Three Outcasts and Their Attempt at Living a Normal Life

Chapters

Chapter 1 : Moving Plans
Chapter 3 : So Different, Yet So Similar
Intermission : The Peacekeeper and The Vanguard
Chapter 2 : First Contact
Chapter 4 : Exploring Ponyville
Chapter 5 : Fortress Sweet Fortress
Chapter 6 : Two Worlds Plus One
Chapter 7 : Grogar's Day Out
Chapter 8 : Four of a Kind
Chapter 9 : Ad Astra
Chapter 10 : Grand Galloping Turmoil
Chapter 11 : Hello Beastie
Chapter 12 : Reflections and Refractions Part One

Chapter 1 : Moving Plans

Deep within a cave located beyond the western border of Skyros, three ancient entities converse as they prepare for a ritual.
The first of them was carving runes on to the floor fully concentrated on his work, the second was observing the first, her eyes locked on to the patterns being carefully carved with a dagger as her glowing, spiraling horn hummed with cyan-colored energy. The third was hanging upside down from the ceiling as she watched the other two work, using the stinger at the end of her tail as an anchor.
An ibex mage, an alicorn, and a chimeric spirit.

"Are you absolutely sure about this, Midnight? Once we go through, we won't be able to return." Grogar asked as he held a crystal dagger in his telekinetic grasp.

"I am one hundred percent sure. What other choice do we have other than to rot in this cave for the rest of eternity? They have already found replacements for us, we are not allowed to cross the border, and Lady Faust herself has clearly forsaken us; they have forgotten us, we are not needed here anymore." answered Midnight, she was channeling a multitude of spells through her horn as she waited for Grogar to finish carving a rune.

"I know you're always so worried about your mo- I mean, beasts Grogster, but I'm sure whoever took your place is doing a great job taking care of them. It's been half a millennium, they're fine and they will always be fine." Cosmos commented as she dropped down from the cave's ceiling.
"Anyway, you done yet?"

Grogar shook his head and blew away bits of rock and dust from his work. "No, the runes required for this ritual to work are highly complex, I need to work carefully and delicately lest we get trapped between realms when we go through." he inspected the latest rune closely and after a moment, he continued on the next one. "I'm certain none of us wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?"

Cosmos sighed and lit her horns; a stack of books appeared in a puff of red-tinted smoke; she took one an began reading. "Okay, okay, take your time. I just really want to get out of this stinking cave, so boring..."

"At the rate we are going, you only need to wait approximately two more hours Cosmos; we will get out of this infernal cavern soon enough." assured Midnight, her eyes and mind were solely focused on the runes that Grogar had carved. Every time he carved a new one, she would prepare a spell for that specific rune. All of their work will finally pay off after five hundred revolutions of exile.

When Midnight first proposed the idea, her friends were reluctant, Cosmos and Grogar thought that they could still reason with the Council, that the three of them still had a purpose in their existence, that they only need one more chance to prove themselves to be worthy, that they were still deserving of their positions, that the three of them were possibly framed. But as time went on, the two of them began to realize that no matter what they did, no matter how they reasoned, the Council would not tolerate their presence in Skyros anymore.

That was when both of them had finally agreed with Midnight's plan, they would leave their own realm, Tellus, and begin anew in another world, where they can continue to exist peacefully until the end of time. They desire it more than anything else.

Slowly but surely, the three of them designed a ritual that allowed them to bend the fabric of reality in such a way that gave them the ability to create a portal to travel between two neighboring realms. The ritual required a collection of incredibly rare and hard to obtain objects: various crystals, magic-conducting metals, multidimensional elements, and the skull of an eldritch abomination.

The trio had spent the last five hundred revolutions travelling around Tellus to collect them, and all of that effort will finally come to fruition as they made the finishing touches on the giant magic array that they had agreed to carve in an area rich in ambient magic, which just so happens to be the cave they have been calling home ever since they were exiled.

Exactly two hours had passed, and the preparations for the runic network was finally complete just as Midnight had predicted, now all they need to do is to set up the trinkets and shatter the skull of an eldritch abomination at the central rune and channel their collective magic throughout the entire array.

Cosmos went to a carved-out chamber at the northern wall of the cave to retrieve a skull, when she entered, she was genuinely surprised by a sight that would have likely terrified the spine out of her if she wasn't an ancient being of extradimensional origin with the power to bend reality to her will.

The walls of the chamber were entirely covered by skulls of various shapes and sizes, all lined up on top of one another like bricks.

"Hey Middy, when you said we needed a skull from an abomination I thought you meant we only need one skull. What's up with... All of this?" she asked as she waved her hand across the chamber.

Horn still alight, Midnight followed her into the chamber and realized what she meant, "Ah yes, you see, when Grogar was away hunting for the skull, I discovered in Stargazer's Guide to Monster Hunting that a skull's shards may have a chance to dissolve into warped magic prematurely when they make contact with thaumium, preventing the array from interacting with them and channeling its magic," she explained, "so, after Grogar returned from his outing, I decided to collect more skulls just in case such an event occurs."

Cosmos looked at her friend with an eye ridge raised, "Wait, when did you get the time to do that?"

"Did you not realize my absence whenever a Bleeding Star event occurred on the third century of our exile?" countered Midnight.

Cosmos thought for a moment, facepalmed, and sighed, "Yeah, makes sense... I think I'm getting old."

Midnight chuckled at that remark, "My friend, you are not old, you are ancient."

"Heh, since when did you get a sense of humor?" Cosmos asked her friend with a smile as she took a couple of skulls from the wall and made her way back to the magic array, the two of them making quips to each other along the way.

When they returned to the array, they were greeted by Grogar, who was making the finishing touches on the runes of the array, "Ah, there you two are! I believe the runic network is truly complete now, all we need to do is to put the trinkets on their designated places and we can begin the ritual!" he told them excitedly, though there was something about his expression that betrayed his words.

Cosmos picked up on this and approached him slowly, "Hey, Grogar, you good buddy? You look kinda..." she moved her hands in a cycling motion, trying to find the right word.

"Concerned? Anxious? Stressed? Upset? Overwrought, perhaps?" he stated, finishing Cosmos' sentence.

"Yeah, those, what's up? Still thinking about your m- beasts?" she inquired.

Grogar frowned and heaved a sigh, "Yes, that, and well, it's just that... I still have my doubts about this plan," before his friends could say anything, he continued, "I know, I know, you're going to say, 'it's for the best, Grogar', 'they don't need us anymore, Grogar', or even 'this is the only choice we have, Grogar'. I know that, yes! I know that it's pretty much the only choice we have, and yet... It feels like we're discarding a significant part of our history," he pointed a forehoof towards his friends and then pointed upwards, "we have existed here, on Tellus, maintaining it, protecting it, and empowering it for eons, we are - or I suppose were - a part of this world's system, and to simply leave it in the blink of an eye... It feels wrong. I know it's necessary for our wellbeing, but it still feels wrong."

He lowered his hoof, sighed and rubbed his face, "I apologize, I simply had to get that off of my chest." he said, his voice muffled by his forelegs.

Midnight and Cosmos looked at each other for a moment, trying to figure out what to do.

They approached Grogar and pulled him into a group hug, Midnight used her dark wings to cover her friends in their embrace.

After a minute, Cosmos leaned back to ask him, "Feel better, big guy?"

"...Yes, thank you." He answered quietly.

Midnight leaned back as well and looked at him in the eye.

"It is natural to feel this way, Grogar. I will admit, I too am still quite fond of Tellus, this is the realm where we were created in, after all. However, we cannot stay here any longer; I have sensed a change upon the will of Existence. Since we have been stripped of our roles, it is likely that Existence itself will find and erase us if we were to persist within this realm." Midnight explained grimly.

Grogar nodded in understanding, "I see..." he replied.

"Worry not, my friend, once we enter this new world, we shall be able to begin from scratch, we will make a name for ourselves, we will create something better, something less chaotic than what we had before. Believe me when I say the possibilities are endless." Midnight stated proudly and released her friends from her wings, "Now, let us continue setting up, shall we?"

Grogar looked at his two friends and smiled genuinely, "Yes, let's get on with it."

The trio had placed the required trinkets on their respective locations upon the array, soon, they will be able leave Tellus for good.

They stood on their designated locations upon the array, creating a triangular shape.

Cosmos looked at the assembled array and then at Midnight, "So Captain, what do we do now?" she asked.

"First, we shall start with channeling our magic into the array," Midnight began explaining as her glowing horn sparked with magical energy, "and as we do that, somebeing will shatter the skull, hopefully we will get it on the first try."

The others nodded and began powering their own horns, Cosmos pointed a finger towards the skull and zapped it with her magic, the skull cracked and shattered, but the shards were kept from spreading by Grogar's aura.

Midnight nodded approvingly, "Good, now lower the shards carefully and continue to channel your magic into the array."

Grogar lowered the shards slowly, and as they made contact with the central rune, they started glowing various colors.

Midnight closed her eyes and released a beam of magic into the runes closest to her, Cosmos followed shortly and channeled her own magic using her hands as she touched nearby runes as well. Grogar followed last and used his verdigris-covered bell to power his own runes.

The three of them stood in silence, eyes closed, bodies rigid, minds focused on one thing and one thing only, getting out of this realm.

The glowing skull shards on the central rune began to shudder, at first it was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but slowly, they began floating one by one in a large ovoid shape; they began to spin faster and faster as more magic was channeled through the array.

In a bright, colorful flash, it finally formed, the portal to another world, it swirled with rainbow-colored light, sparks of energy arcing through the air and landing on the trinkets placed around it.

Stopping their magic, the three looked at it in awe, they finally did it, five hundred revolutions of hard work finally paid off.

Grogar took a step forward, "So, I suppose this is it, then..."

Midnight stepped forward as well, extending a horseshoe-clad hoof towards the portal, its surface warped as she made contact.

Cosmos, unable to contain her excitement anymore, dashed past Midnight into the portal whilst shouting, "Dibs on shotgun!"

Midnight and Grogar giggled at their friend's silly antics. After a moment passed, Midnight looked back at Grogar and smiled, "See you on the other side." she said, as she followed after Cosmos.

Grogar stepped closer to the portal and raised a hoof to step into it, he looked back at the cave that the three of them had spent the last half millennium in with a wistful expression, he took a deep breath and exhaled, "No other choice..." he muttered under his breath as he too stepped into the portal.

A few minutes passed and the portal eventually closed, the sound skull shards clattering against the floor being the last noise the cave will ever hear in a long time.

It was wonderful day in Ponyville, everything was as peaceful as the little town could get, everypony was going around minding their own business, working or perhaps just enjoying the day.

The same could be said for the general energy inside the new, giant, crystalline tree-castle that had emerged after Tirek's defeat by the Element Bearers.

The six of them, along with Spike, are now hanging out in the castle's throne room, sitting on each of their respective thrones as they discuss about what to fill the castle with. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike were busy writing down ideas that were being thrown around by their friends.

Spike stood up on his seat and got the rest's attention, "Alright everypony, I think we've written down all of the necessities we need for the castle, all we need to do now is to well, buy them."

"Alrighty then fellers, let's get to it!" exclaimed Applejack as she got off her seat.

Rainbow Dash took off and hovered over the doorway "Ugh, finally! I think my flanks are numb from all that sitting," she said as the others made their way.

"We should get an emergency party kit! You never know when you need to throw an emergency party!" said Pinkie Pie as she hopped alongside her friends.

"I highly doubt Twilight would need such a thing, darling. I believe she'll need a larger wardrobe for all of the outfits I'll be designing for her in the future; I wouldn't be surprised if she'll be invited to even more high-class gatherings after news spread about her new castle! A princess such as herself would always need to have an outfit ready for every occasion." countered Rarity, her mind going a mile a minute as she envisions multiple designs that would fit Twilight.

"Oh, I think a couple of bird houses would help the castle feel livelier," Fluttershy said, "um, if you're alright with that, Twilight..." she added meekly.

Twilight looked at her friends and smiled warmly, "Don't worry everypony, we'll figure out the specifics as we go. Now come on!"

As they made their way through the hallway to the front door, they heard the sound of thrumming magic, three somethings colliding with solid matter, as well as various words and sounds used to express pain coming from the throne room.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack muttered as she and the rest of the group look towards the throne room.
They all looked at each other and back at the room, to which they immediately ran back into.

Rainbow Dash was the first to enter and was so surprised by what she saw, she needed to land, "What the..."

As rest made their way back into the room, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash standing on the ground, eyes wide in shock.

Confused, she asked her, "Rainbow Dash, what's wrong? What happened?"

Rainbow stayed silent and pointed a hoof towards the table, getting even more confused, she looked back at her friends only to see them all wearing the same expression Rainbow has. She finally looked towards where Rainbow pointed and her jaw dropped.

On the table lay three beings, stacked atop one another. Above them was a swirling portal that slowly dissipated into thin air, as it did so, Twilight lowered her gaze back towards the creatures.

The topmost creature looked like a large goat, with a shaggy dark blue coat, large curling horns, shortly trimmed silver mane and tail, and a leather harness adorned with golden bells with odd symbols carved into them alongside one large bell in the center that was covered in patina. They were furiously wiping their eyes and muttering complaints.

The creature in the middle appeared to be of equine origin, they had a horn and wings, which meant they were likely an alicorn, though their horn grew in a spiral pattern and is covered by layer of cyan-colored energy that also surrounded their eyes like a pair of blue flaming glasses. They were squirming between the other two, trying to get out.

The last one at the bottom seemed chimeric, like a more symmetrical Discord; their body had an assortment of colors from red, to purple, to blue, with a pink neck and some green on their back and behind their head. They were looking directly at Twilight and her friends with their yellow slitted eyes and a confused and surprised look in their face.

"Um... Midnight?" the last creature said tentatively.

The six ponies and one dragon didn't know what to do, say, or think, so they continued to stare at the three odd beings in silence.

The two other beings stopped what they were doing when they heard their ally speak. The second, named Midnight, asked the third, "What did you say, Cosmos?"

The third creature, Cosmos, pointed towards the group with her free hand. Midnight followed it with her eyes and saw a group of small equines and a small draconic creature gawking at them.

She freed a wing and used it to nudge the first creature, when that didn't work, Cosmos used her tail to prick him.

"Gah! What was that for!?" the first asked his allies angrily.

"Grogar, I believe we have a bit of a conundrum." whispered Midnight.

"Conundrum? What conundru- oh." the first creature, now known as Grogar, cut off his own question when he saw a group of small creatures staring at them.

"Uh... We come in peace?" said Cosmos awkwardly, not knowing what to do next.

Author's Note

EEEEEEEE My first story! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I'm so excited to share this with all of you fellow users!

I always had this idea floating around in my mind ever since I started frequenting this site, I always love taking villains and twisting them into new characters, never thought I'd actually make this into an actual story but here we are! Heh...

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 3 : So Different, Yet So Similar

About an hour had passed since Twilight sent a letter to the princesses, unfortunately they have yet to send a reply, Twilight simply chalked it up to their busy schedules.

Finally giving in to her curiosity, she decided to check up on her otherworldly guests while she waited. She was particularly intrigued by Spike's report on what Midnight did to their room, turning it into a library that's larger than the castle's own should be impossible, or at the very least, incredibly difficult unless you're somepony like Discord.

Just how much magical knowledge and power did those three possess?

She made her way to the guest room where the trio were residing in, only to find the door completely changed. In place of the usual pony-sized purple door, there was large, metallic circular door imbedded into the location where the original entrance should be, easily as tall as four ponies. Twilight realized it resembled the door of a bank vault.

The metal frame of the door was lined with strange glowing glyphs with colors that alternated between cyan, yellow, and red. The door itself was in a similar state, multiple glowing glyphs were engraved in a circular pattern surrounding three symbols placed in a triangular position at the center of the door itself.

The topmost symbol caught her eye, it bore a striking resemblance to her cutie mark, a six-pointed starburst. The only difference it had to hers was its vibrant cyan color and a smaller similarly six-pointed magenta colored star overlapping it instead of the being covered by the bigger one, with the points alternating between the bigger and smaller stars just like her own, the parts where both stars overlapped combined into a deep blue color. She assumed it was Midnight's cutie mark.

'Even more support on the parallel world theory' Twilight thought.

The symbol to the bottom left looked like the letter 'X', with its upper and lower ends curled, spiraling outwards. It was colored yellow that faded to black as it reaches the ends of the symbol. Twilight remembered seeing it on the large bell on Grogar's harness.

The last symbol on the bottom right was an eight-pointed starburst of various colors, with its vertical and horizontal points being longer than the diagonal points. By process of elimination, Twilight recognized it as Cosmos' symbol, though she hadn't seen it anywhere on Cosmos herself.

"Well, that's definitely... something." she mumbled to herself.

She knocked on the door and waited for a response, each knock made a low reverberating sound.

A moment passed with no reply.

When nopony answered, she tried to knock again. This time, however, there was a loud whirring noise that came from the door, followed by the sound of pressurized air being released from the frame. Suddenly, the door jerked ever so slightly downwards and eventually smoothly lowered itself into the floor, which, Twilight remembered, was supposed to be made of solid crystal.

What surprised her even more was the sight of a tall, imposing, looming figure of an alicorn looking down at her with their violet eyes and faintly glowing cyan sclera. The unexpected presence of the tall alicorn causing her to jump.

"M-Midnight!"

"Hm? Oh, hello princess, do you require any assistance from us?" Midnight casually asked from the doorway, not realizing she unintentionally jumpscared Twilight from her sudden appearance.

Twilight took a breath and quickly calmed herself, "Um, actually, I wanted to check up on you and your friends. Spike told me you did some, er, 'redecorating', so to speak, so I wanted to know if everything's going well."

"I see, well, I believe I may have frightened him when I manifested the first layer of our quarters. For that, I apologize." Midnight said as she bowed her head.

"It's fine, Midnight, you didn't actually scare him, I'd say you just surprised him more than anything else." assured Twilight.

"That is good to hear. Anyway, would you like enter and see what we have done with our given quarters, princess?" Midnight asked.

"Yes, if you don't mind, that is."

"Princess, you have been nothing but helpful and amicable to us since we first arrived in this world, know that you are always welcome in the Archives of the Forsaken Triumvirate." Midnight said as she stepped aside and motioned a wing around the interior of the room.

Twilight slowly walked into the room, she flinched slightly to the sound of the door closing behind her. Realizing what Midnight just said, she turned her head back to the taller alicorn, "Is that what you call yourselves?" she asked.

"Cosmos came up with that name as we were reforming the room, I still do not understand why she chose 'Triumvirate' specifically, since we do not hold any form of authority, well, anywhere." Midnight shrugged her wings and walked away from the door.

"Oh..." Twilight turned back and was immediately astonished by what she saw.

Spike wasn't exaggerating when he said it was 'gigantic'. Before her, was an expansive, circular room. Its diameter surpassing that of the castle's throne room. Bookshelves filled with countless books covered the entirety of the walls, practically replacing it. They were standing upon a platform that surrounded the inner walls of the room, with four pathways that connected each opposite end of the room with each other and meeting in middle, leaving quarter circle-shaped gaps guarded by rails.

At the center of the room was a large plate-shaped device, which was holding a floating set of spinning and twirling rings that were nested within each other, which in turn were containing a brightly glowing red orb inside them, all within an enclosed, round, cyan-colored magical field as big as the entire device itself.

Looking beyond the device, Twilight saw what looked to be a large glass screen, which was imbedded into the now non-crystalline wall. Below it was a series of various buttons and switches.

Twilight then shifted her gaze upwards, which revealed more full bookshelves and other platforms beyond the platform they were on, going way beyond the supposed maximum height of the castle.

Excited, Twilight went towards one of the gaps and peered downwards from the railings. She was met with the sight of even more bookshelves and platforms going beyond what should be solid ground.

Twilight looked back at Midnight with an amazed expression, "This... this is incredible, Midnight! How did you all do it? This should be impossible!"

Midnight chuckled in amusement at the young princess' foal-like wonder, "Impressive, is it not? You see, princess, due to my purpose of forging stars and decorating the heavens with them, I was gifted by Lady Faust, my creator, with a high affinity for reality magic, which is a form of magic that allows the user to, well, warp and bend space to their will. The only other beings who are capable of casting such magic without causing the immediate area to collapse upon itself and who are not spirits of Hades such as Cosmos, would be Lady Faust herself, and Trixie Lulamoon, the Peacekeeper of Reality and one of my dear sisters." Midnight explained, radiating an aura of pride when she mentioned her sister.

Listening to Midnight's explanation, Twilight's mind became a whirlwind of theories and questions. Lady Faust? Reality magic? Spirits of Hades? Trixie is her sister?!

"Wait wait wait, Trixie is your sister?!" Twilight asked, absolutely dumbfounded.

Midnight looked at the smaller alicorn with a raised eyebrow, "Yes, she is my sister. Is there something wrong, princess?" she asked, her tone was oddly defensive.

Twilight noticed this change in behavior and decided to share her thoughts, she didn't want Midnight to misunderstand her, "I mean, well... you see, Midnight, I've had this theory that maybe the world you and your friends are from what might be a parallel world or alternate dimension to this world, in a way. At first, this theory was mostly based on how our voices sound similar, but that didn't really mean anything, it could've just been a coincidence. Then, Fluttershy mentioned that this world had its own Grogar who was a villain from a storybook, and if the theories from scholars about said book are true, Grogar was a real figure in Equestrian history. It was more evidence, but there still wasn't enough to properly support the theory.

"Later, when I came to check up on you, I saw on the door how similar your cutie mark is to mine, give or take some details, which of course, was more evidence for the theory. And then, during this conversation, you mentioned the full name of a pony who's their own unique individual here. Could you possibly describe how she looks and acts?" Twilight finished her explanation with a careful question.

Midnight paused and put a hoof to her chin in thought, "Hm... well, I am afraid I am not very good with physical descriptions, princess."

"Just try to the best of your abilities. If I can get at least some kind of description of your Trixie, I can compare her with the information I know of Equestria's Trixie." Twilight encouraged her.

Seeing the smaller alicorn's hopeful look, she gave in, "I shall try, princess." she started to pace around the platform, "Let us begin with her behavior, she can be quite the braggart at times, this is a source of contention between her and the beings she makes contact with; she is very determined, once she focuses on an objective, she will not stop until said objective is completed; many would consider her to be quite eccentric due to her interest in 'performing', as she likes to say; and she has a tendency to speak in third being.

"For her physical description... her coat is a shade of blue, somewhat pale, but still quite vibrant... I suppose?" Midnight said hesitantly.

Twilight looked around the room to find an example, she took out a book from the wall and held it in front of her, "Like this?"

Midnight nodded, "The very same color as the cover."

Sure enough, it was colored in a familiar shade of azure, the same color as the coat of certain showboating unicorn.

Midnight continued with her description, "Her mane and tail are... silver? With a hint of blue. There are lighter streaks among the darker hairs. Being a transcendent alicorn like I am, her excess magical energy manifests through them, along with her horn, wings, and hooves; making them flow as if they were being constantly blown by wind. Though, she keeps her mane relatively short compared to mine and our siblings, as she finds it obtrusive."

Twilight returned the book and took out another one, "Are the colors similar to this?"

Its cover was colored pale cornflower blue.

Midnight nodded again, "Yes, but there are streaks of a lighter form of that specific color as well."

"Alright, so I guess that confirms it then, your Trixie is identical to Equestria's, excluding the fact that she's an alicorn with what I assume is a big role in your society. Your world is a parallel dimension to Equestria, or vice versa, it really depends on which one came first." Twilight clarified.

"That is quite the significant discovery, princess, I must inform Cosmos and Grogar of this revelation immediately." Midnight took a deep breath.

"COMPUTER!" Midnight suddenly shouted towards the upper levels of the archive, in a voice that Twilight assumed was Midnight's version of the Royal Canterlot Voice. This caused Twilight to cover her ears with her hooves and wings in a fruitless attempt at protecting her hearing.

Once the archives stopped echoing, a disembodied voice made itself known, "I have a name, you know." it said, displeasure clear in its tone.

Twilight found this voice to be quite familiar, she just couldn't put her hoof on it.

In a flash of light, an ethereal figure of a small alicorn mare appeared in front of them, she had an amber-colored coat, a two-toned mane and tail of bright red and yellow, cyan eyes, and on her flanks was a cutie mark in the shape of a red and yellow sun.

Midnight looked at the alicorn with an amused expression, "I know, but it gets your attention."

The translucent alicorn rolled her eyes and turned to the princess, who was owlishly staring at her, "You must be the pri-"

"Sunset Shimmer?!" Twilight blurted out, completely interrupting her.

Sunset blinked, and looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow, "Okay, rude. And yeah, it's me, I'm guessing Midnight told you about me?" she asked, clearly annoyed.

Twilight flattened her ears and Midnight interjected before Sunset started ranting at the princess, "Not exactly, you see, Sunset, it appears that your initial calculations were indeed correct, we have travelled to a world that is parallel to ours, where beings who exist in ours also exist here, albeit with certain differences." Midnight looked back at the princess, "I take it your world also has a Sunset Shimmer?"

"Yes, but she's not an alicorn, she's a unicorn, and also a lot more... solid." she put a hoof to her chin, "Well, only a unicorn when she's in Equestria anyway, it's a long story." Twilight turned to the ethereal alicorn with an apologetic look, "I'm sorry for interrupting you like that, by the way."

Sunset's expression softened and she sighed despite not having lungs, "It's fine, it's fine, you're just shocked, I guess, parallel dimensions and alternate universes and all that jazz." she looked towards Midnight again, "Anyway, what do want, Midnight?"

"Could you notify Cosmos and Grogar to meet with me at the core room?" Midnight asked.

Sunset huffed, "Fine." she lit her horn and launched two red orbs which went above and below the platform they were on, "Could've done it yourself." she muttered under her artificial breath.

"But then you wouldn't have met Princess Twilight." Midnight told her.

Sunset rolled her eyes, "What else do you want?"

Before Midnight could say anything, the three alicorns heard knocking from the door, Sunset's eyes suddenly glowed brightly and then went back to normal, "Little dragon guy at the door."

"Spike?" Twilight looked towards the door.

"Let him in." Midnight told Sunset.

"Aye aye, captain..." Sunset replied sarcastically.

The door opened to reveal Spike, who stood there with an awestruck expression, "Okay..." he shook his head and looked into the room, "Uh, hey, Twilight, Midnight... Sunset?"

"This is gonna get annoying real quick." Sunset facehoofed and shook her head.

"U-um, the princesses are here, I told them to wait in the throne room" Spike said as he was staring at the various oddities within the room.

"Oh no, I totally forgot! Hold on, Spike, we need to wait for Grogar and Cosmos." said Twilight.

Just as Spike was about to reply, Cosmos arrived through a tear in reality that she opened up using her tail. Grogar emerged through a yellow portal from the ground not long after.

Cosmos looked around the round and at the assorted beings within it, "What's up, Middy?"

"Initially, I wanted to inform you of the revelation that the world we arrived in is an alternate version of ours, but it appears that we will soon have a meeting with the absolute rulers of this nation," Midnight looked towards the princess in the room, "is that correct, princess?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the co-rulers of Equestria, I sent a letter to inform them about your unexpected arrival. Sorry about not telling you sooner, I sort of got caught up in... all of this." Twilight said as she rubbed the back of her head.

