Chapters Quantum Theories of Friendship
Chapter 1 - For every action...
Prologue
Running on the linoleum, Vince DeGerra could hear nothing but the squeaks of his converse shoes. He ran right around the T-corner, and looked down the corridor he entered. It was long and beige, with sparse doors lining the hallway and LED light fixtures on the ceiling. He tried to keep his glasses from falling off of the bridge of his nose, and shoved them up with his left hand, dropping a piece of paper he was carrying in the process. He made an about turn, picking up the paper and added it into the folder. Further down was his destination, room 431 on floor B-2, and he made a beeline for it. A sense of foreboding doom filled Vince, and all he could think about was what a cute girl that lab intern was. Sure he was about to deliver bad news to a superior, but damn was she cute. Vince couldn’t help himself when it came to the opposite sex, which is why he was hired as the VP assistant instead of the position of machine technician he wanted. All because the interviewer was attractive, and Vince may or may not have ‘harassed’ her. In his opinion, asking someone’s bra cup size is merely a question about wardrobe. The only thing that got him the job was his glowing recommendation from his MIT professor. That, and one of the board of directors is his father.
When he grasped the door handle, he drew a sharp breath first before entering. The news he was about to deliver was surely going to change how things worked around here, forever. There was no going back after this moment. The whole company, America, even the whole world in the long term was going to be affected by this piece of news. Vince just thought, ‘screw it’ and opened the door. Inside was a square room about 20 feet across. Two long tables were in the middle, with various instruments and computers that are used to measure long term distance runs of specific particles through the universe. Along the walls there were no windows, for they were three floors underground. Instead, there were some file cabinets, and then modern file cabinets in the form of hard drives.
Two men and a woman were waiting for Vince, all of them looking at him with eyes full of fear.
John Gordon, a burly man with graying, balding hair who was wearing a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a dark green tie, and black slacks spoke first. “So, did the Recon guys confirm it? Do they truly exist?”
Vince grimaced, speaking softly, “Yes. All the figures match, and there’s no doubt. Probes are being prepped for launch.”
David Stern, a lean guy in his mid-30’s had brown short uncombed hair, and was wearing a Doctor Who sweatshirt and jeans, slammed a fist into the table. “Dammit, even if it is true, who authorized the launch of the probes? We sure as hell didn’t!”
Kathyrn Moore stood up from where she was sitting. She put a hand on David’s shoulder and looked at David in the eyes. “There’s no need to yell at Vince, he’s just the messenger.” Kat was around 30, and she had shiny auburn hair that came down to her shoulder blades. She had a nice curvy figure; her chest sporting a bosom that wasn’t big, nor small. Her shirt had the ship Serenity on it, from the short-lived but famous show Firefly, and her jeans complemented her hips. David was her boyfriend, and damn proud of it. They were also both proud of displaying their nerd-ness by wearing clothes sporting things from their favorite shows and games, and their offices were even worse. You couldn't go in there without being surrounded by paraphernalia belonging to their fandoms. Continuing speaking, she said in a calm voice, “Whoever did make that order will have to answer to us anyway, so I’m sure they had good reason to authorize the launch. Besides, if they do mess up we can always give them the Doniger” she finished with a devious smile.
David became less tense, and chuckled. “Vince, I apologize. And Kat, you are as mean as ever.”
“And proud of it! Now, Vince, do you know who gave the order for the probes?”
“I believe Dennis Noble gave the order.”
John snorted, and growled, “He doesn’t have that much experience with this. Is he sure about this?”
“None of us have any experience with this. I’m just peeved that Noble didn’t ask me first. We need to have a staff meeting about this” David stated.
“I would prefer not to involve the bureaucrats in this, Dave.” John said.
“But it would be the safe thing to do. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.”
John sighed and rubbed his shiny head. After rubbing it for 10 seconds, he said, “Alright, arrange the staff meeting. However, I want to talk to Noble. The only thing that would explain why he ordered a probe launch now is something that requires immediate communication. I think we have been contacted.”
Everyone else flinched. “Seriously?” Kat murmured.
Dennis Noble poked his head into the room, and said, “Yes Kathryn, we're serious."
David did a double take. “Wait, how did you know we were in here?
Kat cocked her eyebrow. “Yes, this was supposed to be a private meeting.”
Dennis shrugged. He was a stocky man in his late twenties, with long blond hair. He was wearing a red t-shirt that just said, 'Dont Think, Do' and jeans. Dennis had a way of learning secrets he wasn't meant to hear, which is why he was perfect for Recon. Unfortunately, it also made him a real pain around the office. “I forgot to tell Vince something, so I decided to come here and tell you guys myself. Turns out that we did not only make contact, but we also got a response.”
Everyone not only flinched, but David fell off his chair and Kat choked on her breath. “A-are you saying that we have just made contact with another sentient race of beings from a separate universe?!?” John shouted.
“Wow, I can't believe we actually we were the first ones to find aliens. So much for those radio telescope guys here in New Mexico," Vince said with a chuckle.
Dennis came into the room and said, “Hey, hey! You didn’t let me finish! We did get a response, but it wasn’t a verbal comm, nor was it a message.”
“What did we get, then? What makes you sure that we got a response from a sentient race?” Kat asked.
