Sweetie knocked gently on the door of the Castle of Friendship.
After so many decades, it still looked the same, a towering construct of crystal that was unchanging in the face of the upheaval around it. The once-small small town of Ponyville had become a reasonably-size city, and the roads around it were now paved with asphalt, making it seem like a shiny jewel sticking stubbornly out of a river of tar.
The mare who opened the door had also changed with the city, the purple in her hair beginning to fade and the teal-streak in her mane having long turned to silver. And yet, some things stayed constant for Starlight Glimmer, like her reckless relationship with magic. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Starlight asked, point-blank. The unicorn wasn't really one for subtlety.
Sweetie appreciated that. "Yeah," she replied with a nod. "I... I need to know."
"Alright." Starlight opened the door wider to allow her to enter. "Trixie's out doing a show at the elementary school, so we've got a few hours to do this."
Once upon a time, Sweetie had stood within the halls of this massive structure, feeling only awe at standing in such a majestic castle. Now, she navigated its halls with practiced ease, mostly annoyed at how long it took to get anywhere. The weight in her heart didn't help, either.
She could still turn back, if she wanted to. There was still time.
Sweetie continued to trot forward until they reached the study. She waited for Starlight to push the doors open, knowing how dangerous some of the spells inside could be.
"And here we are," Starlight said, walking towards a cleared area of the floor, where a series of arcane symbols had already been etched into the ground. And the center of the swirling symbols was a crystal orb suspended in the air, glittering as it reflected the sunlight that couldn't possibly have reached this windowless room. "So, first things first, safety. Twilight and Rarity would both have my head if anything happened to you, and even if I've already retired from being Headmistress, it probably wouldn't be good for the school's PR either if you got inverted or de-phased."
"Those both sound really bad," Sweetie agreed.
"Yeah, so here's the ground rules." Despite her retirement, Starlight still managed to keep her authoritative air as she opened up her notebook and began reading off of it. "Don't try to leave the circle once I put any magic into it. Don't cast any magic yourself without asking me first. And you can only safely stay around an hour in each realization before things get... wibbly." At Sweetie's raised eyebrow, she shrugged. "We don't really have a lot of literature on this stuff, so there isn't a scientific term for it yet, but you really don't want it to happen, so I'm going to pull you out at the one-hour mark no matter what."
"Sounds good." An hour wasn't a long time, but Sweetie would take what she could get. "So, these worlds I'm going to be visiting, they're not real, right?"
"Not... exactly." Another shrug as Starlight made some helpless motions with her hoof. "It's more like, this world is the real one, representing the true path that the timeline took. And as you get farther away from here in probability space, you end up in less likely universes, which means they exist... less."
"How can something exist less?" Sweetie asked. "I thought things could only exist or not exist."
"Magic gets weird when you play around its fringes," Starlight replied. "It's nothing you need to worry yourself about, though. The point is that you can search probability space for worlds that exhibit the changes to the timeline you want to observe, and then insert yourself into it for a bit. Which brings me to the other part of the warnings. There's physical risk in what we're doing, obviously— that's why I'm not allowed to do it— but we also need to talk about the psychological risk."
Sweetie laughed. "I know I'm not as old as you, but I'm not exactly a kid anymore either. I've had to learn to live with plenty of regrets over the years, just like you and everyone else."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you, then," Starlight said. "Okay, are you ready?"
"As I'll ever be." And there was that pit in her stomach again. Sweetie didn't know what she'd see, only that she knew she needed to see it.
"Great!" A wide, forced smile crossed Starlight's expression as she lit up her horn. "So, in your letter, you said you wanted to use your latest album as an anchor point, right?"
Sweetie nodded. "I figure me announcing that Beauty's Coda is going to be my last and that I'm retiring after it releases is a big enough life event for me, so I can find other worlds where that also happened but where I made other choices to get me there."
"That should work." The symbols on the floor began to glow with teal light as Starlight channeled her magic into them. "You can step inside now."
Sweetie did so, and a few moments later, she felt the magic in the room flow into the orb, making it sparkle even brighter. "So, what do I do now?"
"Think about that one moment in time," Starlight instructed. "Hold it clearly in your mind."
Closing her eyes, Sweetie pictured herself sitting on that chair in the interview room of the Rolling Pones headquarters. It had changed since her first interview, but Quill Scratch was still there, ready with his questions. They'd talked a bit before the interview, and he'd told her that he intended to keep doing his job until the day he died.
