension, one that had no connection whatsoever to this world, or to Equestria for that matter. Not only that, but they weren't exactly here to make friends." She paused to gauge her friends' reactions, which were, as she expected, uncomfortable and disconcerted.

"In light of these events, I decided something must be done if we ever face such a threat again. I realized how far our magic lags behind what's possible in Equestria, and I wanted to find a way to replicate it. Building on the work I'd done to create the Amulet in the past, I designed and built a prototype of a device that I hoped would allow us to do just that." She pressed a button on a small remote she held, and a picture of the prototype appeared on screen. "Long story short, I achieved teleportation."

Her friends' eyes widened.

She continued: "After that first success, Sunset discovered my work and offered to help me. Without her help, I couldn't have gotten anywhere near where I am now and for that I'm grateful." She glanced over to the corner of the room where Sunset was standing. She smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"After some more development, and with Rainbow Dash's help, we were able to create a shield similar to Rarity's Diamond Shield power. And we finally figured out the best way to replicate each other's powers." She changed the slide again, revealing a picture of her modified geode, zoomed in to make it easier to see the new red and blue whisps that were circling her cutie mark in the center.

"By embedding samples of each other's magic into our geodes, it will be possible for the recipient to wield a slightly nerfed version of the replicated power." She turned to Sunset. "Sunset, a demonstration, if you will?"

Sunset smiled. "Gladly." She said, raising her hands. A red aura enveloped her hands, followed by the remote in Twilight's hands. The remote left her hands and floated across the room in a near perfect replication of Twilight's telekinesis. Her friends erupted in celebration.

"Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed. "This is unbelievable!"

"I told you guys it was going to be amazing!" Rainbow said to the group.

"Now now hold on for just a sec." Applejack interrupted. "I can't be the only one wondering if this will have dire consequences or something."

"An excellent point, Applejack." Twilight stated, floating the remote back into her hands fron Sunset. "And that's what I'm going to be talking about next. Since the magic that we embed in each other's geodes simply acts as a blueprint for the native energy to replicate it, it means that the use of these additional abilities is a great drain on our power. Using it for too long will cause the energy in our geodes to run out, and when it does, you won't be able to use any more abilities, and the one you already had will become weaker for an indeterminate amount of time. Also, the more abilities you try to use at once, the more effort and focus it takes. However, I've come up with a workaround. I'm sure you've all noticed the watch-like devices that Sunset and I have been wearing. These devices act as a sort of conduit to help our geodes cope with the extra workload that comes with having more abilities to use. They are what make new abilities like shielding and teleportation possible, and because I used the same technology that went into the Amulet, they allow energy to be stored, which brings me to my workaround. Remember when Rainbow used her superspeed for everyday tasks, and because all our geodes are connected, it caused a power surge that made our abilities uncontrollable?"

All of her friends looked at Rainbow with varying degrees of judgment, and she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"As it turns out, such overuse of our powers is precisely the solution to always having enough to power the replication process. By wearing these devices, I'm actually encouraging you to overuse your powers, because then the devices can drain the excess, store it, and feed it back into our geodes as needed to power the use of other abilities; that way we can always have enough power without worrying about the otherwise detrimental side effects of overuse."

"Okay, okay, enough explaining! I want to get to mixing!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Yeah, what she said!" Rainbow followed. The others followed in agreement. Twilight let out a resigned sigh before she walked over to the device they were going to do this with and pressed a button on the side of the machine to activate it. Five more devices, one for each remaining friend, lay on the left side of the machine. In the final design, Twilight had taken the time to integrate smart functionality into them, making them just like any other smartwatch you could find in a tech store. She had also engraved her cutie marks into the top latch. The end result was a circular smartwatch with a transparent display that could be flipped open with a latch to access their geodes when needed. A circular row of lights, similar to those used in the Amulet, accented the background. 

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Twilight asked.

