Twibright leaned in at the paper she was flipping with her magic, just to start as a hand came down over her horn.

"Stop that." Watcher released her. "There is no magic in this world. Someone could see you."

Twibright flushed with embarrassment. "Right, right." She looked around to see if anyone was staring at them. "I'm sorry, still not entirely used to all this world hopping stuff." She nosed to the next page in the paper. "Solving this really looks like it's something a lot of people want. It'd make them happy! Or at least a lot less unhappy."

Watcher sighed deeply, her eyes closed. "It is a fine action, but one they are not meant to solve, not now. This is not their solution. Something else has introduced it, leading them down a new path." She tapped at the paper Twibright was reading. "This change will cause others. It will cause future successes and failures to not arrive. The world may dissolve as a result, or crack as you saw your own do. Other worlds may suffer as a result."

Lulu shook her head firmly. "I think we're here to make the world better. I know it sounds like a good thing to encourage them. But, I trust Watcher. I trust that she knows what she's talking about when she says something is wrong." She rubbed behind her head. "Don't like it, not one bit. Playing the part of the baddies? Not what I thought I was signing up for. Why can't we make good things happen? If you're a little god, you could do that, couldn't you?"

Watcher shook her head. "Not my role. I keep things stable."

Twibright sighed. "I guess it's like a garden. It needs weeding, and sometimes a plant is really nice, but not right where it is." She made a face, imagining it. "But the plants are not normally creatures, just trying to do their best." She threw a hoof aside, knocking the paper away. "It's not the same thing when those 'plants' think, cry, and hope for better days!"

Watcher nodded slowly. "That's not wrong. The solutions will not be the end of suffering, but they won't solve the problems in the right ways. It will mean changes down the line that will mean others fail to meet their own destinies." She slid to her feet and snatched up the fallen paper. "Pain today is required for the story to unfold properly. The goods, the bads, all of it. It is my position only that each song is heard."

Twibright hopped off the bench. "Where can we find them?"

Watcher started down the sidewalk with Lulu and Twibright close behind. "The meeting place should be nearby. We have plenty of time to reach it before they begin."

Lulu nodded. "So, what do we do when we get there?"

Watcher considered that a moment, tossing the paper aside into a recycling bin. "We will know when we arrive. We get nothing done pondering it here." She waved for Lulu and Twibright. "Shall we?"

***

The three arrived at an elegant brick building with tall stairs leading up the entrance. People were heading in and out, while several lingered around the steps talking. Watcher took the stairs slowly, taking in the surroundings as she did. She looked like any other member of that crowd. Most were dressed for business, many of a governmental variety.

That didn't go for Twibright or Lulu. One was a skunk, and other was a walking, talking pony.

A man held out a camera phone in Lulu's direction. "Hey there! Smile!"

Lulu gave him the brightest smile she could manage before jogging up after Watcher and Twibright. "What was that? I didn't just have my soul snatched, did I? I will be very sore if I had it taken so easily."

Twibright laughed as she trotted up beside Watcher. "Not at all. He was taking a photo. You might end up in this world's version of a magazine."

Lulu blinked in confusion. "Magazine?" Her words died as they pressed inside. "Oh! Is, wow." Her eyes wandered over the vast and open hall of that public meeting space, her tail flicking behind her. "What is this? Some demesne of a king? They won't, uh, go for heads will they?"

Twibright gasped, pressing her hooves to her muzzle in shock. "Why would they do that here?" She frowned at Lulu a moment later, then sighed. "Oh, you were making a reference to something." It arrived a moment later. "Ah, yes, the world you came from. I don't think this world operates that way. To be punished, one must first be accused of a crime, then that crime must be proven true, and only then are you properly punished."

This brought Watcher to a stop. She whirled on Twibright. "How do you know that?"

Twibright smiled with pride, flicking her tail. "It said so in the newspaper. We have some similar rules in Ponytopia, so I was curious about how this world works." She pointed back vaguely at where the paper had been left. "There's a bad creature awaiting trial for some misdeed. I didn't get a chance to read much into it."