As much as Sweetie enjoyed singing, she couldn't imagine doing the same.
The interview had been boilerplate, going over the greatest hits from Sweetie's careers, with a few pre-planned anecdotes for her to share about her experiences going indie. Nothing remarkable, until the end, when Quill had put away his notepad and asked her a question off the records.
"So, I know the contract says I'm not allowed to ask this for the interview, but I gotta know: all that stuff that went down about you and Rarity back when you were starting out... was it true?"
Sweetie had given him a mysterious smile before saying, "I'm sure you read our official statement on how that image was doctored." All the while, she'd been thinking of the little kiss on the cheek Rarity had given her in the dressing room right before the interview, with the whispered promise on what they'd do afterwards in the bedroom.
The crystal flashed green, the same colour as Sweetie's magic. "Okay," Starlight said. "There's the anchor locked in. Now, think of the first variation you want to think of, then touch the orb."
This was it. With a deep breath, Sweetie visualized the moment of divergence she wanted in her mind, and then reached out and placed her hoof against the orb. The world faded away as blue light consumed her...
"There, all ready for your interview, darling."
The first thing Sweetie noticed when she looked up at Rarity was how much older she looked. The wrinkles on her face ran deeper, the streaks in her hair were more white than silver, and there was a much heavier weight in her eyes when she smiled at Sweetie.
"Thanks." It was definitely odd, not being able to control her own body. Sweetie could feel her mouth opening to say those words, but she had no control over the actions, nor any ability to sense the thoughts behind them. It was like being puppeted by someone else, though in case she supposed it was more being a passenger in someone else's body. "How do I look?" This Sweetie batted her eyes at Rarity in a familiar, teasing gesture.
"As lovely as the day we fell in love," Rarity replied with a familiar answer. At least the warmth in her voice was the same here.
Sweetie let out a dark chuckle. "Guess you really are a miracle worker, then." She let out a cough, and the observing Sweetie was shocked at how weak the sound was, and how scratchy her throat felt afterwards. "Tomorrow's concert is going to kill me."
"But it shall be your last," Rarity assured her. "You can rest those vocal chords afterwards."
"True." Another cough. "I know I say this before and after every concert, but I really wish I'd told Bass Drop to shove those pills up his ass."
"We all make mistakes in my youth," Rarity assured her. "Some of us simply have to live with the consequences of them."
"And sometimes other ponies have to live with them too." The other Sweetie's guilt was raw enough for the observer Sweetie to feel the lance in her heart. "I'm sorry," she said, and the observer Sweetie had the impression this wasn't the first time those words had been said recently.
"None of that, now," Rarity replied. "Spending time with you during your recovery helped me see what was important in my life, and I don't regret giving Carousel over to Coco one bit, especially with how wonderfully she's managed the brand."
"You name is the one that deserves to be on everypony's lips, not mine," Sweetie insisted.
"The only pony whose lips I care about are yours." With that, Rarity leaned in to lovingly kiss her beloved, and the observer Sweetie allowed herself to enjoy this moment of intimacy, even if it wasn't really hers to partake in. "Besides, if I had pursued my own business, I likely wouldn't be able to stay by your side for the entirety of your final tour, and I wouldn't be here now, in this moment, with you, even if we continue to have to live in secret."
That was partly wrong. The observer Sweetie knew from her own world that Rarity had still found time to be with her during her tour when she wasn't dealing with issues at Carousel, and had certainly been able to attend the interview. Unfortunately, she had no power to speak up and correct her.
Instead, she could only watch as this Sweetie shrugged. "Guess it's too late to change things now. And I really am grateful for everything you've done."
"It was my pleasure." Rarity let out a laugh. "And designing your ensembles has been a dream I never knew I had. Now, go and dazzle your audience once again, Sweetie."
Sweetie stood out and gave a mock bow. "Of course, Rarity." She let out a giggle before reaching out to give her sister a quick hug, taking a moment to nip her lightly in the ear to elicit a groan of pleasure. "Love you."
"As I love you." And with that, Rarity bid her farewell and Sweetie made her way into the interview room.
Starlight pulled her out during her interview.
"Okay, that's your hour," the mage said, looking over Sweetie to make sure there weren't any adverse effects from her experience. "Did you find the answers you wanted?"
