All have heard this scenario before. A man as a night manager at a convenience store is cleaning up so his boss won’t get on his case for a piss poor job. The guy in question though a reliable worker and slight oddball believes he is destined for more, boy was he indeed correct on that front. We then all know what soon transpired, a veritable odyssey of monumental proportions. The man crossed the trans-dimensional border and descended into a world unlike any other. Four times he had brought our world and the other from the brink of destruction and once more was it saved, but by his own child. The man lived a long and rich life until his eventual death, but what if? That is the question that is always asked, a question that holds much promise and presence. It is the question that could define a destiny, a fate. It is a question that can make or break a new string of events with either a good or terrible outcome to follow. This is one such occurrence. The multiverse is a vast interlocking network of worlds all defined by purpose and an ultimate choice which shapes it’s very foundations to a T. But there are thousands upon thousands of multiverses. Each always more vast and different from the last, all of these are contained within the ultimate housing, an Infiniverse. Many Infiniverses exist and within are multiverses which then transition into a set universe. Some are different entirely whereas some are so much the same that one could mistake it for their home universe, but there is always one deviation in universes such as those.

Within The Infiniverses exist duplicates of life forms and events all eventually circling back to the question, what if. For example, what if something delayed The Hero from finding the door and instead it was found by another? One of his bloodline, but not the destined one, would the end result be the same?

*

Night time had descended upon the quiet city and walking the streets with a duffle bag slung on her shoulder and a fast food bag in her other hand was a less then amused teenager. She was about six foot one, almost as tall as her bro. Her hair, though a dark chestnut in color, never reached lower than the middle of her shoulders in a natural cascade. Her dark storm blue eyes scanned the night as a car passed by. For reasons unknown to herself, her mother and father had told her to bring her brother some dinner at work. Truth is she wasn’t really acquainted to the town yet and was practically lost for several hours; the dinner in question had long since cooled. She and her parents were moving up here in an effort to be closer to her bro, which she was sort of on the fence about, but none the less agreed. She didn’t hate her brother. It was more or less a sibling rivalry thing where one couldn’t stand the others company. Luckily for her she was given the dinner task after her martial arts class had let out so there were no worries in terms of time factors.

“Martin you had better thank me for this,” she grumbled under her breath.

The girl stopped on a street corner and pulled out her phone which was currently vibrating. The number on the display depicted her mother.

She clicked the answer button and spoke in a nonchalant fashion, “Yes?”

“Kendra, have you found your brothers work yet? I’m getting worried.”

“Mom I’ve got it covered,” she smiled slightly, “Besides Martin wouldn’t let me just meander around at night if he could help it. He’s probably sweeping the toilet or mopping something.”

“Kendra…just please be safe. I love you sweetie.”

Kendra turned a corner, “I love you to mom.”

Her phone fell silent as she decided to cut through a nearby alleyway. She stopped at the entrance and saw her goal in sight in all of its neon signage. She sighed and started walking toward it only to halt in mid-stride, out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a door that hung open. It had no earthly business being there and sort of stuck out like a sore thumb; Kendra approached the doorway and glanced over her shoulder at the store. The lights were turning off and she knew Martin was most likely getting ready to leave. Normally Kendra wouldn’t care in the slightest about the door but the fact that it seemed so unnatural being in solid brick in an alleyway such as this, plus the fact that it was just hanging open.

Kendra stuck her head in and threw caution to the wind, “Hey, your doors open.”

Silence and the faint smell of…fresh grass answered her. The smell was what drew the girl inside; either the hallway led to a gardening warehouse or something was screwy. She continued down the hall and soon arrived at another door. With extreme care she reached for the knob.

*

Martin was walking down the alleyway slightly frustrated at the fact his sister hadn’t shown up yet. A blinding flash of white from his right caused him to fall on his butt. A low boom followed behind the flash which shook the neighborhood and set off a couple of car alarms.

“What the hell was that?”

*

Kendra blinked her eyes and groaned in slight pain. Her duffle bag had landed atop of her and though it wasn’t entirely heavy, it was pretty uncomfortable. She lifted it off of her and checked its contents. Her gym gear, karate outfit, and her change of clothes for after workout sessions were all present if not a bit unfolded now. A black rectangular case almost as long as her forearm lay harmlessly atop it all. She then quickly searched through her bag and produced a small cut out picture of something and smiled.

