Sorry for the wait, everypony! (Did you know this is the longest chapter of anything I've ever written? Fun fact, I guess!) So have an extra long chapter (both to compensate for the over-three-day wait and because I couldn't find a good stopping point before then). Enjoy!


"The Princesses?" asked Pinkie. "The Princes?" asked Berry. "Principal Celestia?" asked Fluttershy's other self. "No, no, and no," said Twilight, "I'm talking about the ancient alicorns. The creators of the multiverse. All universes, all suns and moons, all of everything." "The real ancient alicorns only exist in myths," said Dusk, "Sundrops and Moondancer?" "Hmm," said Twilight, "It's the same in our universe. A mare named Sundrops and a stallion named Moondancer?" Dusk nodded. "This is strange," said Twilight, "But maybe not as strange as I'd thought…" "I don't even know if they exist anymore, in the material universe, I mean," said Dusk, "And if they do, I don't have any idea where they'd be!" "All alicorns transmit a magical signal, the older and higher level the alicorn, the stronger the signal. If I search for it, I should find it," said Twilight. "However. First we'll go to our separate universes and find books on the subject. I'll use some magic, a large amount, to keep a telepathic channel open with Dusk. Everypony else? Stay here. We'll be back soon."

Dusk and Twilight used significant amounts of magic to teleport to the libraries in their respective universes. Dusk didn't have to travel over universes, just a long distance, but it was still quite difficult. Twilight and Dusk held up their own ends to keep up their telepathic channel. "I found something," Dusk thought, Twilight heard him and replied, "What? What's the title of the book?" "Ancient Equestrian Legends and Myths: Volumes 1-4 set. Page 1056," Dusk specified. Twilight confirmed and found the book, opening it to page 1056. "Listen to this," though Dusk, "I'll read this section. It says, 'The two ancient alicorns are said to have originated before the universe began. They do not vary between universes as they are interdimensional beings…' blah, blah, blah." "They do not vary between universes," thought Twilight, "The author of that book somehow knew about… wait. Here, I'll read a section from mine. It says, 'Sundrops and Moondancer, they're said to have five horns, one in the center and four on the outside. However, there are some descriptions of the two that vary between universes.' It doesn't make much sense… unless you parse it a little between mine and yours. That would go like this: 'Sundrops and Moondancer, the two ancient alicorns, are said to have originated before the universe began. They're said to have five horns, one in the center and four on the outside. However, there are some descriptions of the two that vary between universes.' Makes much more sense, right?" "Yeah," thought Dusk.

Twilight and Dusk teleported back to Dusk's universe where everypony was waiting after placing the books in their saddlebags. "We figured out something interesting," said Twilight. "They're interdimensional travelers who can have direct or indirect influences on ponies' minds and vary between universes," said Dusk. "We'll find them," said Twilight, "According to this book…" She pulled the book out of her saddlebag with her magic and said, "Beneath Canterlot Castle." "Our universe?" asked Pinkie. Twilight shook her head. "My universe?" asked Berry. Twilight shook her head again. The Fluffle Puff Queen jumped out of nowhere and stood beside Twilight and announced, "My universe."

"Talk about dramatic entrances," muttered Pinkie. "Tell me about it," muttered Bubble. Several ponies tried not to burst into chaotic laughter at how the queen spoke, but nonetheless, Twilight then continued, "This may require sufficient and advanced magic, I'll be bringing Dusk along with me. The Fluffle Puff Queen shall also come along as she knows the way around. Nova Shine, Star Sparkle, you'll be briefing the army on everything from swords to armor and how to use everything." The two nodded. Then Twilight continued, "Bubble Berry, Pinkie Pie, Bubble Gum, Cotton Candy, you'll be in charge of helping everypony out with anything they need. Think you can do that?" The four nodded as well.