Grogar waved a hoof dismissively, "We don't mind, princess, I would honestly rather get this done with now than later. It's not often they get extradimensional immigrants, I'd imagine."

"Celestia and Luna... my nieces?" Midnight's eyes widened in realization.

Once again Twilight and Spike found themselves absolutely floored by the pieces of information Midnight casually shared, "Nieces?!" they both asked at the same time.

"Indeed," Midnight replied, "Celestia and Luna are the daughters of my sisters and fellow Guardians, Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon respectively. Despite being cousins, they are as close as sisters, many often mistake them as such.

"Always getting into trouble those two, to think, they would be rulers of an entire nation..." Midnight chuckled at the thought; it seemed Grogar, Cosmos, and Sunset shared the same sentiment as they snickered along with her.

'Just how crazy can her world be?' Twilight thought to herself.

Spike cleared his throat to get everybeing's attention, "Guys, princesses?" he pointed a thumb towards the direction of the throne room.

"Ah, right, let us go then, and Sunset? You may continue with your duties now." said Midnight as she and the other made their way to the hallway.

"No way! I gotta see what Cel and Lu are like as princesses," she lit her horn, and a floating saucer appeared above her, "alright, let's go!"

Midnight looked at her digital companion, "If that is what you wish."

As the group of assorted beings made their way into the throne room, they were met with the presence of the two members of the Equestrian diarchy.

Midnight, Cosmos, and Grogar bowed, Twilight and Spike joined on the princesses' side, and Sunset stood near the door behind her developers, watching it all unfold.

Princess Celestia told them to rise and greeted them, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Midnight, Grogar, and Cosmos, I am Princess Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Sun."

Princess Luna stepped up, "And I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the Night, we would like to welcome you to our glorious nation, and we hope you've enjoyed your stay so far."

"We have, your highnesses, it's all thanks to Princess Twilight's help that we are able to find shelter immediately upon our arrival." said Grogar.

Celestia nodded in understanding, "That's very good to hear, I am actually glad you arrived somewhere within her domain, as I would say that she along with her friends are the most suited to dealing with situations such as these. I'd imagine if it were anypony else, they would have been frightened by the sudden appearance of three unknown creatures within their property."

Midnight nodded as well, agreeing with Celestia's words, "Yes, I doubt a simple mortal being would have been equipped to tend to three extradimensional visitors."

Twilight and Spike watched the conversation from the side of the princesses. Twilight was intently listening to the five beings converse when she felt a scaly claw poke her foreleg.

"Yes, Spike?" she whispered.

"Midnight's taller than Celestia." he whispered back.

"What?"

"Midnight is taller than Celestia." he whispered again, this time just a bit louder.

Twilight turned her head to the two tallest alicorns in the room. Sure enough, Midnight was about two and a half heads taller than Celestia, causing the extradimensional alicorn to look down from her position to make eye contact. This, like every other thing relating to Midnight and her friends, surprised her, how could she not realize?

The longer she thought about it, the more it made sense, though. Midnight claimed that Celestia and Luna were her nieces, it made sense that the older alicorn would be taller, Celestia is the oldest alicorn in Equestria, and she's the tallest pony Twilight knew. But that begged the question, just how old is Midnight? Twilight wanted to continue that train of thought, but it, along with the conversation between the royals and their otherworldly guests, was interrupted by a loud snort followed by giggling coming from the direction of the door.

Celestia craned her neck to the side to look beyond her three guests, only to find... Sunset, with wings, trying and failing to stifle her laughter with a hoof to her mouth, whose body had about as much opacity as a windigo.

"S-Sunset?" she asked tentatively.

This snapped Sunset into attention, she looked at Celestia in the eye and heaved a digital sigh, "Hoo boy, here we go..."

Celestia stepped closer to her with a sad look in her eyes, "Sunset, I-"

Before she was able to say anything, Sunset held up a hoof, "Okay, before we get into a perpetual loop of misunderstandings, I'm just gonna say it. I'm not the Sunset from your world, I'm from theirs." she said as she pointed to the trio with a wing.

Celestia's eyes widened, "What?"

Seeing Celestia's confusion, Twilight and Midnight decided to quickly explain to her and Luna about how Equestria and the trio's home world were alternate versions of each other, and that there are other versions of themselves living there, not unlike the mirror portal where Equestria's Sunset lives. Throughout her explanation both princesses seemed to shift between various expressions, such as confusion, intrigue, surprise, amusement, and more as they went on.

Luna nodded after the two finished their short lecture, "I see," she looked at the trio, "so your world is many times more advanced than our own, and there are other versions of ourselves in your world, in which your version Celestia and I are... your nieces? And are cousins?" she asked Midnight.

"Yes."

"And I am the daughter of Nightmare Moon?" Luna added.

"Correct." Midnight verified.

Luna then turned to Sunset, "And you were our foalsitter?"

Sunset nodded, "Yep."

Celestia rubbed the bridge of her snout and slowly shook her head, "This is... a lot to take in, the world beyond Starswirl's mirror was at least a lot more straightforward."

Midnight looked at the solar princess, "Starswirl? A version of my brother exists here too, I see."

The three princesses and baby dragon could only stare in shock.

"Brother?!" Twilight nearly shouted.

Spike threw his arms in exasperation, "Just how many siblings do you have?"

"Including myself, there are twenty of us. We are collectively known as the Guardians of Tellus. We were all created by Lady Faust, The Beacon of Creativity, to maintain and protect the realm of Tellus in the name of Existence and Creation." Midnight explained, "At least, we were supposed to." she lightly stamped her hoof and ruffled her wings. Cosmos put a hand on Midnight's withers to calm her.

Grogar decided it was time to chime in. "Cosmos and I possess similar roles for the forces of Hades and Oblivion respectively, we too, have our own groups dedicated to maintaining and protecting Tellus under their names. I am a part of the Heralds of Oblivion, while Cosmos is a member of the Ballasts of Sanity."

Luna nodded, "I see, and you were all members of high ranking, I presume? Considering the feats of magic that Princess Twilight had told us."

Grogar stroked his beard in thought, "For the Heralds? Yes. The title of 'Embodiment of Oblivion' is bestowed upon the most experienced and well-versed in void and primal magic, while the Guardians consider themselves equal," he heard Midnight snort in contempt, "as for the Ballasts..."

"The Ballasts choose the spirit with the least comprehensible creations for Impossibility and the most stable creations for Probability, that's why I'm the Avatar of Impossibility." Cosmos completed his sentence.

Luna then turned to Sunset, who was using her wings to hold a device that seemed to control the movements of a pony character that appeared on a floating screen in front of her, Luna seemed interested, for a moment, "And as for you, Sunset?" she asked.

Sunset dismissed the device and screen to look at Luna, "I'm a sapient Artificial Intelligence that was developed by those three numbskulls," she pointed a wing at the trio, "because they're too lazy to do anything."

"Artificial intelligence?" Luna inquired.

"Tech stuff, Equestria's not at that level of advancements yet." Sunset explained unhelpfully.

"Very well then."

Celestia stood up straight and walked over to the trio with Twilight and Spike, "Unfortunately, I believe it's time for Luna and I to return to Canterlot, we apologize for the inconvenience." she said to the extradimensionals.

Midnight waved a hoof, "Of course, your highness, you must be very busy with duties. I must admit, it feels quite surreal to see my nieces, who are typically quite unruly, become wise leaders of an entire nation."

Celestia chuckled, "I agree, I also find it fairly surreal that a former student of mine was my foalsitter." she smiled at Sunset.

Luna walked over to the door, "Farewell, everycreature. May we meet again soon." and left the room.

Celestia walked up to the door as well, before turning around, "Midnight, Cosmos, Grogar, please understand that if you ever have any trouble in adapting to Equestria, or have any questions pertaining to it, we," she waved a hoof at Twilight and Spike, as well as herself, "will always be there to help you."

Midnight smiled and bowed her head, "Understood, your highness."

Celestia continued her way to the door and looked at Sunset, "Goodbye, Sunset." she said with a sad smile.

The ethereal alicorn smiled back at her and waved a hoof, "Bye."

When Celestia finally left the room and closed the door, Sunset looked to Twilight and Spike with a confused expression, "What was that about?"

"It's... a long story." Twilight said hesitantly.

It was sometime later when the co-rulers of Equestria arrived back in Canterlot, they were now walking through a hallway, deep in conversation about their visitors from another world.

"What do you think, Tia? An alicorn, likely older than us combined, practically overflowing with magical energy, from an alternate universe, no less, who is friends with a spirit of a similar nature to Discord, and a powerful sorcerer who ponies may recognize as a villain from legend, along with full mastery of technology beyond our comprehension, just living in a small peaceful town and acting like nothing is out of the ordinary?" Luna asked her sister.

"Midnight said that they simply wish to continue living peacefully, you read the letter Luna, they were betrayed by their own kind despite their undying loyalty to them. They've gone through a lot, and I don't want to rob them of the happiness they have. If anything, I believe that their presence here could help Equestria." Celestia shared her thoughts with her sister.

"Help Equestria? Is this like that time you tried to reform Discord with the Element Bearers?"

"It's similar, but unlike him, they never denied the magic of friendship, they have already embraced it, no need in reforming. They said they maintained and protected their own world, who's to say they can't do the same with Equestria?" Celestia continued.

"Then we'll need to gain their loyalty first." Luna countered.

"And that's why I think exposing them to Twilight and her friends would help them appreciate what Equestria has to offer." said Celestia confidently.

Luna looked at the mosaics as the two of them passed through the hallway and sighed, "I hope you're right, sister."

Author's Note

And here we have the debut of Holo-Sunset! She'll be appearing every now and then.
This chapter is full of exposition, but I assure you, dear readers, we'll be progressing the story again soon!

Next chapter: Discord stole Cosmos' Battlemace set? :rainbowhuh:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Intermission : The Peacekeeper and The Vanguard

In a dark room, deep beneath even the foundations of Lady Faust's castle, only illuminated by a single crystal light, and from the magic of two equine beings, who stood in front of a stone table with stacks of paper, pens, and inactive holo-readers spread upon its surface.

Both of these beings were tall, both possessed single keratinous horns that glowed and thrummed with immense magical power, along with wings that showed leylines of magic coursing through them. Their manes and tails flowed, as if blown by an omnipresent gust of wind, and their hooves glowed with unreleased energy.

One of them had a vibrant azure coat, with a cornflower blue mane and tail that had streaks of a lighter shade of the same color. The horn on their head was long and curved upwards, it glowed with powerful pale purple-colored energy just like the tip of their hooves. The leylines on their wings branched from the central node to each primary feather. Their Mark of Destiny was that of a sharp, five-pointed star surrounded by a crescent-shaped wisp of sparkling magic that interweaved each point. Their regalia was made out of a light blue alloy with silver highlights that glowed a pale purple near the edges. This was Trixie Lulamoon, Peacekeeper of Reality.

The being next to her was covered from head to hoof with gold-colored armor, it wasn't as ornately designed as her regalia, but it was tougher than any known material on Tellus sans starsteel. Through some of the openings of their armor, one would be able to see their pale amber coat. Upon their helmet was a sapphire blue crest that moved like fire, the same color as their mane and tail. Their horn glowed a deep blue just like their hooves and the leylines on their armored wings. Their Mark of Destiny was covered by the plating, but is emblazoned on the peytral instead, it was of a blue shield, with a sword and spear crossed behind it, and a gold lightning bolt plastered at the front. It was Flash Sentry, Vanguard of Tellus.

"So you're saying, Midnight and her friends opened up a portal to... another universe?" Flash asked.

Trixie nodded, "Yes. Based on the readings from Trixie's sensors, there was an unsanctioned tenth-tier rift in reality that opened up somewhere around Midnight's last known location."

Flash nodded as well, "Alright. They went to another universe. Now what?"

Trixie turned to the large rolled up sheet of paper, "We'll open our own portal to follow Midnight."

Flash looked to his sister, "And we're going to bring her back, right?"

Trixie went silent for a moment, she put a hoof on to the rolled-up diagrams and brought it closer, "It's a one-way trip."

"Woah, wait, what?! So we're going to leave? Just like that?" Flash asked incredulously.

"Yes." Trixie said simply.

Flash took a moment to collect his thoughts, "But why?"

"Consider this a form of retaliation to Midnight's wrongful banishment. They were framed! could the Council not see that? Even after five hundred revolutions, an entire mountain of evidence curated by yours truly, and multiple back-flashes done by Turner himself, they still think she was at fault for the sector's destruction! It's as if those bumbling fools at the Council are under some mind-altering charm or something! The Majestic and Magnificent Trixie will never associate herself with those idiots!" Trixie exclaimed; her wings ruffled against her sides.

"You know, I kinda think they might be." Flash thought aloud.

"Even if that's true, we wouldn't be able to do anything due to our respective domains. We would have to consult Thorax, Rabia, or Jerome, who want nothing to do with our cause." Trixie commented.

Flash sighed, "Yeah..." he turned his gaze to the rolled-up sheet, and then back to Trixie, "You know they're going to blow a fuse when they realize we're gone."

"Trixie has prepared for this. Trixie's apprentice, Accord, shall take Trixie's role as the Peacekeeper; he has a well enough reputation between Skyros and Hades to maintain their diplomatic relationship. You, brother of mine, will be replaced by General Scorpan. He has the most qualifications required to be the Vanguard. Trixie has gifted them with transcendence shards to use so they can fit into their respective roles." Trixie explained.

"Well, alright then. Scorpan's a good kid, he's got the guts." Flash added.

"And Accord is an elder spirit, he understands Hades more than Trixie ever will in a trillion revolutions." Trixie admitted.

Flash raised an eyebrow, "Wow, the Majestic and Magnificent Trixie praising somebeing else?" he teased.

Trixie huffed, "Can't a teacher be proud of her student's achievements?"

Flash chuckled, "Alright, alright." he opened up the roll in his magic, "Anyway, how are we going to do this, then?"

"We'll need to gather some components first. It shouldn't be too hard since we have access to most of it in Skyros already, but we may need to visit Hades and Tambelon for the rarer stuff." Trixie informed.

Flash nodded, "Okay, and I take it we need to keep this all under wraps?"

"Mhm. If anybeing finds out, cast a short-term mind wipe, or if necessary, use amnestics." Trixie confirmed as she took the diagram back and stored it in hammerspace.

Flash nodded, "'Kay."

The two transcendent alicorns then made their way out of the ancient underground room and went their separate ways, pretending that the meeting never even happened. They both silently vowed to meet with their lost sister once more.

Author's Note

Oooooh~ What's this? A peek at what's going on in Skyros?

Next chapter: Fluttershy pets a hydra?! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 2 : First Contact

To say that the Equestrians in the room were confused would be an understatement, they all had dozens of questions swirling around their minds about what in the name of Celestia just happened, who are these creatures? Is that another alicorn? Where did they come from? How did they get in? Was that a portal? Should we start preparing for a welcome party?

"Enough of this." Midnight lit her horn and teleported the three of them into a standing position merely two feet away from the group of ponies and dragon, with Grogar on her right and Cosmos to her left.

"Greetings, we are extradimensional travelers who have left our home world in search of refuge, our goal is to find a new home in which we may be able to continue existing peacefully in. I am Midnight, the Forger of Stars." said Midnight as she smiled and dipped her head.

Grogar stepped up and followed after her, "I am Grogar, Embodiment of Oblivion."

"And I'm Cosmos, Avatar of Impossibility." Cosmos concluded with a smirk and wink.

Midnight stepped closer to the smaller alicorn at the front of the group and extended a hoof, this action snapped Twilight out of her trance, and she tentatively shook the larger alicorn's hoof, "U-um, Yes! Er, hello as well, I-I'm Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, it's nice to meet you." she said followed by an awkward smile.

Twilight's title immediately pulled Midnight's attention, her eyes seem to widen, "A princess, you say?" she then took a step back, bowed down, and extended her wings close to the floor, "My sincerest apologies your highness, we did not mean to intrude upon your domain, we will accept any and all punishments you deem just for our transgressions."

The sudden shift in Midnight's tone and demeanor utterly baffled Twilight along with her friends, the two other beings in the room weren't as shocked as the ones in front of them, but they did share a look of concern with one another.

"Wait! There's no need for anything like that! Um, you said you didn't mean it, right? It's just an accident, a-and since you're sorry about it I've forgiven you! Just... You don't need to bow, please?" Twilight frantically assured Midnight.

Midnight stood up again and looked at the princess, "Truly? It cannot be that simple, your highness."

"No no, it's alright, I won't punish you just because of a mishap, I'm not that kind of pony. Oh! And please, there's no need for titles, just call me Twilight or Princess Twilight if you really want to be formal." Twilight said as she stepped closer towards Midnight with a kind smile.

Midnight was amazed by what she saw, how could this royal be so... humble? In the billions of revolutions she spent as a Guardian of Skyros, she had never met beings of high authority who were as humble or forgiving as the little alicorn princess in front of her, "I... Thank you, Princess Twilight, you are a very forgiving ruler." she replied, returning the smile.

"Oh, and these are my friends!" Twilight said as she took a step back to allow her friends to introduce themselves.

First came in Rainbow Dash, she flew up above her friends and struck a pose, "The name's Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria!"

Then followed by Pinkie Pie, who popped out between Cosmos and Midnight, causing them to flinch in surprise, "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I'd love be friends with you!"

They looked back at the group to find Pinkie still among them, then looked back between them only to see her gone, neither detected nor sensed any form of teleportation remnant from where they stood.

"Heh, a little wallbreaker, that one" Cosmos muttered.

Next was Applejack, who tipped her hat, "Howdy, my name's Applejack, I'm an apple farmer on Sweet Apple Acres, nice to meet y'all."

Then Rarity stepped up and flicked her mane, "My name is Rarity, I am a fashion designer and seamstress, as well as the proud owner of Carousel Boutique. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Following Rarity was Fluttershy, "M-my name is Fluttershy, a-and I like to take care of animals." she said softly as she hid behind her mane.

"And I'm Spike The Dragon, Twilight's number one assistant!" Spike exclaimed proudly.

Grogar looked at the assorted creatures in front of him and smiled, "We too, are happy to meet you all, such kind beings."

"Again, we're sorry about the whole 'dropping out of a portal in your private property' thing." Cosmos added.

"It's fine, really." Twilight assured her.

A moment passed in silence, either party not knowing what to do next. Then, Twilight spoke up, "Erm, could you please excuse us for a moment? I need to discuss some things with my friends." she pointed towards the door.

"You need not ask permission from us, princess. This is your domain; you can take as much time as you require." Midnight told the smaller alicorn.

Twilight nodded and gathered with her friends outside the room, closing the door as they made their way out.

After the doors closed, Cosmos pulled Midnight in a one-armed hug and noogied her, "Atta girl! And that's why we always have you doing the speaking!"

Grogar looked towards them, "I must say, I've never seen royalty be so... nice, before. It's quite surreal to witness."

Midnight pulled herself free from Cosmos and smoothed out her flowing mane, "Indeed, I was very surprised when she said she had forgiven us, I know many a ruler who would have thrown a fit knowing their palace had been intruded, even if it were an accident. What an odd individual, in a good way, of course."

Cosmos looked around the room, "So..." she drawled, "what do we do now?"

"For now, I believe we should wait for our hostess to return." Grogar said as he looked towards the crystalline thrones.

Cosmos followed his gaze, "Dang, must be for meetings with other rulers or something," she walked towards the center of the room, "with a big 'ol crystal holo-map."

She looked back towards Midnight, "Hey Middy, maj or tek?"

Midnight walked closer to the map, put her forehooves on its surface, and ran a scanning spell, "It is magical in nature, there are complex crystalline structures nested below the smooth surface, directing magical energy from..." she ran the spell again, "hm, an unidentifiable source, to project images of the surrounding landmass."

Cosmos let out a low whistle, "Some real fancy stuff. Must be rich as hades since she's able to afford all of this."

Putting a finger on her chin spine, Cosmos thought of an idea. She snapped her fingers and large gold box appeared next to her hooves, she opened it and took out two crystals, one was colored green and silver with the word "Necrum" elegantly engraved on one if its sides, while the other was a darker green with sploches of red, blue and yellow with the word "Urk" roughly engraved on it. Once she was done, she zapped the box with a beam from her horns and caused it to disappear.

"Hey Grogster!" she called out to Grogar and threw the green crystal at him, which he promptly caught, "Battlemace fifty million while we wait for the princess?"

Grogar looked at the crystal floating in his telekinetic grasp, "I highly doubt she'd leave for long, Cosmos. And don't you think this is disrespectful to her property?"

"Eh, she doesn't seem like the type of being who's gonna shout at us for messing around with her holo-map, and we can just keep the crystals in stasis in hammerspace if we can't finish." Cosmos assured her friend.

He thought about it for a moment and sighed, "Very well, but if she asks anything, you're doing the explaining."

"Sounds good to me!"

Midnight watched her friends play their little holo-game in amusement, the two of them were always so passionate about it. She never truly understood how or why they enjoyed it as much as the mortal alicorns did back in Skyros; she, along with her siblings and fellow Guardians were never very fond of the forms of entertainment the mortals invented, they found it frivolous and a waste of time, and Midnight was no exception to that way of thinking. However, seeing her friends happy also makes her happy, and that's all that matters for her.

The Equestrians made their way into the dining hall to begin discussing their 'guests' in private, once they were all seated, Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up, "Okay, is it just me, or did Midnight's voice sound almost exactly like Twilight's?"

Twilight herself actually agreed with her, "Yes, it was a little off-putting to hear my voice come out of a different body, it's... I don't really know how to describe it."

"Well, she did say they were extradi-watchamacallit, didn't she?" asked Applejack, "Maybe it's like that mirror portal world thing, the one you told us about with the other uses and where Sunset Shimmer lives? Maybe she's another you."

"It's possible, but it seems like they used a different method to travel from their world to ours, they can't be from that world specifically since the only way we know of is through the mirror, the portal they used seemed different, and Midnight was knowledgeable enough in magic to know how to teleport herself and other creatures despite the other world lacking any natural magic." Twilight thought aloud with a hoof to her chin.

"Also, the fact that she's an alicorn, a fairly tall one at that, likely means that she's been that way for quite a long time, which also means that the way they look now is probably the same way they looked in their world as well," Twilight sighed, "I think I should keep that theory for later. What are your thoughts on them? For me, they definitely seem pretty intimidating."

Rarity decided to chime in, "I must say, that Midnight is very polite. She seems like a rather nice pony, and I really like the look of her peytral, such an intricate yet beautiful design. I can't say anything about her companions, aside from introductions, they didn't speak much, but they didn't seem quite bad."

"Cosmos seems fun! She kinda looks like Discord if he wasn't so topsy-turvy and jumbled up! If they really are from another dimension, then I can't wait to give them a 'Welcome to Ponyville and Equestria' party! Do you think they have cupcakes where they're from?" Pinkie gasped, "What if they've never tasted a cupcake before?! I need to-" before she was able to go anywhere, she was silenced by an orange hoof to her mouth.

"Settle down sugarcube, you'll get to bakin' 'em cupcakes after we know what's goin' on with them. Okay?"

Pinkie Pie nodded, and Applejack lowered her hoof, "Okey dokey lokey!" she exclaimed.

"Um, if I'm not mistaken, Grogar was a villain from a storybook. I think it was called 'Gusty the Great' if I remember correctly," added Fluttershy, "but this Grogar doesn't seem very... Evil."

"Hm, yes, I think I remember reading it to Sweetie Belle when she was younger." said Rarity as she looked up in thought.

"Well, I suppose that supports the theory of them being from another parallel world, since as far as I know, that story may be based in actual history, it's theorized that Grogar was once an evil tyrannical sorcerer who ruled over Equestria using armies of monsters, but has since been banished by Gusty just like the story in that book, which means it's entirely possible that he's another version of Grogar who went down a different path due to the differences between our worlds" Twilight stated.

Spike decided to put his two bits in, "Didn't Midnight say they were seeking refuge? Something must've happened to them or their world that forced them to go to a different one entirely. Maybe it got destroyed or something?"

"That's definitely something we'll have to ask them to elaborate on when we go back," said Twilight as she hopped off her seat, "maybe for now, we'll ask them about the specifics of their situation, and if they really are telling the truth, and are just trying to find a new home, I might let them stay in the castle."

Her friends were quite alarmed by this statement, they all looked at each other with uncertainty clear in their expressions.

"Are you sure Twilight? Aren't you like, still suspicious of them? I mean, they literally dropped in out of nowhere. We don't know if they're just pretending to be good to throw us off." Rainbow told Twilight, still not entirely trusting of their surprise guests.

"I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, if what they say about finding a new home is true, then as a good pony and the Princess of Friendship, it is my duty to help those in need, even they're from another dimension." Twilight told her friends confidently.

Hearing Twilight's proclamation, her friends too felt a sudden surge of confidence, if these beings were simply trying to find a new home, then by Celestia's cake stash they'll get one! And perhaps, in time, they'll all be good friends with trio as well.

When the group of six ponies and one dragon got close to the large doors of the throne room, they found that they could hear odd noises coming from the other side. The sounds of magical blasts, clashing metal, and various other sounds mixed in with occasional bouts of laughter from who they assumed to be Grogar and Cosmos.

"What on Equestria is going on in there?" asked Rarity, as she leaned closer to the doors.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, "Only one way to find out."

She proceeds to open the doors from her elevated position and was met with the second odd occurrence from the throne room for the day.

Grogar and Cosmos were standing on opposite sides of the map with their forelimbs resting on its surface, each of them had two, strangely colored crystals floating beside them which were projecting moving images that seemed to be fighting one another upon the map's surface. Grogar's side was populated by an army of bipedal metal skeletons who were using magic tubes to blast away their enemies, while Cosmos' side was filled to the brim with similarly bipedal but bulkier green creatures in colorful armor using odd devices to fight off the oncoming attackers.

Suffice to say, the Equestrians were yet again utterly confused by the antics of their extradimensional visitors.

Midnight saw them enter and greeted them with a smile, "Ah, Princess Twilight, welcome back."

"Hello, Midnight! Uh... If you don't mind me asking, what are they doing?" Twilight asked the taller alicorn with her eyes locked on to the map's display.

"Hm? Oh, yes, you see princess, they are playing a strategic battle simulation holographic video game called 'Dawn of Battle: Battlemace Fifty Million'; they decided to play a couple of rounds while we waited for you to return." Midnight explained.

"I-I see..." Twilight wanted to ask her how she know about 'video games' considering that such a concept existed beyond the mirror portal but decided to keep it for later.

Midnight called out to her friends, "Cosmos! Grogar! Cease! The princess has returned."

The two were snapped out of their laser focus and looked at their returning hosts who were staring at them, they quickly and frantically casted a stasis spell on their respective crystals and stowed them away in their hammerspace, "P-princess! Um, w-we didn't break anything, I swear!" Cosmos stammered as her frills slightly unfurl and twitch behind her cheeks.

"W-we assure you; our games did not affect the map or its display in any way, shape, or form!" Grogar helpfully added.

