Author's Notes:

So here it is. My first crossover in the Displaced-Multiverse. It's with the story Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey? Nope, Just Max from Moon_Fire. I really had a lot of fun writing with him, in fact I still am. He wanted to say a few things himself so I'll just leave it at that for now.

Moon_Fire: I started this crossover not knowing much about the universe and at the time I thought it would be the same as the show, except the capital didn’t move. I was dead wrong. My naivete continued for the rest of this chapter because I never had reason for Max to ask what happened and “he” didn’t want to pry too much onto Sephiroth’s life.

“You dare slapping random pictures into faces of others! Just come over here and I will teach you not to cross me!”

“Ah great, I’m being summoned again,” A male voice said from all around her before a portal looking like a butterfly opened on the ground and someone rose up out of it. “So what was that about pictures and slapping?”

That… actually caused her anger to cease and be replaced by utter confusion. She had not expected anything to happen, really. Blinking she contemplated the man in front of her, blinked again, and then compared him to the picture. Completely at a loss she just turned the piece of paper around and showed it to him.

“ ‘Tis your girlfriend or something?”

He looked at the picture and said, “Ah, that’s what you mean. I’ve had lots of complaints about my Token hitting people in the face.” The man leaned forward a bit, looking for something in her face. “You look familiar.... Have we met back on earth?”

Instead of answering his question Sephiroth’s anger returned with a vengeance and with a slow and steady motion of her hand she ‘drew’ her sword out of nowhere.

“So… it was you then that hit me in the face with this thing?”

Completely oblivious to the danger he was in, the man leaned over and put his elbow on air like he was setting it on a counter. “Nope. I sent it into the Void, to be sure, but it isn’t my fault it hit you in the face. The blame for that lies on the Void itself. Am I your first Summoning?”

A deep frown settled on her face but she could not deny that some of the things this guy mentioned were worth a little attention. So she relaxed her pose, if just a little, and opted to stare a hole through his head instead.

“Explain yourself!”

“Ah, I see who you’re dressed as now! A female Sephiroth. My second favorite Villain from Final Fantasy-” Her sword made its way under his chin, barely touching his skin. “.... Please put that away before I have to take it from you.”

A downright evil grin spread across her face. “Take it from me? I’d like to see you try. No being has ever succeeded in doing so, ‘cause it’s not a simple object.”
The grin vanished shortly after and she began to put just the littlest pressure behind her blade.

“I asked you to explain yourself, not me.”

All of a sudden her blade was pressed to her throat and the man wasn’t in front of her anymore. “There is more to me than a simple explanation can cover. The ability to manipulate Time in every form being one of them. To me, we just had a lengthy conversation and I became enough of a friend that you let me hold your sword for a moment.”

Absolutely stunned she just stood there for a moment, staring uncomprehendingly at what should be impossible. There was no denying it. He held her own sword, which by nature could not be held by any other being if she didn’t allow it to. And she meant it, even Discord himself had tried to… and failed. Slowly she let the blade in her own hand sink, while one of her eyebrows rose.

“I’m all ears.”

The blade against her throat burned away in a burst of life force as the guy walked into her vision from her right. “So, what do you want to talk about first this time? Displaced? How I’m master of Time? How to make your own Token?”

Scepticism was edged into her features but she followed his example and let her blade vanish in wisps of green flames. Several questions raced through her mind but she could answer some of them herself already. Seeing as he mentioned earth earlier she assumed that he, just like herself, was human once. A plain old NON-magical human from plain old earth.

So the ‘Displaced’, as he called them, most likely were humans that got sent to other dimensions, with some kind of powers, which were dependent on the costume they wore. So that left only one of the three questions. She waved the picture in front of his face.

“So this is your, how did you call it, Token? Then why does it show a woman and not, well, you?”

He chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders. “I’m going to guess you haven’t heard of My Little Pony at all and just say that a powerful wizard in Equestria made a mirror into a portal to a different universe. He placed a spell on that mirror that changes any that pass through it into a native of that universe. Unfortunately for me, that meant turning me into my old self.”

She stiffened at the contact and barely held a growl behind her teeth. In a low and threatening tone she spoke to him.

“Do. Not. Touch. Me.”

