Fluttershy was surrounded by blackness. Absolute nothingness. In some ways it reminded her of The Nexus but without the infinite points of light representing each universe in the multiverse. This was complete and utter emptiness. She wondered if this was The Abyss but since she was alone and there were no signs of The First Ones, she doubted that. So where was she?

Hello Fluttershy. a voice called out. It was big and powerful yet also androgynous. There was no hint of it being male or female yet it easily have been either. I'm glad to see you've finally made it.

"Where? Where am I? Where is here?" she asked suddenly fearing she had made a major mistake.

You are behind the bleeding veil of course You are in my home although everything is my home technically. The voice seemed almost jovial, like it was happy and amused that she was there.

"Are you The Source of All Things?" she asked both fearfully and full of wonder at the same time. She quietly followed it up with, "Are you God?"

The voice laughed. It was a laugh of humor with an undercurrent of malice. I am but not as you understand it. I am not the Abrahamic god although it was, shall we say, inspired by me. I am the creator. I created the first ones, the goddesses, the multiverse, and you Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded not sure if she was nodding to the right place or not. The voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere. It was coming outside of her yet in her head as well. It didn't matter. She had come here on a mission and she was going to complete it.

"Why? Why do allow so much pain, suffering, and misery to happen. Why do you allow people die? Why do you allow evil and sometimes even award it. WHY?" With each question her voice got stronger, more powerful, and angrier.

For entertainment. the voice said simply.

Fluttershy floated (?) in stunned silence for she knew not how long only it seemed like it was an eternity more than what it actually was. "What did you say?" she asked in a soft, cold, fury.

For entertainment. I am immortal as far as I know. I am all there is, was, or ever shall be. If I merely just spent all my days contemplating myself as Plato thought I did, well, that might drive even me to madness out of boredom; so I create and recreate, over and over again to entertain myself.

"How, how dare you! HOW COULD YOU? DON'T ANY OF US MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?" Fluttershy's anger was now beyond all scope, all limits.

Yes and no. I do care about you as characters. I care about your journeys, what you call character arches; but you have to remember, you, your friends, everyone, are nothing more than figments of my imagination. Nothing you say, do, experience actually mean anything other than as a means to stave off my celestial boredom.

You see Flutter Shy, when I say you are my creations, I mean that literally. I imagined you, created you out of thin air, I control what you and all the others think and say and do. "All things worketh to the will of God" is true. It's one hundred percent true. You're here now because I wanted you to be. You're angry because I want you to be angry. Everything you did in this story, you did because I wanted it to happen that way because that's what I thought would be the most entertaining this time. The former quiet, goody two shoes because the deranged, murdering witch. Quite the turn I'd say. Maybe not wholly original, I've done face/heal turns before. Also the whole forbidden book thing is a bit old, but when used right can be a quite handy plot device.

"It can't be," Fluttershy said quietly with a dawning sense of dread and despair.

Oh but it is. If I exist, and I'm truly all powerful and in control of everything, and all things work to my will, how could life be anything but? I even gave a hint of my self earlier in the story. A portal suddenly opened up and Fluttershy could it was Sparkle and Shimmer. It looked like they were in their pod from the night before they fought the forces of Morgorith, talking somewhat excitedly.

"So what do you think of your double?"

"I don't know. We're definitely alike in many ways but so different in others. I know she's older than me so that could be a factor in things. I would go with the Fun House mirror analogy but that feels too clichéd and easy. I respect her, look up to her, find her fascinating, yet find her a bit off putting. I don't know. You?"

"Pretty much the same. I look at her and think she's so smart and strong. She has a nobility about her but she's also really down to Earth and approachable. She gives me hope for me when I'm that age."

"The thing is, we're still only two versions of Twilight Sparkle. Out there, there are an infinite amount of other me's. I wonder what they are like, what bodies they have. Are the insectoid, fish, amphibian, maybe bird like, or even silicone based. Knowing for certain that other universes, other dimensions exist, I feel trapped being in just this one."

"Eum," Shimmer grunted, "I agree. We've touched the veil of reality and pulled it back to glimpse eternity."

"Wow! That's deep," Sparkle said surprised.

"I'm not all sarcasm and tasteless jokes all the time. Most; but not all."
Sparkle smiled. Then she remembered something Shimmer had said back at the mansion. "Hey, are you really a genius?"

"Yep. Tested and verified. I'm guessing you are too."

"Affirmative. So, let me run this past you. Remember all the possible options I ran down that might happen if one were to try and change time?"

"Sure. All were distinct possibilities."

"Well, I just thought of another. I call it the God Author theory. It kind of goes like this - the reason a paradox is created when someone tries to change time is because they would be erasing the very reason that made them go back in the first place right?"