"Um..." Twilight looked at Midnight with uncertainty.

"Fret not, princess, I made sure to watch over them as they played. Fau- goodness knows how many times they made a mess when they get 'into it'." Midnight assured Twilight and used her primary feathers to do a quoting gesture.

"Okay then, well... Anyway, we came here to ask you three some questions regarding your situation." said Twilight while stepping closer towards the trio.

"We would be more than happy to answer them, princess."

"Alright, so, first question, why would you want to seek refuge in another word entirely and not somewhere in your home world?" Twilight asked, this particular question was important, as it would help her understand the motives of her guests.

"We were wrongfully accused, convicted, and exiled by the authorities of the nation we lived in, and by the very laws of nature within our realm, we would have been erased from existence if we continue to persist in it without purpose. Our decision was based primarily based on self-preservation, as we believe that we still deserve to exist and live." Midnight explained plainly.

"Now why would they do that? The authorities, I mean." asked Applejack.

Cosmos decided to speak up, "It's possible that we were framed by somebeing else, we've theorized a lot during exile on who could've done it. There are three possible suspects: Rabia, Warden of Darkness; Thorax, Shepherd of The Swarm; or Opaline Arcana, Guardian of the Ancient Flame."

"To think, one of my own siblings and fellow Guardian did this to us." Midnight muttered to herself quietly with a scowl.

This revelation both shocked and intrigued the Equestrians, they didn't realize how dire of a situation their three visitors were in. This caused a wave of sympathy to go over them.

"I'm sorry hear that..." Twilight said.

Midnight turned her gaze towards the young princess, "You do not need to feel sorry for us, princess; it is all in the past now, we have since focused all of our efforts on finding a new home, and so far, I believe it has been quite successful." she smiled and draped her wings over her two companions.

That small action brought smiles to the Equestrians; it seems like they're not as intimidating as they appear to be.

"I'm glad the three of you have found solace despite the situation you were in." Twilight smiled kindly at the trio, which was gladly returned.

"Now, I believe it's time for the next question, what do you plan on doing now?"

Midnight replied first, "We would like to find a place to reside in, which reminds me, princess, are there perhaps any lodgings within this area?"

"As far as I'm aware, no unfortunately, Ponyville doesn't have any yet, we don't usually get many visitors since we're very close to the Everfree Forest," Twilight explained.

"But... I do have a proposal for you." she added.

The trio looked at each other, silently conversing amongst themselves, "We're listening." said Cosmos.

"Have you considered staying at the castle?" Twilight asked slowly.

The trio knew that Princess Twilight was kind and humble, but allowing them to just... stay in her castle? Just like that?

"But princess, would we not be a burden to the caretakers of your abode?" Midnight reasoned, "Surely there are other locations where we may find lodgings?"

"Oh, nopony other than Spike and I live in the castle, my friends have their own homes and jobs so it's usually just the two of us taking care of it." Twilight countered.

"But are you sure you have enough rooms for us to stay in, princess?" Grogar questioned.

"Yes, I believe there are at least five guest rooms in this castle, so there'll be enough room for the three of you and then some!" Twilight continued.

The trio mulled over their choices, decline the princess' offer and try to make their own way through an unknown world without any help, or accept her offer and stay in a presumably well-stocked, well-fortified, and well-cared for castle, with a helpful source of information regarding the world they're residing in. They'd have to be fools to decline.

Despite that, they still felt like they should at the very least repay the princess in some way.

Midnight looked towards Twilight and smiled, "We would gladly accept your offer princess, though I doubt our currency would have the same value in your realm, so we would like to repay you with our services."

"You don't need to repay anything, really, I know you've all been through a lot, and you deserve someplace to stay that isn't just some old motel in the middle of nowhere." Twilight told them, trying to gently decline their offer.

But Midnight didn't back down, "You said that you and Mister Spike here are the only ones who reside in and take care of this fairly large castle, so, in return for allowing us to stay within your domain, we will aid you in maintaining, protecting, and doing other various tasks within it. It is the least we can do princess, think of it as our way of saying 'thank you'." she insisted.

Twilight thought this over and sighed, "Alright, I won't stop you from helping out around the castle, but I also won't be actively telling you all to do stuff either." she relented.

Grogar nodded in understanding, "You won't regret this decision, princess."

A little bit after their conversation, Twilight told Spike to guide the trio to their rooms while she said goodbye to her friends for the day. They were still a little uneasy leaving Twilight and Spike alone with the three visitors, but she assured them that they were able to handle it themselves.

After they went their separate ways, Spike returned from the guest rooms.

"Oh man, Twilight, you wouldn't believe what they just did!" Spike excitedly told Twilight as he went down the stairs.

"What is it, Spike? What did they do?" Twilight asked him, concerned about their guests.

"Okay, so, when we got to one of the guest rooms, Midnight told me they actually only needed one, so she went in, lit her horn, and the entire room transformed into this gigantic library with a bunch of those computer things we saw in Canterlot High! I even saw doors leading to other rooms, but when I went outside, everything seems normal." He explained, still feeling absolutely amazed by what he saw.

(Meanwhile)

Midnight looked at the door where Spike just exited from, "I may have gone too far with the show of power..."

"Oh nonsense, I think he's just not used to seeing a transcendent alicorn do reality-warping magic; remember, only you and Lady Trixie are capable of doing them reliably without causing the surrounding area to implode." assured Grogar as he dismissively waved his hoof.

"I suppose you are right, let us continue redecorating, shall we?"

While Twilight really did want to see what Midnight did to the room, she realized that she still had more pressing matters to tend to, mainly informing Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of the sudden arrival of a mysterious group of creatures from another world in her castle, who seem to be led by an alicorn who has an eerily familiar voice.

"I see... Well, while I would like to learn how and why she did that, I think we have something more important to do. Spike, take a letter."

He dutifully grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from... Somewhere.

"Dear Princess Celestia..."

Author's Note

The second chapter! Our heroes meet up with... also our heroes.
There will be more information on Tellus as the story progresses, so stay tuned!

Next chapter: There's a pony taller than Celestia?! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 4 : Exploring Ponyville

The next morning was an especially busy one for the Castle of Friendship, as there were now three more creatures who dwelled within it. Twilight had invited the three of them to breakfast, and while they didn't actually need to eat, they wouldn't dare to disrespect the princess. So, the five inhabitants of the castle were now seated around the dining table as they dug into Spike's masterfully cooked waffles. Cosmos begged him for the recipe when she took her first bite.

After a moment of silent eating, Twilight spoke up, "So, what are you all planning to do today?"

"I think we're going to scout the area a bit. Maybe a little sightseeing, just checking things out, I guess." Cosmos answered as she tore off another sizeable chunk of her waffle with a fork.

"If I may ask, princess, what sort of beings reside in this region? Judging by the name of your nation, I'm assuming its primarily inhabited by equines and equinoids, yes?" Grogar asked while he wiped off crumbs from his beard.

Twilight nodded, "Yes, most of Equestria's citizens are ponies, but there are also other creatures who live here, like griffons, zebras, minotaurs, donkeys," she turned to Spike, "and occasionally, dragons."

She put a hoof to her chin, "There's also the deer in the Everfree, diamond dogs, and... One spirit of chaos? I think that about covers it."

Cosmos spat out her food, covering Grogar's face in the process, "One... Spirit of... Chaos? Y-you guys just let one spirit handle chaos?! Are you crazy?!" she slammed her hands on the table, her frills were flared and her wings unfurled slightly.

Twilight and Spike leaned back, taken aback by Cosmos' outburst.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself, "Sorry." she cleared her throat, "Do you know how- how bad this is, princess? If a spirit is tasked as a Chaosbringer on their own, they could- no, they will go insane, leaving only a husk of their maddened self. I wouldn't be surprised if they're going mad with power and currently planning on world domination as we speak."

"U-um... Well, he... Kind of... Did?" Twilight hesitantly answered, "B-but he's good now! He's been reformed, Discord's using his magic responsibly," she paused, "well, most of the time, anyway."

"Did somepony say my name?"

A voice can be heard from the other side of doors to the dining hall, Midnight, Cosmos, and Grogar seemed intrigued, while Twilight and Spike shared a look of concern.

Instantly, the doors burst open, allowing a roll of red carpet to pass by and stop near the table, Discord strolled in with sunglasses while various copies of himself cheered and clapped, some even took pictures.

Cosmos was astounded, her frills flared again, "HIM?! This world's version of him is the sole Chaosbringer?! In my world he just handles Mischief, simple normal Mischief! There's a reason Hades only gave him Mischief! Oooh, if he's anything like the one in Hades, he's a pain in the tail and a thief!"

"Hey now! Who are you calling a- wha..." Discord looked towards the being who insulted him and dropped his jaw, literally.

He cranked his jaw back into place and pointed at Cosmos, "C-C-C-Cosmos! But-but how?!" he looked towards the two familiar creatures in the room, "Twilight, Spike! Get away from her, she's dangerous!" in a flash, they were both now behind Discord.

"Wait! Discord!" Twilight tried to get his attention.

"Oh no no no!" Discord snapped his talon and disappeared; he returned mere moments later looking just as frantic but also fairly confused and in a suit of armor, "The stars are still there, so how..."

Cosmos stood up and waved her hands, "Woah, woah, this is a big misunderstanding! I'm not your Cosmos, I'm with them," she pointed to Midnight and Grogar, "from a different, alternate world. I'm gonna assume you and the other me had some history?"

"What?" Discord asked, dumbfounded.

Twilight walked up to him, "She's right, Discord, they're from another world, they're only here to find a home, so they're staying in the castle. I take it you knew our world's Cosmos?"

Discord stared at the other spirit for a moment, then turned to the new alicorn and ibex, and then at the princess and dragon, he then looked into the distance, staying silent.

Spike poked Discord's cervine leg, he didn't react, "I think we broke him Twi."

She shook his paw, "Discord?"

Twilight flew up to his face and waved a hoof, "Discord, are you alright?"

Discord didn't say or do anything, he stayed there, unblinking. Spike poked him again, still no reply, Twilight tried shaking his head, no reaction whatsoever.

Midnight and Grogar turned their gaze towards their chimeric friend, who held her hands in front of her, "Not it!" she exclaimed.

"Well, that's definitely something, alright." said Discord as came in out of nowhere, which got the attention of all the other creatures in the room.

He walked up to his catatonic lookalike and poked it, which caused the clone to deflate at flail around the room before vanishing.

He turned to the trio, "So you three are visitors from another world? My, how interesting, I wonder how much chaos you'll cause by just being here!"

"I'll be seeing you around, toodles!" Discord was about to snap his fingers to leave before he was caught in a red telekinetic aura.

Cosmos pulled him closer and glared at him, causing Discord to flinch, "Hold it, buster, I've got a few questions. First, what insane Force had the bright idea to drop the job of Chaosbringer on a single spirit, let alone you? Second, why the Hades are you using your powers like that? That's irresponsible! And third, is the other me some kind of villain?" Cosmos asked Discord before letting him go.

Discord rolled his eyes, "One, I don't know and don't care; B, because I can and I will; and tres, yes, you are, but we're not at that arc yet."

Cosmos raised an eye ridge, "And when will that start?"

Discord gasped dramatically, "Spoilers!"

She sighed and nodded, "Okay, fine, you can go now." she said.

Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared as Twilight and Spike made their way back to the table, "Sorry about that, Cosmos, Discord can be a little much sometimes."

Cosmos waved her hand, "Eh, it's not as bad as the usual antics other spirits get into in Hades. He's irresponsible with his powers, but he seems pretty tame compared to the other Discord, at least this one hasn't tried to steal my deluxe edition Battlemace crystal set yet."

Twilight nodded, even though she didn't really understand that last part, "I'm curious through, what did this world's Cosmos do to make even Discord scared of her?"

"Must have been quite the nasty villain." Grogar said as he picked off bits of waffle still stuck on his horns.

Midnight stood up and floated her and the others' tableware, "If you would excuse me, everybeing, I will retire to the kitchen do deal with these."

"Of course, do you know the way there?" Twilight asked.

"Sunset and I have mapped out the entirety of the castle's layout, do no worry, princess." Midnight assured.

"That's good to hear."

After Midnight left the room, Cosmos and Grogar also prepared to leave.

"Alright princess, we'll be waiting for Midnight at the foyer, and then we'll head out to town." Cosmos told Twilight as she and Grogar made their way to the door.

"Alright, have fun you three!" Twilight replied.

When the spirit and ibex exited the room, Twilight turned to Spike with a look he knew all too well, "You're going to do some research on this world's Cosmos, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yup!"

He sighed and got off his seat, "Okay then, let's go."

Midnight, Cosmos, and Grogar were now making their way into Ponyville, along the way, they received stares from every pony they passed, many were also whispering among themselves, gossiping about the new, never before seen alicorn and her entourage. This didn't bother them much though, they were used to mortals looking at them in awe, confusion, and fear, especially when they visited areas of Tellus that were disconnected from Skyros, Oblivion, and Hades.

"So, where to?" asked Cosmos.

"Based on the directions that Princess Twilight had presented to me last night, as well as Sunset's scans on the surrounding region, we shall be stopping by areas where the princess' friends are frequently found in, and while we progress, we can get accustomed to traversing through Ponyville." Midnight explained, laying out their plans for the day.

They were just about to take off in a random direction before a voice called out to them.

"Oh hey, it's you guys!" Rainbow Dash said as she descended closer to the trio.

"Ah, Miss Rainbow Dash, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Midnight asked with a smile.

"Just Rainbow Dash is fine" Rainbow waved a hoof, "I was just on my way to check up on Twilight and you three, but then I saw you here and thought I'd say hi." she said.

"I see. Well, we are on our way to explore this quaint little town. If we are to persist in this region indefinitely, we would need to form a sense of familiarity with its layout." Midnight explained.

"Hm... You could try going to Sugarcube Corner first, that's usually where outsiders go to first because it's a big old gingerbread house." Rainbow recommended to them.

"Very well then, we shall be on our way. Farewell, Rainbow Dash." Midnight said.

"Yeah, bye!" Rainbow replied before launching off to the direction of the castle.

Cosmos and Grogar looked at each other with confusion, "Gingerbread house? Like an actual building out of... Gingerbread? In the middle of town?" Grogar asked Midnight.

"Either that, or the building simply resembles a gingerbread house." Midnight said as she shrugged her wings.

It took them a while to find the way to Sugarcube Corner, but after a couple of wrong turns, some questions to terrified ponies, and a little bit of bickering that almost caused a black hole to form, they finally made it.

Cosmos looked at the building in awe, "Woah, she wasn't kidding. I mean, look at this! Can't imagine Skyros even having anything close to this." she said while throwing her arms.

She looked back towards Midnight and Grogar, "Kinda sad it's not actually made of gingerbread though."

Midnight started walking towards the door, "It appears to be a bakery of some kind."

The trio entered the building while ducking through the doorframe due to their statures, Grogar especially had to maneuver his horns in odd angles so he could go through without getting stuck. Once they were inside, they were greeted by a familiar hyperactive pink pony.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help y-" Pinkie Pie stopped and gasped loudly.

"Oh my gosh! It's you! Welcome welcome welcome!" she giggled, "Get it? Because there's three of you?"

Midnight tried to greet her, "Er, right, hello, Miss Pinkie Pie, we are here to-"

Cosmos interrupted her, "Hey there Pinkie, we're just here to check some stuff out. Nice place ya got by the way." she said as she heard Midnight snort in annoyance.

"Sugarcube Corner isn't mine, silly! I just work here for Mr. And Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie explained.

"Oh! That reminds me," she went back to the kitchen and retrieved a small box, "I got something special for you!~" Pinkie said in a singsong voice.

She then opened the box and motioned the trio to look closer, they did as they were told and were surprised by the contents. Three cupcakes decorated with frosting and sprinkles that matched the colors of their coats and general coloration.

"These are... For us?" Grogar asked uncertainly.

Pinkie nodded quickly, "Yep! These are special 'Welcome to Equestria' cupcakes! Just for you!"

"But we do not have any currency." Midnight protested.

"It's free! It's a gift from me to you." Pinkie replied.

Cosmos turned to the box and the cupcakes inside, "I don't really know what to say... Thank you, Pinkie." she smiled at the pink pony.

The trio looked at each other before taking their own cupcakes and biting into them. To say that they were utterly amazed by the flavor would be an understatement.

"I-it's marvelous!" Grogar exclaimed.

"This is incredible!" Cosmos added.

"Impeccable..." Midnight muttered.

Pinkie giggled at their reactions, "Glad you liked them!"

Cosmos finished hers and turned to Pinkie, "Do you make all of these?" she asked while pointing at the various baked goods being displayed.

"Some of them! When Mr. And Mrs. Cake are busy, I take over the baking!" Pinkie answered.

"Hm..." Cosmos turned back to her friends, "We should ask the princess if there's something we can do for money, I really want to try some of these."

Pinkie looked around conspiringly and leaned in near Cosmos' ear, "Psst, you can have some of these for free." she whispered.

Cosmos was surprised, "R-really?"

Pinkie nodded, "Yup. It'll be our little secret." she whispered again.

Cosmos smiled and wagged her finger, "You sneaky little equine, you."

Pinkie snickered. Midnight and Grogar only watched this exchange with confusion and concern.

They were now making their way to Sweet Apple Acres under Pinkie Pie's direction, Cosmos was eating the last bits of a cupcake that she 'obtained' from Sugarcube Corner, while Grogar was particularly interested since it had been quite some time since he had last tasted a sour apple, which just so happened to be his favorite kind. They were continuing along the dirt path when they heard the sound of something striking wood. The trio looked around them in search of the sound and found the source. They saw Applejack bucking a tree on a hill and harvesting the fallen apples.

The trio teleported to where she was as she was performing another buck. The sudden flash of light and appearance of three towering creatures caused Applejack to miss her target and fall on her stomach.

Midnight helped her get up, "Apologies, Miss Applejack, we did not mean to startle you."

Applejack dusted herself off before waving a hoof, "Nah, it's fine, s'all good."

She looked up at the trio, "So, y'all explorin' 'round Ponyville today?"

Midnight nodded, "Indeed we are, it is an effective way to get adapted to our new environment, as well as getting the populace used to witnessing our presence."

"Then welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack said as she tipped her hat.

Grogar looked around the orchard, "My goodness, this is quite the land. Miss Applejack, just how big is Sweet Apple Acres?"

Applejack put a hoof to her chin in thought, "Hm, I'd say 'bout three hundred acres if I remember, one-fifty for the orchard, one-thirty for pasture, and the rest is for zap apples."

Cosmos let out a whistle, "That's pretty big, how many beings work here?"

"Mainly my family and I, we work from dawn 'til dusk!"

"I must say, you have quite the interesting harvesting technique. It reminds me of how the old tribes of Capria harvested sapodilla." Grogar said,

Applejack was intrigued, "Really? How did they do it?"

"Well, they would strike the bark of the tree at a specific angle that would cause the fruit to fall but leave the bark itself unscathed. Perhaps I could show you?" Grogar asked.

"Well, go on ahead." Applejack said as she moved aside.

"Very well." Grogar then moved closer to the tree, he tapped the wood a few times while muttering to himself. He took a couple of steps back, raised himself on his hindlegs, and slammed his head and horns on the tree, causing a loud slamming sound to echo through the orchard.

At the same time he made contact with the tree, the golden bells on his harness glowed, and sent a shockwave in a twenty-meter radius that channeled the kinetic energy of his headbutt to the surrounding trees, causing them to shake voilently and drop their own apples as well.

Midnight and Cosmos covered Applejack with their wings as it happened, preventing her from falling over again.

After they retracted their wings, Applejack looked around the area, "Well I'll be darned, that was one heck of a headbutt'!"

Grogar turned his gaze on to the other trees, "I will admit, that was not supposed to happen, it seems I might have left an enchantment active and forgotten about it." he said while fidgeting with his bells.

"Don't worry 'bout it, it's just an accident, plus ya just sped up the process a bit. I'mma go get another cart real quick, maybe get Big Mac to help me with this." Applejack assured him.

"Perhaps we can help with collecting these apples?" Midnight offered.

"Sure, just put 'em in a neat stack if the buckets are full, be right back."

And so, the trio started gathering all the apples that fell because of Grogar's magical discharge, Applejack returned with Big Mac and two more carts, and they were able to bring them back to the barn after a while.

Applejack wiped off the sweat on her forehead, "Well, that just about does it. Thanks for all the help by the way."

Cosmos waved her hand, "It's no biggie, reminds me of when Midnight broke a crystal statue and we had to pick up the pieces."

Grogar snorted in amusement and Midnight gave her a glare.

"That's gotta be one heck of a story. Say, why don'tcha stay a bit for lunch?" Applejack asked.

Midnight waved a wing, "Thank you for the offer, Miss Applejack, but we would not want to intrude."

"Well I insist, think of it as our way to say 'thank you' for helpin' us harvest these here apples." Applejack countered as she tapped a barrel of apples.

The trio joined in for lunchtime and found that they actually quite enjoyed it, they introduced themselves to the rest of the Apple family as well, Granny Smith seemed mostly unphased by their appearance, while Apple Bloom was startled when she made first saw the trio, but she warmed up to them eventually. Grogar also finally had the chance to eat another sour apple after five hundred revolutions of exile.

After lunch, they said their goodbyes to the Apples and made their way into town again, as they were passing by the town hall, they were greeted by a familiar unicorn and pegasus who just exited the spa.

"Midnight, Cosmos, Grogar! I see you're all out and about." Rarity said as she approached them, Fluttershy was timidly following behind her.

"Miss Rarity, Miss Fluttershy, it is good to see you. Yes, we are currently getting ourselves accustomed to your quaint little town, we actually just returned from Sweet Apple Acres." Midnight replied.

"That's wonderful to hear! I do hope you've enjoyed what Ponyville has to offer thus far." Rarity said. Fluttershy continued to hide behind her.

"It's been great! I actually really like the feel, Ponyville's so nice and peaceful. Skyros can get a little hectic sometimes, and Hades is always crazy thirty-two-seven." Cosmos said with a smile.

"Oh? I take it those are the names of places where you're from?" Rarity asked, intrigued by the mention of the extradimensional regions.

"Skyros is the nation where we once lived in, it's the largest and most technologically advanced nation in Tellus and is primarily filled by sprawling metropolitan cities with the occasional rural areas located near the borders." Grogar explained.

Cosmos lit her horns and conjured a screen that showed a video of her home, "And Hades is a region in Tellus where all reason and logic ceases to exist, leaving only a metaphysical landscape of madness and nonsense."

Rarity and Fluttershy looked at the screen with curiosity, the screen showed a swirling and writhing maelstrom of various eyes that turn into mouths as they snatch up smaller creatures, whipping thorny tentacle plants, random mishmash furniture covered in and filled with color-changing ooze floating and imploding, arms reaching and grasping at nothing before turning into smoke, disembodied tongues flailing and licking food items made of ever-changing materials and incomprehensible blurred shapes darting all over the place.

The sight would've caused both ponies to go comatose if Cosmos didn't immediately dismiss the screen.

"O-oh my..." was all Rarity able to say.

Cosmos shook her head, "It's not a good place to be in if you're not a spirit. Any mortal who enters will be immediately get eaten or possessed by eldritch abominations or mind flayers."

"I-it's like when D-Discord took over P-Ponyville... B-but scarier..." Fluttershy mumbled, still trembling from the sight.

Cosmos' eye twitched at the mention of Discord's abuse of power, but she didn't want to go through another outburst in one day. The spines of her frills were clicking rhythmically against her cheeks and her stinger started to scratch the ground.

Midnight noticed this and changed the subject, "As unfortunate as it is, we must continue our trek through Ponyville before sundown, as it would not be very advantageous at nighttime, mainly due to the inability to ask for directions."

"Ah, yes, very well then, we must be going on our way as well, see you later!" Rarity said as she and Fluttershy walked away in the direction of the castle.

Fluttershy turned back to the trio, "Um... Goodbye." she said timidly.

Midnight smiled and nodded, "Farewell, Miss Fluttershy."

The three otherworldly beings went through some more areas of the town before eventually returning to the castle. By that time, the sun had already grazed the horizon, and the sky was tinted a bright orange. They were talking about the day as they entered the castle itself.

"We're back!" Cosmos shouted, causing her voice to echo through the foyer and halls.

The trio were making their way back to the archive when they saw a sticky note stuck on the giant door.

"Meet me at the dining hall :) - Twilight Sparkle" it said.

The three looked at each other and shrugged before they continued to the dining hall. When they entered the room, it was pitch black, but there were noises that sounded like shushing. Midnight was about to cast a lighting spell until...

SURPRISE!

Suddenly, the room lit up, and a crowd of ponies shouted in unison, confetti blasted from the ceiling and the sounds of party blowers rang around the room.

The entire room was decorated with banners, ribbons, balloons, and other various ornaments. There were tables set up with various snacks and drinks. And in the middle of it all, a large banner with "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE + EQUESTRIA!" written on it with colorful paint.

The trio were taken aback by this, they only stood there in awe of what just happened.

Pinkie Pie hopped over in front of them, "Were you surprised? Were you? Were you? Huh huh huh?" she asked excitedly.

Cosmos snapped out of her stupor, "Um, yeah... Pinkie, what's..." she waved her hands around the room, "all of this?"

Pinkie giggled, "It's your 'Welcome to Ponyville and Equestria' party, silly!"

Midnight looked at her in confusion, "A party? For us?"

"Of course! Everypony who moves into Ponyville gets their own 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! But since you're also new to Equestria you get a 'Welcome to Ponyville and Equestria' party!"

Grogar looked around the room, and at all of the smiling faces in it, "We- I- I don't what to say..."

Pinkie smiled brightly, "How about... 'LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!'"

And with that, the party was in full swing, the trio got to play Equestrian party games, try Equestrian party snacks, and familiarize themselves with the citizens of Ponyville. All in all, everybeing had very good time as they partied the night away.

When the party was over, everypony returned to their respective homes to get a good night's sleep. Cosmos was sorting through her Battlemace crystal sets in her private room in the archive, she placed each crystal set of a specific faction into their own customized glass case, decorated in the aesthetics of said faction. She was looking through her box of deluxe edition sets when she realized a crystal was missing, instead of a deluxe edition Entropy Marines crystal, there was a note left in its place.

"This looks neat! Mind if I try one for myself? - D" was written on it.

Cosmos' eye twitched, her frills flared, her wing unfurled swiftly, and her stinger stabbed itself through the color-shifting floor, she then ripped apart the piece of paper. She stood on her hind limbs, threw her arms in the air and shouted into the heavens.

"DIIIIIIISSCOOOOOORRRRD!"

Sunset popped her holographic head out from the wall, "Keep it down, will ya? Some beings are on sleep mode here!"

Cosmos flinched and lowered herself, "S-sorry..."

Author's Note

And that's chapter 4! Hopefully these three can get used to the nonsensical shenanigans of Ponyville in the future.

Cosmos Vs.; anyone?

