The two made their way down into the basement of the castle as they conversed, as they walked Spike suddenly came up with an idea.

"Hey Twilight," Spike said, "If you can do 'anything' with this power, why not just say 'I know everything about my power and how it works?'”

"Spike!" Twilight said slightly scandalized, just remembering to raise her hoof. "Where's your sense of scientific discovery?"

"I think it got eaten by parasprites." Spike snarked. "You're the one who was worried you could blow up Equus if you talked in your sleep."

Twilight shuddered. "I hadn't even considered THAT one. Still... I guess you have a point. For the greater good. Ahem. I know everything about how my Absolute power works."

Twilight shuddered, it was like the world was a 2-D image and there was a ripple. Twilight held her head with booth hooves.

"Twilight?! Are you okay?"

"... It... it didn't work? It's like my mind was rising up, that I'd almost grasped it... then I'd hit a stone ceiling." Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry Spike."

Spike shook his head."Should've known a power Discord said was given to you by a monster from beyond the beyond that eats ponies wouldn't want to play nice."

"Please don't say 'want' Spike, I don't want the idea in my head that this power could 'want' anything."

“Gotcha, so what’s our next move? How do we test this?” Spike asked.

“Well, first let's do a quick control test, Spike, you have blue scales and spines."

And Spike's purple scales and green spines turned blue. "Wha, hey!"

"Heh. Sorry. First thing that came to mind." Twilight chuckled.

Spike paused when he saw his shiny blue scales and wondered outloud "Do you think Rarity might like me better with blue scales?" Spike said turning a looking at how his blue scales contrasted with his bluish spines.

"Spike, can you think of something else?" Twilight said.

"Hey I can't stay a baby dragon forever."

"Well, that was again just a control test. Now, ahem: The Sunset Shimmer I know has always had purple hair."

Another visual ripple in the world, and another feeling of being hit in the head by a hammer for poor Twilight.

"Ouch!" Twilight cried. Twilight took out a photo of Sunset Shimmer (as a human being). She still had her red and yellow 'bacon hair' pattern. "Well, this is gonna be painful, but one data point doesn't prove anything, ahem, the horse statue in front of Canterlot High School I'm thinking of is now a humanoid horse.” Ripple. Hammer to the head. "Ack!"

"Twilight! If this is hurting you it's not smart or safe!"

"That confirms it wasn't simply retroactive things in other universes even with an open portal I can't affect. But I still need more test data.. Human world Rainbow Dash is in this room." Ripple-headache. "It doesn't get better."

"Uh... how about something not related to magic?" Spike raised a claw carefully.

"... Good point... Ahem. Human world Granny Smith is young again. OUCH!"

Spike hated himself, but he knew this was what Twilight wanted. "Okay. Maybe something you're pretty sure doesn't exist in our world and isn't related to magic?"

"That's a big if... I only visited what, one high school and a couple houses? Or at least something we don't, don't know exists in our world. In the human world, Miss Cheerilee, or the human who was by that name, now does a dance. Ack! Nope. Still not getting better."

"Okay, before you give yourself brain damage, you should write off being able to affect things in other universes."

"I suppose that's logical. If this power is Absolute, and there are infinite universes with infinite Twilight Sparkles, their power can't be Absolute if I'm able to override it. Hmmm." Twilight put down her hoof. "I'm able to affect things in the human world. OUCH!"

"Twilight Sparkle realizes it's time to move on." Spike said sarcastically.

"Very funny." Twilight snapped at Spike, then giggled. "Nice joke Spike."

"Thanks."

"But seriously, I think there's more data points I need to test. Mirror World Queen Celestia has pink fur. Ouch! Confirmed. Not just Sunset's world."

"Can you PLEASE stop before you get woozy?"

"Not yet Spike." Twilight raised her hooves high. "Ooooh Pinkie Pie, oh Pinkie Pie, I think her Pinkie Sense is full of horse apples!"