“Okay then.” His arm fell from her shoulders and he took a step back. “Any other questions?”

It took a few moments but she managed to suppress her anger again. Her curiosity helped and the fact that she wanted to avert his attention from the subject of her not wanting to be touched. “I remember something about a crazy colt who would bug others with his ideas of mirrors and portals to other dimensions. At first he did arouse my curiosity but he was just so… unbearably nerve-racking. But that’s beside the point. So he did succeed in the end?”

“Somewhat. He only made one working prototype in my universe before he died. It’s only open for forty-eight hours every two and a half years. Here, though? I suspect that since he got an early start on the subject he was able to make more than one.”

Shrugging she took the time to really look at the man, who still lived after provoking her so much. Unassuming was a word that came to mind. He wore simple blue jeans and a grey hoodie. Even his brown hair and blue eyes did not strike her as something unnatural. Everything considered he did certainly not look like what she would have thought of a ‘master of time’.

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Ah, just got out of stone. I hope you weren’t petrified for something more stupid than just using all of Celestia’s favorite shampoo like me.”

Not even the attempt to make light of the situation from him could prevent her mood from dropping into a bottomless abyss. Her face darkened so suddenly that the transition from one into the other itself could not be seen.

“I was cast into stone because I could have been a threat.”

He tapped her arm with the back of his hand. “See? It was out of fear, not out of an impotent tantrum. I didn’t hold it against Celestia, though, since there was a small chance I might’ve pushed her and her sister down that path. Self-fulfilling prophecies and all that.”

Again her anger spiked and she took hold of the hand that dared touch her. She squeezed with enough force to pulverise a stone while her whole body began to tremble in rage. Despite that her voice was eerily calm and cold.

“No. It wasn’t a tantrum. She schemed against me because she and her sister combined were no match for me and she knew it. No. Instead she twisted the only one I thought I could trust with everything against me. She made him betray me.”

“I was referring to my situation with that. I know they would never be able to combat you because I have their combined might on top of my powers and you attacked me once and I had to resort to using Time to get out of that situation. Like I am now to make sure you don’t permanently harm my writing hand.” The grip tightened a bit and he continued, “I have petitions to sign and a country to run where I was Displaced to, you know.”

Letting go of his hand she glared at him and this time did nothing to suppress her growl. “I warned you. Do not touch me.”

Shaking her head she turned away from him and let her gaze wander over the horizon. Why did she tell him all that? It didn’t concern him and she didn’t want to talk about this. On that note, why did she even waste her time with him? She had a certain individual to find.

“Sorry, I’m trying to limit how much I sleep with others and wear less revealing clothes so my fillies will have a good role model to look up to.” He sighed and leaned back, falling halfway to the ground before floating up to around her height. “Doesn’t help that you are sexier than Tsunade and carry a big sword.”

Looking at him again she could do nothing but wear a deadpan expression on her face. “You just compared me to an old woman who just uses illusions to hide her age. Do you really believe that you could get a rise out of me?”

“I was trying to give you a compliment. How about this: you’re sexier than Masane from Witchblade and carry a big sword.”

Her expression didn’t change in the slightest, with the exception being an eyebrow that rose on its own. “What’s with the fixation on long and hard objects? Are you secretly gay or something?”

“Nope. You just caught me at a party before I could head back through the mirror to my Equestria.” He flipped over onto his stomach and gave her a bored look. “You’re looking at Equestria’s Queen, Maxine Caulfield. Soon to be Maxine Walker.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest Sephiroth leaned back a bit and her eyebrow rose even higher. “Should I be impressed now?” Sighing she shook her head. “See, I can appreciate that you tried to compliment me and all but I just cannot take anything good out of it at the moment. Maybe I’ll never be able to trust somebody in this way ever again.”

Max closed his eyes and turned upright, facing away from Sephiroth as he landed. “I’m gonna ignore that since I’d be prying too deeply if I didn’t and just ask if you were searching for something earlier.”

With an irritated huff she braced one hand against her forehead and closed her eyes. “Yes, I was about to begin my search, but for someone, not something.” She paused for a moment to think but the only thing that brought her was another surge of rage. She breathed deeply and tried to bodily swallow it again before she continued to speak, more to herself than Max. “Something changed…”

“So who are you looking for? I could help find them if they’re a pony and point you to a few places you could look if they aren’t.” Max pulled a map out of a shoulder bag that had gone unnoticed by the woman so far.