Dennis looked at Kat with somber eyes. “We got a picture.”
“Of what?” David demanded.
“We don't know.”
John walked up to Dennis, and held out his hand. "Let me see the folder."
Dennis handed it over. David and Kat jumped up from their seats and leaned over John's shoulder to look at the picture. The picture had a fuzzy image, showing a green ground and blue sky. Rolling hills covered the landscape and near the bottom right of the picture, down in the valley was a village composed of white and brown buildings.
David let out a sigh, muttering, "They don't look very technologically advanced."
"Don't let that fool you. For all we know, they could zap us with mind powers and drain our brains", Vince grunted.
"You would have nothing to worry about Vince, because you have no brains" Dennis said, earning a death glare from Vince.
John put the picture back into the folder and everyone looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed. Only John knew what to do, but it was the last thing that he wanted to do. His good natured conscience screamed out in protest for even considering this, but he had no choice. As a military man, he knew he had to serve his country. He walked out into the hallway and pulled out his cellphone, and made the call.
Quantum Theories of Friendship
Chapter 2 - There is a reaction
Chapter 1
"SPIIIIIIIIIKE!"
Spike the baby dragon slowly woke up from his nap. "You have got to be kidding me, I just went to sleep 5 minutes ago..." He mumbled. His hazy vision centered on the clock, and told him that it was 5pm. "Wait...scratch that, 6 hours ago. Still..." Spike got up and stretched his limbs, popping his neck and back.
"SPIIIIIIIIIKE,"
"I'm coming Twilight!" Spike hopped out of his bed and fell two feet to the floor. Having a room and bed in Canterlot Castle is a different experience to say the least, but he wasn't the one who became an alicorn. It has been two weeks since Twilight's coronation, and her princess training was almost complete. When it was done, she would probably be assigned to govern a part of Equestria, most likely Ponyville. But, even with all,the new changes, Spike was still Twilights Number One Assistant, and being Twilights NOA meant being there for Twilight whenever she needed help!
Spike ran past two of the Solar Guard who were on post. Entering a cross in the hallways, Spike couldn't decide where Twilight was and he certainly didn't want to run in circles. Spike looked at the Guard closest to him and asked, "Excuse me, where can I find Twilight?"
"You can find Princess Twilight in the Royal Laboratory, sir" the Guard answered in a monotone voice.
Spike smiled and ran off, yelling thanks in return. The Guard looked at the dragon scampering off, cocking an eyebrow and returned to being a statue.
In the Royal Laboratory, Princess Twilight was going over the new information she got from her various instruments that cluttered the lab when Spike burst in. "I was in the middle of a nap, Twilight. I was having a most wonderful dream about Rarity..."
Twilight giggled and said, "It better not be that type of dream, or she'll never forgive you."
Spike became flustered and stammered out, "Bu-Wha-Hey! It wasn't! Honest!"
"It's okay Spike, I'm just teasing. Now, I called you here for a reason. I need your help to find out what's causing the disturbances I'm reading in the weather patterns."
"Shouldn't this be handled by the pegasi in Cloudsdale? What's so special about these 'disturbances'."
" Apparently, there have been lightning flashes around Ponyville that only happen on the ground. I tried to see what was causing the electrical surges, but when I scanned them I couldn't find any electricity in the environment. The flashes are made of...something else. I already notified The pegasi, they're working on it too, but I want to make sure nothing goes wrong myself.
"So, I need you to stand over there, by that green computer."
Spike waddled over. "This one?"
Twilight nodded and trotted to her particle analyzer. A glowing purple vial was sitting on the analyzer, with nothing inside. Her horn became enveloped in the same purple glow, and buttons on the machine became imbued with the same glow. She pressed a few and the machine warmed up. "Spike, I need you to watch that screen. Tell me whenever you see the red numbers go past 10,000. Ready?"
"Ready!"
She flipped a switch on the analyzer and the machine whirred into life. The transparent vial started spinning, slowly at first, then accelerating in speed. It turned rapidly in circles, faster and faster until you could become concerned that the glass vial would fly off and hit somepony.
Spike started calling out numbers. "It's climbing. 4567...5810...7596...9934...it's over 10,000! Hey, it's still going. 12,483...18,796...40,371?"
Twilight trotted over. "Spike, those numbers are impossible. No substance in existence can have a magical rating of over 20,000."
"Well, look at it yourself. It's at 83,412 now."
Indeed the screen was not lying. The red numbers indicated magical strength in a substance that was too small to see with the naked eye. Historically, ponykind has never found a particle that exceeded 20,000. Anything beyond that would practically tear the universe apart. Science always took ponies far, but never this far before. Now, Twilight has just discovered a black hole in her lab.
"Oh no" Twilight moaned. She galloped over to the analyzer and shut it down. The machine let out a sigh and the vial started slowing its revolutions. She fidgeted around, impatiently waiting for the vial to stop completely and snatched it with her magic. Turning over to her left, she carefully put the vial in a strongbox and locked it. Levitating the strongbox, she hastened to a closet. She opened it and stuffed it on the bottom shelf, out of view and closed the door, locking it.
Spike watched this with concern growing in his stomach. "Twilight?...what's going on?"
