“Wh-where are they?” I whispered.

”Didn’t catch the name from them, but high population density, and very tall buildings. If I had to guess, Manehattan, or Fillidelphia, I don’t actually know the geography here.”

“He knows.” I felt my anger spike. “He knows I’m going to open the new museum in Manehattan and plans on killing me in front of the entire city-” I stopped short, something else making it’s way to the front of my thoughts. I felt my magic explode in rage as I said, “He knows I’m going to take my fillies AND HE PLANS ON KILLING THEM AS WELL!!!!!”

Kat blinks a few times. “So this is what it’s like on the other side of those.”

“There will be no rock under which he’ll be able to hide! I’m going to hunt him to the ends of the universe if he escapes!”

”I know I’m not one to talk about controlling righteous fury, but tearing Manehattan apart brick by brick won’t help your cause. You need to be smart about this, he’s hiding in the middle of a large city, he likely has multiple escape routes for when he sees something happening differently than planned.”

I forced myself to calm some before answering, “I plan on making him come to me. I’m going to wait until he reveals his hand and then....” I gave them a vicious grin. “He won’t stand a chance.”

Medulla responded, “Just make sure he doesn’t have a Royal Flush... sorry for the horrific pun.”

“You forget, I have control over time and can change physics because of it. I can make him come up with a pair of twos while I have four of a kind.” I yawned suddenly, my lack of sleep catching up to me a bit. “Ugh.... Caffeine, I needs it....”

”One thing to love about not having a human body, I can go for a few days on three hours of deep meditation without significant loss of cognition.” Medulla said smiling.

“I need at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep to function fully. I’m gonna go see if I can make something that will actually do something for me,” I said as I headed for the kitchen.

“I’ll take some!” Kat called.

”I usually just drink it for the taste, but I’ll have some too.”

“One pot of Coffee-to-the-Max, coming up,” I said as I stepped through the door. “Okay everypony, I’m taking over this kitchen for the next hour or two.”

The chefs did a double take and stared at me.

“I’m doing an experiment and don’t want anyone getting hurt,” I deadpanned. They all scattered.

I’m not going to divulge my recipe, but I will tell you this. I used a bong, a hooka, and ten pounds of whole coffee beans to make.... eh, I’ll just use my pun as its name.

.... What? Fine, there may have been a few explosions and some mad laughter once I was done making it.

Once I was done playing mad scientist I walked calmly out of the kitchen, a pot of slightly black-glowing coffee in my right hand and three mugs in my left.

“Here we are,” I said as I set the pot down on the table and smoothed my singed and tattered dress. “You might want to watch out for blackened stool after you drink this.”

“Max, no matter how strong this coffee is, it’s nothing to the alcohol I’ve consumed over the years.” She took a big swig of the stuff. “Hmm… needs more cream.”

Medulla actually looked worried, ”If this coffee contains significant amounts of magic energy, I might have to abstain. When I have magic booze… let’s just say I don’t think Canterlot is ready for me to act worse than Discord, at least in certain ways.”

“I didn’t use magic to make this. Just alchemy, advanced chemistry, some rocket science, and something I picked up from a webcomic I read,” I explained. “But don’t sell this brew short.”

I took a sip from my mug and felt better than ever. “Wow, and I spent only two hours on this. I wonder how my homebrew ‘Dew would’ve tasted....”

Medulla just chuckled and took a cup, and said, ”I hope it doesn’t put clothes on me, did you notice it fixed your clothes?”. As he took a sip, his eyes flashed gold and he just stood bolt upright.

I looked down and saw that he was right. All the damage I and my clothes had vanished like it hadn’t been there at all. “Huh, so that’s what that does.” I took another sip of my coffee and watched Medulla.

After a few moments Medulla’s body relaxed. He almost moaned, “Great, your coffee forced a Future Sight. I hate using that move.”

I tried to hold in my laughter and keep it hidden from him. Keyword: Tried. I busted out laughing at the sight of Medulla wearing a complete clown costume.

Medulla looked down, noticed the costume and a few moments later was engulfed in flames. The ashes of what was left of the costume fell to the ground, leaving behind an unscathed Mewtwo.