She decided not to question where the bag had come from and instead focused on something that came to her attention in the course of their conversation. After she had confirmed it for herself, she began to chuckle quietly. This lasted for but a few moments before she stared at Max again.

“Say… do you remember? Your old self, I mean.”

“Yeah, I was a complete loser who couldn’t get a girlfriend. I was going to join the navy, but then I went to a ‘con in Austin dressed as Max from Life is Strange, met a Moogle, bought a camera, and here I am. I do know someone that could find my home universe, but why go back to that life of missed chances?” He turned to face Sephiroth. “Here, in Equestria, I have four children and a fifth on the way, I have a fiance, and I have friends spread across the multiverse.”

Closing her eyes once again she nodded ever so slowly. Going back was not the thing on her mind but Max remembered. So, after a few more moments, she nodded again. “Yes, why indeed.” Again she let her thoughts drift for a bit before she came to the conclusion that she would have to come to terms with not remembering. Just like before she tried to avoid the topic by addressing something he said earlier.

“Think you could really help me find the one I search for? Because he certainly is not a pony.”

“If he got on the wrong side of Celestia, yes. And even if he didn’t I could probably point you to a location or two that would help. Unless it’s Discord. I can point you right where he is currently.”

“And why would that be? Discord can be hard to find if he wants to.”

Max left the map floating in front of him and made a few gestures with his hands, somehow pulling a flip phone out of thin air and opened it. He pressed a button and said, “Hey Dissy, mind helping me find yourself? ....No, different universe. ....Oh, okay then I’ll let you get back to Fluttershy. Don’t forget to send me some pics when the children are born.”

Bewildered, Sephiroth followed the brief exchange. Apparently Max just called a Discord from another, maybe his own, universe and said something about children? Shaking her head for what felt like the hundredth time, she just let it drop. Wouldn’t do her any good to think about it.

Closing the phone into a wisp of magic, Max turned an apologetic expression towards her. “Sorry, looks like we won’t be able to find him if he’s already free.”

Confusion clear on her face she tilted her head. “What do you mean… already free?”

“What do you mean ‘what do I mean’? Discord was imprisoned here, right?”

“Not that I know of. I did not learn of it at least. While I was imprisoned I was aware of my surroundings. And I think if something like this happened I would have learned from it.” An angry snort left her as she furrowed her brows. “He is the hero that saved Equestria from me after all.”

Max’s eyebrows rose into his hair as his mouth fell open. After a few seconds, he shook himself and said, “Well, that changes a lot of things. Certainly puts a new spin on what I assume to have happened.” He turned and began to pace, muttering to himself.

Convinced that she had said too much already, Sephiroth kept quiet and just observed the man, waiting for him to speak again. Half an hour later, he looked at her again. “I have absolutely no idea where he would be or where I am in relation to my own universe.”

“That’s… not very helpful. But am I right to assume that the chain of events in our universes are too different for you to take an educated guess?”

“Yours is too different for anyone but a Discord to make a random guess. The only thing I can think of is that he has a pocket dimension somewhere, possibly in an actual pocket just for laughs.”

“Actually I know of his, how he calls it, little haven of chaos amidst all the order. That is why I don’t think that he’d be there in the first place. But he could have made an indefinite amount of such dimensions just to lead me astray.” She sighed and let her gaze wander once again. “I told you he can be elusive if he wants to.”

“He can’t escape someone that thinks exactly like him. That’s why I was calling the one from my universe.”

“Well…” Sephiroth hesitated, then shook her head. “It can’t be helped. Then I have to search him the old way.”

“I could give you something for tracking chaos magic if you like.”

For a moment she thought about his offer before she answered. “Try it. I think it may have a little trouble working here. This dimension has chaos everywhere. At least I assume that it will be more difficult than in other universes, if Discord was imprisoned in most of them for even half as long as I have.”