"This is bad, Spike. Nopony has ever found such a volatile and dangerous substance before, and it came from Ponyville! We have to talk to the Princesses as soon as possible!" She started for the lab doors, calling Spike to follow her. Spike jumped and ran after her. She needed to talk to Celestia and Luna as soon as possible, and she hoped she would find at least one of them. Galloping down the halls, she raced as fast as she could to the Throne Room. Spike was lagging behind and crashed into a maid. She reached the Throne Room, and immediately burst in.
Princess Celestia was sitting on the throne, signing a document when she looked up to see a harried Twilight. "Twilight? Is something wrong?"
"Yes there is, Celestia. I was in my lab, studying the particles the Ponyville weather team found and I ran them through the particle analyzer. Not only did their magical quotient reach 20,000, it kept growing and almost reached 100,000 before I shut it off! What do we do?!?"
Celestia's eyes shot open and she closed the Throne Room doors. She told her guards to summon Luna, and then strode over to Twilight. "Twilight, who else knows about this?"
"Just Spike, he was helping me in the lab."
Celestia opened the doors and poked her head out. "Valor, fetch Spike for me at once" she said to one of the guards.
"Wait, Princess, Spike was just behind me" Twilight called out.
"Really? Then where is he?"
On cue, Spike ran around the corner covered in linen cloth. He tripped on a piece, and scrambled back to his feet. "I'm sorry, so sorry, I ran into a maid carrying bed sheets. I tried to help her pick them back up but she insisted that I keep going."
Celestia's horn glowed yellow and the sheets covering Spike were covered in the yellow glow and were thrown off. "Now hurry Spike, in you go."
Spike grunted and hurried into the Throne Room. Celestia closed the doors after him, and turned to the two of them. "Now we wait for Princess Luna."
Luna came through one of the hidden back doors near the throne a few minutes later. She was covered in dirt, soiling her lovely midnight blue mane. "Sorry that I'm late, but Derpy Hooves got into a fight with a bakery worker, claiming that she was a rip-off artist for selling muffins at a high price and bucked her in the shins. I had to break up the fight, it escalated quickly..."
Celestia smirked and quickly regained her stern pose. "Luna, Twilight has some disturbing news to share."
Luna's eyes blinked. "Then let us proceed. Twilight, what news have you brought forth?"
Twilight told Luna what she told Celestia. Luna's eyes shot into alarm and her jaw dropped. She quickly regained her composure, but the damage was done. "Impossible. The only way for a particle like that to exist would involve ripping a hole in the universe, and our solar system is still intact. Twilight Sparkle, are you sure about this?"
Twilight grimaced and nodded her head. "The machines in the lab were all calibrated this morning, there's no mistake."
The two other princesses lowered their heads and sighed. Celestia looked up at said to Twilight, "Twilight, I want you to devote your time to find out where these particles are coming from, and if there is a way to stop them."
Twilight opened her mouth to respond when the Throne Room doors swung open. A brown pegasus colt wearing glasses with a dark green mane and a cutie mark composed of storm clouds trotted into the room. "I am sorry to interrupt Princesses, but the mysterious lightning surges are back around Ponyville, and they...um, they, well, produced a metal object. Nopony knows what it is..."
Celestia nodded at the Pegasus and said, "Thank you Cumulus." Cumulus nodded and backed out of the Throne Room. The three alicorns were now faced with a dilemma of unprecedented volumes, and they silently looked at each other. Never before has an object appeared out of thin air due to nature. It was terrifying and shocking. Even though Celestia and Luna had thousands of years of experience, nothing prepared them for this. A full two minutes passed before anypony spoke.
"We must take action about this. It is our duty as the Princesses of Equestria to make sure that no harm comes to our little ponies. If this metal object is dangerous, we must remove it immediately" Luna stated the fact of the matter.
"That is true, but we cannot leave Canterlot ungoverned. Somepony will have to stay behind" Twilight said.
"Then I will stay," Celestia told them. "Out of the three of us, I believe you two are best equipped to deal with this situation. I will stay in Canterlot and make sure the nobles and officials don't go out of hoof, while you two investigate this matter. Report to me what you find in 2 days. Is that understood?"
"Yes Celestia."
"I will make sure all goes well, sister."
Spike felt left out. "Hey, what about me?"
Celestia responded, "I need you to make sure that these two don't do anything hasty and/or dangerous. Can I count on you?"
Spikes eyes lit up and he wriggled his tail. "You can count on me Princess!"
Luna scoffed. "I do not need supervision."
Celestia smirked, and jived, "Need I remind you the time you said you could handle the Trottingham parasprite infestation?"
"...That was different. Nopony could have foreseen them doing a musical number and causing the guards and I to dance and sing in...buzzes " she said with a shudder.
"What was the headline from the Manehattan Times again? 'Princess causes quite a buzz at Trottingham '?"
"Yes, and I remember burning all the copies of the newspaper I could find."
Spike held up a copy of the Manehattan Times . "You didn't find every copy. This is my personal copy of that article, and you can't have it" he said, grinning deviously as he did so. Luna's horn promptly lit up and the newspaper was lit in a blaze, causing Spike to yelp and drop it. The paper quickly crumpled up on the floor, erasing the evidence of the Princess of the Night's embarrassing day at Trottingham .