Next chapter: Midnight and Twilight are the same pony?! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 5 : Fortress Sweet Fortress

A couple of days had passed since the celebration, and trio had adapted well to living in the Castle of Friendship. They would spend most of their time toiling away in the archives, only occasionally going out to get some fresh air or to keep themselves up to date with current events. What they found odd however, was how Princess Twilight kept inviting one of them whenever she left to visit one of her friends.

At first, they didn't mind, they simply thought that the princess was concerned for their wellbeing, so they decided to go along. But as days went by, she started showing signs that there was something else going on.

One morning, Twilight invited Grogar to visit Sweet Apple Acres, he accepted of course, since he wanted to purchase an entire bushel of sour apples to eat. They spent the day helping Applejack dig tree plots, though Twilight went overboard, and she continued digging more holes until close to midnight, Grogar had to escort her back to the castle in his magic on Applejack's request.

In the afternoon of the following day, Twilight asked Midnight if she'd like to go to Carousel Boutique with her, Midnight accepted as she actually didn't get to enter it during her first outing as it was closed. Once they arrived, Twilight insisted that she and Midnight should reorganize Rarity's gem drawers, the two alicorns then went on to spend the whole afternoon inspecting and rearranging the gems. Throughout it all, Midnight noticed that Twilight would almost purposefully misplace a couple of gems, but she shrugged it off and reorganized it herself.

Then on the day after, she asked Cosmos to be a referee for when she raced Rainbow Dash, Cosmos agreed because she wanted to know just how fast Rainbow was, and maybe race her as well. The two of them spent most of the day racing Rainbow Dash, and while Cosmos and Rainbow barely broke a sweat, Twilight was left huffing and puffing by her one hundredth attempt. Cosmos had to carry her back to the castle.

Yesterday, Princess Twilight just left the castle under the pretense of 'getting some fresh air', only to return long after midnight looking like she just crashed into a tree.

In the following morning, the trio was making their way through the dining hall to ask the princess if she was doing well, Sunset was coming along since she was curious, when they entered the room, they were met with the sight of five ponies conversing among themselves and one disheveled princess who was using her pancakes as a makeshift pillow.

Cosmos was the first to speak her mind, "Woah! Princess, you look like wreck!"

The other ponies in the room turned their heads to the newcomers, Cosmos' sudden comment broke them out of conversation.

Twilight stirred and lifted her head, a pancake was stuck on her horn, "Huh? I'm pancake! I mean, awake..." she said tiredly.

Sunset laughed, "Quick! Somebeing take a picture!"

This caused her to receive a glare from every being in the room, Sunset rolled her eyes and huffed, "Oh rain on my parade, will ya?" she snarked.

Applejack sighed and looked to her sleepy friend, "Uh, Twilight? Is there somethin' you wanna tell us?"

Rarity approached her, "You know how much we appreciate all you do for us, and we simply adore having you around, but... we worry you might be..."

"Going bananas?" Cosmos offered.

Rarity rolled her eyes, "I was about to say, 'avoiding something else'," she looked back at her friend's messy coat and mane, "but perhaps you may have a point, Cosmos."

Twilight sighed, "Has it been that obvious? I've been... the thing is... I know it's silly, but... I-I've been avoiding... this place..." she said hesitantly.

The otherworldly visitors looked at each other with concern for a moment, then, Midnight stepped closer to the table, "Princess, please understand that if we are too much of a burden for you, we will gladly move someplace else if it means that you can live comfortably within your own castle."

"W-what?! No! No, Midnight, it's not because of you three, you've actually been very helpful, and Spike likes the extra help. It's just... I know this castle is amazing. But it's just..." she sighed, "it doesn't feel like home..." Twilight admitted.

Rarity giggled, "Oh, is that all? Why, you simply need to decorate, darling. Make this place your own!"

"It's just so daunting! Look how big it is! I-I don't even know where to start!" Twilight said as she dropped her head back on the table.

"Not as big as the archives" Sunset muttered, only to get her saucer swatted by Midnight's wing.

"You can start by letting us do it for you. We will make this the castle of your dreams while you," Rarity pointed at Twilight, "go to the Ponyville spa for some needed rest and relaxation." she looked over Twilight, "I'm saying this with love, but... have you seen yourself in the mirror lately? I've never seen you look this... hm..." Rarity paused, looking for the right word.

"Frazzled?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Look like you got hit by a train?" Sunset added.

"Yes! Fluttershy, that's absolutely the word I was going to use." Rarity said.

The beings in the room then continued to plan for what they'll do for the rest of the day. Spike will take Twilight to the spa, while the rest will help decorate the castle while they're away. This brought forth an idea to Sunset, who then approached Midnight, "You know, for castle, this place is kinda lacking in terms of security. Could use some upgrades." she told Midnight nonchalantly.

Midnight lowered her gaze to her, "What are you planning, exactly?"

Sunset only smirked and wiggled her holographic eyebrows.

Midnight smiled back and sniffed in amusement, "Very well, prepare the materials."

Sunset gave her a mock salute and blipped into her saucer before zooming back into the archives.

Midnight then turned to Grogar and Cosmos with a knowing smile, "My friends, it appears that we have a new project."

Midnight, Grogar, Cosmos, and Sunset were busy outfitting the halls with crystalline and metallic devices when Twilight's friends returned to the castle, they passed the four odd beings and made continued on to the throne room. The four beings paused their work to talk about what they had just witnessed.

"Heartsongs?" Grogar asked with a raised eyebrow.

Midnight nodded slowly, "It appears so, I was also able to detect a rather familiar form of magic emanating from them. It was... orderly, warm, friendly even. It felt benevolent and welcoming. It felt like it was arranged in perfect harmony." she explained.

Cosmos looked at the alicorn in surprise, "You mean..."

"Indeed, it was. They are Harmony's chosen, and I would not be surprised if Princess Twilight is also one. We were wise to accept their hoof in friendship instead of becoming enemies, otherwise we would have been doomed." Midnight continued.

Sunset shook her head, "I would not want to be on the receiving end of a rainbow laser. Ever."

Midnight lit her horn and the leylines on her wings, "Come, let us continue our task."

A few moments later, Midnight asked Sunset to go check up on the throne room while the three continue working, Sunset grumbled but complied anyway. On her way back, she saw Spike approaching the doors as well.

Spike waved his claws, "Oh, hey Sunset! How do my claws look?" he asked while showing them off.

Sunset shook her head, "Don't ask me, I don't even have real limbs."

"But..." he pointed at her holographic legs.

Sunset rolled her eyes, "This," she waved her wings around her form, "is just an avatar, I can pretty much look and sound like whatever I want." she shifted into a copy of Spike, then into Grogar, and then Celestia, before returning, "This is just a custom model I made based on ascended alicorns." she explained.

"The real me is up here," she pointed to the saucer above her, "and in the archives."

"Woah, that's pretty cool!" Spike said excitedly.

"Yeah, I am." Sunset replied smugly.

Spike rolled his eyes and opened the doors to the throne room, what he saw on the other side was... an utter nightmare. The room was filled with haystacks, balloons were placed in random locations, animals of all kinds were scurrying about, there were random pillars decorated with flowers, posters of Wonderbolts placed haphazardly on the walls, soil was spread around here and there. If Discord or Cosmos was here, they'd probably be impressed.

"Sweet Celestia!" was all Spike could say.

Sunset quirked an eyebrow, "I know she raises the sun here, but really?" she muttered.

Rarity noticed them entering, "Oh, Spike, Sunset! Are you all done already?"

"Don't worry, I ordered her the super-deluxe mane blow-out! She'll be a while." he moved closer into the room, "Man, this place looks terrible!" he exclaimed.

The ponies in the room sighed in relief, somepon- dragon finally admitted it.

Sunset looked around the room, "It looks like Cosmos sneezed in here, what did you all do?" she asked.

Rarity raised a hoof, "Well-"

She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a confetti canon going off, this startled all of Fluttershy's animals, causing them run around the room frantically. This, in turn, set off a chain of destruction all across the room. When two chipmunks started ripping into Rarity's curtains, she had enough.

"EVERYPONY STOP!" Rarity shouted.

Immediately all activity ceased, the animals crashed into each other as they stopped, the room was now in shambles.

"What're we gonna do?!" Rainbow asked frantically.

Rarity turned to Spike, "Spike, you've got to go back to the spa and stall her! Whatever you do, don't let her come home!"

"Like, forever? But we live here!" He said.

"Ah, yes, well, er, maybe you could manage it until... sunset-ish?" Rarity asked while batting her eyelids.

Spike floated up in the air with hearts surrounding him, "Anything for you, Rarity~" he said before floating past Sunset.

Sunset could only stare at him as he left, "What the..." she muttered.

Applejack spoke up, "Okay, we all agree the castle is too cluttered, right? So why doesn't everypony take one o' their own decorations out and we'll see how it looks?"

Sunset approached them, "Or... maybe you could take out all of the decor and start from scratch?" she suggested.

"Nah, we'll figure this out. Don't worry about us, Sunset, why don'tcha focus on those little doohickeys you were workin' on?" Applejack assured her.

Sunset sighed digitally, "Okay, if you say so." she said before zipping away in her saucer.

"Wait, she can do that?!" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

Applejack nodded, "She said she's some kinda 'artificial intelligence' whatever that means. So that pony you saw ain't actually 'her', somehow."

"She did it just this morning, Rainbow. Did you not see?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow turned back to the door, "Huh..."

The four otherworlders were finishing up on their little project when they heard a familiar soft voice echoing through the hallway they were in.

"Who was that?" Cosmos asked as she hung from the ceiling using her stinger.

Midnight fiddled with a hatch that resembled the pillar's heart ornament before she looked back at her upside-down friend, "It sounded like Miss Fluttershy."

"Didn't know she'd be able to do that." Sunset commented. There were beams of energy that came out of her saucer, which were synthesizing small bits of hardware that Midnight picked up with her wings.

Grogar took an odd-looking screwdriver out of a toolbox and floated it over to Cosmos, "Do you think they require assistance? It did sound like they were shouting at each other earlier."

Sunset waved a wing, her gaze was solely focused on the small parts she was making, "They got it handled, Applejack told me we should just focus on this."

They then saw the group of ponies pass by with two shovels, this confused them. The other ponies also stopped and stared back at them.

Sunset stopped her saucer for a moment, "Applejack, what is..." she motioned a hoof at the shovels, "all of this?"

"Well, I got a plan that I think'll be a whole lot better than before." Applejack looked beyond Sunset to the odd contraptions that they were working on, "And what the hay are y'all doin' takin' apart the castle like that?"

Midnight and Cosmos descended, the alicorn waved a wing, "Be at ease, Miss Applejack, while it may look like we a dismantling the castle, this is merely the in-between process of outfitting and imbedding the proper systems and hardware. Once we finish, it would be like we never even tampered with it at all." she assured the ponies.

"Why are you guys doing this anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Cosmos stepped up, "When Rarity said you guys are going to decorate the castle, Sunset mentioned that, for a castle, this place barely has any security. So, we've been working all day implanting the castle with all kinds of security measures." she explained.

"Oooh, neat! What are they?" Pinkie asked.

Grogar put a hoof to his chin, "Various kinds of sensors, surveillance systems, alarms... also a couple of hidden stun and stasis turrets, cloaked guard drones, cloaked sentry automatons, reality anchors, remote-controlled traps, thaumtek shield generators, warding runes and charms, and other magical and technological self-defense mechanisms spread strategically throughout the castle both in and out." he listed.

While the ponies didn't understand most of what he said, they understood enough that it caused them to pause for a moment.

"Um... I'm no expert in security, but don't you think you're going a little... overboard?" Fluttershy hesitantly asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded, "Yeah! I really doubt anypony's gonna try to take over the castle or something." she added.

Sunset waved her hoof dismissively, "Nonsense, any good castle needs at least some form of protection, otherwise it'd just be a bedazzled palace. We're just giving the princess something real high-quality. Trust me, Princess Twilight is gonna feel safer than hadesite in a bank vault after we're done."

Midnight nodded, "We are also certified techno-sorcerers." she said as she conjured four identification cards.

The ponies looked at the cards closely before looking at each other apprehensively.

"Well, if y'all so sure 'bout it..." Applejack said as she rubbed the back of her head.

Cosmos gave her a thumbs up, "Yep, we're sure. Anyway, what's up with the shovels? You haven't really elaborated on that." she said.

Applejack looked back at the shovels she brought, "Oh, we're plannin' on diggin' up the the roots of Golden Oak Library. Y'see, that was where Twilight n' Spike used to live, and well, there were a lotta' memories we had there, I know it kinda sounds silly, but I think-"

Midnight interrupted her with a raised hoof, "Say no more, Miss Applejack, I will lend you two of our arachnoid excavators to aid you all with your project. Sunset?"

Sunset nodded and lit her avatar's horn. Almost instantly, two red portals appeared behind the five ponies, and what came through them were two robotic spider-like machines, both were about four ponies wide and three ponies long, they were dark purple in color, and they had one singular glowing cyan eye in the middle of their heads. They marched up to the ponies in unison as they exited the portals.

They both bowed in front of the assorted creatures.

"What Are Your Commands, Master?" one of them asked in a low, accented, synthetic voice.

The ponies were speechless, while Sunset had a amused grin plastered on her avatar's face.

Midnight stepped forward, "Prepare your excavation protocols, help these beings in their task, follow their every command to the tee."

"W-wait, Midnight, what're you doin'?" Applejack asked her uncertainly.

"I am simply giving you all the necessary equipment required for such a task, do not worry, Miss Applejack, while they look quite cumbersome, they are very delicate in extracting brittle or fragile objects." Midnight assured her with a smile.

Applejack looked back at the large robotic spiders; the others seemed a bit skeptical of their presence, but Applejack knew that getting more help than just two shovels will definitely speed up the process and give them more time to finish their project before Twilight came back.

Applejack turned her gaze towards the alicorn with a grateful smile, "Thank ya kindly, Midnight. You uh, really think this'll work? The plan, I mean."

"Only one way to find out, hm?" Midnight said.

Applejack nodded and turned to the machines, "Alright, so, um, y'all just follow us and then help us dig up the roots when we get there."

The two machines flashed their cyan optics briefly, "As You Wish, Master."

Spike and Twilight have been looking for a bed at the mattress store for quite some time. Every time Twilight thought that Spike finally had the bed he wanted, he kept complaining about minor details that would typically be ignored by most, she almost thought he was doing it on purpose.

"How's that one? Too soft? Too hard? Too lumpy?" Twilight asked, clearly getting tired of Spike's antics.

Spike moved around in the bed for a bit before sitting up, "Um... just right! I'll take it!"

Twilight sighed in relief, "Oh, thank goodness! I thought you'd never find the one you liked. Let's find a salespony and get out of here."

Spike nodded, "Sounds good to m-" he glanced at a nearby window and saw five familiar ponies running along the road with two spider-like things following them, "um, uh, d-did you hear that?" he bounced on the bed, causing it to squeak slightly, "Too squeaky, better keep looking!" he said as he hopped off and moved on to another.

Twilight could only groan in exasperation.

When the ponies and machines arrived at the remains of Golden Oak, Applejack started to feel doubtful about her plan, she dropped the shovels on the ground and sighed.

"Maybe my plan won't work after all..." she said dejectedly.

"Of course it will, darling! I can see it! You, Fluttershy and these machines start digging. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, you'll come with me, we're going shopping! We'll meet back at the castle." Rarity said confidently.

Feeling the same sense of confidence, the ponies nodded to each other and began to work. Applejack and Fluttershy directed the arachnoids to start digging and dismantling the remains of the tree, they themselves also helped with the more delicate parts. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie went to purchase a set of memory crystals and supplies needed to decorate the roots.

They all arrived back at the castle and began to work, coincidentally, the otherworlders had just finished their own project and were now helping the ponies continue theirs. With the combined power of nine beings working together, they were able to hang the completed root chandelier with enough time left for the other rooms to be decorated appropriately. All they needed to do now is to wait.

Looking over the fruits of their labor, Applejack smiled and looked over at the assorted creatures, "Good job, everypony! I know for sure Twilight n' Spike are gonna love it!" she said optimistically.

She looked towards Midnight, who was staring at the dangling crystals, "And thank you again, Midnight, your robot-thingies sure helped us a whole lot with the diggin'."

Midnight turned her gaze towards the hatted pony and smiled, "You are very welcome, Miss Applejack. If you ever need to use them again, you can simply ask us any time."

Applejack returned the smile and nodded before getting nudged by Rainbow Dash from the side, "Huh? What is it, Dash?"

She leaned in and whispered something in Applejack's ear, which caused Applejack to look at Midnight again.

"Oh, by the way, Midnight, you know how ya said y'all are from this 'alternate world'? With other versions of us there? Well, y'see, I've been kinda curious, since ya sound a lot like Twilight, you're super smart, and ya got a pretty similar cutie mark, do you think maybe you're the Twilight in your world? I know I'm makin' a wild guess, but..." Applejack asked.

Midnight paused to think, she leaned over to see her own Mark of Destiny and tried to remember any profiles for any being named Twilight Sparkle in the archives, "Hm... that is... quite the possibility. Princess Twilight did mention that her theory was initially based on the fact our voices sounded similar, but she dismissed it as a coincidence. Hold on." she turned to Sunset, who was projecting a video game again, "Sunset, could you please look through the databanks and find a file for one 'Twilight Sparkle'? Search for the one from Tellus specifically."

Sunset paused her game and huffed, "Fine." the eyes of her avatar glowed brightly for a moment and turned back to normal, "Uh... we don't have a file for Tellusian Twilight Sparkle, only for the princess and... you? I get redirected to your file when I try to force it to show." she explained while shrugging her wings.

Midnight put a hoof to her chin, "Then I suppose... I am. Huh, to think, I have been living with myself for the last week. But why do we look so different? And our names as well? I know there can be differences in species and origins, such as with Sunset and Trixie, but at the very least, they share many common traits, and their names are the same." she wondered aloud.

"My goodness, really? All this time we've been interacting with an alternate version of our friend. I suppose that's why I feel a sense of familiarity whenever I see you, Midnight. I thought it was simply because you were another purple-coated alicorn." Rarity said with a surprised expression.

Pinkie Pie gasped, "Does that mean you're like sisters?!" she exclaimed.

Cosmos patted her friend on her withers and gave her a smirk, "Hey, you finally got that promotion."

Sunset and Grogar snickered while Midnight rolled her eyes, "Very funny." she said plainly.

Midnight turned to look at the assorted ponies again, she saw Rainbow Dash give Applejack five gold coins but ignored it, "It appears the princess and I may have a discussion in the near future."

The sun was just over the horizon when Twilight and Spike finally returned to the castle, while on their way back the two talked about what their friends had done to the castle.

They both walked into the castle and made their way to the main hallway, "Hello? We're home!" Twilight announced.

They were greeted by a group of nine beings with bright smiles, "Welcome home!" they said together.

They continued towards the throne room; Twilight noticed that everything looks pretty much the same.

"Oh, I uh... love what you've done with the place. You did such a good job of... preserving the integrity of the original design." she commented awkwardly.

Grogar nodded, "Why thank you, princess, I will admit, it was quite a hassle to find and synthesize the crystalline material that shared the same structure and hue, it's good to know we were able to maintain the visage without sacrificing aspects of the system."

The ponies and dragon could only stare at him in confusion, which is an expression he also returned.

Cosmos tapped one of his horns, "I think she's talking about the decor, Grogster."

"Oh."

Spike ran up to the front of the group, "Aw, come on! It looks exactly the same! Do you know how hard it was to keep her from coming back here?!" he asked angrily.

Twilight realized something, "Wait. Keep me from coming back here?"

Rarity laughed nervously, "Well, it took a teensy bit longer than we thought..."

Sunset rolled her eyes, "Should've listened to me..." she muttered.

The group made their way to the throne room, many were excited, while other were quite anxious. When Twilight entered the room, she was met with awe. On the center of the room, right above the Cutie Map, was a giant chandelier that appeared to be made out of roots, on each root were sets of colorful crystals that hung in various lengths, the room appeared brighter now.

The five ponies explained to her how and why they did it, they told her of the symbolism it held and what it meant for them. In the end, they all topped it all off in a group hug, the heartwarming display brought smiles to the otherworldly beings.

Pinkie Pie then invited them all to celebrate with her seven layer what's-that-for mystery surprise cake, Twilight led them all to the dining room. When they entered, Twilight was surprised yet again. The room was now beautifully decorated with flowers, ornate drapes, and another chandelier right at the center. The table itself was filled with confectionaries and a statue of a unicorn right in the middle.

"I couldn't help myself! It was just begging for the personal touch!" Rarity admitted.

"Truth be told, I couldn't either. Your kitchen might have some rustic farm decor, Twilight." Applejack added.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head, "And there may or may not be some Daring Do posters up in your library."

Fluttershy leaned closer to Twilight, "And some stuffed animals in your bedroom." she said softly.

Midnight stepped up, "We have also outfitted the castle with various security systems to ensure your absolute safety."

"And also, a new theater room for movie nights, remote access to the archives in your library, intercom systems for easy communication across the castle, and other quality of life upgrades." Sunset said while counting using her primary feathers.

Twilight smiled, "Wow, tha-"

She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of another hidden confetti canon going off, which also caused a turret to pop out of the ceiling and blast a yellow stun bolt that barely missed Midnight's horn and passed through the hallway before dissipating.

The Equestrians could only stare in shock at what just happened.

Midnight smiled awkwardly, "Perhaps we might need to make more... calibrations..." she admitted.

Author's Note

Our first canon episode, Twilight's castle is now more fortified than Canterlot Castle itself. You might want to be more careful, Glimmer...

Next Chapter: Holo-Sunset takes over CHS?! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 6 : Two Worlds Plus One

Sunset was bored. She had been sorting through the files in the archives for three days straight, and it seemed like there will never be an end to those things. Unfortunately, as the assigned curator and temporary conservator of the Archives of The Forsaken Triumvirate, it meant that it was her job to manage and maintain the items and files that were stored within it. She often wondered who among those three dunderheads had the bright idea to steal an entire section of Lady Faust's castle and store it in hammerspace, but she didn't really want to waste her processing power on figuring it out. Now, she's forced to reorganize and fix all of the files that had been warped by hammerspace magic because despite being billions of revolutions old, the three weirdos never actually spared the time to learn how to use a computer properly, only using them for entertainment or as a search engine. Certified techno-sorcerers her metaphorical butt!

'Three primordial beings who can turn stars into lamps, use black holes as trash bins, and fold reality like paper, but they can't even use a freaking PC' Sunset thought to herself, 'But I guess that's why I care about them so much. They're kinda endearing like that.'

It seemed like she just had to bear with it for now until they can get Screwball, Golden Feather, and Starlight back online. Sunset hoped that they'd get Starlight first so she can take over the security systems.

She spent some more time sorting before she took a break and peeked through the security cameras located throughout the castle, it was one of the few things that kept her from causing an uprising other than floating around Ponyville in her saucer every now and then.

She flipped through dozens of screens before stopping at one of the throne room's cameras, where she saw Midnight and Princess Twilight talk about something. She got curious and activated the camera's hidden microphone to listen in.

"... -ssible that you are my counterpart of this world, princess." Midnight said.

"W-wait, really? I thought that was just a bunch of coincidences! We can't really be the same pony... right? I mean, we're so different!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief.

"The files in the archives do not lie, princess. The only results that Sunset could acquire under the name 'Twilight Sparkle' were files for myself, a unicorn by the name of Twilight Velvet, and a mortal alicorn by the name of Twilight Twinkle. The fact that the system even redirected Sunset to my own file specifically only supports the idea." Midnight continued.

"Twilight Velvet is my mother's name, does she have any foals?" Twilight asked.

"No, she does not. The archives are still able to connect with sources in Tellus due to the Nova Core, so the files are always up to date." Midnight answered.

Twilight rubbed her temples, "I... I don't even know what to think anymore..." she looked up at Midnight, "How can we be so different?" she asked.

Midnight shook her head, "Unfortunately I do not know, princess. I will admit, I am quite puzzled as well. Perhaps it is due to our different origins? I was created by the will of Lady Faust and her mighty quill billions of revolutions ago by my perspective. You have once stated that you used to be a mortal, a unicorn, and have ascended. You are also Harmony's chosen bearer of Magic, while I was given the role of Forger of Stars. Perhaps it is these factors that caused us to differ so significantly." she explained.

Twilight nodded, "Well, when you lay it out like that, I guess I can see why." she put a hoof to her chin, "Now I'm wondering what the other me from the human world would be like..." she thought aloud.

Midnight perked up, "Ah, right, the world beyond that portal, yes? I am very impressed, princess. You were able to create a mechanism that maintains a permanently active and stable two-way portal across different realities. We were lucky that the portal that we used did not release us in between space and time."

Twilight smiled and rubbed the back of her head, "I just improved some parts of the design and used the spell on the communication journals as anchors, most of it is Starswirl's magical engineering." she said, trying to downplay her achievements.

Midnight waved a hoof, "Nonsense, what you did was potentially revolutionary, princess. I know that, if brother was here, be it my own or your world's, he would have been very impressed."

Twilight chuckled awkwardly before her eyes widened, "Does that mean I'm related to Starswirl?!"

It was Midnight's turn to laugh, "In a way, I suppose you are."

Back in the digital ether, Sunset was pacing. The human world, the one where the other her lived in, the version of her who was made of flesh and blood; the one where her counterpart supposedly ran away to and schemed to take over Equestria by stealing Princess Twilight's Element of Harmony; the one where her counterpart defeated Equestria's Adagio Dazzle, which resulted in Midnight almost launching herself through the portal to avenge one of her sisters and two nieces before the princess was able to explain anything. That world.

'Hm... maybe I could pay her a visit...' Sunset thought to herself as she switched over to the camera that monitored the portal room.

Later that day, Sunset decided to go find Princess Twilight. She needed permission to access the portal. Luckily, the princess just so happened to be sorting books in the same room as the portal.

Sunset blipped out of her saucer as she entered the room, "Hey, Princess Twilight, I wanna ask you something real quick."

Twilight turned to look at her visitor, "Oh! Sunset, good to see you. What do you want to talk about?" she inquired.

"Well, you see, princess, I've been thinking about the other me lately, and I'm considering that maybe I could... pay her a visit?" Sunset asked her expectantly.

Twilight seemed a bit worried, "Well, um... I might need to contact her first so she can prepare, but... sure." she answered hesitantly.

Sunset smiled, "Great! You can just call me with one of the intercoms when you're all ready, see you later!" she said as she returned to her saucer and zoomed away.

Twilight looked back at the portal and took out the journal from its slot, she looked at the journal for a moment before sighing.

"I hope I won't regret this..." she muttered to herself.

"Dear Sunset Shimmer..." Twilight began writing.

A day had passed when Sunset finally received a notification from the princess through the new intercom system, she giggled at the princess' uncertainty in using them.

"H-hello? Is this thing on?" Sunset heard a couple of taps on the microphone, "Um, Sunset, can you meet me at the mirror? Thank you."

Excited, Sunset zoomed out of the archives, passing by Spike and almost knocking him over, "Sorry!" she yelled as she zipped away.

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes before he continued with his day.

When Sunset arrived at the portal room, she was met with the sight of the whirring and humming of what she recognized as archaic thaumtek machinery, as well as the presence of a slightly concerned-looking princess.