Watcher relaxed at her words. "I see. I thought you had, never mind. This way." She led the way towards a rather wide front desk where many people were helping many others find where they were going. "Excuse me."

The woman working there looked up at her. "Hello, what can I do for you three today?"

Watcher smiled at the woman. "I was wondering where I could find room 204?"

She pointed off to her right. "That room's booked today. Big business, last I heard. Unless your card's keyed for it, you can't go inside."

Watcher leaned in closer. "Could you perhaps let us peek inside?"

She gave Watcher an uncertain look. "Let you peek? Look, you seem alright, but I could get fired if I go doing things like that." She looked past Watcher down at Twibright. "And why do you have this cute little mascot with you? My son would love that, if they were here instead of school. But then I'd have to kill them myself." She was putting out no real malice, smiling at Twibright.

Twibright flicked her tail and waved up with a hoof. "Hi! It's nice to meet you."

Lulu leaned in. "It's for our kid. He just loves cute things like this."

The desk secretary laughed when Lulu spoke. "I thought people in costumes were usually quiet."

"They should be." Watcher scowled with one hand turned up. "They refuse to do that."

"It's no big real." She reached over the desk to ruffle the top of Twibright's head. "I wish they all talked, but I guess that does make it less magic, hearing the person inside the suit like that." She slid a card over to Watcher. "That will get you in on your meeting."

Twibright bowed her head with thanks. "We can just go look at the door, okay?"

"No law against looking at doors." She shrugged at the idea. "But it's just a door. You be good. I'd hate to hear anything happening to little horses on my watch."

Twibright waved with both hooves as she backed away, tail swishing behind herself. "I'm certain nothing bad could happen to us. Have a wonderful day!" They started up the stairs.

Lulu came in on Twibright's side. "She seems like a nice person. She has good taste in adorable equines." She took her turn playing with Twibright around her horn and ears. "You are such a good little thing."

Twibright giggled quietly, ears flicking. "Oh stop that. Flattery is not a nice thing if you make me all embarrassed. Watcher, will this get us inside?"

Watcher held up the card to examine. "It will get us in another room close by. We can use this." She flicked the card into a pocket. "Not the one we want directly, but direct is not always the way forward."

Lulu bounced back, colliding with a man that had his face in his phone. "Hey! Watch it!"

Lulu rubbed at the side of her head. "I'm so sorry!" She hurried after the others. "These worlds are so crowded!" She grumbled as she fell back in line. "At least he could have complimented me."

Twibright raised an ear at that. "Complimented you? What about?"

Lulu giggled quietly. "I'm wonderful to look at. He could have mentioned that, instead of telling me to watch myself." She waved behind herself. "But I'm not going to take it personally."

Twibright took a moment to ponder that. "You are very aesthetically pleasing, for your kind. As a pony, you have deficiencies, but you aren't a pony. Judging you by them would be unkind of me, and I would hope you'd inform me if I were to start acting in unkind ways."

Lulu laughed at that. "So long as I keep being told how gorgeous I am, and how you adore me. It's so nice to be wanted. I'd hug you, but I don't think you want a hug, right now."

"I do not." That did not stop Twibright from going in for a rub of her side along Lulu's. "But I appreciate the sentiment. Perhaps, once this world is safe, we can take more time learning about one another. I would enjoy that. What about you?"

Lulu nodded. "I'd like that as well." She looked up as they came to a long hallway with a number of doors leading out on both sides. "And how many doors do we have to go through?"

"Just one." Watcher swiped the card over a reader, despite not having been holding it a moment before. The door chimed with acceptance, turning a red light to a green light. "Let us begin our plan. We will save this world."

"By wrecking it." Twibright scowled at the idea as she entered. "This is a curious case, Watcher."

Author's Note

You thought Watcher was always on the positive side?

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