Universe 47931

Alter Twilight was frozen, speechless when faced with her counterpart’s proposal. She had been doing this for… billions of years, ruining lives, taking them. She had become the worst monster one could be… For the sake of her friends. Until now… The only ones who gave her such a choice were few, and liars who only tried to trick her. Yet… The light of sincerity shone in Twilight’s eyes. She was being truthful.

“Do you realize what you’re asking of me?” Alter Twilight softly asked, still staring at Twilight’s outstretched hoof. “You’re asking me to give up on them. You’re asking me to give up on my friends, my family, my whole world. If I leave, my barrier will leave with me, and this universe will cease existing. There will be no other way for me to take it back… They’ll be all gone,” She quivered fearfully.

“Yes. I’m sorry. I wish I could help. If only my life was enough, then I would have helped, but I can’t sacrifice my friends or my world,” Twilight lightly shook her head, saddened by her counterpart’s dilemma. Of course, even if this wasn’t her world, it hurt Twilight too. The fact that she finally realized how her counterpart’s words earlier rang true about her privileged life and how blessed she was made it even worse. However, she couldn’t perform miracles and the only way she found to help the other alicorn… was to give her a new home. She wasn’t an idiot, she was aware it would be difficult, and her friends wouldn’t immediately see her as their best friend just because she was another Twilight, but she had hoped they would eventually close. No, she knew they would.

“I love them,” Alter whispered, lowering her gaze. The older alicorn was reminded of the times she spent with her friends. She replayed them every day. Every time she wasn’t looking at other universes, she would think of the ones she lost. “I would have given my life too if that was enough to save them…”

“If you love them, then you have to let it go,” Twilight hesitantly stated, slightly afraid her counterpart would snap. “You know they wouldn’t want this. You know they wouldn’t accept being brought back at the cost of millions upon millions of innocent lives sacrificed. They would want you… to move on, and be happy,”

“Happy? Happy?! You think I deserve to be happy after everything?!” Alter suddenly shouted, clenching her teeth. If she could cry, she would, but her tear glands had stopped working long ago. Nevertheless, the pain was still there. “You’re asking me to replace them! To replace my family too! How could I be happy?! How could I possibly do that?! Could you?!” She leaned forward, baring her teeth at the original Twilight.

“I already told you… I can’t possibly understand what you’ve been through, yet… No. I could not replace them,” Twilight shook her head, to Alter’s surprise. “But I’m not asking you to replace them. My friends won’t be replacements for yours. See them as new ponies. As ponies you’ll slowly get to know. As ponies that could… one day, be considered your best friends,” Twilight argued softly.

Of course, they could never replace Alter’s friends, and Twilight knew she could never demand that of her. However, they could be new bonds. They could still learn from each other like she did when she met them for the first time, and maybe… Alter would eventually learn to love them too.

“If I leave now, then all I’ve done will be for nothing,” Alter’s voice was shaky as she spoke. All the lives she had taken… They would be lost in vain.

“And that’s something you’ll have to atone for too… But taking more lives won’t fix anything. It’s time to stop the bloodshed. Please. For my friends, and for yours. Give yourself another chance,” Twilight pleaded, still holding her hoof extended for Alter to take it.

The older alicorn considered it. She considered it so much. To live in an undamaged world, surrounded by her friends and family had been her dream for so long. She… had nothing. Could she take that hoof? Was she allowed to? Was she allowed to hope that she would be okay? Was she ready… To give up on the goal she fought for for so long? She already knew what her friends would want her to choose, but… Did she want that too?

Suddenly, the Hexstone, which was still under Twilight’s wing, burst out of her grasp and hovered in the air. Much to their surprise, it shone brightly like a star, its light enveloping their views as it spun on itself. They partially shielded their eyes with a hoof, shocked to see the stone activate out of nowhere. Yet, it was true! Slowly but surely, it started opening a portal in front of them!

“That’s…” Alter uttered in shock, trembling at the sight. It couldn’t be. This had never happened before. Never!

“They did it… They did it! My friends did it! They found the stones!” Twilight cheered, spreading her wings excitedly. She was elated to know they succeeded, and that they would go home. Most of all, she was relieved to know that they were all okay! They were okay… They were safe…

“But that’s impossible! I flung them across infinity!” Alter exclaimed, looking up at the stone as the portal fully opened.

“I told you, didn’t I? I will always believe in my friends!” Twilight grinned proudly as an invisible force suddenly began pulling her inside the portal. However, the alicorn remained on her hooves, resisting the pull. “Now… Come with me!” She shouted, extending her hoof again.