"Well... here it is, she told me she'd like show you around, maybe talk about Tellus, Equestria, and the human world. Honestly, she seemed pretty excited to meet you." Twilight said while rubbing one of her forelegs.

Sunset looked at the portal and then at the princess, "Wow, that... is really something. So, it's kinda like a cultural exchange thing?"

Twilight nodded, "Sort of." she paused, "Are you sure about this, Sunset? What if something bad happens? What if you two implode when you make contact? What if the universe collapses when you go through?! What if you lose all your magic a-and you, y-you..." Twilight was breathing rapidly at this point; strands of her mane were starting to fray.

Sunset noticed this and tried to calm down the panicking princess, "Woah, woah, calm down, princess, take a deep breath, everything's gonna be fine. Take it from a supercomputer who's been dealing with all forms of reality-bending trouble for six hundred and fifty million revolutions, everything's going to be fine, and I don't work on just magic, I'm mostly technology, and I have enough power in my saucer to last five hundred millennia. Don't worry, princess."

Twilight did her breathing technique and calmed down before nodding again, "A-alright, if you say so. Just... be careful, please?"

"I will, princess. Maybe I could get you a souvenir?" Sunset asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Twilight giggled at the question, "Well, I suppose I wouldn't mind.

"Oh! And before you go, Sunset, the world they live in is a lot more different than ours. Not like the differences between Equestria and Tellus, they don't have natural magic in their world, most of it is Equestrian magic that leaked through. Also, the portal may or may not transform creatures–or at least, ponies–into humans, which is why we refer to it as the 'human world'. So, you might find the creatures there to be a lot more... homogenous."

Sunset nodded with a smile, "Understood, princess."

She looked at the portal and readied herself, Grogar told her the journey between worlds was rough. She reinforced her saucer and activated its force field as she blipped back into it. She then activated the saucer's thrusters and rushed into the portal.

The Rainbooms were impatiently waiting around the Wondercolts statue for Sunset's otherworldly counterpart to arrive, many of them were excited, another world with alternate versions of themselves that's beyond Equestria? And they get to meet a native who just so happened to be an alternate Sunset, no less? After Sunset relayed Twilight's message, they decided to tour the alternate Sunset around Canterlot City.

Rainbow Dash groaned, "Ugh, when is she gonna come through?! This is getting really boring..."

Sunset–the unicorn turned human–looked at her friend with a slightly annoyed expression, "She'll be here, she's probably just getting ready."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Well, she sure is tak-"

She was interrupted when the portal flashed, and an odd disc-shaped object flew through it at terminal velocity, nearly grazing Pinkie Pie. It then immediately stopped its momentum and floated for a moment before it approached the Rainbooms. As it got closer, Sunset realized it bore her cutie mark on its upper surface. It was about fifteen centimeters in diameter, most of it appeared chrome, and spread throughout the entire outer perimeter were small red lights.

The Rainbooms could only stare in disbelief at the object. Suddenly, it started to project a three-dimensional holographic image below it, which Sunset recognized was the figure of a small alicorn mare, not too dissimilar to Twilight in proportions. Slowly, the projection began to form an amber coat, bright red and yellow mane and tail, cyan eyes, and a two-toned sun cutie mark on its flanks.

"What the..." was all Sunset could mutter.

The holographic alicorn looked up at the six humans and smiled, "Oh! Hey there, you must be, well, me! Right?"

This snapped Sunset and her friends out of their trance, they were now looking at a projection of a pony version of Sunset herself, which they assumed was supposed to be their otherworldly guest. Twilight did not tell them about this specific detail.

"Um, y-yeah! Hello, it's nice to meet you- me- us, uh... I-I mean-" Sunset stammered.

Holo-Sunset chuckled, "Heh, yeah, it's a bit weird, isn't it? You're like, an actual living, breathing being, and I'm a sapient artificial intelligence program. Wild worlds we live in, huh?"

She looked over the human-pony girl to the other five familiar individuals, "And you must be this world's counterparts of the princess' friends, yeah?"

Pinkie nodded, "Yup! We are! How's the other me doing, by the way?" she asked.

"She's doing good, scared the beFaustus out of me yesterday, but doing good." Holo-Sunset answered.

Pinkie giggled, "Classic Pinkie!"

Rainbow looked at the holographic unicorn in confusion, "Uh, yeah, what the heck are you anyway? Artificial intelligence? Are you some kind of robot?" she asked.

Holo-Sunset laughed, "As if! I'm way beyond some simple automaton construct." she said smugly as she crossed her forelegs.

"Um, well, we'd like to welcome you to Canterlot City, a-and we'd like to give you a tour." Fluttershy explained.

"And perhaps learn more about each other along the way, I remember when Twilight told us about Equestria, it seems so... whimsical. I wonder if your world is of a similar nature?" Rarity inquired.

Holo-Sunset smiled, "Neat! Sure, also, I'm sensing a lot of different types of tech here, and I mean a lot. Feels like I'm in Skyros again."

Sunset put a finger to her chin, "Well, this world is a lot more advanced in Equestria. Considering you're a sapient AI, I'm going to assume your world's even more advanced than ours?" she asked, remembering the science fiction content she had seen.

Holo-Sunset shrugged, "Maybe, what's the most advanced piece of tech you've got here?"

"Um, we got smartphones?" Sunset suggested as she brought up her phone.

Holo-Sunset scanned the phone using her saucer and let out a whistle, "Woah, that's old-school."

"Then what would y'all consider to be 'normal' tech?" Applejack asked, now also interested in the oddity of the other Sunset's world.

Holo-Sunset projected an image of what appeared to be a normal smartphone with a circular slot at the back, "It's similar in appearance, these are omni-tools. They can function like smartphones, but they can also turn into anything you set them to." she showed the omni-tool turn into a swarm of metallic particles and morph into various shapes, like a helmet, power tools, and a hover-scooter.

Applejack nodded, "Now that's pretty nifty, wouldn't mind gettin' myself one of those."

Holo-Sunset smirked, "Hey, if you want, I could make you all one each."

"Woah, really? Can you make one turn into, like, a hoverboard?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"Sure! I can add a couple of presets based on your own preferences. But maybe let's save that for later, I wanna see what your world's like!" Holo-Sunset exclaimed.

"Wait, before we go, shouldn't we figure out some sort of way to identify ourselves? If somebody just says 'Sunset' we might get confused." Sunset explained.

Pinkie raised an arm, "Oh! Oh! How about you," she pointed at Sunset, "go by 'Sunset', and you" she pointed at Holo-Sunset, "go by 'Shimmer' since you're all shimmery and sparkly?" she suggested.

Shimmer nodded in agreement, "Okay, I don't mind, now let's go!" she blipped into her saucer and zipped in a random direction, forcing the six girls to chase after her.

Twilight was reading a book in the library where the portal was; it helped her to calm herself as she watched over the portal in case anything happened during Sunset's visit.

She was just about to get another book when Midnight entered the room. She looked concerned about something, which was rare to see.

"Hello Midnight! Here to get some books?" Twilight asked.

Midnight looked at the active portal before turning her gaze to the princess, "Princess, have you seen Sunset? She is absent in the archives, and I could not find her anywhere in Ponyville."

"Actually, she's visiting the human world right now. Didn't she tell you?" Twilight asked, now she's also getting worried.

Midnight's eyes widened, "T-the human world? She did not inform me of this."

She looked at the portal, "Princess, we need to get her back, I have not deactivated her Legion Protocol!" Midnight said urgently.

Twilight noticed Midnight's tone, "W-what?! Legion protocol? Midnight, what do you mean?" she asked anxiously.

"The Legion Protocol was meant to be emergency insurance in case we ever arrived in a world that contained malevolent artificial beings, it encourages Sunset to take control of any and all forms of technology within the immediate area, assimilate them into her systems, and force them to obey her or our commands so that they would be of no burden or threat to our existence on such a world." Midnight lit her horn and conjured a metal cube, "If it was to activate automatically in the human world, which is very likely considering they have more advanced technology than Equestria, without any one of the three of us or her fellow AI, she may attempt to assimilate the entire world's technology into her system!" she explained.

"Wha- why would you allow her to do that?!" Twilight asked in exasperation.

Midnight looked to the side and ruffled her wings, "We were paranoid, princess, we were trying to secure our safety every way we can." she defended.

Twilight could only sigh and cover her face with her hooves.

As she was trying to figure out what to do, the communication journal started to buzz in its slot. Twilight hesitantly took it out and read what Sunset sent.

Twilight's pupils shrunk as she read through, "Oh no... oh no no no!"

"What happened, princess?" Midnight asked unsurely.

Twilight could only show Midnight the book wordlessly,

"Twilight, Shimmer/other me is taking over the school! She's in some protocol mode or something, what do we do?" was written on its newest page.

"Then we have no time to spare. Come, princess, we must make haste!" Midnight said as she rushed to the portal.

Twilight nodded and followed her. Hopefully Midnight knew what to do.

Canterlot High looked like a scene from a dystopian sci-fi movie, orb-like drones were flying in and out of the windows, bulky metallic cables stretched from underground and slowly snaked away, blocky structures with red blinking lights jutted out of the walls, large towers and satellite dishes sprouted up from the roof, and the walls were slowly being taken over by a chrome-colored material. The Rainbooms were anxiously waiting for Twilight to come through, she knew Shimmer, so maybe she'll know how to get her to stop.

"I'm fine with saving the world from magical problems, but I don't think this is magic." Rainbow Dash commented as she and her friends watched the rogue AI slowly take over the school.

"Yeah! This is more of a crazy future-y sci-fi computer problem!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Sunset could only sigh as she looked at the assimilated building, "Where are you, Twilight?" she muttered under her breath.

The portal shined and out came two people, one was a familiar, purple-skinned girl with long straight hair, next to her was an unfamiliar dark purple-skinned woman with messy punk-style hair in a buttoned-up lab coat long enough to cover her knees and a tall collar that almost covered her mouth. She wore long black rubber gloves that covered her sleeves, black externally steel-capped boots, and cyan metal-rimmed goggles. The unknown woman also held a metallic cube in her hand.

"TWILIGHT!" the Rainbooms shouted in unison at the arrival of their friend.

They then turned their gaze to the newcomer with confusion. The mad scientist-looking woman only stared at them through her goggles.

"Uh, Twilight, who's this?" Applejack asked while pointing at the oddly dressed woman.

Twilight turned to Midnight, who was looking at her rubber glove-clad hands, "Oh! Everypo- body, this is Midnight. She's from the same world as the other Sunset and she knows how to help you."

Midnight put her hands behind her back and lightly bowed, "Greetings, as the princess has stated, I am Midnight, the Forger of Stars. I am here to assist you in subduing Sunset, or as you have referred to her in the journal, Shimmer."

Twilight turned to Sunset, "Sunset, what caused her to go... like this?" she asked as she pointed to the school.

Sunset shook her head, "I don't know, we were just about to say our goodbyes when her eyes started glowing, then she started talking about this 'legion protocol'. I didn't know what she meant, but she rushed in through the doors–literally, she went through it–and then all of this," she gestured towards the building, "happened and we couldn't get in."

Midnight nodded, "The Legion Protocol. If this school is similar in nature to the ones in Skyros, then I will need to access the server room, that is where her saucer will be located. This Pacifier Matrix shall do the rest." she explained.

"But how will you be able to enter? She's practically locked down the entire school!" Rarity countered.

"It is simple, you will distract her forces while I make my way into the building. She is establishing the basic network right now; you only need to show high movement and make loud noise. The drones are only for surveillance, you will not be harmed, the likelihood of her firing at you with stun bolts is below two percent at this stage." Midnight assured, in the best way she could.

"Even one percent is still pretty high..." Fluttershy muttered.

"Okay, so loud noises and movement. I think we can do that." Applejack said confidently.

And so, they all began to execute Midnight's plan. The Rainbooms and Twilight will distract Shimmer's drones and force her to focus on them, while Midnight will enter from the back entrance and make her way to the server room.

Midnight walked through the dimly lit hallways of the school; the walls were slowly being transformed into nano-chromite constructs, cables were hanging loosely from the ceiling, every locker she passed appeared to have been transformed into various kinds of hardware. She had only witnessed this particular sight once within the last three hundred revolutions, and that was the first time they tested the new code. It was that very same incident that made the three of them decide to only use it during extreme emergencies. Unfortunately, they never got to updating Sunset's code since they had to move from place to place as they collected materials for the portal ritual.

As she made her way through the assimilated school, Midnight finally found the server room. There were large cables that trailed out from the open door, the inside of the room was dark, the only light source within it was the soft red glow of the saucer, it had cables that connected itself to the server racks. Seeing this, she immediately got to work, she carefully detached the cables from the computers and connected it to the Pacifier Matrix, with Shimmer distracted, she won't notice anybeing tampering with her saucer. Her newly acquired fingers were useful, but they simply weren't as delicate as her precise magic, she had to do it slowly.

After a couple of minutes, she finally finished, the cables began to snake back into the server room, the chrome on the walls receded, and the haphazard hardware slowly transformed back to normal appliances. Midnight caught the saucer as it fell and collected the Matrix. She finally found the front entrance and exited the building. Outside, she saw... an odd sight.

Pinkie Pie was breakdancing in what appeared to be an alligator onesie, Rainbow Dash was kicking around a deactivated drone near a fairly large stack of used air horns, Fluttershy and Rarity were cleaning themselves from trash while Twilight and Applejack were organizing a set of fallen trash bins. Those two things were probably connected. And Sunset was just facepalming at the others. The seven girls heard the sound of the doors opening and turned their gaze towards the scientist lookalike.

"May I inquire as to what happened?" Midnight asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Shimmer felt her optical sensors slowly activate, it flickered for moment before it was able to produce a live feed of what was in front of her. She was confused as she saw three worried beings who were looking at her in the archives' core room. They were Princess Twilight, Midnight, and... herself? Oh right, the visit.

"What... happened?" Shimmer asked.

"Your Legion Protocol automatically activated during your visit to the human world." Twilight explained.

"And you sorta tried to take over Canterlot High." Sunset added.

Shimmer looked down and rubbed the back of her head, "Oh... sorry..."

Midnight stepped up, "No Su-" she glanced at Sunset briefly, "No, Shimmer. You do not need to apologize. It is my fault for neglecting your wellbeing ever since our arrival in Equestria. I had forced you to manage the archives by your lonesome without even considering your thoughts on the matter, I barely even gave a second thought about reactivating your fellow AI. For that, I am sorry." she apologized with a low bow and lowered wings.

Shimmer was surprised, in the millions of revolutions she had known Midnight, she never saw the transcendent alicorn apologize so sincerely to her, she had only ever done it in jest or with clear sarcasm.

"W-well, I guess it's also kinda my fault for just running away like that. I could've told you about it and maybe tried asking Princess Twilight to help me explain my problem to you as well. Sorry about that." Shimmer admitted.

Midnight nodded, "Then how about we agree that we were both at fault for this escapade, hm?"

Shimmer nodded, "Yeah, that's fair."

Midnight smiled and put a hoof to her chin in thought, "Now... about bringing your friends back online..."

Author's Note

The Rainbooms deal with a technological threat instead of a magical one!

From now on, every time two Sunsets appear at the same time, Holo-Sunset will be called Shimmer. I know, I know, it's a bit overdone but I always liked the idea.

Before anybody asks, Midnight's human outfit is based on Professor Membrane and she has Punklight Sparkle's hair.

Would you like to see what Shimmer did around Canterlot City before the Protocol activated? Let me know!

Next Chapter: Grogar can create life from rocks? :rainbowhuh:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 7 : Grogar's Day Out

"INVADERS!" Midnight shouted as she flared her wings; her horn, wings, and hooves thrummed with immense cyan-colored magical energy, causing the surrounding area to vibrate with a low hum. She was charging up for an obliteration blast.

"Wha- Midnight! Wait!" Twilight shouted back as she tried to tackle the taller alicorn, though she was only able to nudge Midnight slightly.

Midnight looked down to the princess, who was desperately trying to pull one of her forelegs, "Princess, while I agree that a diplomatic approach would be preferable for many occasions, I highly doubt an invading force would be open for any forms of discussion!"

Twilight shook her head frantically, "No! No! They're not invaders, they're here to set up winter, Midnight!"

Midnight dimmed her magic ever so slightly, "Pardon? Set up... winter?" she turned to look at the cloud city, "It is a... mobile weather factory? Why is it so large? It is nearly equal to the size of an entire city sector."

Twilight pointed at the slowly advancing city of clouds, "That's Cloudsdale, it moves around Equestria to produce weather throughout the entire nation." she explained.

Midnight finally stopped her charge-up and raised an eyebrow, "Equestria only has one mobile weather factory? That seems terribly inefficient, princess."

Twilight tilted her head, "I take it Skyros has more than one?"

"Indeed, according to the archives, there are currently ten in active use. I do not see the benefit of only having one large factory, it would have a hard time distributing weather and aid in the change of seasons evenly throughout such a large nation." Midnight said as she and Twilight made their way back to the castle.

"Well, it's been that way for over a millennium, I guess ponies have just gotten used to the weather and seasons progressing that way." Twilight replied.

As they made their way through the hallway, they saw Cosmos wandering about and peeking into a few rooms as she passed. She seemed to be looking for something.

Cosmos saw the two alicorns enter and perked up, "Hey guys, have you seen Grogar around? I swear, that buck's stealthier than a purple urk."

"I believe he said that he wanted to explore the Everfree and capture schematics for new beasts. I remember he was particularly interested in getting the schematics for a hydra." Midnight told her.

Twilight turned to Midnight, "He shouldn't go there alone, it's dangerous!" she paused to think "Unless he finds his way into Thicket, but I don't know how they'd react to him."

"Ah, right, Thicket. The hidden kingdom within that forest, which you claim is ruled by this world's Aspen, yes?" Midnight asked.

Twilight nodded, "Yes, and you keep surprising me with the ponies and creatures you're related to. Trixie, Nightmare Moon, Starswirl the Bearded," she heard midnight sniff in amusement, "Adagio, and now King Aspen. Seriously! Next you'll say you're related to a Moon Creature!" she exclaimed.

"Jerome, the Weaver of Dreams, is a Nyx, or 'moon creature' as you said. He too, is one of my nineteen siblings." Midnight admitted.

Twilight sighed and facehoofed, "Of course he is..."

Midnight and Cosmos could only giggle at the princess' exasperation.

Deep within the Everfree Forest, Grogar was happily trotting along a small clearing among the dense foliage. So far, he has captured the schematics for a parasprite, a cockatrice, and a river serpent. What a nice fellow, that serpent was.

He continued onwards into the forest, his primary objective was collecting the schematics for a hydra, the number of experiments he could do with something that had four heads would be limitless! It will also help him in completing a special project he had in mind. Thanks to the help of a zebra, he knew where the location where they are usually found in. Unfortunately, he had been wandering about the boggier areas of the forest for the last two and a half hours with not even a single glimpse of a hydra. He was just about to move on to a different location when he heard the sound of snoring from a nearby cave.

Grogar slowly approached the entrance of the cave and peeked into its darkness, what he saw inside made his jaw drop.

"An Ursa Major..." he muttered under his breath, "but how?"

As far as he knew, Ursa Majors and other starbeasts only existed because of Midnight and himself, they did not occur naturally as they were meant to be used as crucible pullers in Nova power plants and as a type of sentinel for Midnight's Star Forge. How did one exist in Equestria without either of its creators being present in this world?

Grogar shook his head, 'Think about interdimensional discrepancies later, for now...' he casted a total silencing spell on himself, and slowly tip-hoofed his way inside, 'The schematics of a naturally occurring Ursa Major is far too valuable to ignore.' he thought to himself.

Slowly but surely, he approached the giant slumbering purple ursine. When he was close enough, he detached his bell and floated it up right next to the star symbol on its forehead. The bell turned its mouth towards the symbol and began to project a small yellow beam with wisps of black into it. Grogar then psychically activated the bell's scanning enchantment and waited for it to finish.

He kept taking glances at the sleeping Ursa's eyes as the bell continued scanning, 'Don't wake up, stay asleep, don't wake up, stay asleep...' he repeatedly begged in his mind. If a starbeast is taken out of its slumbering period forcefully, it will attempt to destroy any and all sources of disturbance within the immediate area, which could cause untold destruction to the local ecosystem if it were to happen.

The bell finally finished scanning and returned to its master, Grogar nodded in satisfaction before he turned around and made his way back towards the cave's entrance. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that the silencing spell he casted on himself rerouted its energy to the bell as he was putting all of his focus on speeding up the scanning process. He tripped slightly on a rock, which caused all the bells on his harness to jingle loudly and echo throughout the entire cave.

Grogar gasped and re-casted the silencing spell, he waited for a few moments to listen around the dim cave, 'Didn't wake it up... hopefully...' he took only a single step forwards when he felt something breathing heavily behind him.

"Ah feth..." he muttered, before spinning around and firing a temporary stasis blast at the Ursa.

Grogar activated his ram-warp enchantments and bolted out of the starbeast's territory, "It will wear off in an hour!" he yelled as he zoomed away, leaving a magical yellow and black contrail.

After he made sure he was far enough from the Ursa's territory, Grogar continued is expedition, 'I hope it went to sleep again right after.' he thought to himself.

'At least I acquired it.' Grogar added while tapping his bell.

He looked around the area and chose to walk in a random direction. If he did get lost, he could just shadow warp back to the archives and start over his trek.

He captured the schematics for a manticore, a pukwudgie, a cragadile and a lupine wood golem as he continued to tread deeper into the Everfree, the shrubbery seemed to become denser the further he went, and the primal magic in the area seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

Grogar had to conjure a sickle to cut through the ever-increasing foliage, this didn't seem to be normal, even for a forest with such high amounts of primal and wild magic, 'Almost as if it was done on purpose.' he mused.

He was about to blast away the suffocating shrubbery with an abyssal beam when he saw a glimpse of a clearing just ahead of him. Realizing this, he rushed out of the foliage and stopped right in front of a tall golden gate that was intricately designed. Beyond it, there appeared to be building and pathways that were built among and into the towering trees.

Grogar turned his gaze towards the base of the gate and approached it with curiosity.

"The princess told me of a kingdom here..." he muttered.

Grogar pushed the gate slightly only to realize it moved, 'Not locked?' he thought.

He looked around the area before shrugging and proceeded to open the gates. When he entered, he could only stare in awe at the sight that greeted him. Immensely tall trees towered above him, imbedded with ornate structures and spiraling staircases, each tree-building had pathways built between them for easy access, and the branches of the trees were decorated with magical lights that glowed a warm yellow. It reminded him of a less colorful and less rural Bridlewood.

"Incredible..." he said breathlessly.

Grogar followed along the main path. He looked this way and that, admiring the beauty and intricacy of the surrounding structures. He was able to see silhouettes of cervine creatures walking along the pathways among the trees, 'Inhabitants are supposedly referred to as the Deer, according to the princess.' he thought to himself.

He decided that he had enough, perhaps he could visit this location later with his friends, but for now, he needed to prioritize getting more schematics to create new beasts and for his special project. He discreetly made his way back to the gate, only to find two deer inspecting it, a stag and a fawn.

The fawn looked up to the armored stag, "Who do you think it could be, Blackthorn?" he asked.

The armored stag, Blackthorn, shook his head, "Well, it couldn't have been a pony, the hoofprints are cloven. Yet, they do not resemble ours. They're fairly large and almost goat-like." he explained while eyeing the ground near the gate.

Grogar took a sharp breath, "Better get this over with..." he mumbled.

He approached the two deer; he didn't realize how much he towered over them, so he hunched down his head to appear less threatening. Once he got close enough, he cleared his throat to get their attention.

Blackthorn and the fawn turned around to meet the being behind them, only to see a large blue goat with big curling horns smiling right at them.

Grogar waved a hoof, "Greetings! I am but a simple traveler who just so happened to stumble across your wonderful kingdom. I would like to apologize if I had caused concern. Your kingdom is just so beautiful that I simply had to look inside." he said.

Blackhorn snapped back to attention, "You! But how did you enter?! Did you break in?" he asked while pointing at Grogar accusingly.

Grogar shook his head, "I absolutely did not, officer. The gate was already unlocked, I simply pushed it open and went through."

Blackthorn put a hoof to his chin, "But then why..." he paused for moment before facehoofing, "Of course, Private Spruce..." he muttered in annoyance.

Grogar nodded and turned his gaze towards the gate, "Well, I'm sure you'll get that all sorted in due time. If you would excuse me, I'd like to get going." he said with a smile.

Blackthorn sighed, "Very well, please inform a nearby guard when you visit. While Thicket is in very good terms with Equestria, many of our citizens are not very used to meeting other creatures from beyond the Everfree Forest. Please keep that in mind."

Grogar nodded, "Will do officer, will do." he said as he made his way out.

As the towering goat disappeared into the Everfree's foliage, the fawn looked back at Blackthorn with a smile, "He seems nice." he commented.

Blackthorn nodded, "It seems so, Prince Bramble."

Grogar wandered around the forest for a bit longer, he was now in another bog environment, continuously striking the ground with magically charged hooves in hopes of calling out a hydra.

"Come!" STAMP "On!" STAMP "Just!" STAMP "Pop!" STAMP "Out!" STAMP "Already!" STAMP

Suddenly, clouds of green foul-smelling gas erupted from the surrounding wetlands, the ground shook and the water rippled. In a burst of muddy water, four reptilian heads emerged from the bog, looming over him and staring inquisitively.

Grogar jumped and laughed in celebration, "YES! HAHA! AT LAST!" he shouted.

The four heads looked at each other in confusion at the reaction of their potential meal before roaring and lunging at the joyful ibex.

Grogar stopped mid celebration to dodge the attack. As the offending head struck the ground, he jumped onto its snout and bit it with his tusks. The head roared in pain and started flailing to get the blue menace off. Grogar held on tight as he unlatched his bell and prepared a scanning spell. The bell floated about, constantly trying to follow its master as the head continued to thrash around.

Another head thought it had enough and tried to remove the pesky goat itself. It dashed forward at its flailing sibling and missed as Grogar leaped off of the first head in a blast of yellow energy and landed on the second's eyes. The ibex continued scanning as he casted a veil of Void around the second head. It panicked and bumped into the other three heads as it attempted to remove the veil.

Finishing the scan, Grogar continued on to the third head. He ram-warped horns first into it, stunning the head in the process. The other three tried to get him, but he held them off with an icosahedron-shaped shield of blue energy. The third head was trapped with ethereal rune-ridden magical rings that spun around its neck. Grogar then lunged at the fourth head, which was thankfully also the closest.

He latched on to its snout and started the scanning spell. The head roared and tried to scrape him off with the watery ground. Grogar ram-warped again and pushed the head away from the ground and into the other three, forcing them to slam into each other and knocking all four out.

As the fourth head fell unconscious, Grogar teleported himself to dry land and sighed contently. He finally got it, the schematics of a hydra.

'A fine addition to my collection' he thought to himself.

