Paradox

After a few minutes, the group woke up 26 years in the past. It was the day of Flurry Heart's crystalling.

"We have to be careful. If ponies realize that Flurry and Beck are alicorns, we're in trouble. Also, we can't let Flurry get too close to her younger self, that could cause problems because of a time paradox." Sterre says.

"Rae, this whole situation is a time paradox." Nightingale replied, shaking her head at her sister's obviousness.

"Let's use our royal disguises. If ponies realize how much we look like our parents, that could mean trouble as well." Nebula suggested. With the flicker of a few horns, the disguises were up.

Meanwhile, some other ponies were also noticing the time disturbance.

"Hey Skips, do you feel that?" Perenna asked.

"Feel what?"

"Watch, come here." Perenna said, grabbing her wife's hoof.

"Oh yeah, what in Equestria is that?"

"A time distrubance. I'm going downstairs to talk to Corona."

"Let me come with you. I am your wife after all, I'm supposed to help you with this kind of thing."

"Skipper, I don't want you getting hurt, and what about our son? Who will take care of him if we have to go and take care of this?"

"I'll just leave him with Blossom. I'm sure she'd love some quality time with her nephew."

"Ok, fine." Perenna sighed. "But if anything happens to you, I have no idea what I'll do."

The duo rushed down stairs to consult Corona. Unfortunately, their fears were confirmed.

"I'm sorry Princess." Corona said. "I have no idea who caused this and how, but we're going to have to travel to this alternate universe to fix it or there could be detrimental consequences."

"I understand completely. Let's get this problem fixed before it becomes any worse." Perenna replied, as Corona simultaneously used her magic to open the portal to the time anomaly.

The group screamed as they were sucked into the portal. What was in store for them through this wormhole?

Seconds later, they arrived in a world that looked quite similar to their own, but at the same time, it was completely different. This was around the same time as Princess Arctic's crystalling, according to the time map, but this princess wasn't the one they remembered at all. Soon, they bump into a group of unfamiliar ponies that will change their perspective of the dimensional connections forever.

"Who in Equestria are you?" Nightingale asks.

"If I'm not mistaken, we're your counterparts from another universe." Perenna replies.

"What in the name of Celestia is that supposed to mean?" Nebula replied, as suspicious of these strangers as she was confused.

"Let me explain." Corona says, stepping in front of two groups. "You see, in our home universe, I am the guardian of time. My magic alerts the princess when there's a disturbance, and we go to take care of it. However, this distrubance was bigger than the ones we usually encounter."

"Yes. Usually it's something small, like a pony trying to sneak a peek at the future to see how their life turns out or something like that. I've never seen a pony try to change the past of their universe so drastically." Perenna adds.

"Princess Perenna is right. I believe it was my interuniversal counterpart that caused this particular disturbance, which is probably why we were permitted interuniversal travel. We know more about this type of instance than you do." Just then, Corona's horn flickered. "She's this way." Corona said, pointing to the left.

"Let's go!" Perenna yelled, as both groups followed her lead.

"So...Corona, who counterparts who between your universe and our's?" Nebula asks, being quite curious after their previous conversation.

"Well...I'm your little brother Levitation's counterpart, and Skipper counterparts another one of her mother's children, one known as Harmony Apple." Perenna says.

"And as Corona said, she counterparts your little chaos causer Skylight." Skipper adds.

"Wait a second, how do you know all our names? We never formally introduced ourselves." Nebula asked, remaining suspicious of these newcomers.

"As the keeper of interstellar time in my universe, I can research other universes and find our counterparts. Of course, I've never been able to exercise this ability, as it's only available if I actually enter an alternate universe, so this is a first for me too."

"You'll probably continue to figure out the counterparts as time goes on. It's really a shame that we couldn't all meet our counterparts. It would've made a great interuniversal study to show my successor." Corona.

"Successor?"

"The young hybrid prince of my world."

"Hybrid prince?" Sterre asked.

"Should I show her?" Perenna said. Skipper nodded and Perenna changed into her hybrid form.

Everypony gasped. The princess of an alternate universe was half-changeling?

"Our son." Perenna and Skipper said in unison.

"Your son?" Flurry asks.

"Yes. We figured it would be best if Corona's duties were passed on to somepony in the royal family, somepony we know we can trust with such a responsibility."

"That makes sense. We really don't need another situation like this." Nightingale said.

"This is what I've spent my life trying to prevent." Corona added. "I've done well for my universe, I wish I could've done something to protect yours."

"It's ok Corona. We can't expect you to protect a world that you didn't know existed." Sterre said. "After all, your counterpart is the pony who caused this whole mess and called you here."

"I'm really sorry that you had to come fix this mess for us. It's not even your future in the balance. If she succeeds, she just wipes our universe out entirely, right?" Hera inquired.

"Not exactly. If our universes combine, there's a chance that a lot will change for us as well. Depending on how much she changes things, we could be completely different ponies too." Corona stated.

"I didn't realize something this severe could ever happen." Nightingale said. "I know we need her to be our time lord once we get this straightened out, but how can I trust her with the space-time continuum after this?"

"Our destinies don't always work out the same over all universes. Perhaps another pony with similar capabilities will present themselves, or maybe she will be worthy of the responsibility after all." Corona replied.

The groups continued following the glowing path set for them by Corona's magic. After following tracks for some time, Corona felt there was something important she should share.

"Perenna." Corona whispered.

"Yes Corona?"

"Should I tell them that I know who the new timekeeper is?"

"That depends. Who is it?"

"You see her, Princess Flurry Heart, the counterpart of Queen Arctic?"

"Yeah."

"She's pregnant your highness, and the child is capable of fixing it all."