A slight tremor, and the 'Mammoth Book of Spells Volume II' fell off a shelf right for Twilight's head. Pinkie Pie stepped in from nowhere and pushed Twilight out of the way.

"Oooh, that was a close one," Pinkie Pie chirped. "So that happens here too?" She said looking at Spike.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie," Twilight said. "So, hm, human world Pinkie Pie has blond hair." A visible ripple again, but this time it washed around Pinkie PIe. Twilight bit her tongue to not cry out again.

"Oh no I don't, I mean she doesn't."

'Well, that confirms things not native to this universe are beyond the Absolute's power even when they're in this universe. Still. Is there a way around this?' Twilight thought as she was starting to look dizzy. 'Still, even if my old self made Discord immune to this power, I could still turn him into a statue with the Elements of Harmony. 'Hmm. A cage falls right above Pinkie Pie.'

A crystal cage popped into being and nearly fell onto Pinkie Pie who simply stepped aside without looking up. "Oh are we playing that game? Twilight back home, heh, we've done this before right?"

'A cage falls right above Pinkie Pie that she can't dodge. AGH! So I can't make an absolute statement for something that'll affect her directly. Still, the Elements of Harmony were able to affect Discord. The Elements of Harmony will appear on my desk and vanish back to the Tree of Harmony and no trouble will come of it.'

In the blink of an eye, the Elements of Harmony did indeed appear on Twilight's desk then vanished. 'So I can affect things that can affect something immune.'

“Wow, these powers are complex,” Spike admitted.

'Equus Pinkie Pie has a blonde mane. OUCH! So even things I could normally affect won't be affected beyond this universe. Hm.' Twilight thought with a raised hoof.

'Spike now has hypnotic powers that will vanish after their next use, and Spike will do the next thing I tell him.'

Suddenly Spike’s eyes gained a light blue glow to them “Huh?” Spike said.

“Spike, hypnotize Pinkie into doing…. the waltz, then have her walk through the portal upstairs and dance in front of her friends,” Twilight chose a random dance.

“Sure!” Spike said without question and he turned to Pinkie and used his power on her.

“Pinkie, you heard Twilight, do exactly that,” Spike said as he used his glowing eyes on Pinkie and her eyes became colorful swirls and she proceeded to do the waltz (looking rather silly by herself) and she danced all the way upstairs and out of sight.

'Alright, so it can give powers to others and make them use it, good to know,' Twilight thought. "Spike, you have the power to affect things in the human world even when you're here, OUCH! Okay, that loophole won't work."

"Hey Twilight, I know I said before you should just think of this like you have your other magics... but given all the way this can go wrong, maybe since you can't turn them off, you can 'block them' from everything until you want them?"

"Good point Spike. Everything in the universe is immune to the Absolute until I say otherwise, OUCH!” That one felt like a bigger hammer to the head. Twilight stumbled a bit. "Okay... All my friends are immune to the Absolute unless I say so, OUCH!" At that point, Twilight fell over dizzy from the head trauma.

"Twilight! Just stop already!" Spike said hurrying over to Twilight's side, helping her up.

"Hey Twilight!" Pinkie Pie came bouncing down the stairs. "Did you finally come out of the closet about having a mind-control obsession? Dashie and me kinda have a bet going. And so Rarity and Applejack. And Lyra and Bon-Bon. And-"

"Pinkie Pie's mane is sparkly." Twilight said.

Suddenly Pinkie’s mane gained bright sparkles and her eyes twinkled as she looked at them.

"Oooh, this is cool," Pinkie Pie said pulling at her mane to observe the sparkles.

"Pinkie Pie is oblivious to the change."

"Okay, sure, I will be," Pinkie Pie said, tossing her mane aside.

"Huh? Pinkie Pie, is there anything different about your mane?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know silly, because you said I don't." Pinkie giggled.

"Wait... are you aware there's something different about your mane or not?" Twilight asked confusedly, holding her hoof up to avoid any accidental changes.