Eventually I calmed down and sat back in my chair. “I’m gonna see if I can get that worked out of the formula. Heheh, imagine if I could put an entire wardrobe into a single cup of coffee. A different outfit each sip.”

“Wimps,” Kat mutters, taking another big swig of the coffee.

“If I made it any stronger, we’d need special mugs to contain it. Not to mention a way to keep it from becoming sentient,” I said casually.

She just rolls her eyes. “I hereby label you both as lightweights. You’d never’ve lasted in my military.”

Medulla looked offended, “Excuse me, I once drank the majority of a small town under the table and I was only slightly buzzed. My internal organs on the other hand were very upset at me about that. It’s just the excess of energy of some kind in this coffee made me use one of my moves to burn it off.”

“Even though I can drink this without dying, I’m just a normal human with time powers. Well, I was until Hurricane came back.” I thought for a moment, then said, ”Well, the only way I know of that could kill me now is a cursed weapon so I might be able to get away with some of my more dangerous ideas. I’d just need a better way to get antimatter....”

“Only antimatter? That’s it? Eh, kinda weak. Try mixing in a bit of dark matter with antimatter and you got one hell of a drink! Oh ho ho, you should’ve had that one drink we had back in the war.” She licked her lips at the memory. “Mmm, Devil’s Blood~. I really need to get me some of that old stuff.”

“It’s not the only eccentric particle I put in the coffee. I was thinking more along the lines of antimatter drives and such.”

“Can I-” Shadow started.

“You’re too cute to die, kid,” I said. “This’ll kill you if you have more than a drop, and even then you might not survive.”

”Speaking of kids can I see Golden and Light?” Medulla asked shyly.

I point to the three high chairs to my left. “Light is right here next to me and Golden is next to her, Rainbow is in the-” I stop as I see the empty chair. “.... She’s on Mun’s hull, isn’t she?”

”Like a cuter version of Tank Girl...” He said, ”And you know what I mean… I would never levitate a child without their parent allowing me first.”

“Heh, that was a good movie. Of course I won’t let my fillies watch it until they’re at least thirteen.” I sighed. “If I had the movie.”

Medulla laughed, “If only I had a way of imprinting my memories onto physical media. But I could give your fillies a gift… Did you watch Doctor Who, specifically David Tennant's run?”

“I used to have all the seasons he was in on dvd,” I bragged. “He was best Doctor and the one I grew up watching.”

”Good, so you know the defence the Doctor gave to Donna. It’s kind of like that, only it activates if another creature attacks them.”

“I already got them shields that deal acid damage from Handsome Jack. I doubt they need a third line of defense,” I dismissed.

Kat sighed, shaking her head. “I have no idea what either of you are talking about.”

“Show based around the Doctor’s life. Apparently it only pops up in some universes. Unless you were talking about Tank Girl or the shields I got from Jack?”

“All of the above. I still don’t understand how he has a show.”

“The show basically revolves around his adventures. I mostly stuck with the seasons with Rose Tyler in them, so I wouldn’t be a good person to ask about the rest of the show’s seasons,” I explained. “Handsome Jack is a character from a game series called Borderlands. Someone got Displaced as him; That’s the token in Discord’s vault I was saying you could use.

“Tank Girl is a scifi movie from ‘95 that’s set in 2033 on earth. Backstory for the movie says that the planet had been hit by a comet and that caused water to become a limited resource. The movie starts with Water & Power -- a huge evil corperation (A huge cliche more like it) -- raiding the last privately owned water well which just so happens to be the main character’s. Rebecca, A.K.A. Tank Girl gets captured along with one of her friends. But she escapes with a tank and goes on a rampage and eventually takes down Water & Power.”

Kat sighed. “This is why I can’t stand the alternate Earth’s thing. Too many differences.”

”You were talking like you know the doctor… That would explain why Max has an item with her that has a slight psychic resonance, Psychic Paper?” Medulla asked.

Kat looked at Medulla with a grin… a VERY creepy grin. “Sweetie, please be quiet before I have to start being mean.”

”Joke’s on you, I don’t vocalize, I’m just projecting a voice into your head to communicate.”

“He has complete telepathy. He can read anyone on the world like an open book, though he prefers to try to give others their privacy,” I said.