“Well at least you’re not unharmed,” she pulled out the case and popped the snaps and gazed at the contents, “Hello girls, mama’s here.”

A noise alerted her to a presence nearby. She shut her case and dropped it in the open bag.

“What are you? How did you get here!”

Kendra’s training reflexes kicked in and she whirled around and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick. Her booted foot made contact with something which caused her to back up as the creature dropped to the ground unconscious. The creature was dressed in a red royal vest adorned with gold badges. What shocked her more was that the thing was a unicorn, a white unicorn to be precise. His mane was a mixture of blues and had a weird tattoo of a shield on its flank. She blinked a few times then slapped her face.

Kendra blinked a few times, “Oh god I’m not hallucinating,” she backed up once more and grabbed her bag and zipped it up, “Well this is…”

Her gaze went around and noticed she was on a grassy hill. On the horizon she noticed…snow? She then looked over her shoulder and found a city made of what could only be described as crystal.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

The unicorn groaned in slight pain as an almost melodic voice reached her ears, “Shining, are you up here? Did you find out what that flash was?”

Kendra slowly backed up further as the voice continued, “Shining don’t mess with me. The picnic food is getting cold.”

The oddest horse then crested the hill in front of Kendra and both life forms gazed at each other.

Kendra then did the most sensible thing she could think of…she hauled ass toward the snow.

Kendra kept running not caring that whatever was behind her was shouting for her to halt. Eventually she felt her foot land against snow. The sudden shift in texture caused her to fall face first into it. Cursing as she stood she turned her head back and noticed the two equine creatures closing in. Kendra shook her head and started running again. Eventually she arrived a fair distance from the literal patch of paradise and noticed a train track underneath the white sheet. She tensed as the sound of halting reached her ears behind her. Kendra turned around and began to circle the two equines that followed her movements in earnest. Their stares from what she saw held no hostility, it was more like a mixture of slight anger from the white one and a curious one from the pinkish winged one. Both parties halted and stared each other down.

The winged one spoke carefully, “Alright if you can understand me, we mean you no harm. We just want to ask you a few questions,” it stepped forward causing Kendra to visibly tense, “take it easy.”

The unicorn looked at the winged one, “Careful Cadance, this…thing might not be friendly.”

Cadance raised an eyebrow, “Your just upset because she knocked you unconscious Shining.”

Shining looked slightly wounded at the remark but sighed, “Still, we don’t know what this thing could be capable of.”

Kendra had taken this opportunity to circle back to her bag. She needed her girls for this, she really didn’t WANT to use them, but who knows what they could do to her. The ponies took notice of her movements and the one known as Shining acted on instinct. Kendra popped the snaps on the case only to be blasted from the side, a resounding ‘dong!’ was heard as her head hit hard against the train rail.

Cadance screamed and rushed over to the creature, “Shining! How could you?!”

Shining looked around, “It was an accident! She moved fast and I…”

Cadance checked the things breathing and sighed, “It’s still breathing,” she then noticed a glint of some sort of metal half fallen out of the case, “What’s this?”

Cadance levitated the case and gazed into its confines. The interior seemed to have to sections attached via a hinge. It was lined with red cloth and what lay within caused her to supress a gasp, they seemed to be a form of dagger but the blades were much to thin but were blades none the less. Shining walked to his wife’s side with the creature levitating beside him.

Cadance levitated the one that was out of the box, “What are these honey?”

Shining squinted at the object, “I’ve seen them before in an old book Twilight read on foreign Equestrian weaponry. I think their called…sai.”

Cadance glanced with concern at the creature as she placed the sai back in its case and snapped it shut, “Why would this creature carry sai with it?”

Shining glanced at the creature which twitched slightly, “I guess we’ll know when it wakes up.”

*

Kendra’s head was pounding like some otherworldly smith was banging her brain as a forge. She gazed around the white area she was currently residing in; it seemed to be some sort of hospital room. Well it was either that or some form of bedroom; Kendra soon settled on the latter when she noticed she was in a regular bed. She slowly sat up and noticed her coat and boots were near the door, her bag was lying at the foot of her bed. She shakily got to her feet and took notice that her loose white shirt and dark blue jeans had not been touched. She made her way over to her bag and grabbed her case, her Sai were undisturbed but covered in slight moisture. She quickly stashed her boots and coat in the bag and slung it over her shoulder. She grasped her sai’s firmly in her hands and slowly cracked the door open and scanned the dim hallways. The blades glinted slightly in the light as she gently padded down the hall in her socks. What surprised her was the fact that they didn’t confiscate her bag, they probably went through it when she had been unconscious. Hell if someone knocked out Martin and carried a bag with them she probably would have.