"I have no clue if there's anything different about my mane. You just said so."

"... But... you know me saying that, so that changed something?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head. "Well... it's kinda like when somepony says 'red light' 'green light', it's the rules you have to stop or go, but you still hear 'red light' 'green light.' "

Spike said, "Careful Twilight, remember 'it's just Pinkie Pie.' " Spike warned.

"Oh it's actually 'just Pinkie Pie who was goddess of chaos for a little while,'" Pinkie said.

"When did THAT happen?" Twilight's eyes widened.

"Well, it hasn't happened yet, and it might not happen given we're not following the script anymore. But it's one of those things that exists across fate I think.

“I don’t think even the absolute can figure Pinkie Pie out…” Spike sighed.

"Pinkie Pie, don't discuss this power of mine with anyone until I want to explain it to the others."

"Well, if that's what you say, that's what has to happen Twilight," Pinkie Pie nodded before hopping away, her mane still sparkly.

“So, what should we do now, preferably something that won’t give you a concussion?” Spike asked.

“Well, maybe we can use our new knowledge on the absolute to help more ponies, maybe I should fix you up,” Twilight said.

But Spike held up his hand “Actually, can I stay blue? I wanna see what Rarity say’s about it,” Spike said “Honestly the blue scales feel... kinda, right?"

“If you say so,” Twilight shrugged. "But first we could really use a willing test subject with my power."

There was a knock at the castle door. Upon going up to the door and opening it, there was Lyra Heartstrings, grinning ear to ear. "Hey Twilight! I mean Princess! Rumors going around that you got some new crazy magic that can do anything! And! I! I kinda wanna know if you needed somepony to try it out on!"

"How... how did you know?" Twilight asked.

Lyra tilted her head a bit. "Well, there was the typical rumor mill from the flower trio, but also Bon Bon was whispering to herself when she thought I wasn't listening, saying 'need to report to Princess Celestia,' 'what do you mean she already knows?' Stuff like that."

Twilight and Spike looked at each other, and after the incident with Pinkie Pie and the headache, decided not to dig deeper.

"Well Lyra, if you really sincerely want to, I really could use somepony, but it might be dangerous." Twilight said as Lyra followed her back into the castle.

"Hey Twilight, you were the top of our class, if there's anypony I trust with big name magic, it's you." Lyra nodded.

"All right. First, you promise not to go talking about the experiments here?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Ow!" Lyra accidentally poked her own eye on the last words.

"Good enough," Twilight said with her hoof briefly raised, she trotted forward. "This is good, you're an average unicorn so-"

"Hey! School of Gifted Unicorns is not average!" Lyra said indignantly.

"Oh! I'm... I forgot. I'm sorry." Twilight apologized.

"It's alright Twilight, we all knew you got your head stuck in books. We were all just happy you finally pulled your head out, but even we didn't expect you to save the world... lots of times." Lyra said.

"Neither was I. Now just stand there in the middle of the room while I test out my new magic Lyra. If you feel anything strange or discomforting, I promise to stop immediately. Though you might not be able to respond with some, I promise to keep your safety in mind." Twilight said keeping her hoof raised until she finished saying that.

“Gotcha Twilight, hit me!” Lyra said.

"Good." Twilight tried to think of something she hadn't seen yet, but she was comforted by how so far there was nothing about her power she couldn't just reverse (besides making Discord immune to the Absolute, which she assumed since otherwise her old self would have just sent it away when he tried to tell her she'd gone too far.)

“Alright, first, let’s do something you want, is there something-” Twilight said before Lyra spoke.

"Makemeahuman!" Lyra said in one breath.

"... How do you even know what those are?" Twilight asked.