Rarity and Rainbow were the first to raise their hands. They both walked over to the machine and placed each of their geodes into the two storage cells it had. Twilight pressed another button and the process began.
> The Last Wish
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Quick! Uh-I wish we were invisible!" Timmy Turner said in a frightened whisper. Wanda nodded in agreement, and with a quick wave and poof of her wand, the two of them became invisible.

The story of their world played out the same as it had for many others, it couldn’t have been more than 3 hours at most since it came, but already he was almost certain he and Wanda were the last ones left. The two currently found themselves trapped in their own house, the twisted forms of Timmy's parents, Cosmo and Vicky searching tirelessly for them.

Vicky.

She was different. Every other corrupted they encountered was largely the same. Pupilless, darkness slowly dripping from them as they searched for survivors, picking them off one by one. Not Vicky. For the two survivors, it was all so surreal. Unlike everyone else, she still seemed to be fully conscious and controlling herself, mainly represented by the fact that she still had her pupils in both eyes. Cosmo, or what was Cosmo, followed her around the house, his magic captured for Vicky's twisted needs. Her trademark chain saw had been fused to her left hand, and the fingers of the other hand had been elongated and sharpened into deadly claws. 

Timmy and Wanda froze as they heard her laugh again from another room, the kitchen. It quickly approached the room they were in, the living room.

She walked into the living room, laughing maniacally, her head thrown back and her distorted eyes searching the room. She pulled the cord on the chainsaw that was fused to her left hand. The deafening WHIR of its motor came to life, followed by the blade spinning, filling the room oppressively.

"WH3R3 @R3 Y0U TW3RP?!" She shouted into the seemingly empty room. She let out a roar of frustration before she slashed at one of the walls with her clawed hand.

They had to get out of here. Now. Even with invisibility, Timmy was afraid that they would be found soon, he had no idea what this darkness-empowered Vicky was capable of, and even if they weren't found, there was a very real chance that Vicky could accidentally kill them in one of her fits of rage.

Though invisible, Timmy and Wanda could vaguely see each other's outlines in the air. Careful not to make a sound, they began to move slowly towards the front door. 

creak

He froze. Despite their efforts, he had unfortunately stepped on a loose floorboard, the creak barely audible over the idle whir of Vicky's chainsaw.

Vicky froze as well, and in one terrifying motion, turned her head straight at them, even though she was facing the complete opposite direction.

She roared again before swinging her chainsaw towards the seemingly empty space.

"RUN!!" Timmy yelled before ducking underneath the chainsaw as Vicky swung it in their direction. They made a beeline for the front door. Vicky quickly followed, using the sound of his footsteps to gauge where he was. 

The two quickly made it to the sidewalk and took off as fast as they could go. Timmy's head was fuzzy with adrenaline and terror as he tried desperately to think of something he could wish for. Before he could, he heard a telltale magical poof behind him and turned just in time to dodge and roll out of the way of a magical laser beam, taking off down a sidestreet.
> House Call
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know Joe, there's something I've been wondering about for a while now." Peter Griffin asked. Tonight was one of many nights he and his friends Joe Swanson, Glenn Quagmire, Cleveland Brown, and for the first time in a while, Brian, the family dog.

"And what would that be, Peter?" Joe responded before taking another swig of his Pawtucket Patriot. 

“I can’t remember the last time you told us anything about what it’s like on the job, y’know, being a cop.”

“There isn’t a whole lot to talk about, I mean, Quahog is a much more law-abiding city than you might think, it’s been a while since I saw any action.” He said.

"Oh come on! It can't be that boring! How about we break out the camera vests again so me and the boys can watch you on patrol!"

"That sounds kind of boring Peter, he just said almost nothing happens." Quagmire chimed in.

"I bet it will! That's the way luck works around here, nothing happens until we expect nothing to happen. Then it does!" 

"You bet it will?" Cleveland said, raising an eyebrow.

"Peter, I don't think that's a good idea." Brian said in a dismissive tone.

"Shut up Brian!" Peter snapped back. "You're such a debby downer. Yeah, I bet something will happen while we're watching. Fifty dollars says yes. If you win, I pay each of you fifty dollars, if I win, each of you pays me fifty dollars, how's that?"

