[Untitled.Uncertainty]

by GMSeskii

Rating: teen
Tags: Violence, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Science Fiction, Adventure
Length: 18765

A great evil arrives in Equestria from the stars and a mysterious mare appears, kicking off events that are too big for just one world. A 'round robin' story written by multiple authors.

There is a great evil out there in the places between the cosmos.

That great evil is coming to the world of Equestria - but it has decided to do things a little differently than it usually does.

A strange mare shows up in Zecora's hut. A comet cuts across the sky. Three worlds are drawn together. What happens next? That's the mystery.

[This is a 'round robin' story that will be written by several authors. I start, someone else will write the next one, then the next, and so on. None of us have any idea where this is going, and that's what makes it amazing. Because of this, there is no update schedule of any kind.]

-GM, master of threes.

Published 2018-02-24 05:50:12 UTC
Last updated 2019-01-04 21:26:41 UTC

I - The Splitting Three - GMBlackjack

There were worse evils in existence.

Horrid, eldritch things who could crush entire planes of reality with a breath come to mind; along with literal incarnations of the devil himself, dark hands that hold entire universes in their grasp, races who destroy life by the galaxy, and many so-called gods who create and destroy on whims for no purpose other than a quick joke.

This evil did not aspire to such heights. It knew that rearing its head in an attempt to gain unfathomable power of that kind would only draw attention from the really big fish, both evil and otherwise. It was content, in that regard.

Contentment made it more dangerous. It may never have had the opportunity to spread as far or as wide as the other great darknesses of existence. It may not have been able to crush entire civilizations with nothing but a thought. But it most certainly brought death, destruction, and horror – and since it had no desire for power as mortal minds could understand it, it could go undetected.

Like a virus. A virus that lays dormant until the right moment to strike. A virus that enters the body, twisting it against the biological nature, forcing it to become something… else.

And it never tried the same thing twice.

This time, the incomprehensible being decided to go with something that was a bit outlandish even by its standards…

Somewhere in an expanse between other realities, there was a rock – an asteroid – tumbling. Deep within, the current form of the evil ‘slept’ – if it could be considered to sleep. At the moment, the being felt more as if this were a vacation than a nap. To imagine it used to think drifting alone in a rock was boring!

Vacations couldn’t last forever, though. Patient though it was, the being felt that it was time for a change. It took itself, reached into its own soul, and cut.

The rock it was within split into three chunks in a violent explosion, the divisions seeming to bleed as they did so. Each chunk held a portion of the evil – each unique, but yet, the same. Three but one, ready for a little experiment on division within the self.

Why did it do this? For fun? For a challenge? Just because it could?

Its reasons at the time of division mattered not, for they no longer meant anything to the new form of the evil. They had their own reasons. They checked to see if they were in agreement about the necessities and then carried out the next action.

Each third shifted out of the in-between emptiness they occupied, entering three locations – separated by unfathomable barriers, but interconnected all the same.

It was, in essence, a three-for-one deal.

One of them found itself tumbling toward a world where a 'star' orbited a planet rather than the way things normally went…

~~~

Princess Twilight Sparkle stood at the top of her castle, the bright light of the moon refracting within the crystal structure of her home. It was a beautiful night, as always. She was currently gazing through a telescope at the Hall Comet as it completed its final day in the Equestrian sky. She’d been up here every night, watching it, and would be sad when it went away. Objects other than the moon and stars were so rarely visible even with her telescope, and she just hadn’t gotten around to giving Ponyville a full observatory yet.

She should probably move that up the checklist, come to think of it.

“Ugh… Twilight…” Spike grunted, pulling his scaly dragon body up the stairs to her location. “Have you slept at all?”

Twilight waved a dismissive hoof. “I took a nap yesterday.”

“In your dinner.”

“See? You were there.” She adjusted the telescope toward the tail end of the comet. “I’m fine. It’s not like I have anything important to do in the morning anyway. I can catch the end of this spectacular event, Spike.”

Spike yawned and shrugged. “If you say so. What’s so cool about a ball of ice anyway?”

“Spike, beside the sun and moon, almost nothing orbits Equis! This is one of the few objects that we ever get to see!”

Spike shrugged, looking at the night sky. “I guess it does make everything pretty pretty.”

“Spike, you just repeated yourself.”

“I know.”

The two stared into the sky, mesmerized by the patterns of stars around the moon and the comet.

“Hey, look!” Spike said, pointing. “A shooting star!”

“Woah!” Twilight said, tearing the telescope’s gaze off the comet and onto the falling star. “That’s a big one!”

“It’s still going! And getting brighter!”

Twilight was giddy – meteors this size were even rarer than a glimpse of a comet – significantly rarer. She’d never seen one this bright. It was still getting brighter!

…It was still getting brighter.

“…I think it’s going to impact.” Twilight said, mouth hanging open.

“Is it going to hit us!?” Spike asked, wonder vanishing from his features.

Twilight lit her horn and cast a quick spell that arranged lines of magic in a grid in front of her and drew several geometric lines, calculating the trajectory in a couple of seconds. “No. It’s headed for the other side of the Everfree Forest, I think. But still, that’s going to leave a crater…”

The two of them heard shouting from Ponyvile – shouting that was clearly being yelled through a megaphone. “EVERYPONY UP! TWITCHA TWITCH! TWITCHA TWITCH! EVERPONY UP AND AT EM! SOMETHING REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY SUPER DUPER-UBER MEGA DOOZY BAD IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!”

Spike looked at the meteor. “It’s not going to hit us… Pinkie’s crazy, right?”

Twilight looked through the telescope again, trying to follow the meteor. Through the flames, she could make out a normal rock – a rock of a heavily unstable shape.

“Oh Cele-“

The burning meteor exploded. The largest chunk continued heading toward the other side of the forest, but one of the launched chunks flew right at Ponyville.

Twilight leaped into action, teleporting into the sky above the town. She summoned a tremendous magical shield, reinforcing the purple barrier with all the might she could muster. The flaming chunk of rock hit her shield harder than she was expecting. It plowed through the barrier, shattering it, but also slowing considerably. She recovered from the loss of the barrier and resorted to pure telekinetic power, lifting with all her might. She would have failed, but Pinkie’s megaphone had done the trick – the unicorns of Ponyville were awake enough to assist Twilight with their own magic, pushing up on the burning rock. The chunk still hit the ground with considerable force – but no buildings or ponies were crushed in the impact.

“Is everypony oka-“ Twilight began, thinking it was over – but the main part of the meteor touched down in the Everfree Forest, shaking everpony with a powerful tremor. Ponies began to panic, as they were apt to do when the earth shook.

“Everypony calm down!” Twilight called. “The meteor has landed, there is no more danger to any of you! This was nothing more than a normal, natural event out in the cosmos – there is no more danger. Okay?”

Hearing the voice of their princess, the ponies stopped screaming so much. They were clearly nervous, but they were no longer running around screaming. They looked to her for instructions.

“Good. I recommend trying to get some sleep. It’s the middle of the night - just go home. We can look at the meteor in the morning.”

“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie Pie yelled through the megaphone.

“Pinkie, I’m right here, there’s no need to use the megaphone anymore.”

“Oh. Right.” Pinkie stuffed it back into her mane, walking closer to Twilight. “Twilight, that wasn’t it.”

“Wasn’t what?”

“The bad thing. Well, that was a bad thing, and it was probably what was making my tail twitch, but there was something else Twilight. Something really really upper duper ultra-mega I don’t know bad!”

Twilight stared at her pink friend, suddenly wishing she’d gotten more sleep lately.

~~~

A few minutes prior, Zecora the zebra was hosting a mysterious pony in her home.

“I hope this suits you, it’s not easy to guess the perfect brew,” Zecora said, giving the pony a bowl of specialty soup.

“Thanks,” the yellow-coated pony said, taking a sip from the bowl. “This tastes delicious.”

“I try my best to provide, even to those who like to hide.”

The mare nodded, looking at her pack of things sitting on the floor a short distance away. “I guess those things aren’t normal here… Shouldn’t be surprised…”

“You are a mysterious stranger indeed. You come downcast to my home, with many trappings of a strange breed. Not only that, but I see an interesting case. Your cyan eyes, the shape of your ears – I never forget a face.”

The mare smiled. “You’ve never seen me before, I can tell you that.”

“I know you are not her, but of that face I am sure.”

The mare slowly shook her head, glancing at her bizarre bag again – made of a material both soft and tough, covered in more pockets and zippers than any sane pony would ever need. One of them was open, revealing several objects made of a soft, gel-like material lined with metal. Some parts glowed.

Zecora was about to comment, but then one of her charms exploded. The mysterious mare jumped, backing into a wall. “W-what was that?”

Zecora walked up to the charm, examining it. “A charm that detects danger truly, but I’ve never seen one react so badly. Even Discord’s antics were not so inflammatory…”

Zecora looked out a window – and saw the meteor. “Guest of mine, look into the sky. Please tell me this danger is not from whence you fly.”

The mare looked up and shook her head. “No… That’s just a meteor. …Right?”

Zecora frowned. “It is possible we see what is really there, but I have learned to proceed with care…” She put a hoof to the window. “We may have to move, lest it flatten us in its groove.”

The mare shook her head. “It won’t hit us. Wrong trajectory. I’m thinking… a couple miles that direction.”

Then the meteor exploded. The two equines reared back as a smaller chunk of the meteor hurtled toward them. Zecora ducked for cover – but the mare stood her ground. The meteor chunk missed Zecora’s hut by a few meters, hitting the ground a fair distance behind the structure.