"Okay," Twilight said, "Although these people," she pointed to those who'd recently come from the human dimension, "Know the basics of being ponies, I'll need Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz to help out the pegasi with flight mechanics and all that. I'll need Sunset Shimmer to help everypony out with magic and how it works. You too, Trixie and Trickster." The three saluted her. "Okay," said Sunset, "Let's get going!" Nopony heard her. "Let us," said Trixie and Trickster in unison, "EVERYPONY! OVER HERE SO WE CAN TEACH YOU THE POWERS OF MAGIC! CALLING ALL UNICORNS!" Everypony gathered around. "You're good," said Sunset. "All right," started Trixie, "Let's get going. Now, the first thing I want you trying is a levitation spell…"

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Blitz flew up and inspected. Dash brought a cloud down. "Anypony who can jump onto this cloud, come with me." After a quick run-through, all the pegasi walked over to a section of ground. "Okay, everypony start flapping. Don't take off yet," said Blitz. "Now, take off slowly," said Dash. Everypony did as she said. A few had a hard time taking off, but they managed at last. "Okay, now fold your wings. Don't worry, the impact isn't too much, you're only a few feet up," said Dash. "How do we know you're experts on flying, anyway?" asked a mare with a dark green mane and a pale yellow coat. She had a cutie mark of a leaf. Dash sighed and said, "Didn't you hear the Princess say so?" "No…" she said, "And even if I had, why would I have to believe her?" "I have an idea," said Blitz. He whispered something in her ear. Dash nodded.

They flew up into the air and nodded to each other. Immediately they did what they did best: sonic rainbooms. They crisscrossed across the sky and flew back down, braiding their trails together as they did a corkscrew to slow down. Then they hovered and dropped the last five feet to the ground. Almost everypony there was agape, even Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo's other selves. "Okay then!" exclaimed the mare, "You've convinced me. I don't think any regular pony could do something quite that cool." "The proper term is 'awesome'," said Dash, "And it's called a Sonic Rainboom. Harder 'n it looks." "Tell me about it," said Blitz, folding and unfolding his wings repetitively in a failed attempt to loosen the kinks.

~Meanwhile, someplace…

"I tell you, we're lost!" exclaimed Moon, "I knew this spell was a dumb idea!" "I'm sorry," said Morning, "I didn't mean to get us lost… Oh, and… hindsight bias." "Hey, I think I hear something," said Moon. They were lost in 'the vortex' after Morning had been practicing various magic spells. They'd been lost for a while, neither quite knowing where they were or what had happened. All they knew was that if they jumped out someplace at random, they might not be able to get back. "I recognize that voice!" Morning exclaimed, "I think that's… Star Sparkle?!" "Cast the spell again!" exclaimed Moon. Morning quickly did so.

They woke up to a blur of noises and sounds as literally hundreds of ponies crowded around the two. Morning straightened the ring around her horn and got to her hooves. Moon got up as well. "Where are we?" asked Morning simply. Pinkie Pie pushed her way to the front of the crowd and said, "Equestria, #1044567." "Pinkie Pie?!" exclaimed Moon, confused, "I wondered where everypony went." "Speaking of which, where were you?" asked a confused Pinkie. "Lost in 'the vortex'," said Morning, "It was my fault…" "It's okay," said Moon, patting her partner's shoulder, "You didn't mean to." "Actually," said Rainbow Dash, "You'd be quite useful in the war against the shadow creatures…" "The what?" asked Moon. "Let me explain," said Twilight.

After Twilight finished her explanation on the situation at hoof, sitting at her hooves were a couple dumbstruck ponies. "That was pretty much my reaction when I heard about all this, too," said Bubble Gum. Suddenly somepony called out, "I think somepony is in trouble!" Moon recognized the voice. So did Morning, for that matter. "Mama?!" asked Moon. "Yeah," said Wind Rider, "But that's not important. I just heard… from… that way!" She pointed east and immediately started flying that way. "Where are you going?" asked Dash.

Wind Rider stopped for a minute while she spoke, "To Ponyville! There's somepony, or something, there… I think… never mind that! Regardless, Twilight, Dusk, Dash, Blitz, go to the Fluffle Puff's world and find the ancient alicorns. I'll be back…" She muttered the last word of her sentence very softly, almost inaudibly, "Probably." And with that, Wind zipped across the sky. "Hey!" she heard a noise. She didn't dare stop, though. "We're coming too!" exclaimed Sun Rider. Moon Pool was flying alongside her twin sister, each with their partners on their backs. Then there was somepony else. "I'm coming too!" exclaimed Whirlwind. She carried Star Sparkle on her back, the unicorn was obviously worried but clung on tightly to the light gray pegasus mare's light blue mane as she leaned in to the wind. "You ready to rock and roll?" asked Sun. "Yep!" exclaimed Whirl. "Yeah," said Moon. "Great!" said Wind, "Let's get going."