"Ah-" Brian started. If Peter lost, that would be two hundred dollars lost, but then he remembered that he had said 'each' of them, which meant that he was included. So instead of trying to convince Peter to stop, he just let him keep digging his own grave. Fifty dollars is fifty dollars.

The others' eyes lit up for a moment. "Ah, come on, Joe!" Quagmire exclaimed. "Fifty dollars! You can't turn that down!"

"Fine." Joe replied, readjusting his wheelchair. "I'll get the vests, go out on patrol tonight, and come home fifty dollars richer."





"All right!" Quagmire said. "You ready, Joe?"

"Yep." He said, readjusting his body cam.

"Are you ready Peter?" Cleveland asked looking over his shoulder. Peter was typing on a laptop and in a flash they were shown the feed from Joe's body cam.

"Ready to get fifty bucks richer?" Brian interjected.

"Oh, you just wait." Peter said, "Until I get two hundred dollars richer!"

"Alright, well, shift's about to start. See you guys around." Joe opened the door to the Griffin residence and left, the sound of his wheelchair rolling down the sidewalk lingering for a few moments after the door closed behind him.

"What's going on down there?" A voice called from the second floor. A few moments later, Lois revealed herself, coming down the stairs.

"Hey Mrs. Griffin!" Cleveland said. "Peter made a bet that's going to make us each fifty dollars richer!"

"No, no, Lois, these guys just made a bet that's going to make me two hundred dollars richer!" Peter shot back.

“They all just made a bet that Joes shift tonight would have some action in it. If there is, Peter wins, if there isn't, we win." Brian said, finishing what Cleveland and Peter were about to say. Lois walked down the stairs, probably to start dinner for the night, and didn't pay much attention to the group's latest shenanigans.

The group's eyes went back to the laptop screen where they saw Joe continue down the sidewalk before a police car pulled up beside him. One of Joe's colleagues, a newer officer named Stanton, stepped out from the other side to get Joe's wheelchair as he got in, before getting back in the driver's seat.

"Ready for tonight's shift?" they heard Stanton ask. He was a younger man, with a fairly standard build and auburn hair. He bore a slight resemblance to Patrick, Lois's older brother.

"If by that you mean riding around town for hours doing nothing, sure." Joe replied in a monotone voice.





"Yeah! Fifty dollars here I come!" Cleveland exclaimed.

"It's not over yet Cleveland." Peter replied.

"It is for Quagmire and Brian." He replied, motioning to Quagmire, who was sleeping on the far end of the couch, and Brian, who was sleeping on the floor in front of it.





"All right Stanton, let's go back," Joe said.

"Oh come on!" Peter cried in fear.

"Alright!" Cleveland said.

"Wha- who said alright?" Quagmire said, waking from his nap.

"Did we win?" Brian said, jumping back onto the couch.

"Yeah, we did!" Cleveland replied.

"Fine, let me get my wallet." Peter said before reluctantly starting to get up from the couch. Just before he did, however, something happened.

"Officer Swanson, Officer Stanton, we've got a possible Code five-hundred taking place about five blocks from your location-"

"Alright!" Peter yelled.

"No, no, not alright!" Quagmire said.

"What's a Code five-hundred?" Brian asked.

"I think it's a code for a break-in." Cleveland replied.

 "What do you say, Officer Swanson, you want to take this one?"

"Are you kidding me, let's ROCK!"

The camera shook a bit as the police car made a hard U-turn to head to the address they had been given while the guys were either hating life or rubbing each other's noses in it.

Peter ran to the bottom of the stairs. "Hey Lois, guess what! I just made two hundred dollars!"

"That's great Peter." She called back in a unimpressed voice.

"No it isn't!" Quagmire yelled from the couch. "It could still be a dud!"

"Yeah, this isn't over yet Peter!" Cleveland said.





Officers Stanton and Swanson drove up to the address, a fairly modest cyan home with a second floor and a separate garage a few feet from the main house. 

