In the previous chapter, I made reference to the fact that this world was starting to seem vaguely familiar to me. I now feel the need to dedicate a passage to explaining myself, concerning this tidbit. If this is to become a proper guide for another reincarnated individual such as myself to follow, regardless of how unlikely such a thing is to occur, they must be made fully aware of every tool they have available to them to use. I am of the firm belief that knowledge is power and that it is my sworn duty to share as much of it as I can, regardless of how much of it I hoard for myself. Maybe my form is appropriate...

That having been said though, I don’t think I’m the most qualified individual to be discussing scientific theory like I’m about to; the science fiction genre was more my husband’s fancy, not mine. For a tailor he was surprisingly well versed in a variety of both fictional and nonfictional scientific concepts and ideas. We would causally chat about them every now and then, to pass the time while one of us worked. We watched films about it together with our children as well, in our humble little home in the suburban of Minnesota where the Lake was always sparkling and the snow always came early and where we were a happy family together always smiling even during the dark times and of God oh God oh God you sick bastard bring them back to me bring them back BRING THEM BACK BRING THEM BACK BRI-

I’m sorry for the illegible second half of the page you were just forced to skip over; full of scribbles, lines, enough ink to make a squid blush, and soiling water marks. I spilled my inkwell over by mistake and accidentally spat my drink in surprise. I assure you, there… There was nothing important written there. Nothing lost; just the ramblings of an old yet youthful, paradoxical woman. Please ignore them…

Returning to the subject at hand hoof, I will now be attempting to explain a scientific concept that may or may not be fictional. Considering what I will be explaining afterwards, this seems like a reasonable thing to do.

First of all let me cover what a multiverse is. I’m assuming you know what a universe is; the collection of everything that ever is and ever was in our shared reality? Well, the multiverse is what lies beyond everything that ever is and ever was in our shared reality. This plane of existence is just one of many in a multiverse, while my homeworld and the universe it resides in is another plane entirely. I know for a fact that it doesn’t lie in this universe simply for the fact that magic does not exist there, at least not in the same capacity as it does here.

Now then, with that explained, I will now cover a subject that's a bit more advanced than the last, again thought up by my husband. If the universe contains everything we know, and the multiverse contains that and everything else, then one has to wonder where we “stack up” in relation to our universal neighbors, correct? Where we reside in the grand scheme of things; who came first and who last? In the case of there being two Equestrias, which is the ‘real’ one? Here is my take on the subject; what I’ve come up with using the evidence I’ve gathered throughout my twin lives.

I’ve dubbed it: The Stacked Multiverse Theory.

Here is the theory in essence; our universe is bumped up against numerous others. We have neighbors above us, to the sides, and below us. The ones next to us can be described as ‘mirror’ dimensions; worlds and lands that resemble our own uncannily, but contain little details that set it apart from the Equestria we know and love. Maybe Prince Solaris was sent to the moon a thousand years ago and Nightterror Nebula ruled over us ever since instead. Maybe your loved one was never born, or your elder sibling was instead your younger. Maybe everypony is a filly where here they are a colt, or perhaps the whole dimension is simply three minutes ahead of us; the possibilities are endless, but in the end it is still our Equestria in a sense.

Our neighbors below us are a different story though, literally literally.

If you are still reading this at this point then it is safe to assume that you've accepted the fact that what I’ve been writing is true, no matter how ridiculous it might seem at times. Keeping this in mind, it is with a straight face that I now tell you that beloved foal-book character, Harriet Trotter, is real. Dashing Dare is real. That silly colt comic book team, the Power Ponies, is real. Every fictional character you’ve ever read, ever written, or ever thought up in your entire life is real. Every, single, one. Their dimensions, their worlds, their lives all exist below us, constantly being watched by us without either of us being fully aware of the fact. Down there we exist as outside gods; beings of immense power whom hold dominion over their entire existence. With the single swipe of my quill I could transform each and every one of them into a complexity new character. Harriet to Harry, Dashing to Daring, colts to fillies; the possibilities are endless.

Just like our mirrored neighbors beside us.

Have I painted an appropriate picture for you, reader? Did I succeed in showing you the parallels? Dashing Dare is a story book character we read about in this world while below us he is his own pony, living his own life. Beside him is Daring Do, his mirrored sister, living her own life as well. Even though she is a pony I’ve just thought up, only now introduced to your mind, she has already lived her own life on her own long before her inception. She might even be an old mare by now, watching her grandfoals embark on adventures of their own. All this is true in a multiverse; all events that can happen will happen all, at, once.