Luna stomped out the fire with her hoof, and started trotting towards the throne room doors. Twilight leaned over and whispered in Spike's ear, "You shouldn't have showed her that."
"Don't worry, I have more," he whispered back.
Quantum Theories of Friendship
Chapter 2
Two royal carriages were being flown by Royal Guard pegasi. One, a more dark and foreboding carriage belonged to Princess Luna, being towed by her Lunar Guard. The other was a new carriage, being pulled by Solar Guards, that has just been built recently. It looked simple and practical, just like the pony princess being chauffeured. Twilight looked back at the speck in the distance that was Canterlot, and she thought back to when she was first sent to Ponyville to learn the magic of friendship. It seemed so long ago, but 3 years in truth wasn't that long. It seems long because of what she has accomplished during that time. She learned invaluable lessons on friendship, and how powerful of a magic it can be. To have reached the point where she’s at now would be something her younger self would have scoffed at and have joked about it being the silliest thing she’s ever heard. A small smile grew on her face. Now she was reliving history, traveling to Ponyville from Canterlot in a flown carriage, but this time was different. Now she was an alicorn princess. That, and Luna was here with her and Spike. Even though she was coming here because of bad tidings, she was happy to see her friends again.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the ground, ponies had set up a magical barrier surrounding the area where the metal entity has appeared. The vicinity buzzed with movement, with ponies in hazmat suits and scientist unicorns from Canterlot studying the object from afar. Ponyville citizens were being held back by Solar Guards, some trying to get a look at the metal object while others were protesting the protection of it, yelling and waving signs that it should be destroyed. The ponies that were afraid of it were all in their homes, watching the commotion from the windows.
Rarity was not in her home however. She came to watch the proceedings along with Pinkie Pie, but Pinkie’s off comforting a little filly who was crying earlier. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were helping with crowd control, and Fluttershy was keeping the animal population from going wild. Rarity wanted to help herself, but everypony was already doing what was needed to be done. If she tried to help she would be just getting in the way. The only thing she could do was help the unicorns keep the shield from collapsing by adding her own magic to the shield’s strength. It was little, but adding it made Rarity feel good.
She noticed a pony walking towards her, looking at her. Facing the pony, she saw that she was one of the scientists. She had a violet coat and a short red mane, with a lab coat around her body and an Equestrian Aero-Space Magic Labs badge pinned on her chest. “Miss Rarity, I need you to come with me. The princesses are almost here, and protocol requires that we need an Element of Harmony to be present when they arrive, and you are the only one available,” she spoke in a brisk and loud monotone manner.
Rarity raised her brow in surprise. “The princesses are coming here? Who, which ones?” she asked in an excited tone. It’s been 2 weeks since Twilight has been in Ponyville. Twilight coming here to help would really relieve a lot of tension within the situation. Seeing her would brighten up this horrid afternoon
“I was informed that it’s Princess Luna and Princess Twilight”, the unicorn stated in the same monotone voice. “We must hurry Miss Rarity, they’re almost here.”
The marshmallow grinned and nodded her head. “Well, we wouldn’t want to keep them waiting. I’m coming!”
Quickly, the unicorn turned and starting trotting towards the outskirts of Ponyville before Rarity could react. She jumped after her and caught up within a moment, and they walked in partial silence towards the rendezvous.
Rarity was feeling awkward about following this pony she didn’t know, even if she was doing her job. She looked at her red mane, critiquing it on its style to know if she was going to lie or not with her next statement.
”You know, I just love your mane. The way it spikes up in the back is unique.”
She lied. Rarity thought that her mane looked like a bedhead mess, something that Rainbow Dash wouldn't mind.
She knew that judging on appearance's alone is shallow, but she couldn't think of another way to break the ice before they would meet up with Luna and Twilight. The unicorn glanced at Rarity, preferring to look ahead. She raised her left eyebrow, as if the compliment was unexpected.
"Thanks, I guess. I don't really care for it except when it gets too long. I have other things to tend to."
She took this as a chance to try to coax her more. "Really? Like what, darling?"
The unicorn's eyes began to sparkle, saying "Well, if you knew everything we lab ponies do each day it would fill you with wonder and terrify you at the same time, but I love it. I head the department that studies the celestial phenomena that occurs in space."
Rarity nodded her head in interest. "So, what's your special talent? Your lab coat is covering up your cutie mark, I can't guess it for myself."
Stopping for a second, the mare used her horn to lift her coat so Rarity could see her cutie mark. Her mark was a silver telescope pointed at a night sky filled with stars. She let Rarity take it in, and lowered it, covering it up again. "My talent is watching the stars, finding things other ponies didn't know was there and knowing how they move and feel. That, or I could be a telescope repair-mare..." Her mouth smirked, and she started trotting again.
"So, since you already know my name, perhaps it's time I learned yours," Rarity said, walking after her.
"Perhaps so. My name is Nova Red, Director of the Space Observation Team," the science pony said, watching the sky. She squinted her eyes, and said, "We must hurry Miss Rarity. They have arrived."
Rarity squinted as well, and saw nothing. "Are you sure, darling? I don't see them."
Nova lowered her brow, grumbling, "Hey, sharp eyes here, remember?"
"Oh. Right."