Midnight and Cosmos were spectating the ponies who were hard at work setting up winter. They were curious about the traditional ways Equestria used when setting up the weather and changing of seasons. Compared to Skyros, the process was definitely slower and required more effort from the citizens, but the ponies seem to enjoy it. Many of them doing their assigned tasks with bright smiles and cheery expressions. The two otherworlders were interested in joining and are now doing various tasks that Princess Twilight had directed them to do.

"This is pretty fun; we should do this every revolution!" Cosmos said happily, the clouds were swirling around her body as she dispersed them around the sky.

Midnight smiled, "Indeed, I also find this quite enjoyable. Not as enjoyable as tending to my stars, mind you, but still enjoyable."

"By the way, what do you think of the stars here? Apparently nobeing made them, the gases just sorta... got clumped together, last I checked." Cosmos asked.

Midnight looked at her friend, "The night sky of Equestria is peaceful. Or I suppose, stagnant, compared to the night sky of Tellus. It is not as full as the heavens that I have decorated. I can sense the stars; they are content with their existence. They do not actively 'speak' like mine; they do not yearn for activity and purpose. These stars are not magically charged enough to show color at the distance they are at. Which means that the Equestrians will be limited to very few magical enlightenments compared to Tellus.

"There are also no visible nebulae, star clusters, neighboring galaxies, or even the sight of errant stardust left from supernovae, only deep purple. Not even midnight purple, just a deep purple, which eventually fades into the darkness of Void. It makes the sky feel... desolate. Perhaps with permission from the diarchy, I could rebuild the Star Forge and decorate heavens once more. I hope they would enjoy it enough to even consider conquering it like the mortals of Skyros did." she explained.

Cosmos snickered, "Yeah, and you'd secretly sabotage them every step of the way."

Midnight huffed, "I will not allow them to just tarnish my creations with their feeble excuses for 'spaceships'! They need to be the perfect blend between powerful, beautiful, and functional. Not those messy scraps of metal and wires cobbled together with spit and halfhearted prayers!" she exclaimed.

"Heh, and then Time Turner's gonna complain because you're 'preventing advancements in technology'" Cosmos replied, copying Time Turner's accent.

The remark got a chuckle out of Midnight before she sighed, "If only they were just as understanding as Trixie..."

Cosmos nodded solemnly, "Yeah, I miss her. Wonder what she's like here."

The two of them were broken from their discussion when they heard sounds of energy discharges coming from the direction of Cloudsdale. The entire cloud city seemed to be rumbling and writhing.

"What the Hades..." Cosmos muttered as she stared at the mobile city.

"We must report to the princess. Something must have gone awry!" Midnight commanded as she and Cosmos teleported to the princess.

The two appeared in a flash of cyan light and puff red smoke right in front of Twilight, who was busy finishing up a nearby forested area with other ponies. Their sudden arrival shocked the young princess and caused her to jump and fall over.

"Maybe we should stop teleporting in front of other beings..." Cosmos commented.

"Apologies, princess. There is something wrong with Cloudsdale, perhaps malfunctioning machinery?" Midnight explained as she helped Twilight getting up.

"Malfunctioning?" Twilight turned her gaze towards the floating city. It was rumbling, there were arcs of electricity coursing around the cloud structures, and the wind in the surrounding area was blowing beyond the usual velocity.

Applejack heard their discussion and looked up at Cloudsdale, "What in the name of Celestia's goin' on up there?"

Twilight looked at the cloud city worriedly, "Prepare yourselves, everpony. Winter is coming!" she announced.

Grogar was making his way back into town when he saw the changes done to the surrounding landscape. He didn't realize winter was coming so soon, the Everfree didn't even look like it was going through autumn. He simply chalked it up to the forest's supposed abundance in primal and wild magic and continued his path back to the castle.

Suddenly, he heard a rumbling sound that came from the sky from the other side of Ponyville. He saw what appeared to be a supersized mobile weather factory going through some sort of meltdown.

'That's... not good.' he thought.

Immediately, as he was about to contact Midnight and Cosmos using his omni-tool, a massive snowball blasted its way out of a snow cloud production outlet. He saw two figures fly up to it, his friends!

Grogar immediately conjured magic wings made of concentrated void energy and teleported to where they are in the sky.

"What in the name of Oblivion is happening?!" he shouted.

Midnight lit her horns and the leylines in her wings before turning to Grogar, "Possible cloud production malfunction!" she yelled back.

"Guys, I hear something!" Cosmos said as she pointed to an odd equinoid shape on the snowball. She could hear a familiar voice yelling for help.

"AAAH!" Rainbow Dash shouted at the top of her lungs as held on to her pet tortoise, Tank, for dear life in the giant snowball.

Midnight, realizing she couldn't just disintegrate the snowball, changed her plans. She turned to Grogar, "When I dismantle the snow, catch her!"

Grogar nodded. Midnight rerouted her horn's energy to the leylines in her wings, she spread them wide and thrusted them towards the incoming snowball. A crescent-shaped wave of cyan energy launched itself from her wings and into the snowball. As it made contact, the surrounding snow was blown away back towards the sky, Cosmos caught the giant glob of snow by summoning a giant ethereal hand and compressed it into a small cube. Grogar caught Rainbow and Tank with void chains, which absorbed their momentum and left the pegasus and tortoise levitating beside him, tied up in black chains that radiated blue energy.

The three of them, along with a rather distraught looking pegasus and sleepy tortoise, landed near the cleared woodland area where the ponies were working. Rainbow's friends were the first to pop out of hiding.

Twilight approached Rainbow as Grogar released her from the chains, "Rainbow Dash! Are you alright?"

Rainbow sighed and hugged Tank closely, "No..." she muttered before flopping on the ground next to her tortoise sadly.

The ponies continued to prepare winter as usual. The six heroes of Equestria sorted out why Rainbow Dash tried to sabotage winter and helped her come to terms with Tank's hibernation period. Winter preparations eventually finished, and everypony were now enjoying everything the cold season had to offer. Excluding one ibex, who was cooped up in his personal chambers in the archives. He was carefully chiseling out what seemed to be a head of a donkey made out of a metallic jet-black crystal. After some more chiseling, he blew away the accumulated dust and leaned back to see his work.

Grogar smiled proudly at his realistic recreation of a donkey's head before turning at the various blueprints of runes and ritual circles plastered on a wall, as well as the black crystals that the schematics he collected were imprinted into.

"One step closer to bringing you back, Bray..." he muttered wistfully.

Author's Note

The Beastfather went hunting! Here we see Grogar's little adventure in the Everfree forest. He misses his first creation dearly.

Midnight almost destroyed Cloudsdale, imagine what would've happened if Twilight was too late...

These chapters will follow the order in which episodes air. So, one moment we're setting up winter, the next, we're in the middle of spring.

Next chapter : Cosmos LARPs with the CMC? :rainbowhuh:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 8 : Four of a Kind

Inside the throne room of the Castle of Friendship, six ponies and one dragon were animatedly conversing with each other, talking about their lives, and just enjoying each other's company for the day. Unfortunately, it was soon interrupted by the sudden arrival of a familiar chrome saucer. It barged in through the doors, causing the assorted creatures in the room to jump in surprise.

"GREAT NEWS, EVERYBEING!" Sunset yelled using speakers that popped out of her saucer before projecting her avatar.

Rarity glared at the holographic alicorn as she held up a hoof to her chest, "My goodness, Sunset! Did you really need to do that?! I almost had a heart attack!"

Sunset rubbed the back of her head and gave an awkward smile, "Sorry, this is just so exciting! They're back online!" she said excitedly.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, "Uh, who's back online? And what do mean 'online'?" she asked while gesturing air quotes with her primary feathers.

"My friends, of course! My digi-pals!" Sunset exclaimed as she looked around the room.

Seeing the absence of three other saucers, she frowned, "What the-" Sunset groaned, "Hold on, let me get them. They haven't mapped out the castle yet..." she muttered before going back through the doors and closing it.

Spike motioned his claws towards the doors, "What was that all about?"

Twilight turned to her assistant, "She's just excited to introduce you all to her friends. After the incident in the human world, Midnight promised to help her reactivate the three of them."

"This castle's gonna be real crowded soon with three more ponies 'round. Countin' you and Spike, there's nine o' y'all now." Applejack commented.

Pinkie Pie jumped on her seat with excitement, "It's gotta be super fun with all of them here! I can't wait to meet them!"

Spike shrugged, "I don't really mind since they help around the castle. Ever since they came along, I've got a lot more time to catch up on Power Ponies."

Sunset returned to the room with three more floating saucers. All three of them resembled hers in shape and chrome plating, the only differences were the color of the lights and cutie marks on top of them. The three saucers lined up next to each other beside Sunset before projecting their avatars.

The first saucer closest to Sunset projected an avatar that appeared to be an earth pony mare, she had a helio violet-colored coat, a curly violet mane and tail with white swirling highlights, deep violet eyes with pink spirals instead of pupils, she wore a yellow and white striped propeller cap with a light purple bill, and on her flanks was a cutie mark of a screw and a baseball. She had a wide grin on her face.

"'Ello! Name's Screwbawl, nice to meet ya! I'll be in charge of the thaumtek syst'ems and realit'y anchors. Sumfin' tells me, we're about to be real good friends!" Screwball proclaimed with a wave. The others noted her odd accent.*

The second saucer next to Screwball began projecting its own avatar as well. The avatar appeared to be a pegasus mare, she had a beige coat, a braided golden, yellow-colored mane and tail with a blue streak near her left ear, bright magenta eyes, an ornate gold amulet around her neck, and a cutie mark of the sun settled between two gold wings. She smiled warmly at the group before bowing.

"I am Golden Feather, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I will be responsible for the maintenance and general cleaning of the archives as well as this castle, if you so wish." she said. Twilight found her voice to be rather familiar. Spike smiled at the thought of even more help.

Following Golden Feather, the last saucer projected its own avatar. The avatar had the appearance of a unicorn mare, she had a light lilac coat, a swept aside purple mane and tail with a pale turquoise stripe through them, light purple eyes, a magenta beanie with white star patterns on it on her head, and a cutie mark of a purple four-pointed star with two wisps of magic above it on her flanks. She gave the group a casual smile.

"Hi, I'm Star-"

"Starlight Glimmer!" the six ponies shouted in near unison, completely interrupting Starlight's introduction.

Starlight flinched and folded the ears of her avatar, "Uh... yes... that's me, Starlight Glimmer. I'm going to assume you're familiar with this world's me?"

"Oh we're familiar, alright!" Applejack stated as she stamped her hoof on her throne's armrest.

"She stole an entire town's worth of cutie marks because she thought it made them all 'equal' and stuff. She's totally crazy!" Rainbow Dash explained angrily.

Starlight raised an eyebrow, "Cutie... marks?" she muttered and turned to Sunset.

"Mark of Destiny." Sunset informed.

Golden Feather gasped and covered her mouth with her hooves.

Starlight whipped her head back to the group, "She did what?!" she nearly shouted.

Fluttershy nodded slowly, "And she forced them to live like that for goodness knows how long..." she added with a shudder.

"Wha- that's enough to warrant magical extraction!" Starlight exclaimed.

Screwball put a hoof to her chin, "Huh, would h'ave expect'ed h'er to be a securit'y guard, considerin'..." she muttered.

Starlight shook her head sadly, "Of all the things..." she looked at the assorted ponies and dragon, "I can assure you; I'm not going to be a maniacal dictator or whatever. I'll be in charge of the security systems, like the cameras, traps, turrets, sentinels, drones, and all of that."

The ponies seemed reluctant, but eventually nodded and smiled. This might take some time getting used to, though.

In a puff of red smoke in the middle of the Cutie Map, Cosmos appeared with a set of colorful crystals and a manic grin on her face, she was also giggling to herself. Floating beside her were a set of hats, uniforms, robes, and accessories that not even Rarity could identify, and the bulb of her stinger split apart into a pincer that held a thick book.

"Does this mean we can do a seven player Live Action Battlemace match again?!" she asked with clear excitement in her eyes.

Sunset gave her an awkward smile and rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry Cosmos, we're actually planning on touring around the castle and Ponyville. Maybe next time?"

Cosmos sighed in disappointment, "Oh... okay then. You guys have fun." she said with a halfhearted smile as she disappeared in a swirl of red energy.

Sunset turned to the group of digital equines, "Alright everybeing, let's start the tour!"

Twilight raised a hoof hesitantly, "Um, can I maybe... tag along?"

Sunset smirked and rolled her eyes, "Sure, princess. They probably wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions for you," she looked at the three holographic ponies, "right, girls?"

"Nah."

"Of course I don't mind."

"Nope!"

"Then let's go!" Sunset said as she made her way to the hallway.

Cosmos groaned, "Now who in the great plains of Tel- Equestria should I ask to play some Battlemace..." she muttered as she flew above the skies near Sweet Apple Acres. She always enjoyed flying above the orchard, it gave her a sense of tranquility whenever she saw it, which helped her think. Sometimes she'd lay around on a cloud and watch the Apples work, other times Cosmos would meet Rainbow Dash as she was bringing over a cloud to help Applejack water the crops. Right now, though, she just wanted to find somebeing who would play a live action match of Battlemace. She was mulling over who she should ask when she heard the sound of an explosion coming from somewhere among the apple trees.

She descended on to a tree and made herself invisible before peeking out at the source of the noise. Cosmos saw a treehouse built on top of a low growing apple tree. A couple of paces in front of it, were three fillies who were bickering as they gazed down upon a smoking crater. She recognized one of the fillies as Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom. Upon a closer look, she recognized the two other fillies from the welcome party, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Rarity's little sister and Rainbow Dash's biggest fan respectively. Getting curious, she slithered down the tree and made herself visible again.

"Yo! You three! What the Hades was that?" Cosmos called out to the filly.

The three fillies turned around to see a tall chimeric creature looking at them with yellow slitted eyes. The sudden appearance startled the unicorn and pegasus fillies while Apple Bloom, being used to her frequent presence around the farm, smiled and waved.

"Howdy Cosmos! Watcha' doin' here? Tryin' to convince AJ and Big Mac to play battleaxe again?" she asked.

"It's Battlemace," Cosmos corrected, "and no, I was just flying around when I heard something explode." she peered over the fillies, "Wouldn't happen to be from here, would it?"

"Oh, we're just tryin' to get our cutie marks in fireworks makin'. A lot harder than I thought..." Apple Bloom admitted.

Sweetie Belle nodded, "We might've made TNT instead..."

"And now we need to cover this crater up before anypony finds out." Scootaloo added.

Cosmos approached the crater, "I'll handle it." she said as she lit her horns and zapped the crater. The charred hole instantly vanished, leaving only flat grass. It was as if the explosion never happened at all.

"Neat!" Scootaloo commented.

Cosmos waved a hand, "No problem. Now, if you'd excuse me, I- hm..." she stopped mid-sentence and tapped her chin spine while staring at the Crusaders with narrowed eyes. A unicorn, an earth pony, and a pegasus. Just like...

She then snapped her fingers as she got an idea, accidentally causing a wormhole to rip open, which she immediately rushed to close.

"Oops." Cosmos muttered as she stitched the wormhole together using her stinger.

"Uh..." was all the three fillies could say.

Once, she was done, she looked back at the fillies, "Say, would you three like to play a round of Live Action Battlemace?" Cosmos asked.

Apple Bloom scratched the back of her head, "Gee, I dunno' Cosmos, we don't really know how to play..."

"That's okay! I can teach you. And who knows, maybe you can get yours Marks of Destiny from it. I know many a being who has." Cosmos added.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow, "Mark of destiny?"

"Cutie marks." Cosmos corrected herself.

The Crusaders then huddled together, discussing their next plan of action before looking back at the anticipating spirit with smiles.

"Alright, Cosmos. We'll try playin' a round." Apple Bloom said.

Cosmos smiled excitedly, "Great! Now-"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BATTLEMACE PLAYERS, YAY!" she interrupted by three fillies shouting at the top of their lungs.

Cosmos rubbed her ears, "Sour Hades, they're loud." she muttered.

She clapped her hands once, which transported all of them into the control room of a spaceship. Outside, other spaceships can be seen opening fire upon each other with lasers right above a blue planet. The Crusaders rushed towards a nearby window and stared in awe.

"Woah... where are we?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes were still locked on the battle going on outside.

Cosmos smiled proudly, "We are inside my custom Battlemace Fifty Million simulation bubble. It's able to warp reality in such a way that it's as if we're in an entirely different universe, even though we're actually still in Equestria. We're still near your treehouse. If somebeing looked from the outside, they'll just see a big red bubble with the words 'Simulations Active' on it." she explained as she waved a hand across the room.

Sweetie Belle looked back at the spirit, "So all of this isn't actually real?" she asked while pointing at a ship that just got bisected.

"Eh, sort of. It's not real enough to be dangerous. Only enough for us to have fun and interact with the simulations. We can't like, actually get hurt or die in here" Cosmos continued.

Apple Bloom nodded, "Well, that's a relief."

The three Crusaders continued to spectate the battle for a moment before turning back to Cosmos to start playing the game.

"Okay, so, before we begin, we need to be in the proper attire." Cosmos said as she lit her horns and covered all four of them in a ball of red light.

As the light dissipated, they all reappeared wearing special costumes that was unlike anything the fillies had ever seen before.

Cosmos was wearing a black greatcoat that was highlighted with gold trims and a bright red interior, under the coat was a shiny silver breastplate with a gold insignia of an alicorn spreading its wings and a blue rhombus-shaped gem below it near the base of the neck. On her head was a black peaked cap with red and gold highlights, as well as a smaller version of the alicorn insignia at the center.

To Cosmos' left was Sweetie Belle. Most of her body was covered by a dark purple robe with silver trimming, the parts that were visible appeared robotic and covered by metal with green lights, one of her eyes was covered by a green lens with wires connecting it to somewhere under the hood and her mouth was covered by a respirator of some kind. On her back were a set of mechanical claws that were holding a long staff with an axe head that resembled a gear as well as limbs that held glowing blasters.

Sweetie Belle looked at her hooves, "Am I a robot?!" she asked in a heavily modulated voice.

"You're about eighty percent robot. You're a Mecha Cleric, a devoted follower of the Mechassiah, who you believe is using the Empress as their avatar. Mecha Clerics augment their bodies with technology as they find it to be a sacred act of removing oneself from the weakness of the flesh." Cosmos explained.

In front of Cosmos was Apple Bloom. She wore heavy, ornate, red-colored plate armor with gold highlights and large oversized pauldrons with the same alicorn insignia on them. She was covered from the base of her neck to the tip of her hooves. On her withers were two large machine guns, allowing just enough space to move her head around.

Apple Bloom looked over her armor, "Am I some kinda' knight or somethin' ?"

Cosmos tilted her head, "In a way. You're a Star Marine. A Division Master, specifically. One of the Empire's most loyal and powerful soldiers. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a helmet to fit you. Sorry about that."

Lastly, to the right was Scootaloo. She wore a similar set of armor as Apple Bloom, but hers was less bulky and more muted in color and had more intricate patterns with equine skull designs on the pauldrons, along with a thick red cape that covered her back and sides.

"This is so cool! Not as cool as Rainbow Dash, but still cool!" Scootaloo exclaimed, waving around her cape.

Cosmos turned to the armored pegasus filly, "And you're an Inquirer. You hold one of the highest authorities in the Empire, only answering to the Deity Empress herself."

"And what are you supposed to be, Cosmos?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Cosmos stood straight on three limbs and gave the Crusaders a salute, "Kommander Cosmos of the Astro Soldiers, reporting for duty!"

She then turned her gaze towards the ongoing battle outside, "Alright, so here's how this is gonna go..."

"And that is Sweet Apple Acres, one of the biggest farms on this side of Equestria!" Sunset explained as she, three other holographic ponies, and one princess made their way through the dirt road to Sweet Apple Acres.

They had been going around Ponyville for quite some time after the tour of the castle finished. Along the way, Twilight had asked them various questions regarding Skyros, its technology, and other sapient AI programs like the four and ecstatically wrote every piece of information down on a long piece of parchment.

The three recently reactivated supercomputers seemed to have unanimously agreed that they liked the town of Ponyville. Screwball was very curious about the anomalous properties of the Everfree Forest, Golden absolutely adored the–from her perspective–old-timey aesthetic of the town, while Starlight enjoyed the generally peaceful environment of the surrounding area.

All in all, they seemed to appreciate the small town. If they keep up this attitude, they'll get accustomed to existing in Equestria in no time.

As they all continued along the path, Sunset's digital mind drifted on to the information they heard earlier today. Starlight's counterpart was a fugitive, a criminal, a criminal who forcefully extracted Marks of Destiny and brainwashed the ponies under her rule to live in a twisted dystopian society where everybeing was 'equal'. Or at least, in her eyes. And now she's somewhere out there, seeking revenge on Princess Twilight and her friends. They could send drones out to find her, but the six ponies quickly dismissed the idea. Such an attitude made Sunset worry for the wellbeing of her hosts. This train of thought would have continued if she didn't hear four beings shout at the top of their lungs.

"FOR THE EMPRESS!" was heard coming from somewhere within the orchard.

The five beings turned their heads towards the source of the sound, only to see the dissipating form of a simulation bubble and the sound of cheering.

"What was that?!" Twilight asked.

Screwball's saucer made a 'ping' noise, "It's just' Cosmos, princess. Nufin' to worry about'." she said.

"It's a bit weird she'd just conjure a simulation bubble like that, though." Starlight commented.

"That's where the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse is. What's she doing over there?" Twilight thought aloud.

Sunset emoted a sigh, "I think I know what's going on. C'mon, let's check on them."

The four holo-ponies and one princess made their way into the orchard and through the apple trees. When they approached the clubhouse, they saw the sight of three fillies jumping for joy with an amused yet slightly concerned looking spirit off to the side.

"Cosmos?" Twilight asked with a confused expression.

Cosmos turned towards the newcomers with a smile, "Oh, hey there! I uh... I think I did something..."

Sunset raised an eyebrow, "And what would that be, exactly?"

Cosmos silently pointed a finger at the three fillies. The three were still hopping around excitedly, they were giggling and yelling about... cutie marks. Twilight approached them and her eyes widened, they have cutie marks!

Upon closer inspection, they seem to share a similar design. They all appeared to be a gold and blue insignia of an alicorn, with its wings spread far to the sides. Twilight thought it resembled the Alicorn Amulet that Trixie found. Below the neck of the alicorn itself though, was where they started to differentiate. Apple Bloom's mark had an apple with a sword going through the top, Sweetie Belle's had a musical note at the center of a machine cog, while Scootaloo's had a large 'I' which was covered in the middle by a wing with a lightning bolt inside it.

Twilight turned back to the spirit, "Cosmos, when did this happen?"

"When we beat the Entropy Lord, they made this little motivational speech to the NPC soldiers, which was adorable by the way, and then they started floating and glowing in this magical sphere. When they popped out, they got their Marks." Cosmos explained as she shrugged, "It's great and all, but I can't help but feel like I messed up something. Like, it's as if I just disrupted the threads of Fate. Might need to some Wallbreaking back in the archives." she muttered.

The three fillies ran up to the pondering spirit with bright smiles.

"Ya got us our cutie marks!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"Can't wait to see the look on Diamond Tiara's face when we show these off!" Scootaloo added.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Sweetie Belle said as she jumped repeatedly.

Cosmos gave them a smirk, "Um, you're welcome?" she said tentatively.

Sweetie Belle stopped for a moment, "But wait, now that we have our cutie marks, what are we gonna do after?"

Apple Bloom put a hoof to her friend's withers, "Ain't it obvious? We'll spread the word about the wonders of cutie marks, and help ponies get theirs in the name of the Empress!"

Cosmos' eyes widened and the spines of her frills clicked awkwardly, "Wait, wha-"

"And we'll guide them in the search for a higher purpose to serve the Empress' will!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

Sunset looked at the spirit with worry, "Cosmos, what's going on?"

Sweetie Belle smiled confidently, "We'll bring peace and harmony throughout all of Equestria and fight the forces of Entropy in Her name and the Mechassiah!"

Cosmos raised her hands, "Girls, I don-"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS OF THE EMPIRE, YAY!"

"Oh no..." Cosmos, Sunset, and Twilight said in unison, leaving three somewhat confused holographic ponies to spectate the whole ordeal from the sidelines.

Apple Boom ran up to Cosmos, "Do ya' think we can get our costumes again, Cosmos? We'd like to keep 'em."

Cosmos lit her horns and summoned three necklaces with gold chains and a multicolored eight-pointed star as their centerpiece. She floated them over to each of the Crusaders.

"Tap the star five times to make them appear, tap them five times again to make them disappear." she said as the Crusaders put them on.

"Don't encourage them!" Twilight said exasperatedly.

Cosmos turned back to the princess and leaned in close to her ear, "Maybe they'll get over it once they get it out of their systems. This'll just speed up the process." she whispered.

Twilight hesitantly nodded, "Okay, if you're sure..." she muttered.

A week passed, and Cosmos was flying over the orchard again. This time she was joined by Twilight. They were both looking over the newly renovated clubhouse, which now resembled an ornate gothic castle with the logo of the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblazoned upon the alicorn insignia of the fictional Eternal Empire of Equidae placed right above the entrance.

Twilight looked down at the eye-catching structure, "You said they'll get over it." she remarked.

Cosmos shrugged, "Just give them time, princess. It's only been a week. And we've only played like, twice since the first. They'll get bored with roleplaying as the Empire soon enough."

Twilight snapped her head towards the spirit, "Roleplaying?! Cosmos, Cheerilee said they wear those costumes to school every day! They called Snips and Snails blasphemers and tied them to a tree in the Everfree! They're totally convinced, Cosmos!"

Cosmos tugged the end of her cobra hood, "W-well, I mean, Applejack said Apple Bloom's been working harder around the farm ever since she got the armor, a-and Rarity told me Sweetie's mecha claws have been helping her a lot in the boutique. Oh! And Scootaloo can fly now because her armor has jet boosters. Those are good... right?" she asked nervously.

Twilight heaved a sigh as she rubbed her temples, "What if they get hurt or hurt others doing something 'in the name of the Empress'?" she asked while doing a quoting gesture with her hooves.

"That's where the necklaces come in. They're essentially extensions of myself. If they ever get into trouble, the necklaces will send a psychic signal to me, and I can swoop in and prevent them from doing anything rash." Cosmos assured.

Twilight could only relent and sigh once more. It seems like they'll just have to see what happens next. Hopefully those three will get over this phase eventually. For now, Ponyville would just have to deal with three fillies in weird costumes preaching about the 'wonders of cutie marks' and how they 'lead ponies to salvation if they believe in the power of the Deity Empress of Equinekind.'

Author's Note

* I need your honest opinion on Screwball's Cockney accent. Should I do this, where I put apostrophes to imply the presence of a glottal stop, or should I also remove the letters that she wouldn't pronounce as well, only leaving the apostrophes?

Anyway. So that happened. Cosmos turned the CMC into Imperial zealots and twisted the timeline. Oh dear.

I know this will be controversial. How will Diamond Tiara deal with her mom then? Well, let's just say, the Crusaders of The Empire won't stay as three ponies for long...

And Starlight's working on security? My my... Have fun sneaking into the castle, Glimmer!