Lyra pulled a book from the shelf, (one Twilight hadn't gotten around to reading) showing indeed a blond human fighting Tirek on the back of General Firefly. "I found thi in the old, old, OLD library, I don't think I was supposed to be in there, so I couldn't put the book back so I snuck it into your book pile, but it did have a story of 'Megan Williams, the human girl who helped save Ponyland from Tirek!'” Lyra excitedly said.

"Sounds like a fairytale."

"But you were surprised I knew what humans are, not that I thought they were real," Lyra grinned.

Twilight sweated. "Alright. Fine. You are a human,” Twilight said.

Immediately a light engulfed Lyra and when it was over she was a human woman with green skin and hair like Lyra's mane in front of her... strangely she had a tattoo of Lyra's cutie mark over her heart. Twilight also realized she wasn't wearing clothes. Twilight by force of habit looked away.

"WOW! This is so cool! So this' what fingers are like! No wonder Minotaurs are always bragging about them!"

“Uhm, yeah! You were wearing clothes when you changed,” Twilight said, covering Spike’s eyes with her hoof. Unlike ponies, humans didn't have fur to protect their modesty.

Immediately she gained a green and white striped shirt and jeans and white shoes.

Lyra naturally didn't notice what had always been, and bent backwards, and twisted her arms and legs, looking surprisingly at home in her new form. "Hah! Bon Bon said I was nuts! But I knew wearing that outfit that fell out of the strange portal was gonna pay off today!" Lyra looked at the ancient storybook, and just stared. "Huh?"

Twilight put it together at once and raised her hoof as she spoke. "Humans don't naturally have their magic awakened. They require an outside source to enable it."

"Well... the fingers are still cool, and you're so TINY down there Twilight, you're so adorable!"

"So you have no problem using this form?"

"Oh no problem at all! But that might be because I've practiced going on two rear hooves a lot. Great-Grandma Bright-Eyes said she came from a community that tried to emulate 'the heroine from another world', but nobody ever believed her."

Twilight decided this would be worth investigating at another time, but it was best to focus on the matter at hoof, er, hand.

“Alright, next up, I will test this next idea out, might be risky. But," Twilight put her hoof down. "I will restore you Lyra afterwards, I promise."

Lyra gave a thumbs up. "Okay, go for it!"

"Lyra, you are a table." Lyra stared ahead at nothing, her eyes glazed over and she bent downwards on her hands and knees. Her back straightened out to be perfectly flush. Her body stiffened, her clothes, and furniture didn't wear clothes after all, but anything naughty smoothed out like a doll. Her body hardened and took on a wooden sheen.

"Whoa!" Spike said, giving Lyra a knock, confirming a wooden sound. "But no offense Twilight, you're one of the few unicorns, erm, Alicorns I know who could turn a dictionary into a nest of live chicks. Why this?"

"Mostly for a spell I know I could cast. Interestingly the change wasn't instantaneous, I wonder if that was due to the nature of the change, or just because of my unconscious desire to study it. This is stage one, but first." She put her hoof down. "I can telepathically communicate with Lyra no matter what form she's in."

'Lyra, can you hear me?'

'Yes... I can Twilight,' Lyra said, her voice serene and calm.

'How do you feeling?'

'Honestly, not much of anything, but not in a bad way. I feel at peace. Like I don't have anything to worry about. I know I can do what I'm made to do, and that's good enough. Could you please put the story book on me? I don't feel right not supporting anything.'

“Sure,” Twilight floated the book over to her and put it on her back.

'Thank you, that's so much better. Fulfilling my purpose. Even if I know it wasn't a second ago. I know it is now. Like it just is.'

'Want me to turn you back?'

'Honestly? If you want to. That works out. If you don't... I know I should be scared and freaked out by that thought... but I just don't feel it. And I'm fine not being scared at the idea. After all, fulfill my purpose makes me feel whole.'

'Well, I know changing ponies isn't all bad. So that makes sense.'

Twilight repeated everything she and Lyra said so Spike could take notes.