The two mares started fast-trotting, hurrying to meet the princesses before they landed. They reached the rendezvous in time, watching the carriages fly closer and closer until coming to a stop in front of them. Luna landed first, Twilight shortly after. Nova and Rarity bowed as they stepped onto the ground. Twilight squeed, hurrying over to Rarity before glomping her into the ground.
"Twilight! Careful, careful of my mane!"
"I missed you guys so much! I wish we could have gotten back together in better circumstances. Hey, where are the others?"
Luna properly greeted Nova and walked over to Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, I would remind you that a princess does not tackle other ponies in a greeting...even if they are dearest friends."
Blushing, Twilight got off Rarity and helped her up with levitation. Rarity glared at Twilight for almost ruining her mane, but it dissolved very quickly into a warm smile that almost topped one of Pinkie's. They hugged, gently this time, and parted. Twilight gave her attention to Nova, and gave her the Canterlot Nod. Nova nodded back, finishing the proper princess greetings. After making small talk for a couple minutes, the ponies and baby dragon headed for the entity site.
With Luna and Nova in front, Twilight fell into step with Rarity. "Rarity, where are the others? Are they too busy helping?"
Rarity frowned, nodding. "I just wish I could do something more to help than standing around, keeping a shield up. Applejack and Rainbow are keeping the ponies from rioting, Fluttershy is keeping all the animals calm, and Pinkie Pie was with me earlier, but she was soothing a poor filly who was crying. I was the only one available to welcome you to Ponyville, and I'm glad that I did, but I can't help but want to do more. Do you know what I mean, Twilight?"
"I know what you mean Rarity," Spike said, adding his piece. "I try to help everybody to the best of my abilities, but sometimes it's just not enough."
"Look, Rarity, I appreciate how you came to welcome me back to Ponyville, and I'm glad that I can see you guys again. I wanted to make my comeback to Ponyville with more grandeur than this, but I can't let this pass up. This thing, this metal object coming here has never before happened in Equestria, and I need everypony's help. No matter what they're special abilities are, their contribution is welcome, and you are one of the most talented ponies I know. I'm confident that you will do something spectacular to help. Remember when you made all six of us dresses for the Gala? You gave your all and the dresses turned out beautiful. In fact, I bet you will surprise yourself by the end of this," Twilight said with an approving voice.
"..Thanks Twilight," Rarity whispered, blushing.
"What are friends for?" she replied, smiling.
In a couple of minutes, after passing gasping ponies and guards saluting and giving reports on how Ponyville is functioning, the group arrived at the landing site. The site was surrounded by a blue shield covering a grass field that had some trees and shrubs in it. Scientist ponies were leaving and entering makeshift huts that contained mobile labs, hazmat ponies were inside the blue dome, waving instruments around the air and ground, and Solar Guards kept the perimeter clear.
Twilight raised her eyebrows in amazement, surprised that this was set up so quickly considering the entity landed in Equestria 47 minutes ago. "Nova, I'm impressed. Not everypony can set up a containment site like this so quickly."
Nova smiled, bowing her head to Twilight and responding, "Thank you Princess."
Luna looked around her surroundings, and walked up to the shield. She touched the shield with her horn, testing the shield's strength and the shield glimmered around the area where it touched. Luna turned to Nova, looking at her with neutral eyes, and looked at the center, towards the entity. There, Luna's composure dwindled a bit as she took in what she saw. A metal being, 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide, looked like a strange box with wheels attached, with a another small box with a black fixture on the side attached on a pole. All in all, it looked very un-Equestrian.
Luna observed the hazmat ponies waving the instruments inside the dome, and wondered whether the air was toxic. "Nova Red, why do the ponies wear hazmat suits? Is the air toxic?"
Nova stepped closer to Luna and spoke so all could hear, "We can't confirm that it is poisonous air, but we have detected a minuscule amount of unknown particles in the air. We do not want to test whether they are toxic or not, so we're scanning them carefully, one step at a time. We're also monitoring the plants inside to see how they react."
"So, we can't observe the object up close?" Twilight asked.
Nova shook her head. "No, not until the hazmat team gives an all clear."
The 3 ponies fluent in science each silently pondered on how to approach the situation on hoof. Rarity and Spike watched them think, making small talk about Ponyville and Rarity's business. After thinking for half a minute, Twilight did what Twilight does best and decided that the answer must be in books.
"If I may, Luna, Nova, I think we should go to my library. I think there may be some mentioning of something that might deal with this, if I recall."
"I agree, Twilight Sparkle. Your eidetic memory may provide the answer we're looking for."
Nova widened her eyes in surprise and amusement. "She has a photographic memory?" she asked Luna.
"Yes. It has saved Equestria many a time."
Twilight called over Rarity, and said to her, "I need you to gather the others and tell them to meet us at the library. We need to devise a plan of action."
"As you wish," and she sped off in search of the other Elements. Luna, Twilight, Nova and Spike headed down to the library, unaware that they were being photographed. On the entity, the black fixture turned out to be an aperture for a camera, blinking as it was taking shots. It swiveled on the pole, following the ponies as they left and became still again, with nopony noticing.
Quantum Theories of Friendship
Chapter 4 - Chaos Reigning
Chapter 3
"Hey, don't make me have tuh use these!"