“What?” Alter breathed out, still indecisive. This… This was her last chance, wasn’t it? She could take her hoof, and begin a new life. She could have new friends and a new family… Or she could stay here. With Twilight gone, so was her last hope, and that meant this world would end along with herself. In both cases, her universe would die! Was she… Brave enough to live despite that?

“You’ve been wishing for happiness this whole time, haven’t you?! You don’t want to be alone anymore, do you?! So take my hoof before it’s too late!” Twilight screamed, using all the strength in her hooves and wings to remain here long enough for Alter to join her.

Even now that she had the opportunity to go home and leave Alter to her fate for everything she had done… Twilight was still offering her the choice to come? If she truly was allowed to hope again. If she truly was allowed to be happy again… Her friends would tell her to take that hoof, wouldn’t they?

At last, the older alicorn lunged forward, grasping Twilight’s hoof. Twilight’s eyes widened at the touch of her counterpart’s cold, lifeless hoof, but a soft smile soon spread across her face. Tears welled up as she pulled Alter into a tight, warm embrace.

The magical barrier surrounding Equus gradually faded as the two alicorns were drawn into the portal. With every moment the portal shrank, the ground fractured and crumbled, breaking into fragments that floated briefly before vanishing as though they had never been. Thousands upon thousands of Time Paradoxes gazed upward, only to dissolve into nothingness. The portal sealed shut, and in an instant, darkness consumed the world. All that remained was an empty void, with the Hexstone standing as the universe’s final remnant before it, too, disappeared into nothingness.

In the space between universes, a bright lavender light burst out of Universe 47931’s mirror, which shattered a second later. The light resembled a beam, flying in curves, avoiding impact with any other mirror that could prolong this story more than it needed to be. It was fast and powerful, but most of all, it refused to stop. That light was headed to a single, clear goal. It didn’t know what awaited it. It didn’t know how its future would play out or the challenges it would face. However, whatever awaited it… It knew it wouldn’t face it alone. Not anymore. Not ever again.

Finally, the light gazed upon the mirror it had been heading to this last minute. It depicted six friends; six ponies standing in a group hug. Just as the lavender light approached the mirror, five other ones joined it, each of a different color. Blue, orange, pink, purple, and yellow, all reaching their goal at the same time, meeting into a vortex of rainbow and going through that mirror.

Universe 00013

CRASH

Starlight jumped back as multiple ponies were suddenly thrown out of the portal and crashed near the Cutie Map. Spike, who was reading a comic book on a throne, fell on his butt in surprise. It had been four days since their friends were pulled into the portal created by that stone. During that time, Starlight, Celestia, and Luna had been researching the stone to discover what it was and how to bring the ponies that disappeared back. However, they didn’t have much luck and settled on waiting for Twilight and her friends to find a way back on their own instead. They trusted the six ponies enough to be confident that they would return without help… And from the looks of it, they were right!

Lying on the floor were the element bearers! While Starlight and Spike were focused on their friends, some of which looked injured and dirty, they didn’t notice the seventh shape lying a little further away.

“Guys! Are you alright?!” Spike immediately rushed to them, helping Rarity to her hooves.

“Ow… I think I hurt my head, but I’m fine… Wait… Spikey-Wikey?” The fashionista asked, narrowing her eyes, only to widen them a second later. “It is you! Starlight! You’re here too! And you’re not trying to murder me!” Rarity exclaimed as her gaze shifted to the other unicorn, who arched an eyebrow.

“Uhm… Thanks?” Starlight stood there awkwardly, unsure of how to respond.

Rarity immediately looked around, her expression brightening as she laid her eyes on her friends, nearly all of which were standing up. They looked like they all fell on their heads when they landed, but they seemed alright apart from that!

“Girls!” She shouted, holding herself back from jumping into a group hug. Oh, she just suffered so much pain, but seeing them again warmed her heart and eased that pain a little.

“Rarity…” Rainbow Dash whispered hesitantly in recognition as she looked around. “We’re back!” She grinned widely, spreading her wings in celebration.

“Oh, thank Celestia. Ah missed hearin’ ya scream in my ears,” Applejack teased after regaining her senses.

“I missed that too, believe me, AJ,” Rainbow Dash breathed in relief, gazing upon the earth pony as she remembered the other Applejack’s words before she left that universe.