"Not quite yet," Sweetie replied. "Can you send me back into a different world?"
Starlight raised an eyebrow. "I can cast the spell again, but if you couldn't find the answer in one world, maybe this isn't the best way to figure it out."
"No, I just picked the wrong difference." Sweetie wasn't entirely sure of that, but she needed to try again. The first run hadn't cleared up any of the uncertainty in her mind. "I'm sure I can get it this time."
"Fine." Starlight sighed as she channeled magic into the spell circle. "Once more into the breach, then."
"Thanks, Starlight." Sweetie focused her mind once again, waiting for her friend's signal before she touched the orb and let herself be carried off into a different possibility...
"I'm here, I'm here!"
Sweetie looked away from the mirror and her attempts to touch up a smudge she'd left on her right cheek after the makeup artists had left, smiling as she saw Rarity burst in through the door. "You made it!"
"I promised I would," her sister replied breathlessly. "And this was one promise I intended to keep. I do apologize for my tardiness, however." She looked the same as the one from the observer Sweetie's own timeline, this time.
Sweetie shrugged. "It's fine. Did the meeting with the Board go okay?"
"It went as well as these things can go." Rarity gave Sweetie a tired smile. "There were the usual concerns about separating Carousel's finances from that of the ECAO, but we've done well enough in ensuring that everything we've done is legal."
"Thank Celestia for Twilight helping out with that," Sweetie replied. "Don't know what we'd do if she hadn't come around."
"Despite her... prejudices against our relationship, she understands the need for the Equestrian Creative's Accountability Organization to truly be able to advocate for all Equestrian Creatives," Rarity said. "It would be inefficient for her to retread the ground we've already paved by founding another organization, and Twilight is nothing if not efficient."
Sweetie nodded. "I've got enough on my own plate, so I'll take it. You got the contracts my assistant sent you, right?"
"I did, and I will be reviewing them after this." Rarity trotted over closer to nuzzle Sweetie. "But that's enough about business. It's been far too long since our last meeting, and I do so rarely get a moment alone with you."
"It'll be better after my retirement," Sweetie promised. "I'll still have a lot on my plate serving on the board for the ECAO and doing founder stuff for it, but we won't be apart for months all the time anymore. It'll be just like the old days, sort of."
"Alas, if only we knew how temporary your absence from Manehattan would turn out to be." Rarity let out a wistful sigh. "Ah, but we were so happy then."
Sweetie rolled her eyes. "We were idiots who buried out heads in the sands and thought things would just get better. Or, I was, anyways." The observer Sweetie mentally winced at that accusation. "I love you to bits, Rarity, but we did what we had to do."
"And now we can rest." They shared a quick hug before Rarity glanced at the clock. "After your interview, at least."
"Will you be there afterwards?" Sweetie asked, a hopeful note in her voice.
"I shall try my best," Rarity replied.
"Alright." Sweetie stood up and gave Rarity a quick peck on the cheek before heading out for another round with the media circus.
"That's enough."
Sweetie gasped as she was pulled out of the timeline and back into reality halfway through her interview once again. "One more," she said breathlessly, orienting herself back to her own body. It was easier this time, at least, since this Sweetie had felt more like herself. "I just need to check one more possibility."
"No," Starlight said firmly. "I can tell you still haven't found the answer you wanted, and I don't think you'll find it here. Go introspect or whatever normal ponies do and figure it out yourself."
"I know I won't get the answer I want, but I need to at least rule out one of the wrong answers," Sweetie replied.
Starlight stared at her with pity in her eyes. "Sweetie..."
"You owe me, Starlight." Sweetie hated pulling out that card, but she needed to know that she'd made one unequivocally good decision in her life. "And I've seen enough of the spell to cast it on my own, anyways."
Starlight sighed. "Fine. One more time, and then I'm wiping the memory of the spell from your brain."
Decades of experience had taught Sweetie not to comment on that. "Great, thanks!" she said, beaming.
Looking very, very tired, Starlight lit up her horn one more time, and waited for Sweetie to manifest the correct timeline in her mind. "Can't believe this is what I retired for," she muttered to herself as she finished casting the spell. "Alright, go on in."
Sweetie touched the orb one final time.
Pleasure.