The mysterious mare let out a breath of relief.

~~~

That moment, three meteors landed in places impossibly apart.

That moment, three beings that were unimaginably different crawled from the craters.

That moment, a single great evil began anew; ready to do what it had been doing for longer than could be fathomed.

There was just a little spice involved this time.

Author's Note

Welcome to an amazing adventure of a 'round robin' project, where nobody knows what's going to happen! What fun! The authors in on this will do whatever they want when it's their turn, within these rules:

1) All sources for the story must come from pony or pony fandom - this means no crossovers involved in the story. Things like Fallout Equestria, Alushy, and other things are in a gray area that can be accepted-rejected on a case by case basis, by the group as a whole.

2) Nobody gets to push the plot a specific way outside their own chapters. If the next author derails what an author had in mind, that's part of the fun, and also kind of the point.

3) Keep it PG-13 / T rating.

4) While this story will be written in the continuity of my other story, Songs of the Spheres, authors are not allowed to reference it directly. It will merely exist within the same multiverse.

5) Technically, anyone can have a go at writing a chapter, but I will be keeping a list of who's 'in order' for writing. And if an author show up and nobody's ever seen them before and they want to write a chapter, such things will be taken on a case by case basis - they'll have to prove themselves in some way before they'll be allowed to.

6) Have fun.

7) I, for once, am NOT the GM of this project. My word is not law here, beyond SotS setting lore.

We'll be discussing this story on the Songs of the Spheres Discord, open to anyone for just about any reason.

-GM, master of sites.

II - The Fragment - VoidTemplar2000

The Grand Hall of the Castle of Friendship was a complete and utter mess. Equipment had been brought up from the cellars with the intent to measure all kinds of arcane matters. One of the inhabitants of the castle, Princess Twilight Sparkle, was in the middle of the mess of equipment; running around, organizing royal scientists, and just generally freaking out. She had sent a message for her friends to come and “help” her few minutes prior, even if she thought they’d be mostly moral support rather than actually help with the experimentation.

When Twilight’s friends entered the room, a dark blue beam of magic shot out through the door accompanied by a string of swears. They walked towards Twilight, whose hair was just a little frazzled and her eyes rather bloodshot. To anypony normal, this would’ve been weird behavior, but to Twilight’s friends this was normal; Twilight often had the habit of forgetting time when studying some interesting. Food as well. And drink. And practically everything else. Spike had set at least two plates with daffodils and hayfries

“Productive night, sugarcube?” Applejack asked the alicorn, a bit concerned due to her strained physical state.

“Oh, yeah the night went just great. I think I even figured out what it is!” Twilight’s head shot up from one of the books, having barely noticed the group entering the room.

“Let me guess, some ancient artifact made by old ponies?”

“Far from it. The rock came from beyond the Moon. Although I haven’t figured out what it is made of, I’m sure a small trip to the Everfree Forest would clear things up. But think of it - I have never seen a rock so mysterious. No book or article I have in my library speaks of anything of this kind. Think of all the research that could be done with it! What we could learn from it!”

From what they could see, Twilight had trapped a small fragment of the shooting star in a transparent cube surrounded by sharply focused machines. The rock vibrated and trembled in the transparent cage, glowing and bouncing around while making clear b-notes. It seemed alive, and yet, all they saw was a small, dark, and purple stone fragment.

“Uh, Twilight, are you sure that this won’t blow up the castle?” Rainbow Dash announced, looking around. She spotted Twilight getting ready to pull a lever.

“I’m 100% sure there’s only a 0.0001% chance of us getting blown to Celestia knows where. Besides, if it happens, it’ll be contained to this room,” Twilight said, levitating a clipboard and pen to her side.

“I’m not sure how more secure I am about that,” Applejack said, leaning on a crystal pillar.

Twilight didn’t hear her. She pulled the lever and activated numerous screens with complicated readouts, printers, and the machines that fired beams of light onto the fragment. The first beam hit, and the fragment turned bright blue. Then a beam of pure magic hit and the fragment released out a grayscale rainbow, hitting a backboard and desaturating it, turning the greens and the blue chalk into much more muted tones.

Another machine fired a laser, prompting the stone to grow. A deep shudder went through Pinkie’s body and her tail began to twitch uncontrollably. She immediately pulled a thick bookshelf supported by iron girders out of her mane and dove for cover behind it. Seeing this, Rarity and Applejack followed suit, finding a thick oak table to hide behind. Starlight walked into the room at this moment, saw the other ponies behind cover and immediately teleported behind a wall of sandbags, dragging Spike to her location shortly thereafter. As for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, they had already flown out of the hall and were now in the Cutie Map room, cowering behind the thrones. The royal scientists were already in full gallop away from the Castle. They weren’t exactly too keen on being in a place where the Pinkie Sense went off.

Twilight didn’t notice them; she was so busy keeping an eye on the readouts that she didn’t notice all three beams firing at once. They converged in the middle of the box, with the fragment at the apex. The fragment reacted immediately, shattering the box and sending large shards of transparent material around the room. Some drilled their way into the table; another embedded itself in the sandbags with enough force to scare Starlight into summoning a crystal around herself and Spike, freezing the dragon mid-scream. Twilight, who now had been alerted to the fact that something had gone terribly wrong with the experiment, put up a force field around the fragment to try and isolate it. The effort was in vain. The now purple-blue fragment rose into the air – taking the force field with it – eventually reaching a point just below the ceiling where it exploded. The force field shattered and a magical shockwave was unleashed. Parts of the ceiling crumbled and fell onto the machines. Twilight herself dove behind the thick bookshelf, away from the machines she had been near – machines that exploded a fraction of a second later.

The fragment began spinning, first slowly, and then faster, and faster - until it spun into nothing. A few sparkles that fell to the ground were the only remains of the fragment. Twilight was the first to venture out from her hiding spot, trying to find printouts of the data that the machines recorded before had exploded. Pinkie Pie looked her head out, trying to avoid the sharp glass and metal that laid around the room. Rarity, who had taken a hit from a splinter of the table, had to be supported by Applejack as they rose to their hooves. Not that Rarity was unable to walk, but the shock had crippled her momentarily. Starlight removed the crystal, pressing play on Spike’s frozen scream.

Rainbow and Fluttershy were the next to enter, coming to see a room that looked less like a mess and more like a war zone. Rarity’s laceration was being tended to by Starlight and Applejack while Twilight desperately tried to dig through the rubble to find answers, or just something salvageable from the ruins. She was at last shaken from her trance by Rainbow Dash. The pegasus took the princess by the wings and shook her thoroughly.

“Twilight! Look around you!”

Twilight looked up from the rubble, coming eye to eye with Rainbow Dash. She could see the devastated scene for what it was. The idea of her being responsible for this… Rarity had a wound. The realization of what she had done strained Twilight and sent her into shock. She fainted, mercifully into the hooves of Fluttershy.

“Uhm, should we get Nurse Redheart?” Fluttershy asked in her signature meek tone. Those were the last words Twilight heard before she slipped into unconsciousness.

~~~

Quite a long distance away, on the other side of the ocean, in Griffonstone to be more precise, sat two griffons who were also acquaintances of ponies. Gabriella (better known as Gabby) and Gilda were their names, and they discussed what had gone down earlier in the day.

“I really hope they can remove the meteor before the next week. It really doesn’t do the city a lot of good,” Gabby said, lifting a scone to her beak and taking a bite.

“Maybe the stonecutters can make some bricks out of it,” Gilda replied, while decidedly looking more interested in the cup of liquid in front of her.

“Oooh. If it comes to that, I’ll want some of those!” Gabby blurted, turning her head towards the crater not far from the city.

In that moment, their little friendly chat was interrupted by an unknown pony entering Gabby’s field of view. Seeing as he was clad entirely in a dark cloak concealing everything but his face – which itself was concealed by a white mask - neither Gabby or Gilda could make out any personal traits of the pony. The only defining thing they could see was a large blue gem in a thick silver frame hanging around his neck.

“Hey, stranger, what brings you to Griffonstone?” Gabby shouted at the pony loud enough to make Gilda think she got a ruptured eardrum.

The cloaked figure didn’t respond. Instead, he began to gallop towards the meteorite, leaving Gabby and Gilda where they were.

~~~

Three evils unleashed.

Three craters far apart.

Three in search of them.

Author's Note

Written by VoidTemplar2000

III - A Good Day - Keywii_Cookies55

III - A Good Day - Keywii_Cookies55

Today is a good day!

That's what a young pegasus thought as she waved back at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Thanks, Applebloom!" Party Blower called before running off. She had a lot of planning to do if she was going to throw a party like her first one.

She got her cutie mark over two months ago at her friend Foresight's birthday party. Her parties were always small, but Party Blower just knew that she could make it better this year. She knew that Foresight liked playing chess, so she spent an entire week making pony sized chess pieces. She asked Foresight's parents to make the backyard like a giant board.

The moment she saw the look of joy on her best friend's face she knew what she wanted to do with her life. And it only made sense that she got her cutie mark at the same time. It didn't turn out how she wanted it though; her cutie mark was three party streamers, but that meant she'd have to become a party planner, and Ponyville already had Pinkie Pie! Party Blower couldn't be the same thing as Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie was the best in all of Equestria, was a friend to Princess Twilight, and she was the Element of Laughter!

What should have been the happiest day of Party Blower’s life became really bad all at once. How could her super special talent be something that somepony else was already the best at? She had no idea, but Foresight had told Party Blower that the Cutie Mark Crusaders could help her, so she went to see them.

They had some really good advice and they helped Party Blower realize she needed to not compare herself to Pinkie Pie, but instead work on setting herself apart. They also suggested she ask Pinkie Pie for help, since who better to help than the best? Well, that’s what she was going to do!

Sweetie Belle told her that Pinkie Pie lived at Sugarcube Corner, so that was the first stop. But on her way there Party Blower was almost run over by one of the adults. That's rude, she thought. Her mom told her to always make sure you know who's there when you're going somewhere! It even rhymed! What gives?

Party Blower looked up and saw Princess Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie! "Sorry about that!" the Princess called back, but Party Blower focused on Pinkie Pie, trying to catch her attention.

"Wait, Pinkie Pie!" she called out to her new idol, "Can I ask you for help?"

"Sorry Party Blower, a meteor crash landed into Canterlot Mountain and we need to tell our friends about it so we can go talk to Celestia about it!"

"Pinkie!" Princess Twilight called out to her. Then the three of them ran off, which sucked! What was Party Blower supposed to do now? Pinkie Pie was leaving and she didn't even get to ask her how to be unique!

Hmmph! Well... hmmm...

Party Blower sat down at the side of the street and thought long and hard about her next move. She’d told her parents she wouldn't be back until dinner, and Foresight was at piano lessons. It's not like she really had any other friends. She sat thinking for two minutes before she overheard a nearby stallion speak.

"So have you heard the news?" he asked from somewhere nearby. Party Blower looked for the sound, but it was sort of busy in market square, so she couldn't pinpoint it.

His friend spoke next, "You mean the latest about Twilight?" a mare answered. Party Blower stood up, trying to listen to them.

"Yep, she received a letter from Celestia about something from space hitting the mountain," he replied, sounding slightly anxious.

"It's the end of Equestria..." The mare said, sounding kind of shaky.

Party Blower didn't believe her ears - the end of Equestria? Nothing could end Equestria, the Princesses could stop anything. Even Tirek! Nothing stopped Princess Twilight, and Party Blower bet that this was no different.

But the adults all thought that the world was ending. Or... maybe only some of them? At least these two, wherever they were. Party Blower gave up trying to find them when an idea struck her. If ponies thought some space rock was going to end the world, maybe she could try throwing a party for that! That's something Pinkie Pie wouldn't do right? Plus, Pinkie wasn't even going to be here, so it was up to her!

She smiled proudly as she stood up and ran home, she had a lot of planning to do.

~~~

In a different Equestria altogether, in the shadow of a pulsating stone deep within the Everfree forest. Any animal or monster had scattered long ago and didn't intend to ever return. The stone radiated a dull green glow that slowly wilted all the plant life on the outside of its sizable crater.

If anyone were around to look, they'd note that the glow was slowly pulsating brighter and darker. And it was slowly speeding up...

Author's Note

Written by the fruity Keywii_Cookies55

IV - Awakened - Ponygood11

It hungered. It did not know of much else—the journey down from space and the extra-dimensional planes had jarred its senses and its memory somewhat. It had to thrash wildly, blindly, as it tried to remember.

But it was unable to remember. Something had happened, or was happening, which continued to disorient it. Anger seeped out of its very being, and it lashed out in the only way it knew how.

The surface of the meteorite cracked; dividing to reveal the inner gems. A formless, black sludge oozed out of it, pooling around the bottom of the space-rock. Parts of it began to seep into the ground around it, unitentionally, as it reoriented itself to its surroundings.

It could sense the environment better now. The restrictive embrace of its shell was abandoned, allowing it to feel the world as it actually was. All the particles of slag, stone, and dirt beneath it could be felt, and the minor wind currents carried various particulates into the sludge.