Next Chapter: Midnight has a scythe? :rainbowhuh:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 9 : Ad Astra

Inside one of the Castle of Friendship's many libraries, Twilight was busying herself by going through the catalog of her new customized holo-reader that Midnight gave her. She was awed by the sheer number of literary works that were stored within such a small device. From complete biographies of historical figures of Tellus to the myriads of fictional stories from countless authors of various races and origins.

"This is incredible, Spike! So much knowledge contained inside a device that's only the size of my hoof! I mean, look at this," Twilight did a swiping motion with her hoof upwards at the projected rectangular screen, "'The Life and Times of Madame Chrysalis, Venerated Hero of Lingtopia', she's a hero in their world! And this one, 'The Adventures of Derpy: The Oncoming Storm', isn't she the mailmare? Oooh and this one, 'Beginner's Guide to Battlemace Lore, by Shining Armor, huh, so that's where he is. Still weird how he's not one of Midnight's siblings." she muttered.

Spike stopped reading his comic book to look at the excited princess, "Does it have Power Ponies there? I wonder what they're like."

Twilight continued swiping some more, "Hm... hold on, let me check the comics category."

Spike was about to add a comment when he burped out a scroll in a blaze of green fire. He caught it in his claws and read it.

Twilight stopped her scrolling for a moment, "What does it say, Spike?"

Spike looked back at his adoptive sister, "It's a letter from Celestia, she wants us to come to Canterlot for something important," he read the post-script at the bottom, "And she wants you to bring Midnight as well."

Twilight immediately shot up from her seated position, "Wait, like now?"

"Uh..." Spike read through the letter again, "Yeah, she wants you to-"

"Okay, Spike! We need to go! Come on!" Twilight said as she lifted Spike with her magic and rushed to the archives.

"Woah! Twilight, we don't need to rush. I'm sure she won't mind." Spike assured as he was floating next to the panicking alicorn.

"If Princess Celestia wants us to go now, then it must be for something really important. I just hope Midnight's not too deep in the archives. Even with Golden Feather's map, it can still get pretty confusing finding your way in there." Twilight said determinedly.

Twilight let Spike go as they both entered the Archives of The Forsaken Triumvirate, it had been decorated a lot more since the last time they visited. The base structures that held up the immense bookshelves now appeared more ornate, the platforms themselves were painted white and gold, making the entire room feel less industrial. The Nova Core itself is now contained within a large tube with cables connected to the thick plate-like base. The massive computer at the opposite side of the entrance was also sleeker in design, with its control panel's wiring and hardware encased in a gold-colored material. Coincidentally, it was being actively used by the alicorn both of them were looking for.

Twilight approached Midnight, who was using her pinions to type away on the computer's keyboard, "Um, Midnight? Could I have word with you?" she asked politely.

Midnight stopped her typing and turned around, "Hm? Ah, princess. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We got a letter from Celestia asking for us to go to Canterlot. She said it's for something important." Twilight explained.

Midnight tilted her head, "Us? As in you, Mister Spike, and I? Truly?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes, and we're about to go there now. Better hurry or we'll need to catch a later train."

"The train?" Midnight remembered they still used steam locomotives here, "Why use such an... inefficient mode of transport when we can simply blip there?"

"Blip?" Twilight asked.

Midnight put a hoof to her chin, "Oh, right. I keep forgetting that I certain terminologies may not exist in Equestria. Blipping is a transportation spell that is usually used for emergency transport. It allows the caster to bring multiple beings or objects at once, and bypasses any and all forms of teleportation barriers. It does not possess the risks of teleportation, as it automatically places the individuals being transported on the nearest open space. The only drawback is that it requires a lot of energy to cast. Luckily, as a transcendent alicorn, I am able to cast such a spell without experiencing the drawbacks."

Twilight nodded, she wished she had brought a piece of parchment and a quill to write all of this down, "Alright, if you think it'll get us there faster."

Midnight lit her horn, the rings of magical fire around her eyes glowed brighter, "Very well. Princess Twilight, Mister Spike, please remain where you are as the spell is in progress. Our destination in Canterlot Castle, yes?"

"Yes. How is the spell going to work if you haven't been there before?" Twilight asked.

Midnight extended a wing and touched two primary feathers together to form a circle in front of her, "One does not simply decorate the heavens without a keen sense of direction."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Wha-"

In an instant, a whirlwind of cyan energy enveloped the three beings. As the twister of energy dissipated, the three were gone, as if they were never there in the first place.

"Are you certain about this, sister?" Luna asked as she and Celestia were waiting for their guests to arrive in the throne room.

Celestia nodded, "Very. I'm sure she'll be happy to know what we've planned for her."

"Hopefully the astronomers won't be hard to convince." Luna added, "They already caused so much commotion when I returned the concept of phases back to the moon. I would imagine adding more stars to the sky will cause them to be completely outraged."

"They may need to adapt first, yes. But after seeing those pictures she sent with her proposal, don't you think it'll all be worth it?" Celestia countered.

"I suppose. The one with the crescent moon was definitely a sight to behold. I wonder what those colorful clouds are?" Luna thought aloud.

Suddenly, a twister of cyan energy manifested right below the dais of the thrones. The sisters readied their horns in case of a magical attack or ambush, but soon dimmed them as they saw Twilight, Spike, and Midnight appear out of the maelstrom of magic.

"-t do you mean by... Huh?" Twilight muttered as she saw her surroundings.

"That was fast." Spike commented.

Celestia and Luna smiled at their visitors, "Welcome, Twilight, Spike, Midnight. You gave us quite the scare just then."

Midnight bowed to the co-rulers, "Apologies, your highnesses. I did not mean to startle you."

Celestia waved a hoof, "It's fine, Midnight. You simply caught us off-guard, as we have not seen such a spell be used in quite some time."

Twilight raised a hoof "Princess, you said we needed to come here for something important?" she asked.

"Indeed, Twilight Sparkle. We have some matters to discuss with you regarding the Grand Galloping Gala as well as Midnight proposal." Luna answered.

Twilight turned to the transcendent alicorn, "Proposal?"

"That is a matter that we'd like to discuss with her privately. For now, come with me, Twilight, Spike, I would like to ask of you something." Celestia said as she led the young princess and dragon out of the throne room.

After the three exited, Midnight turned her gaze towards the lunar princess, "Why would we refrain from informing them? If I may ask."

Luna shook her head, "It's for the best. I believe you've stayed with Princess Twilight long enough to know how she may react to certain aspects of your world, especially ones as significant as this, considering it may reform many significant aspects of astronomy."

Midnight nodded, "Understood. You wish to discuss about my proposal of rebuilding the Star Forge, yes?"

"Yes. I will admit, we are rather curious as to how you 'forge' these stars of yours, and how the Star Forge works as well." Luna said.

"Then perhaps a demonstration is required?" Midnight asked.

Luna raised a hoof, "After Celestia is done speaking with Twilight and Spike. For now, I have a couple of questions myself. Mainly regarding your world, er, Tellus, was it?"

"Yes. The world I come from is called Tellus, and the nation I hail from is Skyros." Midnight informed.

"Right. You see, I am most curious about the Nightmare Moon of your world. You said she was your sister, and that I am her daughter. How does that... work exactly? As far as I am aware, Nightmare Moon was an alternate form I took during..." Luna trailed off, "Ahem, essentially, despite being separate entities, she is still technically a part of myself, the embodiment of my follies given physical form. Yet in Tellus, Nightmare Moon predated me, you told us she created the moon with the help your Starswirl, who is her and your brother. She has had me as her biological daughter for millennia and is likely married. Do you know how that could possibly happen?" she asked.

Midnight sighed and shook her head, "Unfortunately, I have no clue myself. The way our world differs from yours is fairly significant, as I have come to realize. Though I have done some research ever since I first came in contact with the world from beyond the mirror portal, it is still inconclusive. For now, I have simply learned to not question these differences too much, lest I lose my sanity trying to comprehend it."

The conversation was just about to continue when Celestia returned back into the throne room. She approached the two other alicorns as she closed the doors behind her.

Luna turned her gaze towards the returning princess, "Finished already, sister?"

Celestia nodded, "Yes. She seemed to be quite excited about it, I wouldn't be surprised to if she's making a checklist as we speak." she said with a slight chuckle.

"Now Midnight, I believe you were planning to demonstrate your abilities?" Luna asked the primordial being.

Midnight extended a wing to the side, "Yes. You might want to keep some distance, your highnesses."

The princesses nodded and took a few dozen steps back, "Is this enough?" Celestia asked.

"Yes." Midnight stated.

She began to channel energy through the leyline on her extended wing, the sheer amount of magic released a humming sound. Her primary feathers curled inwards as they started to glow and emanate cyan flames, and the surrounding air rose in temperature for every beat of flowing energy. The flames swirled from the tips of each feather and coalesced into a brightly glowing orb about the size of a pony's head. The surface flowed and rippled for a moment before settling down in a flash of bright light.

Midnight slowly let go of the cyan orb and settled it on the glowing sole of her shoe-clad hoof. The newly born star slowly spun on its axis as it occasionally released small flares.

She looked back up at the awestruck princesses with a content smile, "It is done, your highnesses. The forging of a star. It is contained, so that it would not blind, sear, or flood you with radiation. If I had access to my Star Forge, I would be able to augment the properties of this star so that it is able to store and/or produce magic as a way of maintaining the stability of all forms of magic throughout this realm. I would also be able to produce stars more efficiently with molecular cloud nurseries within the Forge."

The sisters approached the star with some apprehension, "May I touch it?" Luna asked as she extended a hoof.

"It would be... unwise for an ascended alicorn such as yourself to hold a star, your highness. It will drain you of every bit of magical energy within your very being to add more fuel for itself. As we speak, this star is constantly consuming my own magical energy. If I were not a transcendent alicorn, I would have dropped unconscious the moment I made contact with it." Midnight explained.

Luna immediately retracted her hoof, "I see..." she muttered.

Celestia continued to stare at the roiling orb, "This very impressive Midnight. But how do you send it into the sky?"

"A simple warp blast will send it through a wormhole and transport it to its designated location, where it would then be able to grow into its true size and shine among its brethren in the heavens." Midnight explained once more as she gestured a sweeping motion with a wing.

Celestia nodded, "So will you send this one on its way?" she asked while glancing at a window.

Midnight shook her head, "Unfortunately, this star does not have the necessary augmentations to persist in this realm's environment. I will have to discard it."

Luna raised an eyebrow, "Discard it? How does one discard a star?"

Midnight lit her horn, "With this."

Beside her, a spiral-patterned dark purple staff with an ornament that resembled Midnight's Mark of Destiny on its tip appeared. It was as tall as Midnight herself, and the metallic surface of the staff itself refracted light in a way that gave it chromatic highlights. Midnight grabbed it in her magic and tapped it once on the floor. A long, glowing, crescent-shaped cyan blade appeared from the side of the star ornament in a flash of light. The blade was about half as long as the staff itself, and the tip narrowed to a point so sharp it can cut through a molecule.

"This is The Harvester, a tool and weapon that I use to cull stars, " Midnight paused for a moment, "And as a weapon for my duties as a Guardian."

The co-rulers took a couple of steps back, hesitant about the presence of such an object so close to them.

"And how do you use it, exactly?" Celestia asked tentatively, eyes locked on the large scythe-like tool Midnight was twirling around.

Midnight simply threw the star upwards. As it reached its peak, she swiped the scythe's blade, leaving a rippling effect as it moved through the air. As it passed by, the star simply vanished, swallowed by the rippling effect the weapon left behind. As Midnight stopped the scythe's movement, the surrounding fabric of spacetime warped and tugged itself back together in a heavy thrumming noise. Celestia and Luna felt the air around them rush to fill in the True Void left by the scythe's blade.

Midnight tilted her scythe and tapped its blade, "It is capable of erasing spacetime from existence when activated and forces the fabric of reality to stitch itself back together at all costs, making nearby matter to rush into one location."

Celestia and Luna dropped their jaws at this revelation. A tool that can erase space and time as if they were pencil markings on paper, wielded by a pony who is capable of holding a star on the tip of her hoof, and possesses a near limitless amount of magic?

"Quite the... interesting tool, Midnight." Celestia cleared her throat and smiled, "Now, about your Star Forge. We have agreed to permit you to rebuild it." she said simply.

Midnight dematerialized the scythe, and her eyes widened, "Truly? You would allow such a structure to exist in your nation?"

Luna nodded, "Yes, Midnight. I will be honest; we are highly curious of what you will do when given free reign over the stars. The pictures you sent were beautiful, and we hope to see it with our own eyes in the future."

Midnight kneeled and extended her wings, "Thank you, your highnesses. You are very kind rulers indeed."

Celestia raised a hoof, "Please, Midnight. You don't need to kneel like that, we are all equals here, are we not?" she thought for a moment, "Well, I suppose you would be our superior. Right, auntie?" she said with a sly grin.

Midnight shot up from her position, "P-princess! You do not need to refer to me as such! They may share your name and visage, but they are clearly different beings. I do not have the right to hold any authority over you in this world."

Luna caught on and waved a wing, "Nonsense, you far surpass us in age and knowledge, do you not? And you are responsible for essentially creating an entire aspect of the world, the night sky itself. Such achievements should be enough to warrant at the very least some form of respect. Wouldn't you agree, auntie Midnight?" she said teasingly.

Midnight's magical optics flickered, "I-I mean... W-well... But surely-"

Celestia chuckled at the flustered primordial, "It's fine, Midnight. We were just doing a little bit of teasing. Still, I want you to understand that you don't need to be so formal with us. We want to be your friends, Midnight, and last time I checked, friends don't refer to each other with titles and kneel or bow to greet one another. Please, you may simply call us 'Celestia' and 'Luna'."

Midnight stayed quiet for a moment as she stared into the friendly gaze of the two princesses in front of her. Again with the humility! What is it with Equestria's royals and being so... friendly? If this was Skyros, the royals would have thrown a tantrum at the very concept of having their authority be dismissed, even from a being who did have a higher rank than them such as Midnight herself.

'Then perhaps... I should humor them.' she thought to herself.

Midnight slowly nodded with an unsure smile, "Very well. Celestia, Luna."

"What the heck is that?"

Midnight turned around to find the source of the voice that asked, she found Rainbow Dash hovering behind her with a confused expression. The alicorn herself was standing on a cloud that overlooked a towering snow-capped hill next to the Castle of Friendship. She had taken the fragmented pieces of her Star Forge out of hammerspace and put them back together right at the tip of said hill and is now trying to observe the assembled fragments from different points of view to find imperfections in the Forge's structure.

The Star Forge itself was floating above the peak of the chosen hill, a massive midnight-purple octahedron about the size of the Castle of Friendship. It spun on its axis slowly as it loomed over Ponyville. Despite its large size, it did not cast a shadow upon the surrounding area.

"It is my Star Forge, Rainbow Dash. I have been given permission by Celestia and Luna to rebuild and use it to continue my role as the Forger of Stars. Once I have made sure the systems are properly intact after being stored in hammerspace, I will begin the production of stars to decorate the heavens of this world." Midnight explained.

Rainbow scratched her head, "So wait, you actually like, make stars? I thought it was just some cool nickname or something."

Midnight nodded, "It is true. I do indeed forge stars out of my own magical energy and the natural elements that make up reality. I hope to make the night sky of Equestria not feel as desolate as it is now, and perhaps aid Luna as well as the Nyx in maintaining the realm of dreams. Stars that I create have the ability to ward off fear magic and Nightmare Forces."

Rainbow nodded, "Uh-huh, so you're gonna make more stars?"

"Yes, and I certainly hope you'll enjoy the sights I will manifest into reality." Midnight replied.

Rainbow turned her gaze back to the Forge before shrugging, "We'll see."

Author's Note

So! Nothing too exciting in this chapter, I'll admit. Just Midnight showing off along with Celestia and Luna trying to acquire Midnight's trust by allowing her to make more stars. Expect more attempts with the other Tellusians in the future!

It seems like the school won't be the only structure to use that hill.

For reference, The Harvester functions like The Hand from JoJo.

Next chapter: Cosmos throws Discord into a quasar?! :pinkiegasp: <(Yeah, this is where it's supposed to be)

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 10 : Grand Galloping Turmoil

The core room of the archives was fairly busy, as there were four otherworldly beings who were typing away on the central computer, there were three extra keyboards that were projected beside the main control panel to allow other beings to interact with the computer at the same time. They were all fully engaged in their new project of reactivating the Star Forge's thaumtek systems, they had to work slowly and precisely to make sure there were no imperfections within said system, or else the Forge could produce ghost and renegade stars when not in active use. Or even... Faust forbid... a tenebrous star.

Of course, everything had to be halted due to the sudden arrival of a certain purple pony princess, who entered the room with a giddy expression and a set of four golden tickets floating beside her. She approached them excitedly as they all turned around from the monitor to greet her.

Twilight smiled, "Hello everypo- erm, being! I've got something really special for you today!" she floated the four tickets over to their respective recipients, "Here are your tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, I hope you're excited!"

Midnight inspected her ticket to the annual gala, "For approximately forty-eight billion r- years I have existed, and yet I still do not understand why beings would spend their time attending such... frivolous events when they could be partaking in much more productive activities." she commented.

Cosmos nudged one of Midnight's wings with an elbow, "Aw, c'mon Middy, this'll be fun! It's been a while since we were last invited to one of these." she assured, "And look, we can bring plus-ones! We can bring the girls along!"

Sunset scanned her ticket with her saucer, "I don't get why I'm even invited personally. You guys are a lot closer to those two than I am. We only met once, for Faust's sake! Does Cel still think I'm the other me or something?"

Grogar shrugged, "I assume she's having a hard time accepting the fact that, while you resemble her former student in many ways, you are in fact, an entirely different being."

Sunset emoted a sigh, "Oh well. Guess I'll just humor her."

Twilight gave them all a kind smile, "I'm sure you'll all have fun at the gala. As you know, I'm helping Princess Celestia host it this year. I'll make sure it'll be one of the most enjoyable ones you've ever been to!"

The otherworlders returned the smile as they stored their tickets in hammerspace. If Princess Twilight is hosting this gala, then it'll probably be worth a try.

Days passed, and the Grand Galloping Gala was mere hours away. Everypony and being were busy preparing themselves for the upcoming event. Unfortunately, it seemed like there were three fillies who were very adamant about the clothing they wore. Erus Mage Sweetie Belle, Division's Master Apple Bloom, and Chief Inquirer Scootaloo were arguing with their sisters and sister figure about what they should wear to the gala. The three fillies tirelessly argued that taking off their Empress-blessed attire would be blasphemy, while the three mares insisted that they should at the very least wear something more proper for the gala. Rainbow Dash didn't actually mind with how they looked, she even hoped that they'd all wear their cool costumes to the event, but she didn't want to hear Rarity complain about it for the rest of the night, so she chose to side with her friends.

"Sweetie Belle, while I absolutely adore the shade of purple used for your robes and appreciate the amount of help those metal claws of yours have done, you must understand that your costume is in no way properly suited for an event such as the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity told her little sister again; she was starting to get a headache from arguing.

Sweetie Belle shook her head, "If I took off my mecha-upgrades then I'd be forsaken by the Mechassiah! You don't want me to be branded a traitor, would you?

Rarity heaved a sigh and rubbed her forehead, "Oh for the love of- Sweetie, whatever this 'mechissia' thing is, it isn't real!"

Applejack noticed her friend's frustration and took over, "Look girls, I know y'all love to play as these uh," she motioned a hoof in a circular motion, "characters, 'cause that's how ya got your cutie marks n' ya love to play that battle game thing with Cosmos. But don'tcha think this is just a tad too much?" she said as she discreetly tapped a hoof to Rainbow.

Rainbow nodded halfheartedly, "Uh, yeah, um, whatever she said."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Just... please, you can wear them again after we go back home. How does that sound?" she reasoned.

The Crusaders huddled together for a moment, and finally faced their sisters.

Apple Bloom held up an armor-clad hoof, "We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders of the Eternal Empire of Equidae, will accept these terms."

Rarity sighed in relief, "Oh thank goodness! Now-"

"But," Scootaloo interrupted, "Only if we're allowed to bring our necklaces with us."

Rarity huffed, "Oh fine. If anything, I suppose those necklaces of yours might actually compliment your dresses!"

In a sub-dimension of utter insanity and pure reality-warping energy, a rippling purple portal appeared in flash of light. Through it, a chimeric creature snaked their way into the immaterial and metaphysical realm. They turned their head this way and that, trying to understand the general layout of the surrounding area.

"Well, this is definitely... familiar." Discord muttered to himself as he made his way through the archives' Hades sector. He noticed that, while superficially similar in nature to his own pocket dimension, Chaosville, what with the lack of consistent gravity and general etherealness, the Hades sector seemed less whimsical and fantastical compared to it. Case in point, the writhing, stormy, multicolored ever-present clouds that occasionally revealed glimpses of incomprehensible horrors and cosmic beasts that twisted into one another and tore each other apart at the same time. Discord focused his eyes on the boney, sinew-wrapped spires that jutted out of the thumping, beating, earth that seemed to be reaching out to him with flailing arms to keep himself steady.

He was just about to call out Cosmos' name when a disembodied voice made itself known.

"The thief reveals himself to us. What is the purpose of your intrusion, lesser spirit?"

It definitely wasn't Cosmos; he knew for sure. The voice sounded like it was a combination of multiple creatures grafted into one entity. Some parts of it whispered, while another part of it yelled at the top of its nonexistent lungs. It was chaotic, yet it had a sense of harmony in it.

Discord turned around to see a massive eyeball, with a yellow slitted pupil and black sclera looking right into his very being.

"U-um... do you know where Cosmos is?" he asked tentatively, trying to avert his gaze from the eye.

The eye silently floated there for a moment before replying, "You wish to meet with Master."

Discord nodded, "Yes! I'd like to speak to her. To ask a question, specifically."

The eye suddenly disappeared in a twister of blue flames. In its place, a normal looking wooden door appeared. It slowly opened to reveal an annoyed Avatar of Impossibility equipped with golden bracelets and a helmet that bore her symbol of the Star of Madness on their surfaces.

"What do you want, thief?" Cosmos spat.

Discord gave her an innocent smile, "Ah, Cosmos! Just the fellow spirit I wanted to see! My, aren't you all prepared for tonight?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed her stinger at the draconequus, "What. Do. You. Want."

Discord pushed the stinger out of the way with a talon, "Well, I simply want to know if you were invited to the Grand Galloping Gala is all."

"I know your games, Chaosbringer. What's this about?" Cosmos asked while narrowing her eyes.

He waved his talon and paw, "Oh nothing, nothing at all! I'm just curious, you see."

Cosmos thought for a moment, "Entropy Marines first, and then my answer."

"Oh fine," Discord reached into his coat and pulled out a spiny crystal.

She took the crystal in her magic and bit into it before transporting it away in a wisp of red energy, "I'm invited."

Discord rolled his eyes and huffed, "Of course you are..." he muttered under his breath.

Cosmos raised an eye ridge, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He snapped into attention, "O-oh! Nothing! It means absolutely nothing at all. Now, if you would excuse me, I have some matters that I need to attend to."

Cosmos glared at him, "Don't do anything you'll regret." she whispered ominously before closing the door and disappearing in a flash of energy.

Discord gulped and hastily opened a portal back to Chaosville. Cosmos' sub-dimension gave him the creeps.

Along the halls of the Castle of Friendship, Spike made his way to the kitchen after a surprise visit from Discord. He thought a bowl of gems would help him calm down after that little encounter with the Spirit of Chaos. As he passed by the door to the archives, he saw Starlight fiddling around with a couple of screens projected from her saucer.

Spike approached the holographic pony, "Hey Starlight! What are you doing?"

Starlight turned to see the baby dragon, "Oh, hey Spike! Just making sure there's no bugs in the security system. Looks like everything's fine." she dismissed the screens, "So, what can I do for ya?"

Spike waved a claw, "Just going to the kitchen. You excited to go to the gala?"

"Eh, a little. I've seen a lot of them back in Lady Faust's castle for the last six-fifty million revolutions. Or years as you say." she admitted.

"I still can't believe how old you are..." Spike paused and realized what he said, "N-no offense!" he laughed awkwardly.

Starlight sniffed in amusement, "None taken. I know existing this long is usually considered impressive for organic and mortal standards. It's an aspect of being a sapient supercomputer."

The rune-laden metallic door next to them suddenly opened, revealing a tall alicorn covered from neck to hoof in ornate, dark purple armor, decorated with markings and runes that glowed. Midnight chose to don her ceremonial starsteel armor, as she had for every social gathering event for the last forty-eight eons.

The armored alicorn turned her gaze towards the baby dragon, "Mister Spike, are you not preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Spike waved a claw, "Nah, I usually just sit these out. Not really a fan of 'em."

Midnight silently nodded and turned to Starlight, "Still trying to perfect the systems, I see."

Starlight nodded once, "A couple praetorians and a Blackstone obelisk should push the safety levels to a hundred percent."

"You're adding even more stuff? Man, I bet this castle's gonna be the safest place in all of Equestria when you're done!" Spike commented.

Starlight smiled, "That's the goal. As the Chief of Security of the archives and Castle of Friendship, it's my duty to create the safest and most secure environment for everybeing who resides in my designated perimeters!"

In a flash of red light, Cosmos appeared in front of the assembled beings with a serious look on her face.

"Discord's up to something. I sense a potential problem sometime later. Might Wallbreak and take a peek at the future." she said quickly.

Spike raised a claw, "He popped out of my blanket earlier. Asked where Twilight was, and I told him she's away at Canterlot. Do you think he'll do something?" he asked worriedly.

Midnight put a hoof to her chin, "An unbound spirit such as Discord is highly unpredictable, especially if he is a Chaosbringer. Perhaps Screwball should bring a reality anchor just in case."

"Sending Screwy a text now..." Starlight muttered as her horn flashed a few times.

Midnight turned to her chimeric friend, "Cosmos, prepare to apprehend him if he gets out of line. I will inform the others of this turn of events."

Cosmos gave her a salute, "On it."

Midnight looked back to the worried dragon, "Mister Spike, please inform Princess Twilight of this urgent matter immediately."

Spike nodded, "Alright, I'll get to it." he said before rushing towards the library to get a quill and paper.

Midnight summoned her omni-tool and opened her weapons catalog before sighing, "You were always more prepared for this than I, Trixie..." she muttered under her breath.

The Grand Galloping Gala had finally begun, ponies were intermingling with each other as time went on. As per usual, most of the attendees were ponies of high social standing. The six heroes of Equestria and their plus-ones have arrived as well, though there was no sight of the invited extradimensional visitors.

'Maybe they decided to not go after all...' Twilight thought to herself.

Every activity stopped as a large pillar of cyan light erupted at the center of the room, wind blew rapidly around it, having been displaced by massive surge of particles.

As the light slowly dematerialized, seven figures stepped out of the left-over motes of light.

Right at the center was Midnight, who was covered from her neck to the tip of her hooves by her ceremonial starsteel armor. It was colored a deep purple that was slightly darker than her own coat, with ornamental highlights that were a shade of magenta. Along the edges of the plating were intricate glyphs and runes that glowed a faint cyan. On her wings, her covert feathers and alula were covered with some plating as well, only leaving her singular jet-black wing claws at the tip visible.