Around the perimeter of the containment site, Applejack was busy keeping an earth pony from crossing the yellow ticker tape by threatening to use her world-famous bucking legs. The colt kept yelling about how Equestria was under attack by aliens, and was going hysterical. She needed to get this situation under control, and fast before other ponies joined the panic.
"You're never gonna shut down the revolution! Down with the system, down wi-"
The colt flew back, sent sprawling back away from the crowd. Applejack bucked him away from the crowd, knocking him out but not seriously injuring him. She yelled for some guards, who promptly came over and carried him away. Rainbow Dash was flying overhead when she saw what happened. She was keeping watch over the crowd, keeping pegasi from flying near the entity site, and saw Applejack buck the colt. Racing over, she dropped down next to Applejack who was staring down nearby ponies, daring them to try something else.
"Hey, AJ, what just happened?" she said hesitantly.
Applejack was still glaring at the ponies, when she said quietly, "C'mon Rainbow, we need ta talk somewhere else. Ah can't stand this anymore." Rainbow raised her eyebrows in surprise. Applejack usually wasn't the pony who quivered at the thought of doing what's needed to get done.
The two mares went off together into an alley between a shop and house. The alley had some trash cans and grime covering the ground, and most importantly they were alone, which is what Applejack wanted. She didn't want somepony eavesdropping on what she was about to say.
"Rainbow, have you ever thought that maybe whut's going on is too much for us to handle?" she said hesitantly.
"Well, you did buck that colt back over there. What was that all about?"
Applejack frowned and looked at the ground. "I don't know, ah just couldn't stop that pony from causing a ruckus. I panicked..."
Rainbow sighed. She wasn't expecting this from Applejack, and even more Applejack coming to her in the first place. The orange pony wasn't the type to doubt herself. She was the type of pony who made a plan and stuck with it. "AJ, I'm not really the best sort of pony to talk about sappy stuff like this. What I can do is tell you that I believe that you have the guts to do what's right."
“I know Rainbow, Ah just need somepony I trust to talk to right now. What we’re doing here…it…it just doesn’t feel right,” Applejack said. “In fact, nothing here feels right. What in the hay are those science ponies doing to Ponyville? They just come here, givin’ orders to whoever they feel like ‘cause they think they own the place! Ah can tell you, if they come even a foal step near Sweet Apple Acres, they got another thing comin’ to them.”
“I don’t like what they’re doing to Ponyville either, but they came with orders from Celestia herself. I think it would be best if we just stuck to their plan and help out, y’know?”
Applejack snorted and hoofed at some litter on the ground. “Ah don’t remember this alleyway being this dirty. Those Canterlot folk and ponies from out of town sure leave a mess.”
“Since Spike is out of town, I vote that we tell the Crusaders that they could get their Cutie Marks in community service,” Rainbow said with a devious smile.
Applejack gasped in faux horror. “Oh, Rainbow! That would be terrible! Abusing those poor fillies like that! In fact, why didn’t ah think of that before?”
“Imagine if they actually did get their Cutie Marks for cleaning. What would they be?” Rainbow giggled.
“Ah bet they would get dirt smudges!” she giggled back.
Both mares burst into laughter in the dark alley. From anypony walking by, they would hear high pitched evil laughter coming from a dark foreboding alleyway, as if Ponyville didn’t already have enough of the crazies going on already. Rarity happened to be walking by at that moment, searching for the rest of the Elements.
“Oh my Celestia, how dreadful! There’s an evil villain loose in Ponyville! I must gather the others at once, and tell Twilight!” Rarity moaned with wide eyes. She broke into a gallop, speeding away from the ponies she was trying to find in the first place.
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In another part of Ponyville, Pinkamena Diane Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short was doing what she does best. Making others smile, and being Pinkie Pie. It’s a long story, but Pinkie is one of those cases that you want to devote another slot to, and right now we’re focusing on the peril of Ponyville. So let’s get to it, shall we? No, we need to continue on with the story, I can’t make a break for this. No, please, don’t make me explain Pinkie Pie right now, I’m not prepared for it. I can’t. As the writer, what I say goes and I’m saying we move on over Pinkie. If you want to learn about Pinkie Pie right now then Google her for Celestia’s sake! Moving on!
Pinkie Pie was singing to a little-oh for luna’s sake, you’re never going to stop poking me until you get what you want, aren’t you…This is what kills writing these days, the need to please everybody.
*The author sighs *
You get your wish. Now shut up and sit down.
Pinkie Pie is an extraordinary Earth Pony. She boggles the minds of intellectual ponies everywhere, constantly breaking physics and foreseeing the near future with her mysterious ‘Pinkie Sense’. She can hide anywhere, undetected, waiting to spring out of her hiding place to frighten somepony. Getting the edge on Pinkie is useless, because she can see you coming seconds before you’re even there. Ask Pinkie how she does it, and she’ll talk about something else entirely, completely avoiding the subject. She’s gifted with the ability to make anypony talk about anything, even their deepest, darkest secrets. You want to know how she does it? She never shuts up, driving the victim into insanity. She’s the epitome of blabber mouths, a shoe in for the ‘Most Mentally Unstable Pony in Ponyville’ award, a blasted curse that crept out of Tartarus itself. She carries weaponry with her everywhere she goes, known as the ‘Party Cannon’. Who knows what will set her off these days. You could get blasted with lethal doses of confetti if you utter anything that conflict’s with the Law of Pink. In essence, she is the most dangerous pony who’s ever lived. Never let those big cute blue eyes and adorable bouncy pink mane throw you off. She will kill you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Oh shit, where did my readers go? No, come back! You guys took that seriously?!? I was kidding, of course Pinkie isn’t a psychotic killer! She’s just an annoying character!