It could remember once more. It remembered the separation it had felt so recently—the fracturing of what it once was into what it was now. It remembered a faint echo of its former self, which willingly segregated itself to attack three separate locations simultaneously. It recalled the more concrete feeling of wholeness that was broken as its shell split apart, scattered across this miserable ball of material. Beyond all else, however, it had the desire to feed, to consume, and to grow - which it knew it shouldn’t have had, but hadn’t the mental capacity to question.

It moved, sluggishly, out of its nest. It left behind a trail of bubbling ooze that churned and boiled as the material of the earth was slowly consumed and converted into more sludge. It lacked the capabilities present in its counterparts, but it would soon make up for them in size and strength.

It extended upwards, breaking down the raw material of its shell for personal use. It spread down, anchoring itself as a permanent fixture of the world. It spread outwards, expanding its area of influence slowly but steadily.

It felt vibrations against its surface. Deliberate, structured vibrations coming from some point around it. It could not see what was happening, so it could only guess the nature of these vibrations. Or it could adapt. Grow stronger. Survive, thrive, and dominate those weaker than it.

Its growth slowed considerably as it tried think, to determine what it could do. The vibrations were coming from above it, so it had to reach higher, didn’t it? That train of thought ran successfully, and its growth slowed almost to a halt as it pooled its material for one purpose.

A spiky tendril of sludge extended upwards, shooting straight up at a respectable pace, albeit wobbling awkwardly. The vibrations grew more intense for a moment, and shifted elsewhere, making its upwards-shooting piece of itself useless for the moment. In response, it tried to curve itself toward the source of the vibrations, which succeeded only in making the vibrations move again, now not anywhere above its combined mass. Its tendril continued to extend in the new direction, now having to fight the force that pulled it to the ground. More of the sludge was sent into the tendril, attempting to reinforce it, but the damage had already been done—the tendril fell to the ground limply, breaking apart against the sudden contact with the earth.

The vibrations left soon after. The sludge thing quickly forgot about them, now realizing that it had all this space to continue expanding. And so it did, not remembering the brief encounter it had with the source of the vibrations.

~~~

“Should we tell someone about this?”

Two griffons were soaring lazily through the air, great desert plains passing beneath them. The sun was setting right about now, casting long shadows from behind the buildings dotting the landscape.

“Psh. Naw, let it be,” the other griffon said, a confident, snarky air around her. “It’s not harming anyone!”

“Are you sure?” The first one asked. “It tried to grab us!”

“Dude, did you see how slow that blobby was? It couldn’t grab a tail feather blowin’ right to it!”

Her friend was obviously not impressed by her reassurances, but she reluctantly accepted them anyway. “Okay… if you’re sure.”

“Hey, come on. Trust me, we’re better than a pair of sitting ducks, aren’t we?” They flew in silence for a little while, before the second griffon grinned at the first and broke the silence with, “hey, I’ll race ya home!”

The first griffon’s demeanor changed instantly, and she matched her friend’s grin with a cocky grin of her own. “You’re on!”

They shot off into the distance, leaving the so-called ‘blobby’ behind, not noticing the equine figure beneath them as they neared their settlement.

~~~

A stallion galloped through the wilderness with reckless abandon, heading in the direction of the meteorite. A few griffons noticed him and his concealed nature, but they didn’t try to stop him.

He ignored the thistles and brambles everywhere, ignoring the slight scratches he got as he brushed past some sharp bushes. He reached the site of the meteorite unmolested by griffon pursuers, skidding to a halt outside its range. He fumbled for the blue gem around his neck, unclasping it hastily and muttering incomprehensibly to himself as he did so. He wrapped its chain around one of his hooves, holding it out to the thick, black mass in front of him.

“Uh… b-b-begone, evil! Crap, why isn’t this working?”

The black mass responded to him. Violently. It recognized the feeling of the amulet even without seeing, and it hated it immediately. It rushed as quickly as it could towards him, limiting its spreading in only one direction: right for him.

“Aaagh! What was the activation word for this again? Fight! Defend! Tacos! Hello!?”

The black mass was forced to adapt far quicker than it was comfortable with. But this was acceptable; it would not let itself kneel to these flimsy attempts at its removal. It pooled its mass once more, raising two thicker tendrils at once.

The stallion continued to fruitlessly activate the amulet as the tendrils bent into each other, forming an arch of dripping black material. It flopped onto the ground even with its thickness and started stretching itself away from the stallion. At this point, he pretty much gave up trying to do something with the amulet and turned away from the sludge, shouting, “I don’t wanna die!”

He was nearly too late in that regard. The tendrils finished pulling themselves back and relinquished its grip on the main mass of material. The tendrils snapped back to a comfortable length, and the central part of them disconnected violently from the rest, launching itself in the direction of the stallion’s frantic retreat. It missed him by several feet, although it caused him to flinch dramatically, and he tumbled through several bushes. His cloak was torn in several places, revealing a light blue coat beneath the black of the cloak, and the amulet around his hoof was torn away from him.

It was successful in making the amulet’s wielder retreat, although it was unsure if its attack was successful. It could still feel the essence of the amulet nearby, which meant it was either lost or being stupidly ‘hidden’. Either plan worked for the entity, and it refocused its spread to go in every direction.

~~~

Soul. Body. Mind.

Space. Time. Dimension.

Separation. Consumation. Reunion.

Author's Note

Written by the eager Ponygood11

V - Silver Sigil - Little Duke

Silver Sigil dashed through the planes in a frantic flight from the Grove forest and that awful, awful blob. His first encounter with a large evil - and he had failed miserably, frozen under the pressure, going so far as to forget the activation phrase! Seriously, how could he have possibly forgotten “Silver Amulet”, literally the description of the device he was attempting to activate?

Eventually he stopped his mad dash through the lands and gathered his bearings. Somehow, he had gone a completely different direction than he had intended to and---

Oh, Celestia, he was going to be late!

Somehow this thought chilled him to the bone further than the blob had. Losing a valuable amulet and being late to a lesson? He was so dead. So dead. No way around it. In a panic, he sprinted as fast as his tired hooves would take him back to the monastery.

~~~

Steadfast Hoof was sitting in his monastery, which was a small building carved into a large rock at the edge of Griffonstone.He sat there contemplating where his apprentice could be. The stallion was rarely late by even a second, and certainly never as late as he was now. Just when Steadfast started to get up to search for the young stallion, Silver burst through the door in a panic.

“M-m-master Hoof! Th-th-th--” he attempted to say, stuttering even more that usual due to his exhaustion and panic.

“Easy Silver,” Steadfast said, putting a hoof on his shoulder, noting the stallion’s torn robes. “What Happened?”

“Th-there is a large evil blob on the outskirts of the G-Grove!” came Silver’s reply, after a brief moment to collect himself.

“Mm? There’s always an evil of one sort or another near the Grove, why’s this one got you so riled up?” Only the most evil things in that forest should have given him any trouble at all, considering the amulet-

A deep silence filled the room as Silver cringed away from Steadfast’s gaze.

“…What happened to your amulet?” Steadfast said. After a few moments of silence that seemed like an eternity, a sense of dread creeped up the back of his mind.

“I-I, um… it s-slapped it out of my hoof! I-it wouldn’t activate…” Silver said, beginning to panic once more.

Steadfast’s expression became stern. He gave out a small humph and gathered his own golden amulet off of a hook on the wall. “Lets go see I suppose… at the very least we have to recover your amulet.”

“Um… o-ok…” Silver said as he looked around for what he could use to help, but doubted that Master Steadfast would let him use any of the remaining artifacts, not after he had lost the apprentice amulet that had been entrusted to him. He settled for grabbing a wooden pole and strapping it onto his back. So what if he didn’t know how to use it? He wanted something.

Steadfast chuckled and shook his head, stepping out the door and walking down the path that would take them to the Grove Forest, with Silver close at his hooves.

~~~

The Mass could feel a power moving towards it. Practically the same as the amulet from before, but much more powerful. That particular little interaction was going to be more trouble that it had initially thought. It stopped its spreading for the time being, focusing instead on finding the previous amulet, planning to devise a defense against it. No sense in getting wiped off the face of this rock so soon after it had arrived, now was there?

~~~

Zecora pondered what to do with this strange newcomer. On one hoof, she seemed harmless enough. But on the other she arrived at the exact same time as that… “meteor” that caused her danger charm to explode. She sat watching the gentle black smoke rise from the impact site of the main chunk of the meteor, yet she noted that she could not smell any fire. Then she noticed that the forest was deadly silent- not a sound at all. The Everfree was a forest filled with strange creatures big and small, it was extremely rare for none of them to be making a sound.

“Strange happenings abound, and yet there is no sound,” she told her guest ” Investigate this is what I shall, for I would hate to see this place squished, you are welcome to accompany me through the chaparral, if you wish.”

The yellow pegasus pony simply shook her head ”No, I think I’ll just stay here… if you don’t mind, seems much safer.”

Zecora nodded, picked up her bags for traveling, “Very well, just do not touch my brew” she said, nodding at the bubbling pot “for there could be a nasty spell if you do.”

The yellow pony simply nodded at this and settled down into her chair a little bit more.

Zecora still didn’t know quite what to think of this pony, but that could wait until the problem of the meteor was solved. She stepped out of the door, and began the trek to where the fragment had fallen.

~~~

A charcoal black Pegasus watched from his perch on the side of a mountain that had once been a dragon’s lair. He had watched all the chaos unfurl, from the meteor, to the explosion, to the griffons and that pony with the amulet being attacked from just afew moments ago. Now he was currently watching a black sludge expand from around the back of the Grove forest with his trusty telescope. He wasn’t quite sure weather it was standard Grove weirdness, or if it was caused by that meteor from earlier. Regardless, it was quite interesting, and might further his… “research.”

He had been watching events unfold ever since he had spotted the strange meteor in the sky several days ago. Bizarrely, given its size he should have noticed it even before then, with his particular skill set and variety of telescopes. This bothered him immensely, and he had immediately started putting several plans into action. Now that the “meteor” had landed, none of them seemed to be enough.

Eventually, he came to a decision on what to do. It was time for him to put his talents to use. He compacted his trusty platinum telescope and walked back into the lair. He had preparations to make, and places to go.

Samples to gather, and Evils to interrogate.

~~~

Author's Note

Written (with great speed) by the Tiny and Amazing Little Duke (aka Spiraling Vibrance)

VI - Distance - Keywii_Cookies55

VI - Distance - Keywii_Cookies55

Distance.

That's all It recognized upon reawakening. A great distance, and an incomplete feeling. When it was first whole it had decided to separate into three pieces. Each with it's own capabilities and functionality.

It couldn't remember the purpose for the separation, but that information wouldn't prove useful to matter soon enough. What it did know was that it was now a lesser part of it's original self and it had a goal. Integration.

It was aware that it's two brothers had their own purposes and goals, but while it lacked it's original strength, mobility, power. It retained it's cunning, and intelligence, which would be required.

The mountain it had crashed into was a peculiar one. It was tall, almost spirelike, with a platform coming off of it. Life flourished on the platform, in what might be a city of some type.

Life.

Yes, Life is what it needed to integrate, to control, to have congregate and obey. It was currently still contained in it's meteor impacted in the side of the mountain, but that wouldn't do. It needed to leave the crash site and begin it's plan.

It took stock of its form. A dark purple shadow wouldn't do, it needed to take the form of one of the native creatures.