Sweetie Belle let out a moan as she felt a dexterous tongue sweep against her nethers before pushing deep inside of her and bringing her into an earth-shattering orgasm. It had been so long since she'd felt something this intense that it took a moment for her to realize that the tongue giving her so much pleasure did not belong to Rarity.
That realization shocked the observer Sweetie out of the haze of pleasure that this version of her was experiencing, allowing her to take stock of the situation.
She was looking down at a mare with a pink mane who looked very, very young, which explained the ardour. As much as she enjoyed making love to Rarity, age had definitely slowed down their ability to do anything this energetic, and they took things slow and sensual these days.
The mare looked up as Sweetie finished riding out the waves of euphoria, and the observer Sweetie recognized those deep violet eyes filled with both hope and fear as belonging to Candy Trill. In her own world, she was an up-and-coming singer in the industry, and Sweetie noted with extreme relief that she had recently turned eighteen a few months ago.
Which still didn't make this situation good, but it could have been much, much worse, and the observer Sweetie didn't feel the need to immediately jettison herself out of this world.
"Good girl," Sweetie heard herself say, and the condescending, almost sinister cadence to her sent shivers up her spine. "Keep it up, and you'll be topping the charts in no time."
"Thank you, Sweetie," Candy said demurely, a little tremble in her voice. "You're too kind."
"I knew you had potential the moment you walked into the studio," Sweetie said. "And I just had to—" she was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and the pair turned to see Rarity trotting in, wearing far too much makeup to hide the wrinkles and other signs of a life well-lived.
Candy tried to bolt away at the sight of their intruder, but Sweetie's firm grip on her mane kept her pressed against her marehood. The young singer froze stock-still in terror as she watched the two of them smile at each other.
"Hey, Rarity!" Sweetie said, waving with her free hoof. "How's it going?"
"Awful!" Rarity exclaimed, pouting. "Lace Petal does not understand how the game is played at our level, and she's such a boor that putting her in her place won't even be amusing. Honestly, if you're going to force me to destroy your business, at least make it entertaining."
Giggling at her sister's antics, Sweetie replied, "well, I've got some entertainment here, if you want."
Rarity raised an eyebrow. "And who's this little delectable treat?" she asked, a predatory glint in her eyes that made the observer Sweetie's skin crawl with disgust.
"This is, uhh, Candy something or other," Sweetie said, pulling the poor mare's mane to force her to face Rarity. "The usual story. Little starlet wants to make it big— she's got talent, but she needs connections, and earning them the easy way."
"I'm sorry!" Candy shouted, and the fear that was emanating with her petite form was sickening. "I didn't mean to—"
"To sleep with a mare who's already been claimed?" Rarity finished for her. "I daresay that's rather difficult to do by accident, especially since our love is one of the worst-kept secrets in Equestria."
"Oh, don't be mean, Rarity," Sweetie said. "She's really good at eating a mare out. You should try her."
"Huh?" Fear replaced confusion in Candy's eyes.
"Rarity and I share everything." Sweetie placed extra emphasis on that last word, ensuring there would be no misunderstanding her meaning. "We do everything together, and that means that if you want in, you need to make her happy too."
At that, Rarity sat down on the couch next to Sweetie, spreading her hindlegs obscenely. "Chop chop, darling. My darling sister has an interview to attend soon, and I do want to shower her in affection before she needs to depart."
Candy hesitated for a moment, clearly unwilling, but the threat of what would happen if she refused hung in the air, and eventually she reluctantly shifted over and placed her muzzle between Rarity's legs.
The observer Sweetie could take any more of this, couldn't stand the feeling of pleasure as her hoof stroked her own nethers at the sight of her beloved sister being eaten out, and for the first time that day, she terminated the spell herself, a desperate burst of magic from her soul that sought out the faster route of escape.
The world disappeared in a bright flash of white light.
"Sweetie, are you okay?"
As consciousness returned, Sweetie found herself lying on the floor of the castle, staring up at a very worried Starlight. "I... I'm fine," she said, wincing a little as she stood back up. Oh, what she would give to be young again and able to handle being knocked flat on her face several times a day without breaking a sweat or worrying about the pain that would haunt her the next day. "Guess that's what happens when you end the spell inside the other timeline."
"Huh, interesting." Starlight floated over a notebook and jotted something down on it. "Never tried it before, so I wouldn't know. I guess if I ever do this again I'll need to refine the escape spell." She cleared her throat. "Not that I'm going to do it for you, Sweetie. You've had your chances."