"Control code ten ninety-seven, we are on scene." Joe said into his radio, rolling his wheelchair down the long sidewalk that led to the front door. "Police! Anyone there?" 

They waited, nothing.

"Stanton, go around the house and look for any signs of foul play." Stanton did as he was told, leaving Joe to try the door again.





"Nope, nothing, no broken windows, all doors are locked, house seems secure." Stanton said as he came around a corner.

"Then what the hell was the call about?" Joe asked impatiently.

"Apparently a neighbor called, said they heard some noises and then what sounded like screaming and a struggle." Stanton said.

"Well, if there are no signs of forced entry, how the hell is that possible?"

"Medical event?"

"Maybe, radio for EMS." Joe replied, putting a hand to his chin.

"Dispatch, we need EMS for a possible code thirty-five hundred." 

"You want to do a forced entry?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." Joe moved his wheelchair a few feet to the left, giving Stanton room as he kicked in the door. 

"Police! Anybody in there?" Joe yelled again. "All right, you go up and check, I'll stay down here."





The eyes of Peter, Quagmire, Cleveland, and Brian remained glued to the screen as Joe's camera reflected his current activity of searching downstairs. It was quiet, the only sound being Joe's wheelchair changing pitch as it moved from the living room carpet to the kitchen tile. Just then, a loud scream came from upstairs, followed by a loud roar and deafening static before ending with a single gunshot. 

"Officer Stanton!" Joe called. "Are you okay?" Silence, except for a low, rumbling static coming from upstairs. Joe rolled over to the stairs, only to mutter, "Shit," after realizing there was no way he could get up there.

"Control, this is Officer Swanson, I need immediate backup, something happened to Officer Stanton upstairs in the residence and I can't reach him," Joe said into his radio.

"Officer Stanton! Are you..." Joe started, only to gasp and jump back as something was thrown down the stairs. He quickly realized it was Stanton, disfigured, obviously dead, and with a strange glitch-like substance covering his body. 

"Oh my God!" Joe cried. "Stanton?"

A low, distorted growl came from Stanton's body before something happened to him. His eyes shot open, wide and pupil-less. His body began to lift off the ground, making the sickening sound of bones cracking and flesh stretching beyond what it was ever meant to do. 

"Stay back!" Joe yelled, drawing his gun. Now he began to notice more of the strange substance, which seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. One puddle in particular stood out, expanding before more began to emerge from it, slowly building itself into a person like Play-Doh. It turned out to be the homeowner when it was finished manifesting from the ground, a young woman who looked to be in her twenties, a brunette with dark black hair, wearing a bright white t-shirt and blue jeans with holes in them.  The darkness stood out against the plain white shirt, endlessly flickering and seemingly in motion along it. Another figure quickly followed, a man of about the same age wearing a gray shirt and shorts. There was a very obvious bullet hole somewhere along his jaw, the pieces of shattered bone hanging low from his face, held to his body only by the darkness.

"I said stay back!" Joe yelled at his three opponents before firing a shot at each of them. His standard nine-millimeter seemed to do little to no damage, simply putting holes in each of them before ceasing to exist. Joe quickly drew his baton, just in time for the woman to lunge at him. She hit the camera, its feed fading to static.





"Oh my God!" Quagmire cried.

"Joe!" Peter yelled before jumping off the couch and running upstairs.





Peter ran back downstairs, a gun now in his right hand. Lois quickly followed in a panic.

"Peter! What's going on?" She asked frantically.

"Joe's in trouble! Come on, guys, we have to save him!"





Joe managed to catch the blow of the woman who had lunged at him just in time with his police baton, knocking her back to the ground in front of him. Next came the man, and Joe put two more bullets in each of his eyes. He began to fall backwards, finished with an uppercut from the baton. He fell to the ground, lifeless, but only for a moment. Within seconds of hitting the ground, he began to stir in much the same way that Stanton had come back to life. He slowly stood up, his face almost completely obscured by the darkness to hide the bullet holes. An exclamation mark hovered over everything, and even though he was blind now, he still seemed to know exactly where Joe was, slowly but surely making his way back to him.