"Alright. I wanted to make sure you weren't uncomfortable before I moved onto stage two. This part is gonna get weird. But I promised to restore you after, and that is therefore exactly what I'll do, so don't worry." Twilight said.

'I'm not worrying either way Twilight, but thanks for caring about me. It's good to know I'm valued and useful to you.' Lyra said.

"Interesting, ponies in Neighpon theorize that even mundane objects can have their own spirits, I wonder if this relates to that." Twilight took a photo out of herself and her classmates at Celestia's School of Gifted Unicorns, including Lyra.

"Okay. Lyra, you have always been a table." Twilight said.

And in an instant, Lyra Heartstrings the unicorn was gone from the photo, but instead of vanishing completely like Twilight assumed, instead, Bon Bon was using the green odd shaped table to study a book on dangerous magical beasts.

'Lyra, can you still hear me?' Twilight telepathically communicated with Lyra again.

'Yes Twilight, I can.'

"Were you ever a pony?"

'Of course not, I've been a table since a couple in Canterlot built me, and donated me to Celestia's school. Bon Bon liked using me so much that Celestia gave her to me. It was nice of her to loan me to you for your experiments.'

"Interesting, it seems the changes to reality try their hardest to ensure your spatial location and my own circumstances remain unchanged."

“So, does Lyra think she’s always been a table?” Spike asked, not having telepathy like Twilight does.

Twilight held her hoof up. "She doesn't THINK she has Spike, she HAS always been as far as reality is concerned. You and I effectively remember a state of reality that no longer exists. If we chose to leave Lyra like this, which I won't, I promised, it would be like Lyra the unicorn never existed. It's incredible!" Twilight said enjoying her discoveries.

"Well, if Lyra sounds happy like this, then it's not all bad," Spike nodded.

"Yes, it's not all bad. But I did promise. But still. This adjustment to reality requires a bit more experimentation.” Twilight said, coming up with an idea. "Lyra, you are a statue of your human self, and always have been."

The wooden Lyra stood up, a base engraved with her name grew up from her feet. Lyra put a hand on her hip, holding the story book under one stone arm, and spread out her fingers in a 'wave' gesture. Her wooden frame turned to a uniform jade. The statue had a playful smile on her face.

"Interesting, I didn't specify 'jade' I thought she'd become a stone or wooden statue. Maybe because it aligns with her colors or magic?"

Twilight looked at the photo again, the jade statue was in the background behind the unicorns, again near Bon Bon.

'Hello Lyra, can you tell me the story of how you got here to my basement?"

'Sure! I was stationed at Canterlot, but you requested a statue of a human to aid in your studies, and since I was the only one around you chose me, so it took some hard work, but you got me here,' Lyra's mind said.

'And you were sculpted by two ponies who donated you to Celestia's school?'

'Yep. They were so proud of how I turned out, they said I was like a daughter to them.'

'Would you like to be flesh and blood, as in alive for real?'

'I'm already alive. I carry the imagination, inspiration, and vision of my artists. I'll ensure it lasts for eternity. Or at least a few million years,’ Lyra said.

'And what do you think of Bon Bon?'

'Oh she's great! I loved when she'd study in my shade. Hey, do you think you could turn HER into a human statue and fuse her base with mine? I think we'd be perfect together!'

‘I’ll… think on it,’ Twilight said not wanting to upset her with a no. Luckily she hadn't told Lyra about what having her hoof raised meant.

'Okay, thanks! That's all I can ask.'

'So, are you happy as a statue? Just being ignored, just being an object to be looked at?'

'Why wouldn't I be? It lets me see you flesh and blood creatures as you go about your lives... being an outside observer gives me a unique point of view I think.'

'So you'd say you feel zen, at peace, fulfilling your purpose?'

'Yeah, pretty much. Would be better if I was in a public place, but when there's at least one creature who sees me from time to time, then I'm doing what I was sculpted from jade to do.'

Two data points were good, but a third might be better. Furniture. Art. What next? Why of course. That would be interesting.