What? Whaddya mean ‘I’m losing the trust of my readers’? Pinkie IS the worst character in MLP! Only a simpleton would enjoy that disgusting song “Smile”. In fact, I’m done with My Little Pony: Friendship is Stupid! I don’t need this! I DON’T NEED THIS!
*The author screams and runs away, leaving the desk in a strange, freaky marionette fashion *
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Up above in the star-filled Void, Discord giggles to himself and pulls on the threads controlling the author, making him paint his house in hot pink and tear his bills into shreds.
“It’s time I made some sweet chaos, it’s been far too long.”
Chortling now, Discord was now making our author use butter skates to slide on the sidewalk outside his house. He was tunnel-visioned on what he was doing that he didn’t notice Celestia clear her throat behind him. She cleared her throat and little louder and when he still didn’t hear her, she stamped her hoof and shouted, “DISCORD!’
Jumping, Discord let go of our author, leaving him eating the grass on his neighbor’s lawn in front of gawking children.
“C-Celestia! How did you find me?” he stammered.
“You didn’t think you could hide from me in the very domain I created to watch over alternate universes, did you?”
Discord gasped. “YOU made the Void? I thought it was something leftover from the Titans destroyed domain.”
“Yes, it was necessary to ensure the safety of Equestria. Nopony else knows it, but we have almost been annihilated by species seeking to conquer this planet many times, and I have recruited many powerful beings to help Equestria in it’s time of need.”
“Wow, I’m impressed actually. I didn’t know you had it in you to use innocent people to your liking, ‘Tia,” Discord said in a teasing tone.
“First of all Discord, they all agreed to help and second of all why are you abusing a poor human? I thought I told you to not create chaos! That’s what this reforming process is all about.”
“But you didn’t say I couldn’t mess with non-ponies.”
“I wasn’t being literal, and you know it. You know what the punishment is, Discord.”
Discord again gasped, only this time he did it with a whine as well. “But I hate helping the homeless!
“That’s why it’s perfect for you. It also builds character, Discord, which is something you sorely need.”
He grumbled, closing the portal to Earth. Then, something clicked in Discord. He was there this morning while Twilight ran in and gave the castle a scare with her ‘scary’ science. Celestia didn’t know it, but Discord liked to disguise himself as a Guard in the castle to fool around, and he overheard everything that went on in the throne room.
“Wait, Celestia, didn’t you say you had no idea what was going on this morning? You can’t possibly not know what that thing is that appeared in Ponyville.”
Celestia closed her eyes and said, ‘Luna knows too. That’s why I sent her along with Twilight, to make sure she can contain whatever comes next.”
“But Luna sounded even more shocked than you did. There’s no way she knew.”
“We knew what to do before Twilight came to us. It was only a matter of time, but we have been expecting this to happen. It’s important that Twilight learn how to deal with this on her own if she expects to become a full Princess, with some help from Luna. This is too dangerous of a test for her to handle on her own."
Discord slowly nodded his head. “Fascinating…can I help Twilight too?”
“No, you may not. You are being punished.”
Discord sighed. He snapped his fingers and started slowly fading into nothing. He re-appeared into a room in Canterlot Castle in a flash, followed by Celestia in a lighter flash. Looking around the room, Discord saw that it was the same dusty, dark, old room in the basement filled with bookshelves and candle. He lingered for a moment, and caught Celestia’s piercing gaze of her eyes.
“Fine, fine, I’ll get right on helping the…ugh, homeless . I don’t have to wear that silly apron again, do I?”
She nodded. Discord groaned and snapped his fingers, teleporting to the homeless shelter in a flash. Celestia grinned and cast a spell, illuminating the room in a gold glow.
Far away on Earth, our author was being arrested for disturbing the peace when he teleported back to his desk. Everything Discord did was undone, moving it back to normal. Our author felt woozy, like he was getting a head rush and shook his head. Thinking to himself about how weird that was considering he was just sitting down he made a mental note to lay off the stale Fun-Yuns and got back to work.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pinkie Pie was singing to a crying filly about sunshine and cupcakes in a corner of Ponyville. Eariler she was keeping Rarity company when she noticed a mother having a hard time calming her foal with all of the commotion going on. Soon the filly was asleep, sucking on a pacifier.
The mother was amazed and grateful. "Wow, thank you so much Pinkie! I don't know what went wrong, and it was driving me crazy because nothing I was doing was working. Being a first time mom is tough, y'know?"
"You said it! When I was foalsitting for the Cakes, it was a battle keeping them happy! Nothing I did first worked either, but I guess it's something that comes to you eventually."
Off in the distance, Pinkie heard somepony calling her name.
"Well, I got to go. I hope everything works out later!"