"Sure. If the reason never happened, they'd never would have gone back therefore never changing time and etcetera, etcetera."

"Exactly. We are finite beings who only know what we can experience. But an omnipotent being, a god, who has knowledge of all things, all possibilities, could change time since the time line they changed was only ever one possible outcome, no more real than any other. Sort of like an author going back and changing a story she's writing. Hopefully I explained that well enough."

"No, I get it. Yeah. The author is real, the novel is a complete work of fiction, a figment of her imagination. She could go back and change whatever aspects of the story she wanted to because the story isn't real to begin with."

"Um, yes and no. Just to an omnipotent being, no one probability or outcome would be any more real than any other."

"No, I'm get that. So potentially, since we are gods incarnate, if we could access the full Goddess Force, we could change time because we would know every possible outcome to begin with therefore there would be no, could be no, paradox."

"Yes! Exactly!" Sparkle squealed in excitement.

You see? There I was just giving a hint of myself, of what the true nature of reality is there. Foreshadowing as you would call it. Also it played of a scene earlier where they had a big argument as to why you couldn't ravel back in time to change the future yet Sunset, Twilight, and Celestia did that at the very end of the first story.

"Story? What are you talking about?" Fluttershy demanded to know in frustration.

Oh, sorry. In this run, you're a character in a story based off a children's TV show. Fan Fiction as it were. You're life, all the events that you remember are actually just words displayed on a computer screen on a website called FIM fiction. See dear reader, I told you I'd reveal who I was later.

"NO, WAIT, I'M ALIVE! I'M REAL! I think and dream and breathe and eat. I'm real. I'm a real person!" Fluttershy was now in full existential meltdown.

My dear, even if you were actually "alive" and not a character in a fan fic, which you have not been in many other instances, you still wouldn't be real. The people reading this aren't real. Everything and everyone is a figment of my imagination. So really don't feel bad.

Fluttershy suddenly felt overwhelmed with joy and started praising me. Then she felt complete indifference, shrugged, and said, "Whatever man. I don't care", before returning to her previous emotional state.

You see? Everything you felt there was real to you and you felt it because I wanted you to. Sometimes you all have perfect lives and nothing goes wrong. Sometimes your lives are even worse than they are now. I have written you, cast you and everyone else infinite times over. You've been a saint, a sinner, a whore, a murderer, and a regular woman.

When it has pleased me, I've brought others before me. Not in the same way of course. The scene in "The Matrix", where Neo meets the controller, that was another hint I gave about myself and about all who've stood before me. Sometimes I'm a benevolent, caring god who soothes their soul and heals their heart. Other times I am the voice in the storm that says how dare you question me. It all depends on what character I wish to play at the time. Just like this place changes as well. Sometimes it pure, white light, sometimes a field, sometimes a cave with burning lakes. Sometimes I let people die and they see a specific Heaven or afterlife. Sometimes they see nothing. Sometimes I have them remember past lives. I do it all to keep everyone confused and questioning. I give just enough evidence of everything but no evidence of what the actual truth is. Just my way of keeping things interesting.

Fluttershy was suddenly and painfully struck by a new thought. "All the things I did, the people I hurt, I killed, I didn't have to. You cold have talked to me at any time."

Yep, pretty much, but where would be the fun in that? And if it makes you feel better, and it will if I want it to, you didn't actually kill anyone. I controlled all your actions on one hand so you have no copiability in that respect and, two, since none of you actually exist, no one really died. I can also rewrite everything and start anew and everyone would alive and well again. So don't worry, unless I want you to and then you will.

I started off this story by saying all good horror stories begin with a death. What I didn't say is that they all end with a twist. And for this one, the twist is you don't exist. You, just like the characters in this story are mere fictions, my imaginings, my way to stave off boredom. More than that, however you react, is how I want you to react. Love it, hate it, love me, hate me, you can't escape me. A god centered universe couldn't be anything but. Calvanism was also me giving a brief hint of myself.

Fluttershy looked down at her bloody claws, dejected. All emotion had drained from her body. She was emotionally and mentally numb. She was - dead inside.

"So what happens now?" she asked listlessly.

It's time for you to go home.

************************************************************************************

Twilight and Sunset were helping their partners up when another ball of fire erupted from the stump and Fluttershy stepped forward; naked but no longer mutated. The four of the exchanged fearful glances at each other and then turned to look at Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy?" asked Sunset this time with fear and curiosity.

"Oh, hey guys," Fluttershy responded listlessly.

Once again, Sunset and Twilight exchanged nervous glances.

"So what happens now?" Twilight asked, getting herself ready emotionally and mentally for a fight.

Fluttershy just looked at them as if they had just asked the dumbest question in the history of forever. "Nothing," she said simply, "the story's over."

The End

Author's Note

If this was a movie, this is the song that would play over the credits.