“A plain chaos tracker wouldn’t work in any universe since change is considered chaos,” Max said, digging in his bag. “This tracks Discord’s unique magical signature, so you’ll be able to find any distortion caused by him. It’ll move on to the next closest until you find him or reset it. Twilight wanted Mun to make seven of these so she and her friends would be able to find him in our universe and had me hold onto the seventh one just in case.”

It was tempting for sure. A device with which she could track Discord down. Even if there were several areas where he left behind huge amounts of magic just to make himself harder to find, she at least had something to work with.

“What would I owe you in return?”

“Nothing. I’ve been helped like this so many times that I don’t think my karma would let me accept anything without making my life miserable. Besides, that’s what friends do.”

A carefully sceptic expression on her face, Sephiroth crossed her arms again in front of her chest. “Friends, huh? You just met me. I had friends once and I don’t think that I really want some nowadays. Associates, that I can get behind.” She held her left arm in front of herself while she slid two fingers of her right hand over the length of it until they came to a halt on a seemingly random location somewhere between her elbow and her wrist. Concentrating for a moment the spot under her fingers seemed to blur as they sunk into her own flesh, only to reemerge seconds later with a little spherical crystal in her grasp. It shone with a dormant red which seemed to be far purer than any ruby ever had a right to be.

“Yeah, I consider every new Displaced I meet a friend. Some I even consider family.” His searching slowed as his face took on a more grim expression. “Though the one I consider a sister thinks she isn’t supposed to be happy at all.” He stopped and looked up at Sephiroth, catching her eye and giving her a pained look. “You saying that you don’t want friends reminds me too much of her. Please, don’t let Discord’s actions stop you from believing that you can find people who care about you. There’s an entire multiverse out there waiting for you to take your first steps into it, all you have to do is send out a Token of your own.”

She took her time to examine the little orb that she had just pulled out of her arm and nodded in satisfaction. “I don’t say, that I don’t deserve to be happy or that I don’t want to be. But my last, so called, friends locked me away for more years that I bothered to count. And then I return just to learn that they turned on each other and that Celestia brainwashed her sister into believing that Nightmare was just a dark episode of her past, created through jealousy. So excuse me if I’m just not for being friends at the moment.”

The crystal disappeared into her fist as she enclosed it into it and raw magic poured from between her fingers as she set to craft it into something more. It took but a few moments before she opened her palm again, revealing the now dimly glowing sphere. Turning it around to look at it in every angle and even going so far as to look at the sky through it she nodded again. Then she proceeded to throw it over to Max. “Take it.”

He caught it and turned it over in his hands. “What am I to do with this? It’s the only copy of your Token.”

“It won’t stay the only one. I haven’t messed with the Void in the past but if it will do as I intended it to, then it will spread through the Void the instant you enter it again to return to your world.”

Max shrugged and put it in his bag, resuming his search. “Well, at least you know what you’re doing. Me though? I’m having to guess at what gets done and how fast. I can’t even rewind if something gets messed up right now!”

“You have to excuse me if I cannot pity you for something every being without power over time has to deal with.”

“At least you can still use the full extent of your powers, is what I was trying to say. I have to wait until my son is born before I can even think of rewinding a week or two.”

With an impassive expression Sephiroth shook her head. “I can just repeat myself. No pity for you.”

“Wasn’t trying for your pity, I was voicing a complaint about being pregnant. I- Ah, here it is! Hidden under the sniper ammo.” Max pulled out a small, grey PDA with an antenna coming from the top. “The DTD.”

Putting her hands between them she made a motion as to stop something. “Wait wait wait. You-” Waving one hand in his direction. “-are pregnant? Do I even want to know how?”

“I believe we went over this before.... Eh, why not explain it again? When I was Displaced, I was turned into a girl.”

Annoyed she tried to cut him off. “I KNOW that you changed genders! But you said you are pregnant NOW. And you are clearly not female at the moment.”

“Oh that. Yeah, as far as I can tell going through the mirror somehow freezes my female self in time in between universes and gives me this body. It’s a bit more complicated than I can understand, but that’s the most basic translation of the portal’s effects I’ve been given.”

Blinking a few times she stared at him. “Okay. If I were you I would worry my ass off right now if my kid is alright. That can not be healthy.”

“First time I went through I was worried and immediately went to find a doctor to see if he was okay. My son was completely unharmed and healthy. I will be going back through the mirror before the portal closes, though.”