“Girls! You can’t believe how happy I am to see you!” Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped between them, wrapping her forelegs around Rainbow and Applejack’s necks and pulling them into a bone-breaking hug. “Don’t ever, ever leave me stranded in another world, alright?! Or… Or… Oh, I’m just happy to be back!” She declared, teary-eyed as she tightened her hug around them.

“Pinkie… You’re killing… Me…” Rainbow managed to sputter out, though she was glad to feel Pinkie’s usual energy. Applejack was mostly happy that they all knew who she was.

Rarity chuckled at the display of affection, expecting something like this from Pinkie. Still, the party mare seemed quite affected by what she went through. The fashionista hoped it wasn’t too… Serious… like what she went through… Twilight. Right! Where is her Twilight?! She turned to see Fluttershy watching the hugging trio, seemingly considering joining them in the hug.

“Fluttershy! Darling! Are you okay?” Rarity ran up to her, drawing her into a brief hug before pulling back to push Fluttershy’s mane out of her face and check on her. The pegasus didn’t seem to have any injuries, though there were traces of dried blood on her cheeks.

“Yes, I am. Now that I’m here, I can’t be more okay than that, Rarity,” Fluttershy smiled wholeheartedly. The pegasus swallowed her spit, looking like she was holding back tears. Of course, Rarity wasn’t blind. Whatever her pegasus friend had to fight through wasn’t pretty. Rarity knew exactly what she had to do. She hugged her as firmly as she could, comfortingly rubbing her back. “Y… You’re you…” Fluttershy whispered in relief.

“Yes, I am me. And that won’t change anytime soon,” The white unicorn snickered softly. “Where is Twilight?” She asked with a slightly more worried tone. Of course, it also broke everyone out of their cheerful and celebratory mood once they were reminded of who told them to look for the stone in the first place as well as the pony who was seemingly being chased by a monster. However, they didn’t have to look too far.

“Right here… You’re kinda hurting me…” Twilight muttered painfully. The poor alicorn, who was covered in cuts and bruises, lay right under Rarity and Fluttershy’s hooves.

“Yip!” Fluttershy jumped back bashfully.

“Darling! I am so sorry!” Rarity helped Twilight stand up. The moment their gazes met, the unicorn gulped, thinking back to the Twilight she left behind. The alicorn’s battered body reminded her too much of her.

“Twilight!” The rest of her friends shouted as they crowded her.

“Are ya alright, Sugarcube?!”

“What the hay happened to you, Twi? Oh, it better not have been Tirek!”

“Please tell me you aren’t replacing your wings with robot ones!”

“Maybe we shouldn’t crowd her… Do you want a glass of water, Twilight?”

Twilight’s gaze shifted from friend to friend, studying each of their worried expressions. She already knew they had just been through hell, or something close to that. They likely suffered a lot, and yet… They still have enough energy to worry about her… The alicorn could only smile lovingly.

“Girls,” She cut them off with a calmly-spoken word. “I’m okay. I’m here… And you’re here! We’re all here! I… missed you so much,” Twilight’s lower lip quivered while she allowed herself to cry. Of course, she let herself cry! Those were tears of joy! The others were in a similar situation, barely holding themselves together…

“We missed you too!” They suddenly shouted. Without further due, they threw themselves at one another, meeting in a big group hug, holding each other as tightly as they could while they cried joyfully. They spoke at the same time, drowning each other’s sentences in a cacophony of voices, which were made even harder to understand through their tears and cries.

They were all undeniably happy, for sure! However, Starlight and Spike, who were still here… Were left dumbfounded.

“I have no idea what is happening right now. What happened these past four days?” Starlight questioned, cocking her eyebrows in confusion.

“Yeah, we’re the ones who are supposed to be relieved. You guys disappeared in a weird portal!” Spike reminded them, just as confused. Even if he looked like he was admonishing them, he was mostly wondering what adventure they had been on this whole time.

The girls paused, looking at each other. They had no idea where to begin. Twilight could only let out a soft chuckle.

“Oh, Spike. You have no idea. I think this is gonna be a long story, but first… I wanna tell you girls something, then… I want to introduce you to somepony,” Twilight turned to her friends, who exchanged glances, wondering who she was referring to. “I just want you to know that… That I really care about all of you. And… I don’t think I would have made it out of where I was if you weren’t in my heart. None of this would have been possible without you… Thank you. I… I know that as long as we have each other… There’s nothing we can’t overcome,” She said, holding her chest caringly.

“Twi,” Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. The pegasus had a small smile, but it was probably one of the most genuine she ever had. “I think it was the same for all of us,” She gestured to the rest of their friends, all of which nodded in agreement. And just as they were about to speak too, the Hexstone suddenly pulsed with waves of light.