It needed to hide. At least for now.

~~~

Applejack looked out the windows of the cafe in Manehatten with forlorn eyes. It was another foggy day, which to other ponies would have been something that'd have gotten used to, but not her. She sighed deeply and returned her hooves to her drink. The steam from her beverage slowly and calmly rose off the cup.

"Ah don't know," She said after a moment of silence. The chatter in the background may have drowned her out slightly, but to the pony across from her, no other sounds were being made. "It's been so long now."

"I know," answered the other pony, a pink earth pony with a sombre look. A spark of desperation betrayed her eyes. "But I can't do it alone anymore."

Applejack took a sip of her tea as she listened to Pinkie Pie. "At first I thought I could handle everything. I used to make ponies laugh all the time, but..."

"She ain't gettin' better?" AJ asked, Pinkie didn't speak, she just nodded softly. She looked into her friend's eyes for a moment sharing a connection she thought she'd lost, Before she lowered her expression back to her drink. "How're..."

Pinkie's ears perked up slightly, not expecting any answer besides a no.

"How's Twi?"

A smile spread slightly over Pinkie's face, one Applejack knew was forced, but it didn't mean any less. "She's been doing her best, I think." Pinkie answered, "I don't see her as much as I used to, she might still blame herself."

"Ah told her that it wasn't her fault."

Pinkie stared at Applejack, looking almost upset, "She knows that Applejack," But any energy quickly deflated. "She...she knows it's nobodies fault. I just worry is all."

Applejack nodded, "Ah'm sorry, Pinkie, ah...ah can't go back. Ah said..." her eyes fell to her drink again, "Ah said things ah can't take back."

A stray tear fell onto the table before Pinkie quickly stood up, looking more defeated then anyone could remember seeing her. She didn't say anything, just slowly walking away.

"If..." Applejack spoke aloud, stopping Pinkie from leaving, "If ya see Rarity, tell'er ah...wish ah could take it back..."

Pinkie stood there motionless for a long time, feeling almost as if full minutes had passed, finally she lowered her head. "You know, Dashie misses more than just Fluttershy. On her better days she asks where you are."

And without another word, Pinkie turned the corner, leaving Applejack alone once again.

~~~

Rainbow Dash was having trouble sitting still. She knew she had to wait for the nurses, and that Twilight and Rarity were probably fine but she was told to wait for the doctors to do their job and it'd already been an hour. Fluttershy was with her, but that didn't stop her from fidgeting.

"How much longer do we have to wait?" She asked Fluttershy beside her.

Fluttershy shook her head, unsure, "Nurse Redheart said it shouldn't be much longer."

"I know, but I want to make sure they’re okay, and I hate waiting."

"I hope they're alright too, I've never seen Twilight faint before."

"Plus I want to go check out the space thing in the Everfree Forest."

Fluttershy nodded, interested as well. "But first we need to make sure Rarity is okay."

Rainbow Dash stood up, ready to charge into whatever room Rarity was in before Fluttershy gave her a look. "Okay, fine, fine, I'll wait, but I don't like it."

Fluttershy simply smiled as Dash sat back down beside here. She was just as worried as all her other friends, Dash included, but she knew that the nurses here knew what they were doing, it was out of the hooves until they were called in.

~~~

In a dark room illuminated only by four scrying spells, three crystals lay to the side. The first, a deep orange color, was glowing. The second, a shimmering violet shade, went from dead and dormant to slowly glowing along side it's neighbour. The final crystal of hazy green continued to lack the glow of the others.

An Unstoppable Power.

An Unbreakable Control.

An Unbearable Sickness.

And the Key to unlock them all.

Author's Note

Written by the fruityKeywii_Cookies55

VII - The Temple - VoidTemplar2000

The Temple of the End Times had seen better days since its inception and construction. Once, it had been the home to a movement hundreds of thousands strong with the size of sanctums to match, now it stood in the middle of the desert crumbling to the test of time. Fact was, it would have been buried in the sands had civilization not come knocking just a short few moons ago. A city was being built around it, and the temple was to be the new nexus of a borough. And it would probably have been that way, had something not happened one fateful evening.

Two beams of light shot up from the three towers placed on the temple grounds, one a fluorescent yellow, another a deep dark blue. And yet, there was one tower still darkened by the absence of a strange light. Crowds gathered around the temple, could it really be that this was happening? After all, it seemed that some store had done some kind of twisted PR-stunt to gather attention. Probably for marked down lemons and sprinkler fluid for the next week or something like that. And yet, no advertising came, no loudspeakers, no nothing. Police arrived to cordon off the area before experts could move in and figure out just what had transpired in that temple.

Later, three nondescript gray vans drew up to the makeshift fencing set up around the temple. They were led through the checkpoint and stopped just outside the entrance to the temple itself. Five figures in hazmat suits exited the vans. From the viewpoint of the crowd around the fence, they could see at least three ponies and a griffon. They entered the temple with nothing but their saddlebags and hazmat suits, leaving the crowd only half as puzzled as they had been when the lights shot into the sky.

Inside the entryway to the temple, the four “archaeologists” took off their hazmat suits and changed into something more comfortable. A welcome break from the grating rubber. Around all of their necks hang a necklace in silver with a gem of either orange, violet or green. All three glimmered stronger than they ever had outside

“Think they fell for it?” One of the ponies, a pegasus asked.

“Definitively. They think that this place is deadly, and won’t dare to go in here,” the griffon answered. The other two figures, a unicorn and an earth pony both nodded in agreement. Nevertheless, they began to venture deeper into the sanctum of the temple, moving the occasional fallen column out of the way, when called for.

The Temple, they could see, was still sturdily built, despite the teeth of time having their go on it. Prophecies, telling of a splitting star were still legible as was some, not all, but some of the frescoes that showed the colors of the End could be seen and understood. A shame that one of the colors was missing, though. As the small party reached the nexus of the temple, from which corridors to the three towers ran they saw three altars, each corresponding to a tower, by the virtue of canals running from the altar into the corridor

“Master Hoof! I think something’s wrong here!” The unicorn pointed to one of the altars. It was turned over, and parts of it had broken off. The earth pony walked over to take a closer look, could this be the thing they had been looking for all along?

“Let me see” He leant over and started to carefully look at the altar, looking especially thoroughly at a valley on the altar that looked like it would fit a carefully crafted cube within it. In that moment, a beam of light went from his medallion and into the altar, before zooming down the hallway to the third tower

~~~

In another world, in another Equestria, Twilight Sparkle woke up. She looked around to see not her castle and the ruined Hall of Friendship, but rather a hospital room. Bandaged were laced around her hooves and wings. Being an alicorn meant she was able to tank things that would kill normal ponies as well a faster healing process, but she was still a pony. And that meant hospital time. To her right was an IV pump with a catheter going into her forehoof, and to the left a table with a clipboard with some medical lingo that she recognized as being a report from an operation on her skeletal structure. Apparently the injuries from earlier were more severe than she had thought. She looked over to the other side of the room, where Rarity lay, sleeping with her left foreleg in a thick bandage.

The door to the room opened. In walked Doctor Horse with a clipboard and a pen, writing on said clipboard with his magic. He looked towards Twilight.

“I see you’re awake. It seems that explosion really did a number on both you and your friend.” He said, moving towards Rarity to look to her. “Nurse Redheart said that alicorns have an unusually volatile anatomy and physiology. Though I can’t really see how that is. Performing the operation was just as easy as on a normal pony”

“And Rarity?” Twilight asked concerned.

“Shaken, injured but she will recover. The healing that your friends did inside your castle may have saved her leg,” Doc answered.

Twilight slumped back into the hospital bed. Perhaps there was a happy ending to this before anything even more tragic could happen.

~~~

Back at the temple, a third light shot out from the last tower. A deep dark red this time, the appearance of a third beam reactivated the other two. The pieces of a plan set in motion began to come together. Inside the temple, some of the old inscriptions began to light up, and beams of light converged at the three altars. Something big was about to happen.

Three points of light.

Two fragments in the balance.

One shared fate.

Author's Note

Written by VoidTemplar2000

VIII - Declarations - GMBlackjack

SIDE 1

Applejack walked out of the hospital to the rest of her friends. “Twi’ll be out soon, her alicorn magic’s healin’ her up real nice. Rarity will be hospitalized for a while, but she’ll be fine.”

“That’s a relief,” Starlight said, letting out a sigh. “Why is it that things have to explode like that?”

“Because magic!” Pinkie said.

“Magic never hurt Twilight this bad before…” Fluttershy said.

“Clearly it wasn’t normal,” Rainbow Dash asserted. “It’s space magic! We’ve never dealt with space magic!”

“Legends say Chrsyalis’ throne was forged of the remnants of a fallen star,” Starlight commented.

“We might be onto something…”

Pinkie chuckled. “Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that stuff is brewing! Big stuff! We need to get on it!”

Fluttershy gasped. “Without Twilight?”

“She can catch up with us later. We shouldn’t let these meteor fragments fall into the wrong hooves!”

“Pinkie’s right!” Rainbow Dash said, flying into the air. “For all we know, right now there’s some evil pony in the Everfree Forest picking up fragments of the meteor and using them for their own nefarious purposes! We’ve got to go get them!” She flew away in a burst of rainbow. Pinkie hopped behind her.

Starlight facehooved. “Well, I guess I know what I’m doing today.” She looked to Fluttershy and Applejack. “You coming?”

“I’ll watch over Twilight and Rarity,” Fluttershy said.

“Ah’ll come,” Applejack said. “Teleport?”

“We’ll be there before them,” Starlight said with a smirk. They vanished in a puff of magic.

~~~

Zecora had filled half a wheelbarrow with fragments of the mysterious meteor. Every one of them gave off a strange magical signature, but she sensed it was nothing more than a remnant of something else. So long as she didn’t aggravate the energy, it wouldn’t explode. Probably.

She was finding more and more fragments – there were so many. How big was this rock? Too big to keep track of, that was sure…

Evil ponies would easily be able to get a hold of some small fragments, no matter how diligent Zecora was in her collection. She could see this being a problem in the future. Such easy access to magical power…

Still, she followed the rocks to the center. The main body of the rock. The source. It had created a rather large gash within the earth and destroyed more than a few trees.

One Tree in particular had stopped it right in its tracks. The largest chunk of the purple rock was about the size of Zecora’s skull and it rested, devoid of all evil magics, at the base of the Tree of Harmony.

Zecora approached the Tree in reverence, head bowed. It decided not to smite her, for which Zecora was thankful. She examined the larger rock – completely dead. There was a small pool of dark liquid in it – a sign that something had once been alive in there. But not anymore. Either the Tree of Harmony had been too much for it, or there simply wasn’t enough of the sludge here to survive.

Zecora opted to play it safe. She dumped her wheelbarrow next to the Tree of Harmony, allowing its harmonious energies to purge the stones of any power. “Forgive me if this pains you, but it is something I must do.”

The Tree did not complain. Someone else did.

“Such a waste of useful material,” a black pegasus said, walking into the clearing. “Clearly there is more, but why remove the properties of so much.”

“Who are you who thinks he can play with evil stones? And how dare you speak in such an arrogant tone?”

The pegasus shrugged, playing with a platinum telescope in his wing. Zecora sensed a power coming from it – did she see a magic crystal on it as well?