"Shit, does anyone remember the address Joe's dispatch gave him?" Peter asked frantically. They were strapped in and ready to go, Peter and Cleveland both with handguns, and Quagmire with his father's shotgun from his military days. They had everything they needed.

Except the address.

"I remember it!" Brian yelled from the back seat. Peter quickly handed his phone to Brian, who punched the address into maps and handed it back to Peter. Peter glanced at the phone before placing it on the dashboard. "Let's go." he muttered to himself before he pulled out of the driveway and put the pedal to the metal.





Joe began firing again at the two oncoming Corrupted, this time aiming for areas he knew would slow them down, realizing that killing them was not an option. He aimed for joints, tendons, and major bones in their legs, eventually reducing them to piles of flesh and corruption, using only their arms to keep moving. 



 

According to their map application, the time it should have taken them to reach Joe was eight minutes. At the rate Peter was going, they'd make it in four, maybe three.

"Uh-oh, Peter, look!" Cleveland called from behind. Peter looked in the rearview mirror, only to be greeted by flashing red and blue lights-

Cops.

"Peter, what do we do?" Quagmire asked from the passenger seat.

"Let them follow us, we're going to need all the help we can get." He replied bluntly. As if to emphasize his point, he quickly shifted gears before doing a hard drift into the next right they were supposed to take, a scene straight out of the Fast and Furious movies, nearly flipping the car in the process, and considering none of them were wearing seatbelts, it was a miracle they survived.





It had taken almost all of Joe's ammunition, but he had finally defeated his two opponents and watched with sweat pouring down his face as the two homeowners seemed to melt into the corruption-covered ground, never to be seen again.

He quickly looked around, but because of his wheelchair, he couldn't see behind him without moving it, so he couldn't see his corrupted colleague rising from the floor in that exact position.

Joe was about to move his wheelchair to look behind him when it was pulled out from under him. He hit the ground hard and turned around to see Stanton in a similar state to the two homeowners. With only one bullet, his baton, and his taser left, he desperately looked around for anything that could help him.

His saving grace came in the form of a kitchen sink, located in the kitchen a few feet from his current position in the living room. He used his last bullet to shoot the faucet clean off, water gushing from the broken pipe. He fought Stanton off with his baton for a few seconds before using it to push him toward the sink. Finally, he pulled out his stun gun and hit him right in the chest. The plan worked perfectly, the combination of water and electricity causing a cascading effect that made Stanton's corrupted form flail around on the floor for a few seconds before collapsing, lifeless.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief and allowed his upper half to fall to the ground. His bulletproof vest had saved him from any major injuries, but his legs, arms, and face were still covered in small cuts and bruises from clawed hands during the struggle.

"Indistinguishable"

Joe shot up at the sound of stirring again in the kitchen. With considerable effort, Stanton regained consciousness, more of the darkness moving to cover and take over the function of body parts too damaged to do anything.

"Oh, come on!" Joe yelled. His taser and gun out of ammo, the only thing he had to protect himself now was his baton as his former colleague attacked again, this time to finish the job.

Just then, the door burst open, revealing the shapes of Peter, Quagmire and Cleveland.

"Hey you!" Peter shouted, Stanton's head making a disgusting crack sound as his gaze shot towards Peter.

"Say cheese." He finished. Quagmire emerged from behind him, quicking aiming and firing his shotgun. The final corrupted finally fell to the ground, its head having been obliterated by the cluster of buckshot, leaving the guys to do nothing but stare as it sank into the ground in a puddle of corruption like the other two.

"Say cheese, Peter?" Joe asked with a neutral expression, unimpressed.

"It sounded better in my head." Peter replied in a similar tone. "H-hang on, I can do better." He said, putting a hand to his chin, forgetting about the darkness that still lingered over the various surfaces of the room. "Say hello to my little friend? No, Quagmire was the one who killed him..." 

"Uh, Peter?" Cleveland asked.