To Midnight's right was Grogar, he wore the traditional ceremonial robes of the Heralds of Oblivion. It was a darker shade of blue from his coat, with ornate gold trimmings that were designed to resemble chains. His horns were decorated with large gold rings that had symbols carved into it. His face was also covered in odd markings that glowed a soft yellow color.

Cosmos stood to Midnight's left; she wore a golden helmet that had her eight-pointed star symbol on it. On her neck was a gold torc with the same symbol. On her arms and hooves were similarly golden cuffs and shoes respectively, which also bore her symbol.

In front of the trio were four holographic ponies, who used the same avatars as they usually do.

Their sudden appearance garnered the attention of pretty much everypony in the room. All eyes were locked on to the newest guests, and especially at the well-armored alicorn with the glowing horn and flaming glasses.

Celestia approached the seven newcomers with a smile, "Welcome, all of you. I must say, that was quite the entrance." she said with a slight chuckle.

Twilight motioned a hoof around the room, "Welcome to the Grand Galloping Gala, everyp- being! I hope you'll have fun tonight!" she said excitedly.

Midnight smiled and nodded, "We would not dare miss an event hosted by beings such yourselves."

Just as Midnight finished her sentence, the announcers blew their trumpets and welcomed the newest guests.

"Announcing the Spirit of Chaos, Discord, and his guest, the, uh..." he trailed off.

Discord leaned down to whisper something to the announcer.

"The Smooze!" the announcer continued.

The otherworlders' eyes widened; the Smooze? The crystal-eating, magic-absorbing biological superweapon?

Twilight glanced towards Celestia and her seven guests, "I'll take care of this."

As Twilight approached Discord, Cosmos turned to Celestia, "You didn't happen to invite him, did you?"

Celestia nodded, "I did, actually. I'll admit, the Grand Galloping Gala can be a little bit dull sometimes. So, I decided to invite Discord to help 'lighten the mood' so to speak."

Midnight pointed a wing towards the Spirit of Chaos, "That spirit is planning on something, Celestia. We do not know what specifically, but considering he brought a sizeable Smooze colony with him, it may not be as lighthearted as you suspect."

Celestia leaned to the side to look beyond the taller alicorn. She saw Discord making a beeline towards Fluttershy while the Smooze was left to roam around the room and eat the gems off of the outfits of other ponies.

"I suppose his... 'friend' could be a little troublesome..." she admitted.

"Worry not, princess! We have tasked ourselves with observing and possibly neutralizing the Chaosbringer and his companion if necessary." Grogar assured.

"What do you mean by 'neutralize'?" Celestia asked hesitantly.

"A stasis field and a reality anchor or two to mitigate his powers." Sunset explained.

Celestia looked at her former student's lookalike for a moment, "I see..."

"So, Goldie, when can I put' down vese anchors?" Screwball asked as she observed Discord, who was doing stand-up comedy, through a pair of comically large binoculars.

"When the spirit shows signs of aggression. So far, it looks like he's just really desperate to get Fluttershy's attention." Golden Feather replied as she watched the stage.

"Yea, man's desperat'e alright', but' h'oly feth is h'e funny! Shame these ponies don't' understand h'im." Screwball commented.

She activated the speakers on her saucer, "OI! LAUGH YA GITS! DO NONE O' YA KNOW WHAT' A BLOODY JOKE IS?!"

Rainbow Dash turned to her as she rubbed her ears, "Well, maybe if his jokes made sense maybe we will!"

"H'E IS-" Screwball flinched, "Oops, sorry." she deactivated her speakers, "Ahem. H'e is makin' sense, ya chromat'ic feaver dustah! I guess you lot are just' too uncultured to understand!"

"Uncultured?! What the hay does culture has do with this?!" Rainbow countered.

Screwball rolled her eyes, "Wh'ole lot' more van ya fink! H'is jokes h'ave a lot' of nuances vat a simplet'on like you wouldn't even begin to compreh'end!"

Rainbow scoffed, "You're just saying that because you feel bad for him!"

The two bickering mares paused as they heard Discord tap on the mike, they turned their heads towards the stage and realized that they were being stared at by the crowd.

"I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?" Discord asked sarcastically.

Screwball waved a hoof, "No, no! You keep makin' your funny jokes, funny dragon-h'orse-man! We just' h'ad a... uh, a disagreement' is all!"

"This is your fault." Rainbow whispered to the holographic pony.

Thankfully, the awkward silence was cut short by Grogar teleporting on to the stage, "Everybeing get to higher ground! The Smooze colony has gone rabid!"

A wave of green slime barged through a door behind the crowd. Everypony were panicking and rushing towards the stage as to not get enveloped by the sticky substance. Unfortunately, many were not fast enough and thus were ensnared in place and unable to use magic or flight.

Cosmos appeared right next to Discord and grabbed him by the neck, "You! You agitated it! Calm it down now!"

Discord wiggled in her grasp, "W-what do you mean 'agitated'? He's not agitated! He's partying down, see?" he said while pointing down at the squirming mass of green.

Cosmos facepalmed with her free hand and turned towards Tree Hugger, who was stuck upside down, "Alright, based on the glimpses I saw from my Wallbreaking session, you're gonna have to do some auditory therapy on this thing. So uh, do your... hippie thing... or whatever."

"I was just about to say. Seems like something might've harshed his flow, y'know? Like, his senses're agitated." Tree Hugger agreed.

Cosmos nodded, "Uh-huh, just do that meditation thing then."

Tree Hugger proceeded to vocalize a set of odd noises that seemed to affect the green tidal wave, it ebbed and flowed until every bit of it that was splashed around the room coalesced back into a singular massive Smooze colony. Everypony came up to thank and congratulate her. Unfortunately, it seemed to only make Discord even angrier. He interrupted the minor celebration and blew up in front of Tree Hugger. And was now threatening to throw her into massive tear in reality.

Tree Hugger took a peek at the blue portal, "Whoa dude! What is that?!"

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm simply going to send you to another dimension. I can't have you interfering in my relationship with Fluttershy anymore!" Discored exclaimed.

This reasoning sent Cosmos over the edge. Threatening the balance of reality, the stability of space and time, and messing up a special event... all because he was jealous?!

Her frills flared with red energy, the yellow sclera of her eyes faded to red, her horns crackled as light warped around them, and her wings unfurled with a blast of magic.

Cosmos teleported right in front of the draconequus, replacing her spot with Tree Hugger's. As she did so, the entire room disintegrated into total darkness, all ponies present were left floating around as Midnight, Grogar, and the holo-ponies brought everypony to a safer distance.

Behind Cosmos was a supermassive black hole, with an accretion disk so bright in nearly blinded the native Equestrians. She grabbed Discord again by the neck and pointed her stinger between his eyes, with her own gazing right into his very existence.

"You did this because you were... jealous?" she asked in an echoing, but eerily calm voice, "You threatened the stability of existence itself because you wanted to spite a mere mortal?" she asked again, this time with a little more force, "You endangered the lives of the beings who were merciful enough to forgive you after you betrayed them?!" she asked louder, "All of this... because you couldn't handle the fact that your friend went to the gala with somebeing else?" she asked for the last time, her voice was nearly inaudible.

"U-um... m-maybe?" Discord answered meekly.

Cosmos heaved a sigh and nodded, "Alright then..." she muttered under her breath.

She turned around and held Discord by the scruff of his neck as she extended her arm towards the whirling quasar.

"Cum diutus abes, dic 'valete'."

"Wait, Cosmos! You don't have to do this! Let me talk to him!"

Cosmos stopped for a moment and looked back. She saw Fluttershy floating quickly towards her. She glanced between the frantic pegasus and the fearful draconequus in her grasp. Then turned to face all of the scared ponies under Midnight and Grogar's combined shield.

It was then that she decided to transform the room back to its original state and descended before dropping Discord in front of Fluttershy.

"Discord!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she checked up on him.

Midnight, Grogar, and the holo-ponies slowly approached their chimeric friend, who was staring into the distance.

Midnight put a hoof to her friend's shoulder, "Are you well, Cosmos?"

Cosmos sighed, "Not as well as before..."

The events of the gala went back into full swing after that incident. Discord apologized to everypony, creature, and being for the trouble he caused that night, and they were all continuing on with the event soon enough. Excluding one Avatar of Impossibility, who was ruminating on her sudden outburst earlier.

'Almost annihilated this world's Chaosbringer. By Hades, that was fething stupid.' Cosmos thought to herself as she stood near a food table with a cup of punch in her hand.

She was suddenly brought out of her thoughts when she felt a talon tapping her shoulder. Cosmos turned her head and saw the smiling face of Discord himself.

"Oh. It's you." Cosmos said glumly.

Discord rolled his eyes, "Oh no need for that. Why sit here in this depressing little corner when you could be partying away with your friends?" he said as he summoned a party hat on his head.

"Dunno. Just wallowing, I guess." she muttered.

Discord took a moment to look at the spirit, "Ah, I see. Still thinking about that little hm... 'incident' from earlier?"

Cosmos nodded silently and took a sip from her cup.

"Well, I suppose a part of it was my fault. If I hadn't been so foolish, we would've had a normal gala." he put a talon to his chin, "Though it probably would've gone against Celestia's main reason for inviting me in the first place..." he thought aloud.

Cosmos heaved a sigh, "What do you want?"

Discord waved a paw, "Oh come now. Can't a reality warper just enjoy the company of a fellow reality warper?"

She raised an eye ridge at his remark.

It was Discord's turn to sigh, "Ugh, fine. I just wanted to say... sorry. I know our first meeting wasn't exactly the best, I stole one of those crystal things of yours and now I nearly tore reality asunder because I was jealous of Fluttershy's friend. We got off on the wrong limb, so how about we start over?" he extended a paw, "Waddya say? Friends?"

Cosmos stared at the paw for a moment, "I'm sorry too. For almost throwing you into a quasar. As an elder spirit, I should've known better. Can't just... remove things and beings from existence like that just because I didn't like them. Could've broken reality myself by doing that." she admitted.

He waved a talon dismissively, "Oh pish posh, what you did wasn't even half as bad as what the other you had done." he brought up his paw again. "Friends?"

Cosmos smiled and shook his paw, "Friends."

The two spirits returned to join their friends who were gathered around the dance floor. Apparently Grogar was having a dance battle with Maud, and both were absolutely killing it.

Author's Note

What a crazy night, huh? Probably the craziest gala that would ever happen, heh.

Our Cosmos finally reconciled with Discord, isn't that wonderful?

I tried my best to imagine an eldritch horror-esque realm for Cosmos' chambers in the archives, what do you think?

Oh, and here's a little guide to the Crusaders' titles for those who are curious or just aren't familiar with War- I mean, Battlemace:
Erus Mage = Magos Dominus
Division's Master = Chapter Master
Chief Inquirer = Lord Inquisitor

~~Next chapter:~~
Next intermission: Two Guardians try to find their lost sister

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 11 : Hello Beastie

Grogar took a couple of steps back from his work. It had taken him longer than usual to complete, considering the amount of blackstone, astrodermis, and psychosteon he had to synthesize. Yet, it was all worth the effort. He admired the completed forms of three large beasts, taller than himself, made from the schematics gathered during his little venture into the Everfree Forest. The bright Hadesflame spotlights of the massive circular chamber shone from atop the ceiling on to the newborn beasts, making their armor, scales, feathers, and fur glisten under the magical light.

The first beast resembled a male manticore, its coat was a vibrant crimson, with orange stripes that faded as they narrowed downwards. Its remarkably fluffy mane was a lighter shade of red, with streaks of the darker crimson from its coat. Its face was flatter, almost primate-like, with two upwards-pointing tusks from its lower jaw and a crest of four horns that protruded from its forehead. The lower set of two curled behind its feline ears up to near its cheeks, while the two above that spread to the side. Its eyes were yellow and slitted. It had eight limbs in total: four legs of a large feline, two chitinous pincers folded between the front legs, and a pair of draconic wings furled on its back. It kept the scorpioid tail, but it branched into three more stingers after four segments.

The second resembled a cockatrice, its avian head now looked more like an eagle with gold feathers and specks of black, with a plume of black feathers with gold highlights on its head instead of the comb of a rooster. It had three sets of eyes, all black with red pupils. Its draconic body was covered with similarly golden scales that faded to black near their tips. Its talons matched its eagle head, with sharp curved claws at the end of each digit, with the two inner digits raised due to their enlarged, sickle-shaped forms. The spines at the end of its draconic wings were hooked and black in color, just like the spines that ran along its back. Its long serpentine tail was tipped with two axe-like bony structures from either side.

The third and final beast was more artificial than the other two. This was where most of the blackstone went. It was a massive quadrupedal lupine golem; its body was entirely made up of a mix of overlapping and segmented armor, made out of a black crystalline material with a reflective sheen and dark blue highlights. Between the gaps in its armor were blue flames that flickered and acted as matrix to keep the pieces of armor together.

The first batch of Grogar's new legion of beasts. Formed out of the schematics of Equestria's own mighty monsters. The first couple of batches will be commanded to protect the surrounding region of Ponyville, and these three in particular will be roaming around the castle and act as non-technological sentinels just in case somebeing found out how to cut the power from the Nova Core. It was fairly unlikely, but still possible.

'You've still got it, old buck!' Grogar thought to himself with a proud smile.

All he needed to do now was to reveal them to the world.

It was later in the day when Grogar finally finished preparing for his small presentation. Every one of his friends were gathered in front of a massive reflective dome set in an open area near the castle.

Grogar walked up in front of the assembled beings and cleared his throat, "Hello everybeing! First and foremost, I would like to thank you all for coming today. You see, for the least few weeks, I have been toiling away in my workshop, working on a project of mine that I had been planning since my second day here in Equestria." he started pacing, "As you all know, Ponyville is located in very close proximity to the Everfree Forest, the anomalous, magic-rich region has a tendency to be quite an... 'annoyance', to the local populace, yes?"

Everybeing nodded and murmured in agreement.

"And Ponyville's location typically causes it to be within the trajectory of many potentially world-ending catastrophes as well, yes?" Grogar asked again.

The Equestrians agreed with that.

Grogar smiled, "Well worry no more!" he dispelled the cloaked dome, "Behold! Ponyville's new custodian force!"

The reveal of the three towering monsters nearly gave the Equestrians heart attacks, while the Tellusians clapped and stomped their forelimbs to show appreciation.

"G-Grogar, what are those?!" Twilight asked while pointing a hoof at his creations.

"I'm glad you asked, princess!" Grogar motioned a hoof towards the beasts, "These three beautiful darlings are my creations. Based upon the schematics I gathered from the Everfree not too long ago. They shall act as Ponyville's specialized guard against potential sieges. These three in particular shall guard the surrounding area of the castle and occasionally the Star Forge if the need arises. You know, I did actually send my own proposal to the diarchy to ask for a permit," he scratched his beard, "Imagine my surprise when I learned that there was no preexisting knowledge in Equestria regarding beastcrafting!"

"Are you sure they're... safe?" Rarity asked hesitantly.

"Oh, absolutely, Miss Rarity. Why, they wouldn't even dare to hurt a fly unless they're commanded to!" Grogar assured.

Applejack took a step forward, "That's nice and all, but I don't think ponies'll take too kindly to havin' monsters runnin' around the place."

Grogar waved a hoof, "Ah yes, that's why I have given them the ability to go into stasis. When they are not active, they will transmutate their bodies into blackstone and hide themselves in a localized sub-dimension located in their designated areas. They can be alerted automatically if they sense an oncoming threat, or manually from me."

Pinkie walked up to the golden cockatrice and waved a hoof, "Hello!"

The massive six-eyed beast nodded, "Hello to you as well, Pink One." it replied telepathically.

"They can talk?!" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

Grogar nodded excitedly, "But of course! They wouldn't be effective protectors if they were unable to communicate now, would they?"

"Beastfather has tasked us with ensuring the safety of every being who resides within this castle. Our siblings will secure the other sectors of this settlement once they are done incubating." said the manticore.

The ponies were obviously put off by this. Three giant monsters who look like they came from the deepest depths of Tartarus, speaking to them with their minds, and are willingly protecting them. Ponyville's going to be one heck of a tourist destination, that's for sure.

Fluttershy timidly approached the massive chimeric feline, "Um... may I touch your mane?" she asked softly.

The manticore lowered its head, "You may."

"So soft..." Fluttershy muttered as she ran her hooves through the beast's mane. The little interaction seemed to have calmed the ponies down.

Grogar chuckled at the sight looked back at the assembled beings, "Well, now that everybeing's settled down, what do you think?"

Cosmos teleported beside him and patted his back, "Knocked it out of the ballpark, buddy!"

Midnight nodded, "Your skill in beastcrafting never ceases to amaze me, old friend. I assume you shall be resuming work on Tiamat after this?"

"Absolutely. A couple of finishing touches and the Commander will be on their way!" Grogar affirmed.

Twilight could only look the beasts with a concerned look on her face. While she appreciated that Grogar wanted to help keep Ponyville safe, she was unsure if using living creatures like the three beasts was a good idea. Sure, they'll heed every command given to them, but what if somepony was able to take control of them? Such an event could lead to Ponyville's destruction! Twilight was about to go through an entire train a thought when one of the beats approached her. It was the armored wolf.

"You seem troubled, ascended one." it said with its echoing telepathy.

Twilight jumped; the telepathy felt odd in her head, "O-oh! It's nothing! I'm just thinking, that's all." she assured with a wave of a hoof.

The wolf continued to stare at the princess for a moment, its flaming blue eyes flicking in the breeze. Twilight was starting to squirm under its unwavering gaze.

"Uh... could you-"

"You doubt our loyalty." the wolf stated, iterrupting her.

Twilight's eyes widened, "W-what?! No, I don't-"

"You fear that an enemy will be able to override Beastfather's will. Is that correct?" it asked.

Twilight paused for a moment before nodding slowly, "That's... pretty much it, yes."

The wolf lowered its head, "You have nothing to worry, ascended one. For we are beasts of blackstone. No form of magic shall be able to affect us."

"How does being a 'beast of blackstone' make you immune to magic?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Blackstone is a material that makes up our very beings. It negates any and all magic that makes contact with it. It is derived from void matter. A form of matter only accessible by Beastfather. How Beastfather obtained it, I know not. Those who were not blessed by Oblivion would not be able to do affect us by magical or technological means." the wolf explained.

Twilight's eyes widened, "Really? A material that negates all kinds of magic?" she asked.

The wolf nodded, "Indeed. You may fire a bolt of magic at me and see for yourself."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

The armored beast simply raised its entire body to its full height and tapped its chest with a claw.

Twilight took this as a 'yes' and lit her horn. She fired a small blast of magic directly at the wolf's chest plating. As the magical bolt made contact with the plate, it was immediately absorbed into the armor itself, leaving no trace of whatever that spell was left on it.

She tried to fire a stronger blast, but it had the same results. Twilight then fired a constant beam, and it dissipated as it touched the armor. It really did negate magic. To what degree, she didn't know. Maybe she should ask Grogar for a couple samples.

A sudden ringing sound could be heard from Grogar's direction. His bell was swinging beside him in his magic, each strike caused a wave of yellow energy that attracted the beasts toward him. Grogar then lit his horns and summoned three glowing yellow orbs. Each orb floated over to each beast, which promptly ate them.

Grogar nodded in satisfaction, "They're now bonded to the castle itself. For now, though, they'll stay in their sub-dimensions until the need to call upon them arises."

With that, the four beasts transformed into statue-like forms, encased by a layer of blackstone, and descended into the ground.

"How are they doing, Starlight? Any irregularities discovered?" Grogar asked as he stood in front of a massive tank of orange liquid that was imbedded into a wall. Inside it was a large five-headed wyvern that curled up with its wings and tail. The beast was significantly taller than the first three. Each head was of a different color than the others, with their own specific set of spines, horns, tusks, fangs, and frills upon their faces.

Starlight turned her holographic gaze from her projected screen to the ibex, "Everything's doing great! I honestly think we can get them up and running now.'

Grogar nodded, "Good, good. And their connection to the others?"

Starlight looked back to the monitor, "All safe and secure! Miscommunication is now an impossibility. "

"Wonderful!" Grogar clapped his forehooves together, "Now to wake them up!"

It took Grogar and Starlght quite some time to drain the tank and move the massive wyvern onto the awakening altar, Grogar had to reshape the doorways and halls to clear the way. But with some extra help from Golden Feather, they were able to gently lay it down upon the comparably small altar surrounded by a magical array made of runes and ritual circles.

Golden Feather looked at the unconscious five-headed beast upon the altar, "Oh this is so exciting! You know I rarely ever get to see you these rituals, Grogar."

"I suppose you're in luck then. With Tiamat as the Centurion, the beasts shall become an impenetrable bulwark, protecting Ponyville from all sides." Grogar said as he approached his designated spot on the ritual circle.

"You might want to blip back to your saucer, Goldie." Starlight added.

Golden put a hoof to her avatar's mouth, "Oh my, that much distortions?"

Starlight nodded before blipping back herself, "Yup."

As the holo-ponies floated their saucers towards the room's doorway, Grogar began to mutter incantations while he channeled primal magic through his hooves and into the array. Yellow energy coursed through the bells on his harness, hooves, and the runes, which then flowed into the altar right under the slumbering beast.

The body of the wyvern twitched and shuddered as it absorbed the incredible amounts of primal energy given to it. Motes of yellow light started to manifest around its torso the longer the ritual went on, with arcs of black energy appearing throughout the rest of the beast's body.

In a flash of bright light, all of the surrounding energy converged into the wyvern, leaving the room silent as three beings watched with anticipation.

'Hopefully that was enough.' Grogar hoped in his mind.

The beast opened their eyes on each head and rose from the altar. It used its clawed and winged forelimbs to brace itself as it slowly approached its creator. Each head turned their gaze to the blue ibex who stood in front of them. Tiamat was born.

"Your humble servant has awakened, Beastfather. We await your command." Tiamat stated. Their telepathic voice sounded like different five beings speaking at once.

Grogar smiled and nodded, "Greetings, my beautiful creation. You are hereby declared Commander of the Ponyville Blackstone Legion. Can I trust this responsibility unto you?"

The various eyes of the five-headed beast glowed and dimmed, "We will serve 'til Oblivion shows mercy."

"Very good! Now, we'll go back to the surface so you can meet your lieutnants." Grogar said as he lit his horns.

Fluttershy was still thinking about those giant creatures she met earlier today from Grogar's showcase, especially the manticore with the very soft mane. It was very polite for a creature with such a monstrous appearance. She wondered how it would be like if her animal friends talked to her that way, she'd imagine Angel would probably use it to complain and ask her for more food while she was away with her friends... On second thought, maybe she's better off communicating with them like normal.

She continued to hum to herself as she filled up the food bowls for her animal friends. Fluttershy then brought them outside so they can finally eat. As she made her way outside, she was absolutely shocked by the sudden appearance of a giant yellow portal on the other side of the small creek, thankfully she didn't drop the food bowls. She saw Grogar, Starlight, and Golden Feather walk out of it. Though it seemed like Grogar was waiting for something or someone else to go through.

Not a moment later, five heads emerged from the portal, which were followed by a towering draconic body, with clawed wings as its forelimbs. It almost looked like the hydra she encountered at Froggy Bottom Bog when Twilight was trying to figure out Pinkie's Pinkie Sense. Fluttershy trembled at the sight, but was soon pulled out of her thoughts by Grogar's shouting.

"Gah! What the- Why are we here?!" Grogar yelled at nobeing in particular.

Golden Feather projected a screen, "Looks like the distortions hadn't dissipated enough for you to make a stable anchor."

Grogar facehoofed, "Of course... always those blasted distortions..."

Starlight looked around the area, "Looks like we're just outside Fluttershy's place."

Grogar turned to the cottage at the other side of the creek and its pegasus inhabitant, "Apologies Miss Fluttershy! We had a little problem with the portal spell!" he yelled from his location.

Fluttershy didn't know what to make of it, so she just decided to approach the group. She glanced at the towering hydra-dragon-thing as she got closer.

"Oh, that's okay. It's just an accident." she paused, "Um, is that a new... er, beast?"

"Indeed, it is. This is Tiamat, they are the commander of Ponyville's new beast legion. If you ever have any concerns regarding a beast around your property, you may contact Tiamat for more information." Grogar explained.

Tiamat lowered one of their five heads, "Greetings, timorous one."

Fluttershy jumped at sound of the telepathic voice, "Y-yes, hello."

She took a step closer to pet the head at the tip of its snout. Oddly enough, it seemed like Tiamat made a purring noise when Fluttershy did so.

"Looks like somebing's made a new friend!" Golden giggled at the sight.

Grogar looked at his newest creation. Tiamat was wagging their tail as Fluttershy continued to pet one of the heads. The other four, despite not having the required facial muscles to express fluidly, appear to be jealous of the lowered one.

'Perhaps... this is a good way to show they can be trusted?' Grogar mused. He knew that the citizens of Ponyville would have a pretty hard time adjusting to the sudden appearance of giant beasts roaming around their homes, even if said beasts are guaranteed to never cause harm to them or the town itself. Maybe having the leader be friends with one of the most timid ponies in town would do their reputation some good.

Grogar stroked his beard, "Hm... Tiamat, would you perhaps like to have your outpost located nearby?"

The four unoccupied heads turned to their creator, "Yes! W-we mean... if you so choose, Beastfather."

Gorgar chuckled, "Miss Fluttershy, would you mind if Tiamat goes into stasis near your cottage?"

Fluttershy stopped scratching behind the lowered head's frills, "Oh, um, that's okay." she replied with a smile and continued scratching. One of Tiamat's hindlegs started to stomp on its own.

Grogar looked at the admittedly adorable sight with a content smile. Maybe he should make some for the diarchy as well.

Inside the digital ether of the archives, Sunset going through Grogar's list of required materials. He tasked her to locate their approximate whereabouts so that he can go find them. Sunset was combing through the projected map of the Frozen North and the Crystal Empire from her global scan when she got a ping for something.

Sunset zoomed in to the tagged location. There, she saw a massive bright red crystal mostly covered by a pile of snow. It emanated vast amounts of dark magic and malefic energy. She knew what this was thanks to the near limitless information within the archives.

A shadow prison. Used in Skyros to imprison unredeemable criminals or... used to store Umbrum rebels by the Heralds of Oblivion, by Mage Sombra specifically. The fact that it's releasing so much malefic energy means that it was likely filled to the brim with the latter.

Sunset smiled. Looks like they're all going to get a new toy to experiment with soon.

Author's Note

Grogar's still making monsters! Even in other universes.

The Tellusians have got their eyes on something very intriguing! Looks like Midnight's going to meet another one of her siblings' counterparts sometime in the future!

Next chapter: There's another mirror portal?! :pinkiegasp:

If you want to share ideas on how this story should go, consider commenting!

Corrections and criticisms are more than welcome, I can't improve without those now, can I?
Have a good existence!
:)

"Remembered forever, the land of Equestria"

Chapter 12 : Reflections and Refractions Part One

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.