“My name is not important. I’m just asking you, nicely, not to remove the properties of all the stones.”

“If you think I’ll bow to the likes of you, then you’ll find my response hard to chew!”

The pegasus sighed. He pointed the telescope at her as if it were some kind of weapon. “Then I suppose I’ll just have t-“

Rainbow Dash flew in out of nowhere, punching the pegasus across the clearing. “HA! I knew bad ponies would try to grab the rocks!”

“Good work!” Starlight said, teleporting on the scene. “Now le- where is he?”

“Huh? I just ki-“ Rainbow Dash looked at the place he had been just a moment ago. “OH COME ON!”

Zecora narrowed her eyes. “It appears we have a mystery here that’s about more than just the rocks, dear.”

~~~

The Mass found the amulet. The black body of the Mass could not touch the amulet directly – but, as it turned out, it didn’t need to. All it needed to do was grab a stick and poke the amulet from a short distance. This proved to be ineffective in destroying the amulet or understanding it further.

The same went for smashing it with rocks.

And woodland creatures.

Entire trees didn’t help either.

The Mass could at least rest easy knowing that the amulet was completely surrounded by its unholy sludge. Nopony was getting anywhere near it. The other power though… That was still nearing. The Mass needed to think of a way to defeat it.

It remembered how the woodland creatures had reacted when it tried to use them as blunt weapons.

Maybe that could be useful…

~~~

Steadfast Hoof and Silver Sigil entered the Grove, Steadfast’s impressive control over his amulet scaring away all the mysterious denizens of the griffonian forest.

“Your amulet’s signature is muddled,” Steadfast said.

“I’m telling you, it’s the black blob!”

“Possibly,” Steadfast said without a hint of fear. “Most likely, in fact. But I’ll show you how it’s truly done. Don-“

A wolf appeared out of nowhere, utterly covered in black sludge, giving it the appearance of a shadow – or it would have, were it not for the piercing orange eyes. It opened its mouth and roared, its throat pulsating with a powerful orange energy.

The roar carried enough energy to push them back.

“What i-“

“It’s covered in the sludge!” Silver shouted. “We’r-“

Steadfast held out a hoof. Without so much as batting an eyebrow, his amulet activated and purged the wolf of all darkness. What remained was a horrific melting hunk of flesh. Without the sludge on it, it fell apart with an agonized whine.

“Clearly, it can control other creatures,” Steadfast declared. “However… It clearly cannot control them for long. It dissolves them with its mere presence…” His face was suddenly serious. “This is indeed a great evil. Let us be glad you found it so quickly.”

“MASTER HOOF!”

Steadfast purged an incoming manticore of the dark sludge. “I see it Silver, I see i-“

“NOT THAT!”

A tendril connected to the primary body of the Mass had taken over a nearby tree. It lashed out, but soon found the power of Steadfast’s amulet too much. The tree fell to pieces and the Mass was forced to recede.

“Come, Silver! I have it on the run!”

Silver nodded – everything was fine. Steadfast had this all under control. Everything wa-

Then Silver saw a hornet covered in the darkness ram right into Steadfast’s neck.

“OW! Stupid bugs…”

“Master! It had the sludge on it!”

“It wha-“ Steadfast grabbed his heart as the tiny amount of sludge made it into the vital organ. He tipped over, scrambling with his hooves. “I… I… Ig…”

“Master! What do I do? Wha-“

Steadfast grunted and tossed the amulet to Silver. “Go.”

“Bu-“

“I SAID GO BEFORE YOU ARE CONSUMED AS WELL!” The outburst forced Steadfast to choke.

Silver saw the actual body of the Mass making its way back… eagar for easier prey.

Silver did what his master ordered and ran, tears in his eyes.

The Mass soon covered Master Steadfast Hoof, ripping him apart piece by piece, absorbing everything about him… The information about culture, science, and magic was discarded. The Mass wasn’t particularly smart, after all, and generally had a one track mind.

All it cared about was learning how to deal with the amulet…

~~~

The yellow pegasus with the pink mane decided she needed to leave Zecora’s cottage. She was just getting a bad, bad feeling about all of this. According to the readings on her device… Magic was all over the place. She doubted that was normal.

They might have followed her. They might have found her…

But they couldn’t have. She made so sure...

Regardless, she needed a new place to hide. Somewhere that wasn’t in the middle of a magic forest. Somewhere more… Normal.

She placed her pack inside a much more ordinary looking one of Zecora’s. She left a few chips on the counter. They were probably worthless to Zecora, but the material contained within them would probably pay for the simple sack.

She slung it over her shoulder, spread her wings, and took off – careful to stay below the canopy to avoid prying eyes.

SIDE 2

Party Blower threw her hooves wide. “Welcome to my apocaparty!” she blurted.

She had taken over an area of the park a few hours ago with the intentions of making a party for the end of the world, and then her talent had taken over. She wasn’t even really sure what she had been thinking while she set up the party, but she had no dobut it was good. Unlike Pinkie – who could set up a party in a matter of seconds – Party Blower had to make do with running back and forth across town.

She had grabbed several tables, adorning them with tiki-torches in the middle. The cutlery and silverware were all decorated with images of stars, planets, and as many shooting stars as she could manage. The types of foods were all snaky feel-good stuff with a large quantity of cake and peanut butter flavored dishes. She vaguely remembered that she had tried to purchase alcohol at some point, but that had fallen through quickly. Instead there was a lot of salsa and extra-flavored punch. She’d even asked Vinyl to show up and play the best ‘last day on Equis’ jam she could. The unicorn was perhaps a little too ecstatic about that.

And just like that ponies had started driving up in their cars. Very few ponies her age showed up, but she didn’t mind – if she was a party pony, she could throw parties for all ages. This was a testament to her talent!

She smiled as she walked among the partygoers, glad to see that her party was basically running itself at this point.

Scootaloo walked up to her. “This… Is sure an interesting party,” Scootaloo admitted. “I’m not sure what it’s about, though.”

“I heard some of the adults thinking the meteors meant the end of the world, so I threw a party just for them! It appears to be working!”

“I’m just surprised ponies want to party at the end of the world.”

“Pff, what else are they going to do? They’ll want their last moments to be good ones.”

“I dunno… Doesn’t seem quite right, Party Blower. “

“Hey, who’s the one with the special talent, you or me?”

“You,” Scootaloo admitted. “I dunno though. These ponies are starting to look a little crazy.” She gestured at a couple ponies who looked like they had gotten into a fight, and another set who were passionately kissing. One of the tables had already been broken.

The tiki-torches reflected brightly in the orbs that were Party Favor’s eyes. “I like a little crazy… This, Scootaloo, this is the kind of party I’ll make. Not like Pinkie’s at all…”

“Party Blower, you’re being creepy.”

“Oh! Maybe I should make a creepy party next!”

“…Right. I’m going to go grab the rest of the crusaders. Stay here, okay?”

“This party won’t be over until the sun rises tomorrow! If that happens.”

Scootaloo nervously dashed off.

~~~

It was evening when Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie arrived in Canterlot. Their limosine pulled into the front of Canterlot Castle, surrounded by hectic paparazzi.

Twilight sighed. “We just have to make it to the front door, girls.”

“Can’t we teleport?” Rarity asked, groaning.

“It wouldn’t be right. But don’t respond to any of their questions. That means you, Pinkie.”

The three of them stepped out and the cameras started flashing. Since they were making a public appearance, they all had to be in their unique combat uniforms and have their weapons ready – save Pinkie, who was allowed to skirt this custom because the Laughing Cannon was a bit cumbersome to carry outside of wherever Pinkie normally stored the thing.

Twilight and Rarity’s uniforms were similar – dominantly white jackets with spiked edges on the sleeves that left their flanks exposed. Twilight’s highlights were purple while Rarity’s were a deep blue. Twilight’s jacket had white protrusions that extended to line her wings, and she wore a golden tiara that held a light blue visor over her eyes. Rarity had no tiara, but she did have a purple visor affixed to her ears. Pinkie was the only one that liked to keep her expressions visible in public.

Pinkie’s ‘uniform’ was decidedly simpler. It was a plain blue shirt with pink diamonds all over it. The shoulders were on fire. Pinkie never got burned by these flames and nobody asked her how.

Of course, nobody really cared about the uniforms. They all cared about the legendary weapons – Twilights Magic Wand, and Rarity’s Generous Rapiers. The Wand held a starburst amethyst-like gem at the tip that was ringed by three metallic blades while the Rapiers were identical pure white twin blades, save for the hilt of one that held a deep purple crystal.

The three of them moved forward, refusing to answer the questions of the crowd. Pinkie couldn’t help but wave and smile at a few of them though, such was her way.

They managed to get into the halls of Canterlot without incident. They walked to the throne room, glad to hear the noise of the crowd die down behind them.

Rarity took off her visor and Twilight retracted her own into the tiara, revealing a decidedly annoyed expression. “I hate that so much,” the princess muttered.

“At least we got to go through it together,” Rarity commented. “I don’t even know what Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are going to do.”

“What are the chances Rainbow or Applejack are even going to show up?” Twilight asked.

“…Lower than I would like to admit.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Let’s not talk about that! Celestia wants to see us!”

The three of them entered the throne room. Only one of the thrones had an occupant – Luna was apparently out.

Celestia turned to them and smiled. She wore her golden regalia with pride, and the Solar Lance she held in her hoof brimmed with the power of the sun, making it hard to look at.

“Just the three of you?” Celestia asked.

“Fluttershy should be here eventually,” Twilight commented. “I wouldn’t count on the others. They know, at least.”

“Starlight?”

“You only asked for the Elements. I had to tell her to stay behind. Unless that was a mistake?”

“No, it was fine,” Celestia admitted. “Fluttershy has already been here, and I sent her to deal with a minor incursion in the Temple of the End Times.”

Always the overachiever, Twilight thought.

Celestia continued. “For the rest of you I have a much more pressing matter. As you know, a meteor has crashed into Canterlot Mountain. I already sent a team of guards to investigate, and none have returned. They are presumed dead. I know nothing of what lies within there, but all with a strong enough sense believe it to be a great evil. You are to go in there and neutralize the cosmic threat.”

“Yes, my princess. Do we have teleporting coordinates?”

“Yes.” Celestia transmitted them with her horn. “Go forth, heroes of Equestria.”