“What is that dang thing doin’ now?” Applejack inquired, clearly exasperated by that stone.

The Hexstone whirled through the room, leaving a shimmering white trail behind it before finally reaching a stop above the Cutie Map. Gradually, it descended, hovering just inches above the map's surface. Several glowing white tendrils emerged from the map's edges, reaching toward the Hexstone and entwining around it. The tendrils faded slowly, as though the magical artifact had become tethered to the map by invisible threads. To the girls and the dragon’s shocked eyes, the Cutie Map changed. First, it depicted an Equestria made of pure gold, only to change again and show an Equestria seemingly much more modern with skyscrapers reaching the clouds. The map changed once more, this time depicting a land nearly the same as theirs, except for the giant heart on the now-pink Canterlot Castle. The map changed several times quicker and quicker, showing a different Equestria nearly every time… until it finally returned to normal.

“What happened? Why did it do this?” Fluttershy asked as her friends looked at one another just as confused as she was. Twilight, however, narrowed her eyes, pondering the meaning of it.

“I think I know…” The alicorn whispered, carefully approaching the map. “If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say we all accomplished something where we were sent to,” Her gaze wandered across from her friends, who nodded in confirmation. “I believe this means that the Cutie Map is going to work in tandem with the Hexstone, and… that we will have to resolve friendship problems… across the multiverse,” She revealed her hypothesis.

“What? Are you telling me we could get called to a whole other universe?! But we just got back!” Rainbow Dash sighed, dropping to her haunches.

“Does it matter, Dashie? It’s not like we can’t take care of it even if it’s in another universe!” Pinkie shrugged nonchalantly with a wide smile.

“I guess that’s true. Besides… Some of those places really need our help…” The cyan pegasus conceded, remembering her own adventure.

“Universes?” Starlight mouthed to Spike questioningly.

“I have no clue what they’re saying,” The dragon shrugged in response.

“Ugh…” Someone suddenly groaned. Everyone quickly spun their heads in the groan’s direction, pondering who that could be considering no one else should have been here but them.

Twilight already knew, of course.

A form rose from the floor, holding its head in pain. The figure stood as tall as Celestia, though… It was far from being majestic. In one word: monster. It was the first thing that popped up in most of their minds. This looked like an evil clone of Twilight, only because of her color scheme, though it was somber, and… her remaining facial features. Her ribs were visible through a large hold in her chest, missing its flesh and fur. Her right eye was white with no iris, and the other one wasn’t even there. The left side of her face was gone, showing her skull. Alter watched them worriedly, remaining silent.

“AAAAH!” They screamed in terror, nearly falling on their butts. Spike hid behind Twilight’s leg, clutching her as hard as he could.

“W-What’s with the zombie?!” The little dragon asked shakily and bluntly.

“T-Twi? Who is that?” Rainbow asked, having a feeling the alicorn might know. Fluttershy was hiding behind her pegasus friend and Applejack. The toughest of their groups were standing straight, though they were clearly afraid. Strangely, Rarity appeared less fearful than them, but… sadder. Pinkie didn’t seem to care at all. Her initial fear had vanished, leaving only curiosity.

“Oh, her?” Twilight smiled, casually walking up to her counterpart. “That’s my sister,”

Without another word, Twilight wrapped a leg around Alter, bringing her into a side hug. Indeed, as long as she had her friends… There was nothing they couldn’t overcome.

Author's Note

So... There it is. The end of their adventure! They really went through some things, didn't they? As you can see, this story isn't marked as complete. Of course, as I've already talked about, there will be five epilogues, each one centered on a universe they've been in. They probably won't be in the same order depending on which note I want to end this story on. You can consider it an epilogue divided into five parts, I guess.

Anyway, IMPORTANT announcement! This doesn't mean it's over! There will be a SEQUEL! A... Short sequel. Multiversal Voyage: Aftermath. Basically, it's going to be six chapters long, each one focused on a mane 6. They will all deal with the events they lived through during those chapters, either by reflecting on what they've seen or did, or... Well, I'll keep it a surprise. I could have put it in the same story, but I would rather not. This story had its plot, or rather plots, and this sequel will have its own. Now that they're back home, they reflect on their experiences in their own way. Honestly, I'm pretty excited about it. I've already got a plot in mind for each of them!

Well, I hope to see you there once that new story is posted. Until then, you may enjoy the coming epilogues.