"Holy cow...There's a bunch of them," said Clear Sight.

"A bunch of what?" asked everyone else.

"What else? Fragments."

The hologram showed a complete, miniature map of Equestria and the surrounding lands.

Scattered across it were five colored dots: green, red, purple, orange, and white.

Illesio looked in disbelief. "No way there are five Fragments."

"Well, I guess we'd better believe it," replied Res. He zoomed in on each one in turn to discover their whereabouts.

Green was obvious: Mind Fragment in the Everfree Forest, particularly the ALPHA head offices.

Red was probably the Control Fragment, which was located directly in Canterlot...most likely a bad sign.

Purple was out in the wilderness near Neighagra Falls, to which Clear Sight added, "That's where I grew up!"

Orange was deep in the Badlands far to the south of Equestria.

White was in the north of the Griffonlands, which seemed a little suprising.

Clear Sight studied the map, and then spoke again. "Alright, so there's a load of them. The Control Fragment is the only one that really matters now, so we've got a few hours left before Pony Yuga. Do the honors, Res?"

Res nodded. "But first, do any of you have any idea how to stop this pony from controlling us?"

Nobody said anything, so Res continued. "In that case, Clear Sight should stay behind and use the Memory Fragment at the appropriate time if we can't do anything. Everyone ready for a graceful failure?"

Deep Thought shrugged. "Not like I have a choice."

Crystal Mirror cricked her neck. "I need to get out more anyway."

Meadowbrook nodded. "I'll do anything to stop that evil pony."

Flash Magnus stretched his muscles. "No way I'm giving up on this now."

Somnambula flexed her wings. "We will give our best."

Illesio scratched her head. "How, exactly, can I help?"

"Great!" Res flicked the hologram and selected a few parameters. "We're off, then."

A portal appeared, silently menacing, and one by one they all leapt through, cheered on by Clear Sight.

Illesio thought to herself as she took a running jump, Wow, this is surreal.

They were now in Canterlot, particularly the Sculpture Gardens. There was nopony around.

So they walked quietly around, Res constantly checking the SCM for the location of the Control Fragment. "There, just behind that empty pedestal," he said.

They peeked around.

A slender, purple-blue mare with a pale green mane highlighted with faint red sat there reading a book.

Res gasped. "Evening Aurora?"

Evening Aurora looked up. "Hmm? Oh, hello Res! I haven't seen you in ages! You must have got that invitation late, I see."

Res looked baffled.

Illesio had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was going on...

And Aurora had a red octahedral gemstone around her neck.

--<>-------A character introduced in Saturday 2, huh-------<>--/

Meanwhile, back at the ALPHA head office, Doc, Clear Thought, Star Swirl, Quick Quill, Mistmane, and Rockhoof were all gathered around the Dowsing Circuit and the RIT.

"So this machine can locate the source of these holes in reality?" asked Rockhoof.

"Precisely," Doc said. "We already know where all the anomalous places are, the result of the input that set them all off. All we have to do is to trace the traces of these anomalies to their origin."

He fiddled around with the Circuit for a while. "Rockhoof, can you bring the RIT over here?"

Rockhoof hefted the monolithic slab easily, setting it down--very gently--next to Doc.

Clear Thought then ran some wires between the two of them, setting up a scanning function. "The RIT is actually a less advanced version of a more powerful technology that Clear Sight and Res's group are using currently," she said. "It can map out a graphical representation of space and time in the local area, which is why we're combining its power with the Circuit."

"We might need your help once we figure out exactly where it is, Star Swirl," said Doc. "What with your knowledge of time magic."

They ran the scanning function.

It took a while, the silence of the machines rather unsettling. One would think a device of that power would make a humming or something, but no.

After a while, results appeared on the screen of the Circuit. A few lines intersected at a solid dot, six coordinates of which were shown above.

Doc clapped his hooves. "We're in luck! The source is in the same universe as us, which gives us the opportunity to actually do something about it, and...looks like...Oh, located in the Crystal Empire, the library more specifically."

Star Swirl stroked his beard. "The Crystal Empire survived all these years? It must be the oldest empire in Equestria by now."

Quick Quill hovered over and said, "Well, there was this whole big deal about it getting trapped in limbo just like you guys, so really not that old yet."

"They got trapped in limbo too? How?" asked Mistmane, and she, Quick Quill, and Rockhoof got into a discussion on the possible causes for this turn of events.

"What I'm more interested about," said Clear Thought, "is why the Crystal Empire is where the source is located...whatever, or whoever there effects all of Equestria, they could have chosen anywhere."