“Okay, good. Because if you wouldn’t then I fear I would have to kill you for endangering him due to such silly reasons.”

Max put his hands on his hips and frowned. “You think I’d harm my children on purpose just to go to a party? It’s true that I’ll let them get hurt a little as part of them growing up, but I would never leave them to d-... die.” He was silent for a moment, his breath growing a bit more ragged. Finally he whispered, “You don’t know how many foals I personally saw that were dead because their parents didn’t want them.”

Carefully considering her next words for a few moments, she felt like she should do something to elevate the mood again, but decided against it. It wouldn’t be appropriate in the slightest. “I can not say, that I know how it is to go through something like this and I will not pretend to understand what it is like. But if I were to witness the suffering of children, regardless of species, then there would not be much left of those that caused it. Not even enough to bury.”

Max snorted in amusement. “That’s what I was wanting, but I was advised against it so as to not be seen as a merciless tyrant by Cadence and Twilight.”

“That’s the advantage of not being something akin to a hero. I’m already shunned as a monster. My statue was labeled as romantic by Celestia, can you believe it? Of all things-” One more time rage overtook her features. “-she dared to convince her little ponies that the very picture of the greatest betrayal between loved ones. Would. Be. Romantic!”

“I’m not a hero. I’m just someone with questionable morals that doesn’t want to be seen as a terrible ruler.”

“So you actually care about how you are seen by others. I do not.” Calming herself down she proceeded to let her gaze wander once again.

“Not by choice. I was given my place by Celestia and Luna right before they died and I’m expected to be at least half as tolerant as them! For every pony that brings a trivial matter to my attention, I find myself wanting to strangle something. And every single criminal that goes through the courts I would rather have dead.” He tossed the device to Sephiroth who caught it. “I’d rather leave Twilight and Cadence to sort everything out and go live with my fiance in his universe than deal with the drained-of-common-sense mess that is Equestria.”

Turning the device in her hand to get a good look from every angle she stayed silent for a while. Then, as if something caught her attention, she redirected her gaze to him. “Celestia and Luna? So there actually are universes where Nightmare is not the original princess of the night?”

“Yeah. In mine Celestia was the one to get banished.”

Nodding she returned her attention towards the device. “How do I use this?”

“All you have to do to calibrate it for this universe is to press the red button once. Press it any more and you’ll reset it.”

Without further ado she pressed the button and waited for the device to do anything. It took a few seconds but she was rewarded with an easily notable direction from it. She turned around until she was facing this direction and her head tilted in confusion. “Wait… that’s the direction of the castle. I just was there! Is this thing working?”

Max patted Sephiroth on the shoulder and said, “He fell for the one thing no guy can resist. Just make sure Celestia sees his crotch after you’re done.”

It took her more time than she would ever admit to process the words that were spoken right now. “Did you just… imply that he… and her…?” She wasn’t even able to finish her own thoughts. Something hurt, she didn’t know what, but something did not take too kindly to the implications.

“That’s the only reason I can think of for a disturbance large enough to leave a trace for the DTD to find. Either they’ve been seeing each other since you were imprisoned, or there’s a bastard child living in the castle. Or the doorway to his dimension is in there. Either way it does not look good for Discord.”

Numbness spread through her chest at an alarming rate. “A… a child?” Her left eye began to twitch slightly and the corners of her lips lifted in slow motion, but not to show a normal smile.

“I could be wrong and there’s just an artifact made by him. Like the Alicorn Amulet. The DTD can’t tell the difference between Discord and the things he made.” Max paused and came around in front of Sephiroth, searching her face for something. Apparently finding it, his expression saddened. “Seph. If there is a child, don’t harm it because of its parents.”

Her shoulders began to tremble, at first it was barely noticeable but the motion grew in intensity until her whole upper body shook. It wasn’t until then that her laughter became audible. A deep, menacing sound which contained not a single bit of joy in it. “He… hahaha… he has the guts… hehe… to… ohoho that is rich.”
And just like that her laughter was gone, her posture changing abruptly as she frowned, only cold death in her eyes. “I’m gonna end her.”