They went faster and faster, each one blinking plasma out of their eyes and squinting. The unicorns they carried on their backs made for much more weight. The only one who didn't carry this burden was Wind, who was probably one of the best conditioned of the four pegasi. Sun and Wind rushed ahead, the others flanking them. They flew faster, building up speed, creating the familiar aura around their front hooves. "Can you hold on?!" Whirl screamed over the wind to Star, worried. "I can just open a telepathic channel," Star's voice echoed through Whirl's thoughts, "It's easier." "Oh," thought Whirl, "I keep forgetting you can do that." "And yeah," thought Star, "I can hold on." She magically conjured up ropes to tie herself to Whirl's back. The incessant whistling of the wind and the burning in her wings distracted Whirl, but not nearly as much as the gorgeous mare on her back.

"You ponies ready for a rainboom?!" Whirl screamed over the wind. She got a whole bunch of nodding. "Kay," said Whirl, grinning smugly, "Then try to keep up." She dashed rapidly ahead, her aura brimming around her whole body now as Star crouched down to be more aerodynamic. Then Whirl went even faster due to the lack of wind resistance that had previously occurred due to Star's horn. Then, suddenly, as if on a drumbeat, Whirl broke the sound barrier. Everypony else followed soon afterward. "Awesome?" Whirl asked Star through her thoughts. "As you so beautifully put it," thought Star, "It was 'Awesome'."

They sailed through the sky all the way to Ponyville. They went into a couple of loops and landed near the Everfree Forest. "Why are we here?" asked Sun. "I heard something," said Wind, "I want to check it out." "You heard something from this far away?!" exclaimed Whirl. Wind simply nodded as her ears twitched this way and that and she walked into the forest. "You all know of the Tree of Harmony, correct?" asked Wind. Everypony nodded. "Well, I heard…" started Wind, "Wait." She stopped walking and looked around.

They'd crossed a river and a bridge and came upon a castle. They rounded the castle and on the other side was a gorge. They'd gone around the gorge where they knew the Tree of Harmony stood and walked up to a small statue. It wasn't very big, roughly the size of the ponies there (including the base), and it was shaped like seven keys. "I remember this statue," said Sun. "What's below the statue is what we're looking for," said Wind and she began to dig.

They dug under the statue and they saw a small, purple box. "What's inside?" asked Moon, curious. Without a single word, Wind picked up the box and opened it. On a silver cushion there was a box. It contained a white orb, roughly an inch in diameter. "What's that?!" asked Star, "I haven't read about anything like it!" "That's because there are no books on the subject," said Wind, "Because it isn't known to exist."

~A whole bunch of years earlier, the day after the Equestrian Surfing Championships, Eastern Equestrian Coast

"This trophy is really gorgeous," tapped Wave Pool. "No trophy could ever match you, in case you were jealous," said Wind Rider, "Describe it to me." "Okay," tapped Wave, looking the trophy over, "It's got several pillars that lead to a second, third, and fourth base, on top of the fourth there's a mare on a surfboard with waves around it. She has her hooves raised in the air and she's holding a… I don't know what that is. It looks like a pearl…" As Wave touched it, the entire trophy toppled over onto Wind. Specifically, her wing. Just as the small, white, pearl-like orb touched the base of her wing her vision whited out.

A few minutes later, Wave shook her marefriend awake. "Wind?" she asked hoarsely. "Ugh," said Wind, then she tapped, "What happened?" "You sort of… your eyes glowed white… when that pearl touched your wing… are you okay?" tapped Wave worriedly. "I just felt…" tapped Wind in shock, "This has to leave. It's a magical orb… I don't know how it got here… it needs to be hidden. NOW."

~Back in the present

Wind had told this to all of them, and then she said, "After a while, we found a suitable hiding place. Coincidentally, a while later, this statue was erected on top of its place. It possesses pure alicorn magic, the kind all the Princesses use. I didn't think Equestria was ready for it yet, but since this is a parallel universe, I believe that my counterpart has buried this one here. As such, to stabilize the universal balance, when we return to our world, the orb in the other world must be put through the same things and, in the end, both must be destroyed."

"Why?" asked Whirl. "Because," explained Wind, "All alicorn magic, if not used properly, is easily corrupted. Since this magic no longer belongs to an alicorn, it must be destroyed, or it will be corrupted." Morning shuddered at the thought. "But for now, as long as it is used properly, it can be a great resource against the shadow creatures," said Sun. "Exactly," said Wind. "I think I know who can use it," said Whirl. "Who?" asked Moon. Whirl pointed to Star. Star looked shocked. "Why me?" Star asked. "It fits," said Whirl. "Okay…" said Star, levitating the small orb over to her.