“I have to say though for a castle it’s horribly guarded,” she glanced to the side and noticed a pair of large double doors, “Hm…maybe if I cut through the throne room I can make my way outside and figure just where the hell I am. But if I do, I doubt that those two and their guards are gonna just let me go,” hoof falls caused her to dart behind a column.

She gazed out from the shadows and took notice of a…purple winged…unicorn. She shook her head having finally concluded that wherever she was, it was going to be a ridiculous ride of stupidity. The pony stopped and glanced around, the grips on Kendra’s sai’s tightened as the pony refused to carry on. Then an idea struck her. Kendra waited for the pony to turn its head and she threw her bag into the hall.

The pony jumped, “What in the?”

Kendra was upon her and got her in a decent head lock and pressed on of her sai against the pony’s throat, “Alright here’s the deal pony…”

The pony gulped, “I-it’s Twilight.”

Kendra blinked in surprise but remained firm as she pressed her remaining blade to the pony’s throat, “Twilight, we’re going to walk through that door and you’re going to guide me outside. Don’t make any funny moves or these instruments of mine will play a melody that you will NOT like.”

Twilight slowly nodded as she glanced down as much as she could and took notice of the weapons keeping her at bay, “I thought sai weren’t bladed.”

Kendra slowly moved over and donned her bag once more, “The conventional ones aren’t. Some models do come bladed though, these were a present…wait…shut up!”

Kendra shouldered Twilight through the door and emerged into a crowded throne room. Standing at the far end of the royal hall was a tall almost white winged unicorn that fixed the current scene before her with a look of both surprise and steel. Kendra kept her back to the wall.

“Okay NOBODY MOVE! I just want a clear path to the door,” Kendra tightened her grip as a guard moved, “Hooves planted soldier.”

Twilight weakly stated, “Princess Celestia, do as she says.”

The white winged one known as Celestia raised an eyebrow, “Don’t worry Twilight, she won’t do it.”

Kendra halted, “Excuse me? Do you not see that I have BLADES pressed on her?”

Celestia nodded, “Indeed you do. But the question is do you have the heart to do the unspeakable?”

Kendra narrowed her eyes, “Try me seabiscuit.”

Celestia and the others in the room watched her. Kendra glanced around in slight fear and anxiety, this wasn’t good. She was boxed in and now she was beginning to question whether or not she COULD follow through with what she was going to do. Granted she did have a hostage, but the bigger question was what these…things could do. If she remembered from earlier, the unicorn known as Shining had blasted her with something which meant that any of these ponies with horns could probably do the same or perhaps worse. She inhaled sharply and went to move and all eyes followed her effectively halting her. Kendra cursed under her breath. Soon a larger curse left her lips when Twilight’s horn glowed and the winged pony vanished and reappeared beside the one known as Celestia.

Kendra dropped her bag and got into an offensive stance relaxing her sai against her forearms, “Make a move,” he eyes focused on another daring guard, “I dare you.”

An azure winged unicorn raised a hoof, “Guards, hold.”

Celestia nodded at the azure one, “Thank you Luna,” she then turned her attention back to Kendra, “drop your weapons, I only wish to talk.”

Kendra spun both sai which made a sharp whistling sound, “Last one of you that said that ended with me comatose in a bed.”

Celestia nodded slowly and advanced on the human girl who was now poised to attack, “Don’t bother. I am afraid that such combat tactics against me would be most unwise,” she focused an intense gaze upon the girl, “last warning, drop your weapons or else reap the consequences.”

Twilight was shocked, never before had she seen this side of her beloved teacher.

Kendra returned the glare right back at Celestia. Both were still, both glared into each other’s eyes. Kendra’s grip loosened ever so slightly and soon the sai were placed on the ground.

“Damn it,” Kendra sighed, “fine…speak your piece.”

Celestia’s warm smile returned.