The following day, Twilight called a meeting among her friends along with Mayor Mare, explaining the explosion that happened and that for the meantime, the town should just know that there is nothing to fear for now. With her message passed on to the more veteran public speaker, she took her friends into the castle to determine what their thoughts were on all of this. Rainbow Dash was the first to speak.

“Would have been nice for him to have told us all of this,” she huffed and crossed her hooves. Even if she wasn’t as attached to him as Twilight was, her sense of loyalty to the egghead was strong enough to see how devastated she was. “Or if he had the balls to even admit what he was going to do.”

“Now Rainbow Dash,” Rarity frowned. “We’ve all been through this before that Nick was simply trying to spare Twilight and Princess Luna as much pain as possible. Obviously he was determined to saved us all, that he knew they would try to talk him out of doing so were he to tell them.”

“Rarity’s right!!” Pinkie chirped, happy upon hearing the news of new potential friends. “Besides, Nick is just invisible or something and we have two more fun humans to meet!! I say this calls for celebration!”

“I know you girls have mixed feelings about this,” Twilight looked to all of them, Tempest on her left side and Starlight on the right. Spike was out doing some work in the Dragonlands, trying to form some alliance with Ember after the whole Storm King invasion. “But that’s what these two are claiming and to the best of mine and Tempest’s ability, we think they’re telling the truth. The only question is… how is this all possible?”

She turned to her first reformed friend. “Starlight, when you snuck in and well… when you used Starswirl’s time spell, all those different realities, were they basically like Ivy and Matt said? Different universes?”

Starlight scratched her chin in thought, glad that Twilight didn’t continue on with how she was an ex villain. Then again, Tempest was in the same place as she was, so being reformed wasn’t necessarily something to be too embarrassed about. “Well when I used it, I was more focused on revenge than the actual applications of it,” she blushed at the admittance. “However, I would assume that’s how it did work though. Each decision, action we make results in a different future, that much was apparent in messing with the Sonic Rainboom. There are multiple possibilities and choices that it’s too many to count. Had Nick not done what we did…” her ears pinned to her head as she thought of the last world she and Twilight travelled to during their skirmish. “I’d hate to imagine where’d we be…” Everyone had thought they understood the dire consequences if Nick failed, but after hearing what happened to Ivy and Matt, the realization hit them hard of the fate they were spared.

“Haven’t ya tried ta ask Starwirl?” Applejack tried to keep the discussion on topic, and not dwell on the “what could have happened”. “It was his spell after all. Surely he would have known tha uses for it.”

“After the whole Pony of Shadows incident, he went to travel around Equestria,” Twilight explained. “Apparently the whole ‘Theory of Friendship’ made him realize he had been missing an important variable in his research and so is going to study it by interacting with different ponies. Refused to even say where he was going to be, just that he may visit when he was satisfied.”

She shook her head at the thought. Finding that the stallion she looked up to all her life wasn’t all he seemed was just another heartbreak, although not as bad as her first one.

“I just wonder how come the Tree never talked to us,” Fluttershy added. “I know I can talk to animals … and… I even asked Tree Hugger for help. When she went to it, she could only feel its energy. Didn’t hear a single voice.”

“Well, we just bring those two humans to it and have them tell us,” Rainbow Dash smacked the table map with a hoof. “We’ve done enough waiting, we need answers.”

“Considering the last time we did things without the princesses here,” Starlight gently reminded everyone of the whole Pony of Shadows event. “We should proceed with caution.”

“Starlight is right,” Twilight smiled to her friend. “Since none of us knows what we’re dealing with, we should have the princesses guide us. So while we wait for them to arrive, how about this next topic?”

“If Nick truly isn’t dead,” she had to pause as she restated the possibility. If it were really true, she teared up a bit at the image of their reunion. Shaking her head, she continued. “How are we supposed to bring him back? We don’t know if he’s in Limbo or something else…”

“Well if there was a body we could - “ Starlight mused aloud, although she was aware of the eye contact she was getting from the other mares. “Well, reanimation isn’t all that bad of an idea, is it?” She tried to defend herself.

“Yeah, except that it’s been banned from Equestria for centuries,” Applejack crossed her hooves. The stories she heard as a filly had stuck with her and she shivered at the thought. “Not only that but Nick wouldn’t be really ‘alive’ if he was just a moving corpse.”

“What about we try Discord?” Pinkie smiled. “Surely that crazy draconequus has a ‘spirit’ world or somethin where he lives. He could just go find Nick and bring him back.”

“Volunteering me without me consent? That’s so you Pinkie Pie,” said Spirit of Chaos appeared, lounging in the air above them on an overly large brick. “And how come I wasn’t invited to this little brainstorming session?”

The mares all knew he had a peculiar sense of humor, but still were wary of the large, heavy object floating above their heads. Some even backed away from the table a bit.

“I’m actually glad you’re here Discord,” Twilight swallowed a sigh, looking up to him. She really hoped that this was just a prank of his. “Is what Pinkie described a possibility?”

“Good to know that I’m only wanted when I could be of help,” he sent a plush broken heart down to her. Tempest quickly used her magic to swipe it away. Unlike the others, she was still getting used to this creature. If he was really as powerful as he was, why didn’t he intervene during the invasion?

Shrugging and snapping his talons, the brick began to fall with him on it. Rarity and Fluttershy screamed, Rainbow, Applejack and Starlight thought on stopping it, but realizing it could be an actual brick dove for cover. Twilight closed her eyes as it was about to impact, Tempest casting a shield around them.

The sound of a squeaky toy rang out. Opening her eyes, she saw the object had landed harmlessly on the table. Upon closer inspection, she found it was just a realistic looking foam brick. She just groaned and teleported it off the table.

“And to answer your question Sprinkle,” Discord sat on the table facing her, the rest of her friends regathering their composure, some of them giving him dirty looks for scaring the wits out of them. “No, Nick isn’t in any of the neighboring realms to mine. And there would be no reason for me to keep that a secret, I enjoyed his company too. In fact, hearing about even more humans here is something I couldn’t even have expected. Should be fun to mess with them.”

His prank for the hour out of his system, he summoned his Throne of Chaos next to Fluttershy’s seat and proceeded to sit on it. “When are Celly and Lulu arriving?”

“Right now Discord,” Celestia spoke up, opening the doors of the meeting hall. Luna silently following behind her, avoiding eye contact with her former marefriend and herdmate. The mares all bowed towards the sun and moon deities, even though regarding their relationship, wasn’t required.

“We’re glad that you sent us that letter as soon as you did Twilight,” the tall alicorn smiled at her. “Saved us a lot of trouble having to send search parties looking for the culprits of yesterday’s mass hysteria. So, you have the two humans in the dungeon?”

Twilight, while part of her wanted to look past her former teacher to Luna, knew that it wouldn’t help anything so she nodded. She was glad everyone was here now so they could move forward. Some part of her was telling her big things were going to happen. If only she knew how big.

“If everyone is ready, I’ll introduce you to our new arrivals.” She got up, and lead the way down into the dungeons.

Author's Note

So we're getting deeper and deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole. Hope you guys are enjoying this so far.

I do have an odd favor to ask. I'm currently looking for some art for this story and seem to be having a hard time finding an artist to meet my expectations. If any of you know an artist that would be willing to draw the content I've provided so far, feel free to let me know.