“Lyra, you are a book." Twilight said

The base of the statue turned square, gaining thin edges as the insides became paper, the outside became green tinted leather (sold posthumously by cow families and worth a pretty bit). The statue slipped into the cover.

Twilight picked up the volume in her magic. On the cover was an engraved golden decoration of the statue.

"Spike, this confirms it. Unless I cancel out the previous change myself, instead of using pony Lyra as a base, it'll use the state the object or person is already in as the base!"

"And you couldn't have tested that on a normal object instead of a pony?"

"That couldn't give a conversation, well, they could, but possibly giving self awareness to an object just for my experiment is a bit much. And changing ponies isn't all bad." Twilight said.

"Right, it's not all bad." Spike said “But should we turn her back into a human now?” Spike asked.

"Not yet! I wanna read this first!" Twilight said.

"What about Lyra?" Spike asked.

"She's right here," Twilight said.

"I meant you speaking with her," Spike clarified.

"Oh right! Heh, silly me. Ahem." 'Hello Lyra, can you tell me how you got to my library and where you came from?"

'Hello Twilight, I told you, I'm a jade statue, but being a book is a new experience. I feel... a bit trapped... like... no one's ever read me... my story hasn't been told... when I was my normal self, ponies could just look at me, and I'd know I'd done my job. But now, I know I contain a whole world of imagination, but it needs somepony to read it to bring it to life.' Lyra said sadly.

"Oooh, you poor book," Twilight said sympathetically,. "But let's fix that. Lyra, you've always been a book, I've read you several times."

There was no visible change... except the photo changed to Bon Bon and Twilight sharing the green book as the statue vanished. But also a picture of Bon Bon and Twilight appeared on Twilight's desk, "BFFs" scribbled at the bottom.

And Twilight... actually felt the memories of reading Lyra coming into her mind. The serene story of a jade statue placed in a school of magic unicorns, observing their lives and adventures, giving hints the read had to piece together along with Lyra of what happened outside the courtyard. Many of the students became aliens who'd come back to the statue and chat with her, as she was as unchanging and eternal as them. Except for one candy cutie mark pony 'Sweetie Drops', who wished with all her heart to join the jade statue, and in a miracle, become an off white marble statue, the two now in a pose embracing. The statues were discovered eons later by an orange Alicorn princess, the statues inspiring her to rediscover the world mirror, and getting help from the human world and goddess Sunset Shimmer to help rebuild Pony civilization.

"Whoa." Twilight said in awe of Lyra’s story.

"Quite a read?" Spike asked.

"A real page-turner." Twilight said.

'Why thank you Princess, I always aim to serve,' Lyra thought back. 'Your other books get jealous sometimes.'

'... Other books, jealous?' Twilight said.

'Well, I am your favorite, along with Bon Bon's.’ Lyra said. 'You said you needed me for a magic experiment, and she was happy to loan it out to her best friend and Element of Harmony.'

'Wait, WHAT?!'

'What's wrong?'

"Can you just remind me what Element Bon Bon is? I've hit my head a few times today." Not a total lie.

"Wha-?" Spike said surprised too.
'Oh. She's Generosity, she dedicated her whole LIFE to protecting you and Equestria, it's why she became a secret agent to begin with. She even gave some candy to a sea serpent she was going to give to you to make him feel better about losing his mustache.'

'And, how did we become friends?'

'Me of course! You really did hit your head. You two both loved my story and read it together. You said she was your first real friend outside your family.'

Twilight finally noticed the photo. "Oh."

'And what about Rarity?'

'The owner of the clothing store that Spike forgot all about his crush on Moondancer and fell heads over heels for? She read me once: she liked the romantic subplot between me, well, my main character, and Sweetie Drops.'

Well, at least Rarity seems to still be doing well. Twilight looked at the photo of her and Bon Bon, and magically held it up. Seeing herself smiling with Bon Bon, the two of them with a hoof on each other's shoulders.