I said that we held dominion over it all but in reality we do not. All we do is simply create these worlds; life takes its course all by itself after that, recycling Solaris knows how many souls to accomplish the task. Simply attempting to imagine it renders me breathless, as if I am suddenly staring into the maw of a chasm whose bottom I can never hope to see. It’s a staggering prospect; anything and everything is no longer impossible or possible, all at the same time. Chaos; that’s the only way to describe it. Pure, unfiltered, chaos.

From this chaos I would like to now share with you a single story; one simple story about harmony, family bonds, growing up, life in general, and, most importantly, friendship.

This is the story of My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic.

Knock knock knock…

“Eep!” I gasp, having been taken by surprise. Blinking blankly, it takes me a moment longer then it should to realize that someone was knocking at the door. Hastily I blow on my journal lightly, just enough to dry the ink and just enough to not accidentally set it on fire, and then quickly close the tome and stash it inside of a drawer on the desk. “C-come in!” I spoke in a rush, quickly placing a new book upon the desk and opening it to a random page.

A tired looking Dusk Shine slowly enters the room; his eyes heavy and his movements sluggish.

“Barb?” he asks in between a loud yawn. “What are you still doing up?”

I make a show of shrugging passively before returning my attention to the book before me. “I assume the same reason as you; reading.”

“Oh…” the stallion says with another yawn, shuffling his way towards his bed beside me. “Guess that’s reasonable,” he replies with all the grace of a sloth, crashing muzzle first into his pillow. With now muffled words he tries to retort by saying “Baby dragons need their sleep though, young...” another yawn. “Lady…”

“I’ll retire to my basket once my piqued curiosity is satisfied,” I answer smoothly to the barely conscious pony, the coffee in my system allowing me to stay awake. ‘Twas a glorious day when I was able to finally build back up my old tolerance for the stuff. It’s the only reason I’m able to write this story at all tonight.

“When will that be?” Dusk questions me, his face still being smothered by the fluffy purple pillow.

“When either the stallion colts-up and admits his feelings or the mare starts looking elsewhere,” I reply, waving a claw over the romance novel I had apparently been “reading” all night, even though the young pony couldn’t see.

“Oh,” he responds through the pillow once more. “So, never then...?”

I simply nod my head. “Probably.”

Dusk nods his head as well, burying his face deeper into the pillow. “I see… zzzzzzzz…”

The sudden sound of the colt’s snoring was all I needed to hear to confirm that my friend would no longer be an issue tonight. Quietly I set the book aside (as in, placed it into my sleeping basket. I might actually want to read this one later, after all…) and pull my journal back out. As I open it up again and move my writing instruments back to where they once were, I spare Dusk’s sleeping form a quick glance. I giggle lightly as I take notice that the silly pony had left his saddlebags on in his sleep deprived haste to get to bed. Just a quietly as how I had pulled my journal back out, I scoot my chair back across the ground and approach his side. Carefully I removed his bags and set the heavy things down with a soft thump against the floor. “Sigh. An assistant's work is never done, I suppose.”

It takes me a solid five minutes to return every book to where they belonged on the shelves. Magic theory in the magic wing, alchemy in the alchemy, history in history, etc. Having done it everyday for so long, I knew this place like the back of my han-, er, claw.

I made sure to leave the new book in the bag though, the one I had snuck in there this morning. It took me awhile to save up the bits to afford it, my allowance being about what I used to give my son and his sister before him (Karma, perhaps? Somedays I wonder…), but I eventually managed to get it for him and slip it in with the rest of the books when I packed them for him. It appears though that he hasn’t touched it yet. He must have had a different subject on his mind today… oh well. I suppose that’s just fine.

Distracting him with it was just half of my intention for buying it, after all.

Pop pop

The sound my joints make ring out in my fin-shaped ears as I slowly stretch myself out, preparing myself to return to writing. Crawling back up into my seat, after of course covering the pony with a blanket, I look over at Dusk Shine one last time as he slept…

“Zzzzzzz…”

... found myself only able to smile warmly…

… and then I peacefully returned to my secret journal.