"That's fine." Sweetie slowly stretched out her limbs as she trotted over to a couch and settled herself down. "I'm done."
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Starlight asked.
Sweetie shook her head. "Nope. And I guess I'm just gonna have to live with that."
Starlight smiled tiredly. "Well, at least you learned something, then. Just like old times."
"Just like old times." Sweetie trotted towards the exit on shaky legs, memories of unwanted pleasure still echoing in her body. She turned to face Starlight before leaving. "Thanks, by the way, for always supporting me and Rarity. I really appreciate it."
Starlight's smile widened. "I know what it's like to have everyone doubt your love." She gave her a goodbye wave. "Let me know if you need to talk about anything, okay? I might not ever have been your guidance counselor, but I'm still here for you if you need me."
"I'll keep that in mind." Right now, though, there was someone else that Sweetie needed to talk to.
She sprinted down the road, the buildings and streetlights and carriages and ponies all blurring together as the visions in her head kept replaying themselves, threatening to pull her into a reverie of things she'd never experienced before. She needed to anchor herself again, to be with the one mare who had stood by her side all this time.
She also needed to slow down before her heart gave out.
Huffing and puffing and really needing to sit down, Sweetie pushed open the door to the house she and Rarity had bought after she'd moved away from Manehattan. She'd made sure to schedule her visit with Starlight on a day where Rarity wouldn't be traveling, so that when she returned home afterwards, she'd have someone to hug immediately.
"Welcome back, dear," Rarity said warmly as she stroked Sweetie's withers. "Was Starlight able to help you answer your question?"
"Yeah," Sweetie replied. She sighed. "I thought it was going to be simple. Find a world where I tried to make it big in Manehattan and see if I was happier or not. I was ready to find out that I was way happier and more successful, and I was miserable, great, I made the right choice."
"And then?" Rarity asked, continuing to brush Sweetie's mane.
Anchoring herself on that sensation, of her Rarity being here, she answered. "The Sweeties in the other worlds, they were all more successful, I guess. Sold more records, had more fans, all that stuff."
"But they weren't happier?"
Sweetie shrugged. "That's the problem. I have no idea. The first world, I didn't leave Manehattan at all, ended up in a really bad place and had to go to rehab. You even had to give up Carousel to take care of me. But... I still made it big, and we ended up even closer because of that."
"I see," Rarity said, masking her emotions. She was still too good at that, sometimes, but Sweetie didn't have time to try to figure out what she was feeling. She needed to get the rest of her story out.
"Yeah. So then, I tried looking at a world where I left, but then came back after. And I was in a really good place. Still famous and stuff, and I helped do a lot of advocacy and make Equestria a better place for artists. Too bad it took up so much time that we barely got to see each other."
"Unfortunate," Rarity murmured. "And yet, we served the greater good, I suppose."
"Basically." Sweetie took a deep breath. "I did something stupid after that."
Rarity simply looked at her with love, and without judgment, silently encouraging her to go on.
"I wanted to see what happened if... if you'd gone along with my plans that night, when I almost set our apartment on fire." A blush of shame reddened Sweetie's cheeks as she confessed.
Still, there was nothing but love in Rarity's eyes. "And did it make you happy?"
"I think the other me thought she was happy," Sweetie replied. "I had everything I wanted. Ponies did what I said, and you were still with me, and we were super close. All it took was both of us losing our souls."
"Then that wasn't us that you saw," Rarity said firmly. "Because as long as we were together, we would never let each other fall like that."
"I saw what I saw," Sweetie whispered.
"You saw something that never came to pass." Rarity hugged Sweetie tighter. "And which never shall come to pass."
"You're right," Sweetie replied, leaning into the embrace. "I think that's what I learned from the spell. It didn't matter if those Sweetie's were happier or not, none of them were me, and none of those yous were you. I want to be with you, now."
"And you shall." Rarity began pressing light kisses against Sweetie's neck, making her moan with pleasure.
Sweetie responded by nibbling on Rarity's ear, just as she remembered from the other timeline. When Rarity gasped in delight, she grinned. "Maybe I learned something else from those worlds too."
"Bedroom, now." They weren't as young as they were before, but the loving couple still made good time up the stairs as they prepared to celebrate the love that they had, and would always have. The love that they had forged through their choices, and which would bind them together for the rest of their days.