This made Twilight think about how much everything has shifted due to these tests, with her hoof up of course, and she thought about how much more reality will veer off-course, she decided to ask Spike’s opinion, since he’s the only one who isn’t affected by this.

"Looks like I and Bon Bon become best friends due to both loving Lyra's story... she became Generosity instead of Rarity."

"Oh no, does that mean-"

"You're still pinning for Rarity..." Twilight said flatly.

"Oh, that's good news."

Twilight shook her head. "I think... I think that's enough experimentation down this line. Ahem. Lyra, you are a flesh and blood unicorn pony and always have been."

Unlike the other transformations, this one happened in the typical flash from those sorts of spell, and Lyra was, well, she'd been 'herself' the whole time, but now the unicorn self Twilight remembered. She was still wearing her clothes from her human transformation, oh right, those had been a separate change in reality. The photo of Bon Bon and Twilight vanished.

Lyra looked herself over. "Ahhh. It's over already. Being human rocked. Think you could've kept me that way?"

"Sorry Lyra, the changes to you weren't half bad, but I did promise to restore you." Twilight said.

"Allright, I understand, keeping your promises is important, I imagine for a princess more than others." Lyra said “Have anything else you wanna do, or should we close off here?” Lyra asked.

“I’d say we’re done for now,” Twilight said.

"Already? We just did one change." Lyra said with a raised brow. "Oh wait, you did turn me into a table... sorry, that one slipped my mind for a tick." Lyra said.

"So how do you feel about being a table now that you're you again?" Twilight asked nodding to Spike to take notes.

Lyra shrugged. "That's the thing? I was still 'me' when I was a table. I was just, well, 'table Lyra', if that makes sense. And, well, I didn't feel like being table Lyra was wrong, and I still don't. It wasn't half bad. Just like being pony Lyra is any 'better'. But being human Lyra was definitely a cool new ride! Think you can do that again?"

"I'll think about it.” Twilight said as she held up a hoof. "And Lyra, can you please tell Bon Bon that it's great that you have a best friend like her?"

"I tell her that every day if I can, but I’ll mention that you thought of her. If you need a Guinea pig for your new magic at all, please don't hesitate to ask me. You turning me into stuff wasn't half bad." Lyra said with a smile as she trotted away.

"So I'm guessing you planned to keep going past three or four changes huh?" Spike asked.

"I did... But while the changes we made to Rainbow Dash were definitely for the better, it was a bit distracting to learn the friends I could've made are so easily changeable."

"I wouldn't call changing all reality easy." Spike said.

Twilight blinked. "Oh my! I totally forgot! I should have called Bon Bon and asked her if she was the one who saw the Sonic Rainboom that day instead of Rarity! If Bon Bon became an Element instead, would that mean she was retroactively chosen by fate instead? Oh, I missed it!"

"And you're back to normal. You could simply change Lyra again you know. Sounds like she'd be on board."

"Yes I could, and it would be interesting to see if the same Absolute statement would have the same results. But I need time to process this." Twilight said floating over her notebook and began wondering what to put on it.

"Well, it was definitely a way to spend an afternoon, but I'm hungry, and we skipped eating because of all this." Spike said with a tummy growl.

Twilight grinned. "No we didn't."

And instantly both retroactively had full bellies from breakfast and lunch.

"Dangit! I have food in my tummy I don't remember eating! What a gyp." Spike said with chagrin.

“Not to worry Spike, we can get dinner later,” Twilight said as they both went upstairs.

"Think we can have won a free dinner at a fancy restaurant?" Spike asked.

"Spike!" Twilight sighed loudly.

"You're the one wanting to try out this power for all it's worth." Spike said.

“I don’t want to abuse this power,” Twilight said remembering how Discord told her she began to get corrupted by her power when he was her past self.

“Alright, then I guess we’re paying out of pocket, but since we’re full now, let’s go take a walk,” Spike offered.