"No, no, hang on for a second, Cleveland. I got it! T-"

Before Peter could finish, two more cops burst through the door, both going for Peter.

"You're under arrest!" One of them yelled.

"Wait, wait!" Joe called. "This is all a big misunderstanding. So let's all just calm down-"

Before Joe could finish, the house shook violently before a tidal wave of darkness exploded from the top of the stairs.

"What the hell?!" Quagmire shouted.

"Come on Joe, we gotta go!" Peter yelled. He threw the two stunned cops off him before quickly helping Joe back into his wheelchair and running with him back to the car with the rest of the guys.

"Peter! What happened--" Brian started when they got into the car, only to be cut off as the roof of the house was blown off by the tidal wave of corruption.

"Oh my God!" Brian said at the unfolding scene.

"Floor it Peter!" Cleveland yelled.
> Mad Twi-ence: Part Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I don't know about you, but I'd say this was a job well done." Sunset said as she analyzed the data on the computer screen in front of her, which consisted of a variety of graphs and charts detailing what they had discovered in the days following the completion of their project.

"Yeah, I'd say so." Twilight replied, coming up beside her. "As I suspected, the replicated abilities are slightly diminished compared to the original wielder. For example, Applejack's use of super speed is anywhere from ten to twenty-five percent slower than what Rainbow can do, depending on the amount of power available. It's the same with everyone else, with the notable exception of Fluttershy's animal communication. Interestingly, the others can only hear what animals are saying when they replicate hers, not have conversations with them like she can. Rarity's native ability to create diamonds saw an almost times two buff. The ones that she was already able to create have become much stronger, and she's the only one who can create a shield that covers her entire body."

"The geodes themselves have also handled the modifications much better than I expected." Sunset added. "They seem to have almost the same connection to the devices as they have to us! That could be big if Equestria starts adapting human technology." 

"I noticed that, too. The first few days there were more malfunctions than I would have liked, but after a few days it seemed that our geodes have bonded a bit with the surrounding technology, and I haven't heard any complaints in almost a week!"

"Then I think our work here is done!" Sunset said, sitting up in the chair she was in and looking around the lab they had spent so many hours in to make this a reality.

"Perhaps not. You see, there's still one thing on my mind." Twilight said.

"What would that be?"

"Laser beams, or I guess as a unicorn you'd call it, concentrated bursts of magic that can be used at a distance."

"Hmm, I hadn't thought of that.” Sunset said with a finger to her chin. “But how would we do that? We can't use the same mechanism we used to make shield generation possible, it would fry everything!"

"Look at this." Twilight said, gently pushing Sunset aside and pulling up a new window on the laptop.

"What am I looking at?" Sunset said, taking in the new window Twilight had opened containing two new designs she hadn't seen before.

"A supplement to what we've already done. You see, whenever one of us is using our magic, there's always an aura that surrounds our hands. What I'm proposing is that we create a glove that works on the same mechanisms we've already made. It would have a concentration point in the middle that is strong enough to handle all the energy that would go into it. This would be linked back to the watch by a series of thin wires to transmit the signal, and seeing how our geodes attached themselves so well to us and the watches, I see no reason why it shouldn't work. It would be as simple as concentrating the desired amount of magic in the glove, and then just point and shoot!" She said.

"What about that other thing? In the upper right hand corner?" Sunset said as she pointed to the location on the screen.

"Ah, that. It's not absolutely necessary for the add-on to work, but I think it would look really cool."

"You think it would look cool?".

"Think about it: A lens suspended from a thin headband held in front of one of our eyes. It would be wirelessly connected to the watch and the additional glove. And when you hold your hand out to fire, a reticle would appear on it showing exactly what you're hitting! I took my inspiration from the kind of helmets you see fighter pilots wearing."

"Don't you think that seems a little excessive?"

"Admittedly, yes, but I couldn't help but play with the idea. I know Rainbow would love it."

Sunset looked up again from the laptop with Twilight's designs on it. "I don't see why we can't make this happen."