"Bye Pinkie! Thanks again!"
Pinkie smiled ear to ear and hopped away. The voice called again, and Pinkie realized that it was Rarity calling. Something sounded off in her voice, like something was wrong. Knowing Rarity, it could be that her hoof has been scratched or her eyelashes became mussed up, something silly like that. Pinkie giggled to herself and kept hopping.
Rarity met Pinkie halfway and spoke in a hurried voice, "Pinkie have you seen Fluttershy anywhere? I can't find her with the animals, and she was supposed to be there!"
"Whoa Rarity, what's the deal? I'm sure Fluttershy is perfectly safe, nothing to worry about!"
"That's not it, Pinkie. Did you know that Twilight and Luna are here in Ponyville?" Rarity queried.
Pinkie screamed in delight and bounced around Rarity. "Twilights here?!?! We should throw a welcome back party!"
"No darling, there's no time for that I'm afraid. This is serious business," Rarity said in a stern voice.
Pinkie stopped bouncing. "Geez Rarity, what's going on?"
Rarity frowned. "I think it would be best if it were explained at the library, but Twilight said to gather Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. We should split up and have them go to the library as soon as possible."
"Okie dokie Rarity! I'll find the others in no time at all!" Pinkie gave a salute with her hoof and sped off in a pink blur.
"Now, where should I start.... Maybe I should try Town Hall first," Rarity wondered out loud to herself. "Yes, Town Hall it is."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was 25 minutes later, and Rarity couldn't find any of the others. "Where the Tartarus did they run off to..." she grumbled. Huffing, she stomped around a corner and found Applejack and Rainbow Dash trotting away, talking to each other.
"There you are! I have been looking everywhere for you two!" she shouted.
Rainbow grunted in surprise while Applejack narrowed her brow in confusion. "Say what now? You've been looking for us? Why, what did we do?" Rainbow asked.
"You didn't do anything. Twilight's back in Ponyville, along with Luna, and they asked that we all meet at the library. It's very important we go there at once. There's somethings we all need to discuss."
"You're saying that Twilight's back, along with Princess Luna, and we didn't hear about it until now? Wow, things really are jumbled up," Applejack stated. "Did we miss anything important?"
"Yeah, I could have missed something awesome, and that's unacceptable to me!" Rainbow said with enthusiasm. "C'mon, lets go before we miss anything cool!" Rainbow started to fly off, but unfortunately a fast moving object was coming around the corner and smacked into Rainbow Dash, causing her and the large object to go sprawling on the ground.
"You really should watch where you fly darling, you could hurt somepony" said Rarity.
Rainbow was flattened underneath it. "Haha, Rarity, thanks for that helpful advice," she said in a muffled sarcastic voice.
The object turned out to be three well known filles, one of them wearing a helmet with a scooter nearby, and two of them in a wagon. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, AKA the Cutie Mark Crusaders have just collided with the best flyer in all of Equestria to Scootaloo's horror.
"Ohmygosh, Rainbow Dash, I'm so so so so sorry! I didn't see you coming!" Scootaloo apologized in a panicked voice.
"You should be apologizing to me! I think I broke my leg! I can't move it! No, wait, you're sitting on it Applebloom," Sweetie Belle groaned.
"Sorry Sweetie Belle, Ah just flew on top of it. Physics can do that, y'know," said Applebloom.
Underneath the wagon, the cyan pegasus grunted and wiggled her hooves. "Girls, I would greatly appreciate it if you could get this off me....ow..."
"Applebloom! Help me get this wagon off of Rainbow," Applejack ordered her sister.
"'Kay sis." The two Earth ponies moved the wagon off of Rainbow, freeing her from it's crushing weight. Getting up, Rainbow nursed her bruises and said, "What are you guys doing? Don't you know that it's not exactly safe right now?"
Applebloom spoke up. "We were just trying to see whatever's causing the ruckus."
"Well, you girls should head on home. Sweetie, I want no shortcuts or distractions, you go straight home," said Rarity.
The three Crusaders awwww'ed. "We want to know what's going on! We're tired of being left out!" Scootaloo whined.
"Yeah! We wanna get to do stuff! Pleeasseeee?" Sweetie Belle used her eyes of persuasion.
Rarity shook her head. "You're just not old enough. I don't think it would be safe for you to go to the site."
"I dunno Rarity, you know what these fillies are like. They'll just go ahead and go there anyway. Maybe we should being them with us to the library. To make sure they stay safe," Applejack offered.
"What? We don't want that, we wanna go to the crash site!" Applebloom exclaimed.
"That sounds like an excellent idea Applejack. Ok, new plan, you girls will come with us to Twilight's library," said Rarity.
"But-"
"No buts, you three are coming with us and that's final."
"Finally. Now c'mon, we need to get to the library right now, so I don't want you three to lag behind," Rainbow said with gusto.
The three fillies had no choice. Their powers of cuteness could not win the three mares over, and they trudged along to the library.
Quantum Theories of Friendship
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Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Quantum Theories of Friendship
Chapter 7 - Quantum Foam Merging
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Chapter 8 - Quantum Foam Merging Part 2
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Chapter 9 - Quantum Foam Merging Part 3
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Quantum Theories of Friendship
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Quantum Theories of Friendship
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. 