“Sounds nice, it’s a lovely day outside,” Twilight said.

The two made their way outside and stretched out.

“Ahh, sunlight on my blue scales feels nice,” Spike said.

Twilight noticed that ponies were definitely looking at Spike, oh right, she hadn't made his blue scales retroactive.

“Nothing unusual here,” Twilight said and suddenly ponies resumed their work, not seeing anything off about Spike.

“Good save,” Spike said.

“Yeah, anyways, where did you want to go?” Twilight asked.

“The comic book store sounds fun,” Spike said.

“I guess if you want to,” Twilight said as they moved down the pathways towards the comic book store.

“Hey, maybe use you power to-” Spike said but Twilight gave him a flat look.

"I am not turning them into those expensive Enchanted Comics from Canterlot." Twilight said.

"Come on, we had fun that time, I mean sure, we were all surprised, but it turned out good in the end." Spike said. "And if it's in another world, you don't have to worry about your power going weird." Spike said with a sly look on his face.

"Nice try Spike. I admit they'd be interesting to study. But I'd rather we deal with one type of powerful magic at a time."

“Alright alright,” Spike said as they made it to the comic book store and Spike quickly entered.

As they perused the aisles for any sign of a new issue, Twilight heard an exclamation.

"Hey! They have those new dragon centric comics that Mina's store sold in Fillydelphia." Spike said and Twilight turned to see the issues of the dragon superhero Flashfire.

“Ah, that series you like besides Power Ponies?” Twilight pointed out.

"Mina introduced me to it." Spike said.

"You know there's nothing wrong with liking another dragon." Twilight teased.

"We're FRIENDS Twilight." Spike said sternly.

“I know. But I'm saying, remember how you used to have a crush on Moon Dancer before you fell for Rarity? That she never noticed by the way."

"Oh, I'd completely forgotten about that." Spike said.

"Exactly. Your first crush, or even second, isn't automatically going to be the girl for you."

"Is that what you tell yourself about human Flash Sentry?" Spike snarked.

Twilight responded without thinking. "He leaps through the portal this moment and tells me he wants to move to Equestria once he graduates college! Oy!" Twilight grunted in pain.

Spike giggled as she just tricked herself.

Twilight huffed. "Alright. Fine. I still like him. I admit it."

“Alright, then I still like Rarity,” Spike said.

“Alright, then I guess,” Twilight said.

Twilight hated to admit that the revelation that Discord and his lover was proof that dragons and ponies were indeed compatible. Twilight carefully raised her hoof. 'Am I being no different from those who hurt Discord's family? No. Don't be stupid. They were monsters. I'm just trying to protect Spike from heartbreak down the line.' Twilight wondered as she watched Spike continuing to examine the comics.

"Hey, wanna see this new Power Ponies' issue? Masked Matterhorn gains the cosmic powers of Captain Equus, and has to struggle to avoid accidentally blowing up Equestria while stopping the typical villains her team normally does," said the earth pony behind the counter, showing off the comic.

“Hay yeah!” Spike said as he ran over to examine it.

“Odd, sounds alot like my situation,” Twilight said.

"No different from how the Power Ponies acted like more vain and arrogant versions of you guys for Crazy Pencil's run on the comic,” Spike said.

"I swear, if it turns out Discord had been writing that comic this whole time-"

"Do you think Discord could ever write a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and ending?" Spike said.

"... Good point. So how does it end?" Twilight asked.

"... To be continued," Spike said as he purchased the comic and they walked away.

"Of course," Twilight rolled her eyes as they walked outside.

As they made their way home they noticed the Boutique and Twlight remembered they had switched Rainbow to a more Rarity-like form, maybe they should see how their doing?

“Hey Spike, want to pay Rarity and Rainbow a quick visit?” Twilight said.

“You had me at Rarity,” Spike said before they moved on towards the Boutique.

What new adventures will they go through this time?

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, what do you think?