“We won’t let you down,” Twilight said with a bow. She teleported the three of them away.

~~~

The Temple of the End times forced three altar beams of light together, focusing on a monumental moment in history. It had finally come to this, after so long they had waited… But the Order had accomplished what they had set out to do. All four of them were smiling – some evilly, others merely with anticipation. Needless to say, motivations for activating the Temple of the End Times was mixed.

Steadfast Hoof felt the shadow of death pass over him, forcing his grin to vanish.

“Master? What is it?” the unicorn asked.

“Nothing, Silver… Nothing at all…” Steadfast said, shaking his head. “We have been waiting for this moment so long, nothing will be able to stop us now.”

The lights all shut off in an instant, the intersection point leaving behind a single cubic crystal. Its red color was so deep it burned itself into the eyes of all who saw it.

Steadfast Hoof grinned. “There it is… The Weapon of the End.”

“If that’s really what it is,” the griffon pointed out. “We have no idea what it does, what its powers are, or anything else.”

“And you never will,” a calm, soothing voice said. Dozens of green arrows pierced the legs and wings of all four members of the order, pinning them to each other. None of them screamed, none of them even dripped blood – for these were not regular arrows.

They were from the Kind Bow.

Fluttershy descended to the ground between the four ‘archeologists’ and the red Weapon Core. Her uniform was made of green leaf-like materials, and instead of covering her face with a visor an extended leaf kept her eyes hidden in shadow. She had her bow ready to fire in case any of them figured out how to escape the arrow restraints – the weapon was a beautiful green with a pink crystal above where the arrows were created and fired.

“Fluttershy!?” Steadfast roared. “How did you know!? How did…”

Fluttershy pocketed the cubic crystal, smiling sadly at her opponents. “I was tipped off.”

“I BET YOU WEREN’T TIPPED ABOUT THIS!” the griffon shouted, shattering all the arrows in an instant, revealing a gun in his hand with a silver crystal in its side. “This is the Sheer Revolver! It will protect me from your arrows.”

Fluttershy didn’t react the way he wanted. “Oh. I see.”

“Also it can shoot bullets.” He fired – he was a decidedly horrible shot, grazing Fluttershy’s wing. She winced, but took the opportunity to shoot one of her arrows into the Sheer Revolver. It knocked the weapon right out of the griffon’s hands.

“…Frick,” he said, unable to do anything about the next volley of arrows that pinned his limbs to each other.

“The guard will be here shortly, I hope you’ll be co-operative.” She smiled at them, lifting her head up so they could see her eyes. “I’ll even vouch for you if you behave.”

Steadfast said nothing, cursing himself for not seeing it. Cursing himself for not being able to use the amulet while stuck like this. Cursing himself for putting the Weapon of the End in the hands of the government…

~~~

“Thank you for your tip, miss…” Fluttershy said, looking closely at her informant.

She was a purple earth pony – even more purple that Twilight. Even the blacks and whites of her eyes were not devoid of the color, making it seem as if nothing but different shades of the color purple existed for this mare. “Aura.”

“Aura. Thank you, you’ve done a great service for Equestria by letting us know they were in there.”

“I’m a simple mare. If I think the Order is somewhere, I make a report.” She smiled kindly. “You’d do the same, right?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer the question. “I’ll make sure you’re rewarded.”

“Okie!” Aura said. “I don’t have a house right now, so hold on, I need to figure out who you can send it to…” she took out a phone.

“Say no more,” Fluttershy said. “We’ll get you a small apartment as your reward.”

“Oh! Thank you! Where?”

“Where would you like?”

“Canterlot seems nice.”

Fluttershy smiled. “It does. It might be a bit smaller there than elsewhere, though.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, I’m getting a free apartment. Woohoo!”

“Then that’s what we will do. You can come back with me, if you want.”

“Nice!” Aura said, following Fluttershy.

Inwardly, she grinned. And now I’ve gotten myself closer to the top… It’s only been a day. This is going to be easier than expected.

The great evil laughed inwardly – but the form of ‘Aura’ continued to look completely innocent.

Aside from being overly purple.

She really needed to find a way to fix that.

SIDE 3

Twilight sat in her ‘throne’ at the top of the largest building in Ponyville District, the Crystal Spires. Grandiose ships flew across her field of view through the giant windows.

Twilight hardly did any ruling from here, anymore. Not since what she had done.

They thought Twilight blamed herself. Twilight let them all believe that – it was better that way. It was better than the truth behind it.

Twilight pressed a button on her headset again, displaying a holographic file in front of her face. It showed the image of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane – Fluttershy.

Her official file said she had died in an accident at a royal factory.

The unofficial version Twilight had access to thanks to her princesshood told a different story. It was a criminal file.

The things the mare Twilight had once called her friend had done…

They were unforgivable.

It was best if the others never knew the things Fluttershy had done, but Twilight knew.

And despite what all the files she had access to said, Twilight knew she was still alive.

Just because she couldn’t be detected anywhere in the universe didn’t mean a thing.

Twilight left her throne, flying over to her balcony and into her private ship. She flew off – she had a secret lab to check up on. The sprawling city-surface of Equis was left behind…

~~~

Rainbow Dash couldn’t sleep.

Fluttershy was standing next to her – like always. “Rainbow, you need to be calm…”

“How can I be calm? I’m in a hospital! That’s… Not something to be calm about!”

“Being calm lets you heal faster.”

“Fluttershy… I… I don’t want to anymore! How long have I been here!?”

“A few months?”

“IT FEELS LIKE YEARS, FLUTTERSHY!”

“Shhhh you’ll wake everyone up! You-“ She froze in place, unmoving.

“Uh… Fluttershy? What are…”

Fluttershy’s entire form flashed green for a moment. Actually, did everything turn green for a moment? Am I going crazy?

“What an interesting time to think that,” Fluttershy muttered.

“W-what?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “You said ‘am I going crazy’.”

“Oh… I said that?”

“Yes. Yes you did.”

“Huh… Weird.”

“And as to what you said before, Dashie… I think maybe it is time to get fed up with how long we’ve been here. We could get up in the morning and walk out.”

“Yeah! That’s exactly what I was saying!”

“Who knows? Maybe we could even show a few of the staff what we really think when we leave.”

“Uh…”

“You know. A kick there. A punch here. Show them up for what they’ve done to us…”

“They’ve been nic-“

Everything flashed green again. Rainbow Dash didn’t notice. “They either don’t know anything or are keeping us here on purpose, Rainbow Dash! Think!”

Yeah… Yeah that made perfect sense! Almost none of them ever addressed Fluttershy! But she was always here!

“You’re right! I’ll go give them a piece of my mind right no-“

“Let’s be smart about this,” Fluttershy said. “Turn some of the others to our side. I’m sure they will be much more… open to me now that we’ve had this little chat.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Their minds will all come around…” Fluttershy grinned evilly. “All of their minds…”

“Great!”

~~~

In a world that we all know, a mass runs rampant with orange power.

In a world of weapons and fame, a purple power plays chess with the lives of ponies.

In a world far ahead, a green disease worms its way into the thoughts of all.

Author's Note

Written by... ME! With the purpose of making the story a little less confusing.

-GM, master of consolidation.

IX - Unfortunate - Mad Engineer Stark

Side 1

Silver Sigil ran.

No, scratch that - Silver Sigil fled for dear life.

The abomination that had taken his master from him was in pursuit, no doubt. After all, it was most likely after powerful artifacts, since it went after his master first, rather than him. Now that he had both, he had no doubts that the sludge being would be after him next. After that, who would be left to stop it?

It was not like there was anyone else that knew about the power of the artifacts, or how to use them.

And then Silver ran right into a griffon.

“Hey, what’s the big rush?! You trying to get me killed? Celestia, first that creepy hooded pony runs off, and then … you were that pony, weren’t you? Hey, stop running! I’m not done yelling at you!” Gilda shouted, using her wings to jump onto Silver and pin him.

“Now then, creep, just what were you doing with that meteor? Not often that someone runs straight at a meteor, only to come running out a few minutes later like the evils of Tartarus are out and after him,” Gilda pressed.

“Y-you don’t understand, it’s after m-m-me, it wants to get me, I’m not safe to be around!” Silver exclaimed.

Gilda smacked him on the snout, annoyed by his stuttering. “By Guto, how am I supposed to understand any of that gibberish? Stop stuttering and get it right!”

“That direction, big ugly thing, wants to eat me, not safe here! Run now, talk later!” Silver hastily added

They quickly left the area. Unfortunately for Silver, they left it by flying, not running, and Silver was again promptly pinned by Gilda. This time securely, on a mountain path.

“Where are my answers? I don’t have time to waste talking to you, creep, so start talking fast, or you take a trip down the mountain where nobody will ever find you.” Of course, Gilda would never do that. She was still perfectly fine with rolling him towards the edge, of course.

“Umm, how do I start… the meteorite you saw was actually an evil being, it’ll doom the world, and I’m trying desperately not to die so I can figure out how to stop it?” Silver looked desperate enough that she bought that blunt as Tartarus explanation. He was still too frightened and shocked to think of anything too coherent, and the minute he had of fight or flight had vanished the moment he ran into the griffon.

“… I’m too sober for this. Come on, I’m sending a letter to the rest of you ponies. They can deal with this shit, and send me a bottle of decent booze. We’re leaving.” Why did it always come down to the Ponies? Seriously! Sometimes, a griffon just wanted to be involved in a minor emergency that didn’t involve the fate of the world.

“Did you not listen to a word that I just said? That thing is going to kill ALL OF US! We need to - hey, what are you doing? Not the ear, not the ear!” What was up with his ear being grabbed in emergencies? Seriously!

“I just hear you asking for more pain. Shut up and I’ll let you trot.”

Silence was all that greeted her ears.

“Good pony.”

Oh, so glorious silence.

It’s good to be the Queen, even if it was only over one pony.

~~~

What would seem to be an ordinary griffon watched with vague interest as the idiot pony and nitwit of a griffon left, the pony noticeably more pained than the griffon. “Hmmm. Looks like I’m on the road again. Well, time to get my gear together!” The Fool left, his journey beginning anew.

Side 2

“Why hello there, are you the new neighbor?” Aura sighed. Why did there have to be ponies filling the neighborhood? Sure, a few neighbors made you seem sociable enough for most, but as more ponies gathered, that would mean correspondingly increased scrutiny on her house, which would increasingly restrict her activities until she could safely divert their attention.

“Why yes, yes I am.” Still, if there was one thing the Evil was grateful for, it was that the vastly increased intelligence and experience it had over most beings gave it unparalleled observational skills, allowing it to scrutinize the majority of physical beings and categorize them with a high degree of accuracy. At the very least, it would have an advanced warning against any truly dangerous foes.

“Ah, it’s always nice to have a new face around here! Tell me, have you visited Tempered yet? He’s the highlight of any newcomer’s visit to our little corner of Canterlot.” Aaaaaaaand there was the subtle deflection that marked an ordinary civilian. Soon to be future thrall.

“No, but I plan to.” Don’t mind the fact that Aura was going to wait a while before going to meet him. Really, don’t.

“As long as you do so soon. After all, he does make your days!” And Aura was going to make his day. For better or worse. All she needed to do was wait, and plan. She left quickly to evaluate the last of her neighbors.

As the day continued, and more and more ponies were processed in a similar fashion, The Evil thought. From the pieces that it gathered, it was making an increasingly complicated sculpture of the pony known as Tempered Pearlite. From what it could tell, Tempered could not be made a thrall like so many pawns. He was simply too complex to do so. And so, it began to draw up plans to snare Tempered in a web of intrigue. For he would be a lieutenant.

Or he would be gone.

~~~

The Tower looked upon his agents and the unknown variable silently. That one is not who she appears to be. She must be dealt with, for the safety of the Cycle depends on it. The Tower plotted, and sent for the Hermit, for the Cycle must always be guarded.

Side 3

When Sunny Days awoke, it was to a mild headache that left her thinking that maybe she should have some aspirin if she was going to have to deal with a problem patient. After all, as the premier hospital in Equestria, they got the ‘privilege’ of hosting famous injured people, most of them nobles.

As she put on her uniform, the headache only got worse, making it seem that the noble’s behavior had somehow infected her work, thus downgrading her day to ‘bad.’ When Sunny saw that one of her checkups was Rainbow Dash, her response was … mixed. On one hoof, she wasn’t a noble. That meant no hyper-inflated sense of self-importance.