Doc frowned. "The Crystal Empire...well, it's been said that it holds ancient artifacts of strange power...I heard something about a mirror given to Princess Twilight Sparkle as a gift, but only rumors of a terrible ability...to summon monsters that could defy the laws of proportion and gravity...hmm."

"Well," he snapped out of his reverie, "It's worth a shot. Let's go, we've only got a few more hours before the End of Equestria."

He, Clear Thought, and Star Swirl looked at the group still talking animatedly. Mistmane, Quick Quill, and Rockhoof seemed to be having a wonderful conversation and were completely oblivious to any outside input.

Star Swirl chuckled. "Let us leave them to it. We will investigate on their behalf as well."

Doc showed him a map, and after a quick study, Star Swirl teleported the three of them in a flash of light.

Clear Sight casually came walking in, past the group still talking, and looked around.

"Hey," he called. "Stygian, did they forget about you again?"

A pause.

"...No, I asked not to get involved...how did you know I was here?"

"I know everything," replied Clear Sight sarcastically. "Now come down from there, you look hungry. Bitalian?"

--<>-------Return of the Running Gag-------<>--/

Doc, Star Swirl, and Clear Thought materialized just outside the door to the Crystal Empire Library. Doc pulled a small slab from his pocket and consulted it. "It appears that our source is inside..."

They entered, the ornately carved purple doors swinging open soundlessly. Ponies walked quietly by, all either reading or carrying books. Shelves upon shelves towered above them, and small signs told what sections each aisle contained.

"Our source," Doc continued, raising an eyebrow, "is in the, the Ippariopology section. Interesting."

They walked along, Doc and Star Swirl stopping every few rows to peruse the selection, Clear Thought having to be true to her name and pull them back to the task at hand.

"My! Star Swirl, come look at this!" Doc whispered from a corridor.

They followed him. Rounding the corner, they came upon a row of books so old that the lights were dimmed to prevent them being damaged. "Ah," said Clear Thought. "The Star Swirl the Bearded section."

Star Swirl looked around. "I remember writing these books...it feels like only last week I penned a dissertation..." he picked up a book and flipped through its pages. "Ha! No wonder. Temporally, I did write this one last week. The last scientific paper I wrote before facing the Pony of Shadows."

Doc looked impressed.

But as ponies in the row were giving them strange looks, Clear Thought cleared her throat and pulled them away.

"We got a source to observe, you know," she whispered tiredly. "So stop getting distracted."

They finally reached their section, Ippariopology, or the study of ponies, pony behavior, and societies in the past and present. There was also a Grypaetopology section and a Zevrapology section, although these were both underdeveloped fields.

"Alright, whatever you do," reminded Clear Thought, "Don't do anything to draw what or who's attention. We want these plot holes to continue and cover up the Memory Fragment stuff."

Doc and Star Swirl nodded, and did their best to act casual--as casual as you can be in a flowing blue robe with bells sewed on it.

They rounded the corner.

There, in the center of the aisle, slumped against a bookshelf and staring at the ceiling muttering to himself, was Clear Sight.

He immediately looked their way. "Oh...hey you guys," he said. "Sorry to bother you."

Doc looked in astonishment. "But, but Clear Sight? You were the source of the holes?"

"Yeah dummy," was the reply. "But use your brain for a second. Since I'm the source of holes in reality, don't you think, I dunno, that I'm not the same Clear Sight you know, but one from a different reality? Sheesh, you should have taken that into account. Oh hey Star Swirl," he turned his head. "Do these guys work for me here? Might explain their...interesting expressions." He chuckled.

Star Swirl looked from Clear Sight...Clear Sight 2 to Doc and Clear Thought. "Yes...although I think you might explain yourself."

"Oh, well I've been contracted to clean up this situation. This universe's ponies are critical to the survival of the multiverse as a whole, we wouldn't want some lazy writing to get in the way of a good plot now, would we?"

He leaned back. They noticed his lack of sunglasses for the first time.

"Ehhh, that sounds like a ripoff of this one cartoon show everybody where I come from won't shut the hell up about...it's about this one guy with no morals and every multiverse version of him comes together and makes a city where they all live...pretty dumb, I wish they'd stop making a huge deal out of it."

Clear Sight shook her head and came out of her shock. "They have something like that in comic form here, I think I skimmed an issue in the Canterlot House of Magic Comics."

"Ugh, really?" Clear Sight frowned. "Hopefully it's not as bad as the one back home..."

--<>-------For the record, I had this idea way before Rick & Morty-------<>--/

Author's Note

Hey hey hey, how will I get out of this hole I've dug for myself.

My notepad file of loose ends is massive, but I think I have a way to fix it real soon
hehhh made a slip that I caught whoof that would be bad

Cheers,
Betless