“And then what? Their child grows up an orphan? The world gets thrown into chaos? I know for a fact that Luna will regain her old powers just to hunt you down, regardless of how close the two of you were. Discord would as well.”

Heedless of his reasoning Sephiroth began to walk in the direction that the device pointed to. She was beyond reason. The betrayal, the imprisonment, the erasure of her best friend and now this. Mad did not even begin to describe her feelings at this moment. The world could fall before her wrath and she wouldn’t care.

Before she could react she was hit from behind, a hole through her right shoulder. She turned to look back at Max and saw he was holding a sniper rifle. “You’re going to destroy yourself,” He said, chambering another round into the sniper rifle. “Step onto this path of revenge and you condemn an entire planet. You’ll have every single living thing’s blood on your hands. Even those you don’t kill yourself will be dead because of your actions.”

Standing as if nothing happened, she slowly lifted her left hand and pressed two fingers on the hole, not even flinching. Her fingers came back wet with blood. For a moment she just examined the red fluid on her gloves as if it’s very existence was a mystery to her. A deep chuckle escaped her and her eyes snapped to Max’s while her mouth turned into an excited smile. “You attacked me.”

“You wouldn’t listen to what I was saying. Besides, you said for me to not touch you.” He lowered the rifle. “Please, listen to me. Do you want to kill innocent children? You will if you go down this road.”

This gave her pause and her smile vanished. “I would never hurt a child. Regardless of their origin or who their parents are.”

“Who do you think is protecting Celestia? Ponies as old as you?” He shook his head. “Compared to you all but dragons are children. Sons and daughters of ponies who have done nothing to you. I’m not saying forget what happened, just to bide your time until you can kill them without harming anyone else.”

Annoyed again she turned around, facing the direction she had before, but she did not move forward. “I would have felt if there was something like a child of those two around. Such a union is bound to bring forth a being which in itself is very powerful.” Hesitating for a few seconds she shook her head. “Maybe your other options are more likely.”

“Then why not put off the hunt and train? You have been stuck in stone for who knows how long and don’t fully know what you’re up against.”

She waved her bloodied hand dismissively. “I already faced both princesses at once. They’ve grown weak. Nightmare is nothing but a shadow of her former self and Celestia didn’t even notice my approach. I admit that I don’t have a full grip on my powers and that I seem to be… unfocused. But why postpone their punishment? Why give them the time to prepare themselves?”

“You don’t know of the third, then. Or Celestia’s plans for her student. Even if they didn’t train, you wouldn’t be able to stand against four alicorns and a draconequus as you are. You need time to prepare, same as they do otherwise you won’t survive.”

She paused to let his words sink in, not just the recent ones and began to really consider what he said. There was no way to make sure in this moment if there even was a third alicorn in her universe but the possibility stood and she couldn’t know if she would be able to beat them all. Even more so if Discord decided to join in. She never experienced his full power after all. Then there was the fact that they did not even have to defeat her. They just had to hold her down long enough to petrify her again. And even if she could overcome them all at once what would happen to the surrounding area? To the capital? To all the innocent ponies, ponies that, even if it was a bit sick, prayed at her statue, who begged for her guidance or asked for her blessing. Max was right, of course. They were but children compared to her.

Her eyes widened. The guard. That brave fool that tried to stand up against her to protect his princess. She had wiped him away as if he was nothing, like he was a plaything for her wrath.

She had hurt him. A child.

Nothing else mattered anymore. She would have her revenge in time but this could not wait. With determination in her voice she spoke. “I have to go back, now.” She motioned with her hand in his direction that he shouldn’t interrupt her. “That is not up to debate. I slammed a guard into the wall when he tried to engage me in combat, when he only tried to protect. Before I can leave to train I simply have to make sure that he isn’t-” She tried to swallow the knot that had suddenly formed in her throat. With little success. “That I didn’t… “

With an exasperated sigh her shoulders slumped a little. “Do not try to stop me or stand in my way. Otherwise I will force you out of this universe, even if I have to harm you.”

“I wasn’t going to. I was going to ask if I could accompany you.” She noticed him coming up on her right, his rifle resting on his shoulder and a pistol in his left hand. “And whether you like it or not, I’m a friend to the end.”

A small smile played around her lips but she just shook her head and began to walk back the way she came.