On the other… maybe it was better just not to think about that. Maybe it would disappear after a while.

… Shouldn’t she be talking to Rainbow Dash? She should go do that, instead of thinking about things that didn’t matter.

“Good morning, Rainbow Dash. I trust that you’ve had a good night sleep?”

“You know, just another day in building Paradise. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.” And now they would get there much faster, thanks to the friendly conversation with Flutters.

“Oh, and what made you so positive today? Maybe you learned something due to your ‘friend’.” As if! Nobody came to visit her except Pinkie Pie, and she hadn’t put in a visit for a good week! Actually, she was due for a visit before the week ended, if the pattern held up.

“That’s easy! Today, I am leaving!” With Flutter’s help, of course. The only question now is who would stop her, and who would be the first to come around.

“Hmmmmm…. And how can you be sure of that? You can barely get out of bed for the bathroom, much less leave this building and fly for all you’re worth.” And she knew it. Rainbow’s muscles were severely atrophied from lack of use, even with magical stimulation. She might have been healed, who knew, but it would still take weeks for her to get to trotting consistently, much less galloping or flying competently.

“Simple: I. Have. Help.” And with that, Rainbow got out of her bed and calmly walked towards the nurse. With no aid, no less.

Sunny Days was shocked. How could this have happened? It was a miraculous healing, no doubt. This was Impossible, with a capital I! Her perpetual headache made itself known once more and continued to grow, until it just… stopped.

In that moment, Sunny saw Her. The reason she became a nurse, even though she could have made an excellent medical researcher. Fluttershy, the very Embodiment of Kindness, who was said to have died in a factory accident, standing right before her. And in Her presence, all illnesses ceased.

Just standing there, trying to process what was going on while passively stopping Rainbow from leaving, Sunny… stopped. Why would she do something against the will of someone who could not be denied when it came to giving? If Rainbow was truly healed… no. The proper question was, how could she serve? For an Element could truly do no evil. Needless to say, she stepped in front of Her, and gave a big hug.

“See Rainbow? Sooner or later, they shall all come around.” And they would, for Fluttershy willed it, and who would go against her?

~~~

Judgment stirred. Something was wrong, the scales were unbalanced. If left uncorrected, the Cycle would cease, the walls would fall once more. The contingencies had failed. It was time to rise once more, for Death would be coming, and it would be impolite to not to host him.

~~~

As the seeds of destruction are planted, their resolutions bloom. For the Fool has set out, the Tower plots, and Judgement musters its strength.

Author's Note

Written by the Mad Engineer Stark.

X - Desires - Ponygood11

The Fool cantered happily through the forest, paying no heed to the eerie silence of what should have been a bustling patch of wildlife. He was clothed, now, though not heavily; wearing only a polka-dotted vest with a flower stuck in a chest pocket, and a wide-brimmed hat with four playing cards set in it.

“Forest feels quite different today,” he mused. “Very little forest-y charm, and what remains is muted. Perhaps Death returns, but far ahead of schedule?”

He continued his journey. It took a little while longer for him to finally arrive at the sea of rolling darkness that was the Mass. It was spreading slowly, such that one could outrun it at a casual walk.

The Fool poked the edge of the Mass with a talon. It rippled slightly where it made contact, and a tiny bit of it remained on the Fool’s claw, still spreading mindlessly.

The Fool licked it, smacking his lips. He grinned. “Tastes nothing like Death! But what could it be? Very much a curiosity!”

It was at that point the Mass realized there was actually something there. The bit of itself inside the Fool began attacking him ruthlessly, and a small part of the main body shot toward him, surrounding and crushing him with little effort. He laughed as long as he was able to laugh, and even after his lungs had collapsed his face expressed unrestrained humor, up until the point he was completely consumed by the Mass.

From above, the Fool balanced on top of a lone tree, watching the Mass’s aggressive actions with newfound excitement. “Whee-hee-hee!” he laughed, bouncing eagerly on the tree. “Feisty, feisty! No toy of mine, yet fun all the same!”

The Mass gurgled with a semblance of irritation. It had no sensory organs of any kind, yet somehow it still knew where the overeager griffon was; as evidenced by a large mass of it suddenly lunged toward the Fool.

The Fool was too high up for the Mass to jump all the way up to him, but it was still able to close the distance to the Fool’s tree quickly-- scarily quickly, crossing many yards in only a second. It completely surrounded the base of the tree, snapping it apart easily, and then yanked on the tree to topple it much faster.

The Fool seemed to lose his balance for a moment. Then he simply leapt off of the crumbling tree before it landed in the Mass, flying in a lazy circle above where his other body once was. “I see you like my parting gift!” he taunted. “A special present just for you!”

The Mass was definitely angry now. It retracted the part of itself that had sought out the tree, slowly compressing into a dense blob of dark sludge. As the Fool watched, the blob suddenly burst apart, sending a thick stream of itself straight towards where the Fool hovered.

The fool swooped a few feet to the side, causing the attack to miss entirely. “Greedy, greedy! You want more after I’ve said no!” A claw met the Fool’s chin, rubbing it for a few seconds as he seemed to consider something. “But you’re still oh-so-fun! I suppose it couldn’t hurt to let you have one more thing!” Then he began laughing crazily, dive-bombing himself toward a random section of the Mass, which raised tendrils to try and catch him.

It failed. He exploded as soon as he impacted the ground, releasing a shockwave that tore apart a large section of the Mass’s body and leaving nothing of the Fool behind.

Then he reappeared in the air, juggling an inactive amulet in his talons. His grin was still present, yet it had lessened considerably and became much more malevolent. “A negative contribution from my dear friend. As much fun as you may be, she won’t appreciate you thinking the same of her!”

The Mass still didn’t hear the Fool, and didn’t yet realize its amulet had been stolen. It was focused simply on filling in the hole the Fool had made in it, and what material it did spare to trying to attack the Fool was uncoordinated, as if it didn’t know where he was anymore.

He giggled. “A loner such as she will be difficult to find, for both you and me! But find her I must, and then we can all play together!” He guffawed, flying in a loop-de-loop, and vanished before the loop was completed.

It was only a little while later that the Mass realized the amulet was gone. It pulsated angrily-- it thought it had been close to figuring out how to breach it, but its progress was lost as long as it didn’t have an amulet to use.

It began to spread rapidly in all directions. It flowed around the trees, as knocking them all down wouldn’t be helpful in trying to quickly find the amulet, or the strange thing that stole it. Random animals, on the other hand, were quickly chased down and infected, and immediately pushed to their breaking point running as fast and far as they could to reveal as much of the surrounding area as possible.

~~~

As the yellow pegasus flew, her mind was clouded by questions. From all her travels, she hadn’t seen anything like those meteors. Because of that, she couldn’t really be sure what they were or what they wanted, besides what were doubtlessly evil reasons. She could at least hope that Zecora could successfully deal with the fragments on her own, at least until someone more capable could deal with it.

She wondered for a moment whether they could possibly be enough to distract her pursuers, at least for some time. They were supposed to be ruthless and tireless, and would not rest until they carried out their mission… or they died trying. It was something she knew from considerable experience, as she idly rested a hoof on her pack, reassuring herself that she still had it.

She felt something press against her mind. Unlike the object of her thoughts, she knew exactly what this was. She set down somewhere in the dark, twisted forest, making sure there were none around that could spot her, and vanished.

You called for me?

THERE IS AN UNKNOWN VARIABLE IN STRENGTH’S CANTERLOT.

There? You know I dislike centers of population. You also know I was staying away from that world for a reason.

THIS VARIABLE IS NOT WITHIN MY PLANS. I CANNOT ACT AGAINST IT.

Of course. But you know there is more than just that ‘variable.’ Every world has something new that torments them.

THIS ONE HAS BEEN DEEMED THE MOST PRESSING.

I see. Very well. I’ll investigate this world immediately. But as soon as I am done, I must leave.

DO WHAT YOU MUST.

~~~

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie appeared on a jagged outcropping, some distance below and to the side of Canterlot.

A sizeable portion of the mountain had been gouged out by the meteor strike. Purple crystals were scattered around, embedded within the rock of the mountain, a sinister purple glow emanating from them. The foreign rock itself was cracked open, a greater purple glow clearly visible coming from the top, though none of the three arrivals could see the source of that light from where they were.

They could also see why the team of guards hadn’t returned. All of them were clustered together, motionless, either impaled with crystals or their own weapons. Those crystals were also glowing, though their light was muted slightly by the blood that covered them.

Twilight unsheathed her Wand. “Stay back,” she told the other two, who nodded and took a couple of steps backward.

Twilight’s horn glowed slightly brighter as she concentrated on the Wand-- imprinting a specific series of spells within it. This took Twilight only a second to do, as she’d cast the spell numerous times in the past, and once it was set, she launched the Wand straight up.

After a moment of flight, the gem flashed, and the Wand’s flight stopped instantly. The handle split apart, unfolding into a detailed flower-like pattern, and the blades surrounding the gem rotated to fill the gaps between the ‘petals.’ The flower-like structure tilted to face the scene of crystals and dead guards, and the light of the gem seemed to focus itself in that general direction.

Twilight’s visor flipped down. She turned her head to take in the environment, the Wand spinning to follow her gaze. “The crystals are giving off some sort of aura,” she told them. “I don’t recognize it. It seems like dark magic, but it’s not doing anything, not even to the guards.” Her visor flipped up. The Wand folded back up into an actual wand and fell out of the sky, being caught in Twilight’s telekinesis. “I’d say it’s safe to look around, but just in case, don’t touch the crystals.”

Rarity and Pinkie had been waiting patiently for Twilight to finish her investigation, and nodded in confirmation to Twilight’s findings. “Right-o, Princess!” Pinkie returned, before nimbly making her way across the uneven rocks. “I will discover the secrets of the crystals!”

Her quirky actions were largely ignored by the other two ponies. Rarity walked straight towards the dead guards, her Rapiers not drawn yet. Twilight, meanwhile, was slowly approaching the actual meteor, stepping carefully to avoid the numerous crystal chunks.

Rarity’s own horn was glowing once she got near the guards. The gem on one of her Rapiers was glowing as well, aiding her as she scanned the guards’ bodies. “They killed each other,” she declared. “There’s evidence of mental tampering. It’s incredibly rushed, but it obviously worked.” Her horn stopped glowing, and she looked at Twilight. “We should probably get them out of here. After we make sure it’s safe, of course.”

“Mmm,” Twilight responded, still looking at the meteor. “Pinkie?”

Pinkie appeared beside Twilight, wearing a gas mask and waving a small chunk of crystal in some tongs. “They aren’t hurting anyone right now! We could probably get away with saving a few in case we need evil space crystals for something!” she suggested.

Twilight nodded. “Possibly.” She was silent for a few seconds. “Something else probably came with the meteor. Either that, or the crystals are hiding their motivations from me, but that seems unlikely. The potential entity might not be a physically strong one or even corporeal, but it may have potent magic or manipulation capabilities,” she concluded. Twilight then looked at Rarity and Pinkie in turn, addressing one after the other. “Rarity, get me a detailed scan on those crystals, and try to get the guards ready to move out if you can. Pinkie, see about gathering as many crystals as you can, and tell us if you spot anything out of the ordinary. Both of you, keep your mental defenses up, and notify us immediately if you spot someone approaching.”