”Yep, Professor X wishes he had my level of telepathy, but I know people value their privacy so I try to limit myself drastically.”

“Then try seeing exactly what will happen if you continue ‘thinking’ of continuing, sweetie.” Goddamn, that’s disturbing!

”I’ll stop.” Medulla ‘muttered’.

“I’m just gonna ignore what you two are saying about the paper and ask if either of you would like the last cup,” I said, the almost empty pot in my hand. “It’s almost sunrise and I’d rather not have more before bed.”

Medulla said, ”No thanks.”

“You want the rest Kat, or do I have to lock this in a container until I can dispose of it properly?”

“Eh, sure I’ll take the last bit,” she offered me her mug.

Hmmmm.... She’s across the table from me and I could just lean over. Or I could be a bit of a show off.... I thought before nodding and sloshing the coffee into the air. I pulled the numbers back into sight, batting away Kat’s attempts to control the liquid. I slowed time to give myself enough to change the coffee’s equations enough so it landed in her mug without splashing.

“There you are, now I have to quarantine everything I used and tell one of the chefs exactly how I made it so they can make it for me,” I said as I stood up.

”Please don’t leave me with the scary lady...” Medulla whimpered.

“Okay, fine. See ya later Brain,” I said with a wave.

“Oh sweetie, I wouldn’t hurt you,” Kat said as she sipped her coffee. “I don’t need to when dealing with a telepath.”

”Your mind isn’t any worse than the Merchant, his mind is the reason I can’t remember my life before I got Displaced. But I’ll see both of you later,” Medulla said as he sunk into a portal in the floor, ”Maybe some later than others.” And he was gone.

I stared at were he disappeared for a few seconds before continuing towards the kitchen. Wonder what he meant by that.

When I returned I saw that Sky, Shadow, and Murphy had left and Kat was playing with Golden.

Kat was smiling brightly as she played with my foal, flying her around her neck as she blew raspberries on her tummy.

“You’re just a little cutie, aren't you,” Kat cooed.

I smiled myself and said, “She’s also a troublemaker with her sisters when I’m not around.”

“Then she’s doing it right,” she answered back. Kat sighed, floating Golden onto my head. “They’re lovely foals, Max.”

“Yeah. I just hope I can raise them right while getting Equestria back in shape.” A frown evicted my smile and moved in. “I hope I can get through this mess with Hurricane and Scourge without them being hurt more.”

“I wish I could help you more, Max. I don’t like being unable to help my best friend.”

“I wouldn’t either. But I know you’ll call me if you get stuck between a rock and a hard place so I can join in on the fun,” I said with my patented lecherous smile.

Kat rolled her eyes. “Maxie, I don’t usually have to call on others. I became OP for a reason: so I can be the helpful one. I like being the helper, not the helpee.”

“You’ve done so much for me and I’ve done barely anything to repay you,” I pouted. “I wanna help, not be the damsel in distress every time.”

“But it suits you,” she smirked with a wink. “It’s adorable.”

“Maybe I should tie you to a bed; make you play the damsel while I plunder your dungeon~?...” I trailed off, my smile returning with full lechery.

Kat was silent for a minute, before a deep blush spread over her muzzle. “Nom de dieu, this world is lecherous...”

“Just something to think about if you’d like my company next time you visit.” I yawned, the coffee having worn off and leaving me with a desire for my bed. “I’ve gotten only about four hours of sleep on my trip to and from the Crystal Empire- That’s another thing I have to do before I go to bed. I have to tell Twilight about her being the one to get them back into modern society. You know what, no. I’ll do it at dusk when I raise the moon.”

Kat pulled out a strange blue crystal and handed it to me. “That’s a stamina crystal. Instant refresh if you ever need it. Like getting eight hours of sleep in an instant.”

I looked at it for a long moment before saying, “I’ll use it when I have to pull an all-day shift. Besides, I might just get the letter written without remembering it.” I put the crystal in a pocket and waved to Kat. “I’m serious about me helping you one of these days.”

“Oh I’m sure one day you will, Maxie. I’m sure you will.”

With that she opened a portal and flew into it back to her own universe.