"There's nothing against staying here for a few hours," said Whirl, "Besides, my wings could use a break." She stretched her wings out and then she flopped onto the ground. "Want me to help?" asked Star. "You know how to massage?" asked Whirl. "I was trained for a little while," said Star sheepishly. "Let's go someplace warmer," said Whirl. "Good idea," said Star, "Let's go back to Ponyville, everypony." "Yeah," everypony chorused.

When they arrived in Ponyville, Star and Whirl went over to the library they knew was Dusk's. "I don't think he'll mind," said Star, "Twilight sure doesn't mind when I come to her library, even when she isn't there!" Whirl chuckled and went inside. Moon and Morning stayed over at Butterscotch's cottage and Wind didn't want to invade and corralled a few clouds to make a bed out of. Sun stayed at Rainbow Blitz's place.

"Which bed do you want?" asked Star. "Does it matter?" asked Whirl. "Not really," said Star, "Lay down, spread your wings. I know what I'm doing." Whirl did as her friend told her, she lay on one of the beds and spread her wings. "What hurts?" asked Star. "Everything," sighed Whirl. "Then I have no choice but to rub everything," said Star with a giggle. She started at Whirl's back hooves, working up the well-worked athletes' legs and getting out all the cramps and kinks. "Good so far?" asked Star. Whirl lay there on the bed, panting and nodding. Star quickly worked up her back and to her wings. They were hard, almost rocklike, the muscles spasming.

Star kneeled and straddled Whirl, leaning over and grabbing the right wing. She rubbed up and down, it started to give a little. Every once in a while, Whirl gave this little gasp. Star found this cute, but she still asked every time if her friend was okay. Every time she got an exasperated nod from a head that instantly flopped right back down onto the bed. Then she moved to the left, it was originally equally tense but Star loosened it. "Hey," said Whirl, "Can you do both at once?" Star nodded. Whirl spread her wings out flat, Star pressed down on them lightly. "Well?" asked Whirl, apparently not feeling a thing. Star pressed harder. "There!" said Whirl, "Can you go any harder, though?" Star pressed harder still, a chill ran down Whirl's spine and she shivered, causing Star to shift a little and push her full weight down involuntarily. Whirl gasped, then she said, "Don't… stop…"

Obliging, Star continued. Whirl, keeping her wings perfectly still, lay there while her friend continued to be better than a masseuse at a spa. Star shifted a little rubbing and pressing at the same time. The first time she did this, Whirl's tail did a little involuntary flick. "Does that happen often?" asked Star, confused. "No," said Whirl, "But it's not like stuff that feels this good happens often." "So… I'm not terrible?" asked Star. Between ecstatic gasps, Whirl said, "Far… from it." Suddenly Star wondered what would happen if she pressed with her magic. Before contemplating for too long, she did so. Whirl looked back at her immediately with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh!" Whirl exclaimed, "Whatever you did, do that again!" Whirl's tail continued to intermittently twitch along with every push. "You… have stiff wings," said Star. "What'd ya expect?" asked Whirl, "I did a sonic whirlwind." "I'd expect that," said Star, continuing her massage with her magic.

"I was wondering, Whirl," started Star, "I know this one spell…" Immediately Whirl's eyes lit up. "What is it?" she asked eagerly. "Want me to try it?" asked Star. "Yeah!" exclaimed Whirl. "Okay," said Star, "Hold onto your hooves!" "Or, in my case, my wings," joked Whirl. Star laughed a little before she began casting her spell. Star crisscrossed her hooves on Whirl's back as she did so, it was more comfortable somehow. The crimson aura surrounded her horn, first one, two, three… then a bright crimson ball encompassed the two and it shrunk to cover only an outline of the two, then it pushed itself into them. Star gasped, a combination of relief and excitement. Whirl shrieked, although it wasn't a bad thing. A noise of utter exhilaration. She tried her best to hold up but ended up collapsing in a heap on the bed. "That. Was. Awesome," said Whirl, her eyes closed and wings relaxed. Star snuggled up beside her and said, "Glad you liked it."

"Let's get some rest," said Star.

"Good idea," said Whirl.

And with that, the two slept on top of the now disheveled bedclothes, not a care in the world.

…For now.