"Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight yelled, running up and hugging me lightly. She releases me and smiles for a moment before frowning, "Come on, gather the others. We need to go over all the details."

"They're already waiting in the music room, minus Pinkie. She went home to check on her family, she'll be back soon though." I explain, turning and escorting her there. I hesitate before saying, "...Though this world's Twilight will be in attendance."

She looks away, "Have we decided on what will happen if we're in each others presence for an indeterminate amount of time? Last I remember: The debate going between nothing happening and total collapse of the thin veil dividing our worlds. I take it we've decided on nothing?" She fiddles with the hem of her skirt nervously.

I bite my lip, "We never reached an agreement on that. But this is on such a scale… If we don't get your input, especially this world's Twilight, we might not be able to stop it from tearing our worlds apart." I pause, outside the music room with my hand on the door knob. "Both of them." I open the door and let Twilight in.

I notice her momentarily lock eyes with Ms. Sparkle, as I've decided to call this world's Twilight while our Twi is around. "Okay, if you could go over everything we know?" She looks away from Sparkle, who looks back down, wiping her eyes, and glances between Applejack, Rainbow and everyone else, before finally landing on me.

I gulp ready myself, I take a breath and step up in front of the group, Twilight stepping into the group to give me space. "Roughly thirty-six hours ago, there was an… 'explosion'" I explain to the group, "It engulfed a radius of approximately one hundred and forty-nine kilometers around Crystal City and parts of surrounding towns." I look to Sparkle, "...Including Ms. Sparkle's hometown."

She sniffles before nodding in acknowledgment. Twilight gasps silently, looking at Sparkle sadly. "From the news reports," I cough slightly, closing my eyes, "Almost everyone caught in the radius of the blast was almost instantly…" I paused for the words, "...Destroyed."

I pull out my phone and bring up an image of the explosion, "The 'explosion' itself is a continuously dissipating spiral into the air. It tops out in a large funnel shape." I send the image to a TV I had Principle Celestia moved to the room just for the occasion.

Everyone stares quietly. Except Twilight, who steps closer and studies the screen. "See those lines?" I approach her and point out the lightning like streaks through the hazy blue tornado of power, "Can you tell what those are?"

She studies it closely for a moment, "...Are those…" She mumbles, to herself more than me, "...Thaumaturgic leylines?" She looks at me skeptically; I nod. She gasps, "But we can see them! They literally glowing! That much power, condensed..."

"Which is why it's so important for you to help us, even with the chance that you and Ms. Sparkle being in the room having a fifty-fifty chance of causing total collapse of our universes, I think with all of our minds put together we can think of some way to fix this." I explain with a sigh.

She shakes her head, "I don't even know where to start here." She leans back and runs a hand through her hair. "There are leylines streaking all across Equestria, but they've been there since time immemorial. They were too ancient to magically date even before Celestia or Luna were born." She starts to pace around, I step back in line with the group, watching her. She glances at the monitor with the image of the spire every now and then. "I can't even fathom to think about what would happen if they were moved or were forcibly placed into an already populated planet. Starswirl-"

"Starswirl theorized that ours were implanted in the world long before it cooled from it's molten state. I know." I cut in, causing her to look at me, "But the way I see it, that was like putting a spoon through pudding. Those leylines?" I gesture with my hand at the screen. "With that much power, and the fact that Earth is now a solid planet? It would be like a saw through styrofoam: It would tear the world apart, not to mention what it might do to the network of preexisting universes around this one." I let my hand fall to my side.

"What do you think we should do?" Twilight asks me hopefully, "I mean all of you, what do you think we should do? Any ideas you can think off, it doesn't matter how they sound in your head, no matter how ridiculous."

Everyone looks between the other, realizing they have to participate in magic nerd talk. "What if we just walk right into it?" Rainbow suggests.

"While the surrounding area is… relatively safe compared to when it first exploded," I flop my arms, "Going into it would probably tear you apart molecule by molecule. Not to mention the magical contamination in the surrounding area."

"Magical contamination, Dear?" Rarity chirps, "Could you explain what, exactly, that is?"

I sigh, "It's kinda like radiation but less effective. It won't travel through anything, but it'll kill any living cells it touches. Not to say it'll kill you instantly, but… You don't want to be around for the death. It'd be like rotting alive." I frown, as does everyone else, as I explain this.

"So if we dressed up in fancy suits or something we could just waltz right up to it then?" Applejack asks.

"Theoretically," Twilight nods. "Yes."

Sparkle suddenly looks up, just barely stopping herself from raising her hand. "What if we can get to them? Not enter the actual explosion, but just outside it's radius of destruction." She asks, then entwines her fingers in front of her. "Can we stop them from expanding more? At least temporarily until we can figure out something more permanent?"

Twilight furrows her brow, "I'm… Not sure. Maybe..." She snatches and notepad out of Fluttershy's hands and flips to a new page. She takes a pen into her mouth and scribbles on the page for a minute. "I kno' f'e can th'ap into f'hem in Equessth'ria-" I take the pen out of her mouth, much to her dismay. "I know we can tap into them in Equestria, and there have been cases of ponies draining entire leylines of all magic before too. Though they did recharge over the course of a few decades."

She paces quicker, "I need to get to the library in Cantorlot, the Starswirl wing might have something that could help, and I'll talk to the other Princesses." She gathers her notes from the notepad before giving it back to Fluttershy, "Sunset, keep that book on you at all times. I'll try to keep you posted as often as I can." She says before bolting out of the room, leaving everyone in shock.

"Uhm..." Rainbow croaks before clearing her throat, "Bye?"

I stare at the closed door before sighing and sitting down on the raised floor. "I hope she can find out what we can do..." I look at my hands, wishing them to turn to horns so I could at least route some of the immense power in the lines elsewhere. A futile effort, but I wouldn't feel this useless.

Sparkle stands up and walks over. She crouches down and looks me in the eyes. "She will." She smiles slightly, though the illusion of hope is broken by the tears left in her eyes. I hug her.

Rarity walks up and hugs us both, soon followed by Fluttershy and Applejack. ...Then eventually I see a tuft of rainbow hair peeking over everyone else. If nothing else, I will have my friends until the very end no matter what it takes.

Dear Diary,

I still haven't found Sonata yet, I'm beginning to think if she hasn't… died or fallen ill like Aria, that she's purposely hiding from us. After our disagreement right before she left, I wouldn't call that much of a stretch.

Aria is getting much worse, her fever is spiking every day, reaching higher and higher. But antibiotics and any medicines I can scavenge from the nearby medical centers aren't helping. It's not an actual disease, it's caused by our dependency on magic. He body must be try to release antibodies to kill whatever is causing it it's magic deprivation, thinking it might be internally caused. But that's causing her body to tear itself apart and use more energy than she already would be using.

Not to mention the fever might kill her before the deprivation does.

Why I'm not as much affected by this I'm not sure, I believe it's because my medallion was stronger when they detonated from the surge those girls released when they blasted us and/or it managed to siphon some energy from the core when I used it to catalyze the reaction. Most likely it's the latter.

Losing hope,

Adagio Dazzle

P.S. I'm so sorry, to everyone. To Aria. To myself. ...To Sonata.