Twilight waited just long enough to hear the others’ confirmations before she acted. A new spell was programmed into the Wand, which took slightly longer than the first one, before being sent to hover directly above the largest crack in the meteor, gem-side up. Its handle expanded into a curved cone, while its blades warped and contorted into a detached ring around the gem.

As the spell set in the Wand powered up, preparing to neutralize the meteor, Twilight prepared a shield spell in case something went wrong. Then the Wand’s spell activated.

~~~

An orange earth pony appeared in the outskirts of Canterlot. There was no-one around to see her arrival, and even if there were, she’d appeared in a darkened area for exactly that reason.

Making sure her cloak was wrapped tightly around her, she started walking.

~~~

Twilight’s destination wasn’t the moon. It wasn’t the sun. It wasn’t even any of other celestial bodies in the Equis system.

It was a black hole. It was hidden from detection by an advanced array of light refraction and cloaking magitech, and was so far away it would take several years for one to travel to it without FTL technology. The only way one would know about it was if they were invited to it… or happened to be the founder of the site.

Luckily for Twilight, she had the technology and knowledge required to travel to it, as she had many times before. She knew firsthoof just how dangerous experimenting with the fabrics of space, time, dimensions, and magic could be, and chose this spot specifically for how far away it was, how easily it could be kept secret, and how easily the facility could be neutralized in an extreme emergency. She may have also had the desire to want a highly secret lab of her own, and a fascination with black holes, but she likely wouldn’t admit those in public, much less the existence of the lab in the first place.

The secret lab itself was, obviously, much smaller than the black hole. It was an elegant structure, with a metallic silver coating that contrasted with the impenetrable darkness it orbited around. It was shaped like a large cylinder, with a large number of rooms branching off from it and more rooms branching off from those, making it seem like a very strange metallic tree. A wide platform was set in the ‘leaves’ of the structure, holding a number of other ships and a small building containing the elevators. Orbiting around the structure was a single ring, every inch of it covered in antennas and other devices, connected to the main body of the lab by several square passageways.

Twilight passed through the atmospheric barrier around the landing platform, and the ship automatically adjusted itself to sudden appearance of artificial gravity, as it always had. Twilight’s ship touched down in its designated landing pad, and Twilight left it as soon as it was sufficiently parked, immediately taking to the air to get to the elevator building as fast as she could. Normally, she might’ve trotted there, taking ample time to enjoy the view, but she just didn’t feel like it at the moment.

She made it to the front doors just in time to meet Spike rushing out of them. He was about as tall as Celestia at this point, with fully-developed wings, though without the etched golden armband he wore, he would have been much larger. He was still very much the friendly, helpful dragon Twilight knew from his hatching, with the maturity and intelligence to match his age. Currently, he looked panicked, and very relieved to see Twilight.

“Twilight! I’ve been trying to get to you for ages!”

Twilight blinked. Her phone appeared beside her, which she realized had a considerable amount of unread notifications. She grinned sheepishly, storing her phone away. “Sorry, I didn’t realize… is everything alright?”

“No! Something’s very wrong here! You need to see this!” Spike grabbed her leg with a surprisingly gentle claw, trying to pull Twilight along with him.

She pulled her hoof out of Spike’s grasp, but followed along anyway. Her earlier disinterest was forgotten, replaced by concern over what could possibly get everyone here so worried.

The brightest minds of all of Equis were invited to this lab. Every one of them had a desire to learn, to understand, the forces of nature and the universe they existed in… or just particularly liked being mad scientists. Every one of them had earned their way into the lab, by the merits of their own intelligence, knowledge, dedication to progress, or a simple understanding of various aspects of the universe.

As Twilight and Spike descended the elevator, the transparent walls of it allowed her to see the sheer mess that was widespread chaos. Members of nearly all species were running around in a panic, lugging around charts and tablets and the occasional artifact for… some unknown reason.

“Can you tell me what everyone’s concerned about?” Twilight asked, unable to take her eyes off the chaos.

“I, uh…no! I can’t!” Spike stammered. “I’m not even sure how to describe it, and they aren’t, either!”

Twilight frowned. She looked like she wanted to probe more, but elected to just stay silent-- especially since the elevator had apparently reached its destination.

They saw Discord snap into existence, wearing a very loose-fitting lab coat and a frazzled head of mad scientist hair. He looked much calmer than all the rest of the scientists, though he was still moving around as if there wasn’t any time to waste.

“Discord!” Twilight called out, running up to him. “Do you know what’s going on here?”

Discord didn’t stop creating specialized research stations out of thin air, though he did rotate his head to look at Twilight and Spike. “I’m just as flabbergasted as you are, Princess,” he admitted with a shrug. “My advice is to check out Containment Bay #3; you really should see it for yourself.”

Twilight could almost swear she heard the pound symbol, but was unable to comment on it or anything else before Discord disappeared, leaving behind a couple of new terminals that some scientists were already trying to use. Twilight broke into a run again, Spike following right behind her, before she realized she should probably teleport there if it was so important. She and Spike disappeared in a flash of magic, reappearing in the room Discord suggested they go to.

The secret lab was more than just a center of scientific discovery. It also doubled as a safe, secure way to contain many of the dangerous artifacts of the world, including such things like the Alicorn Amulet. Sometimes experiments would actually create artifacts, as well, which meant those also needed a safe place to be stored.

One such artifact that had been unearthed was a golden talisman, suspended in the air by nothing except its own enchantment. Initial scans of the object said nothing of what it actually was, except for a self-levitating object, though all those present at its discovery had agreed there was definitely something more to it. Out of fear that it was potentially a very dangerous artifact, it had been moved to the secret lab for people to attempt to study it, though every attempt had told of nothing more than the fact that it self-levitated.

But now it was different. Its surface was shining with a paradoxically bright and dark light, which filled Twilight with a deep sense of dread. The magical field was almost visible around the talisman, stretching and contracting as if it were breathing.

“That’s what got everyone so worried!” Spike told her. “They’ve noticed the black hole is pulsing in the same way, but they have no idea which is causing the other! They have no idea what it even is, either, so they’re-”

Twilight found she wasn’t interested in what Spike was saying. She realized, in that moment, that she really wanted to touch the talisman. She started walking towards it, eyes transfixed in its darkly shining core.

“-we should prepare… Twilight?” Spike stopped his ranting, suddenly noticing how the alicorn was acting.

Twilight didn’t respond. She took a couple more steps toward the talisman, her pace increasing.

“I wouldn’t do that!” Spike warned her. “The last couple people who touched it got hospitalized… Twilight!”

She continued moving toward it. Doubt crossed her mind, separated from Spike’s warnings-- that she wasn’t acting logically, and needed to observe the talisman at a safe distance. Was she sure it was even safe to touch?

She bumped into a claw Spike was holding out, preventing her from moving any further. “I’m being serious, Twilight! You could get-”

Twilight snarled, cutting Spike off from any further words. Before he could react, her horn flashed, and Spike was suddenly floating outside in the vacuum of space.

Spike’s distraction only solidified Twilight’s desire to get the talisman. His attempts to keep her from the talisman only compounded the desire she had of it, removing whatever scraps of skepticism there once were. With no more dragon to stop her, she closed the rest of the distance to the talisman. She regarded it curiously, greedily, watching for a moment as it floated there, giving off its paradoxical light.

She reached out a hoof to touch it.

Author's Note

Written by the insane Ponygood11

XI - Missions - Keywii_Cookies55

XI - Missions - Keywii_Cookies55

Aura knew she was being tracked. It wasn't immediately obvious, but if these ponies had even an ounce of intelligence between them, they'd be able to detect the trail of evidence she'd been leaving. It wasn't her intention of course, but imperfections would always arise when you go about regaining your full power.

Her brothers had begun their missions undoubtedly, just as she had hers, but the connection was weak, slight, just barely palpable. The barrier between them was immense, and both Power and Plague could only do so much in such short a time.

She regretted being so careless as she regained her potential. No doubt the Elements she'd been learning about, the guardians of this world would find her within the week. No that wouldn't do. Not before Persuasion could find her full potential.

The yellow Element, the one that she'd personally met, would relay everything that'd happened. That'd exacerbate the process.

A plan needed to take form, a way to erase her tracks. 'Aura' was a ticking time bomb. Looking around the apartment she'd been given she noted several eccentricities. It seemed in need of electrical repairs in more than one place. This would work perfectly: that night she'd leave a clone of Aura in the bed, sleeping happily as fire engulfed the building. In the chaos, she'd escape and find a less conspicuous space to fit in.

Too many mistakes had been made in haste, so patience and regrouping would be a virtue. For the rest of the day as Aura, however, she'd explore her new neighborhood. See the shops and learn about this world. Her connection to her brothers, faint as it was, told her that the world she was in had proven to be considerably different than the others. She couldn't fully determine what made it different, that'd happen as she regained her power. But the world she was in was in a league of its own.

She put on her personified smile and walked out the door of her apartment, waving at the first pony she'd seen. He waved back, not knowing her, but being friendly. That's what this world was, friendly. Friendly, trusting, but not naive, and undoubtedly not private. Aura found it ironic that the very place she needed to control was so obsessive about each other's information.

Taking not two steps beyond her locked front door she found multiple ponies on their personal devices, chatting with each other about the latest news. The meteor was, surprisingly not even on the forefront of this feed of information. What currently held her neighbor's attention was what outfit the white Element was wearing the previous week.

It seemed that having every little piece of information at your hooves didn't stop ponies from focusing on things that didn't matter. All while the real threat had to remain hidden so as not to enter the inescapable spotlight. The twofold irony wasn't lost on Aura.

She pulled out her own conjured device, turning on the screen and playing the part of a normal pony. At least while she was out, walking three-legged as a four-legged creature was... yet another thing she had to master.

~~~

Pinkie swiped her implant across the reader at the station. Most ponies would have to pay through the nose to travel across the system the same way she did. But being a previous bearer of Laughter had its perks. Not that she cared, after all, what was there to care about?

Kindness was dead, Honesty was running, Loyalty was institutionalized, Magic was throwing herself into her work harder than ever, and Laughter was falling apart at the seams. The only one doing sort of alright was Rarity, and that's only when you avoided talking about any of her friends.

The hologram running the lines of ponies greeted Pinkie, but she couldn't bring herself to smile back. She just listened for her seat assignment and then started the boarding process.

With Applejack not getting involved, Pinkie was running out of options. She activated her reader and pulled up her list of possible people to help take care of Rainbow Dash. The earth pony was well aware that as the once bearer of Loyalty, Rainbow would be well taken care of by medical professionals, but that's not why Pinkie was making her rounds.

Rainbow needed friends. Ponies she knew before the accident, someone to help bring her memories back. Somebody that could relax the trauma long enough for Rainbow's lucidity to come back. So Pinkie could see her friend again.

It was selfish, she knew, but that spark of life was still there, buried deep down behind the layers and layers and layers of mental defenses. If Pinkie could somehow ignite some sort of... something in Rainbow. Something that would bring her back to the surface, so they could look into each other's eyes.

Before she realized it, Pinkie was in her seat and hadn't registered any of the time getting there. Which included looking at her list of old friends. She crossed Applejack off and looked at the next name.

"Gilda... I hope she survived..."

Author's Note

Written by the bird-ish Keywii_Cookies55