Author's Notes:

[IMPORTING…][…nickel here. im with you there on the shipping, i avoid most of those stories unless there is a VERY strong extra detail to make it worth the weirdness, your probably not interested, but the only baseline shipping you have was minor flirtation with a human that almost but not quite carried over to his equestrian counterpart, so i pretty much assume that you have no interest in others in that fashion yet. anyway, if my theory has any validity then us creators have very little real influence over our works, true we guide the branch as it grows, but it also grows on its own and all we can do when it chooses to go on its own is cause it to split and create another where our choice of event did occur. as for the fragments i mentioned, the thing about them is that they normally are just more aware of the situation or have information they shouldn't have been able to get so easily with some having special abilities, i dont know if this is common to the them, but for mine most are unaware of their nature and have no direct awareness of anything unusual about themselves so it really is impossible to identify them as such unless they become aware of their link to the others which i have only had occur maybe a dozen times across thousands of worlds and identification is made only harder since they often are a natural part of the world they inhabit and are simply connected to a larger entity that is peripherally aware of them and if im to be honest i often suspect that due to your central nature to equestria you yourself may be one, well you or pinkie, but there are so many people that have handled your story even in its original forms that it is impossible to guess who you would be a fragment of, so it was just an idea of mine at work again. but yes the interface mangled ine’s name during several of its occurrences and since i couldnt figure out which spelling was correct i chose to use the one that sounded more like a name to me… …Akumakami coming for a short comment: Really, Twilight? The romance thing confuses you? You’re mothers a writer and you’re a book nut. You should know that creatures have a tendency to make romantic stories out of anything. And since you none of you are dating, well.....it leaves us to guess who you all might have a thing for. Also, there was once something called Omnishipping, which was you and your friends in a mutual six-way relationship. Not to mention that you are the character most likely to be written with a harem- be it colts, mares, or both. As for Discord looking interested, depends on interpretation, which with him is infinite. But yes, it does legitimately look like he’s most(likely to be) interested in Fluttershy, you, or Celestia. Last but not least, AU trumps all. Good Day! Akumakami going off for now! I’ll comment on your situation in a bit… …Ponygood speaking. WHY ARE WE CONCERNED WITH SHIPPING!? There's a giant air/spacecraft that likely is hostile, and it's right over the city! Twilight, Fluttershy, GET OUT! If it's after you, it'll hopefully ignore the rest of the townsfolk. Hopefully. I don't think you'll be able to fight it if it's such a large and far away object. Unless maybe you have super lungs and can handle breathing high in the air? But in that case, I don't think you'd be able to bring Fluttershy with you. Alternatively, you could escape through the Band. Its freak lightning might be able to hit the craft. Then again, the craft is metal, so it would likely be resistant to lightning. Don't completely trust me on that, though. Also, this might not actually exist, but whenever I imagined a large object like that, it had some sort of giant disintegration beam it can attack with. Really hope that isn't the case. And now, off of the topic of deadly flying machines. When you manage to get out of that situation, maybe you should call out to Alderan, see if he's willing to allow you to apologize for assuming he kidnapped Fluttershy. You can also tell him I'm apologizing, too, for thinking him to be absolutely evil. Fluttershy would probably be real effective at communicating with him. Then, once you've done that, you might be able to get some information out of him. Don't go to fast, though; he mitt get suspicious if you immediately begin questioning. Oh, and good luck. I think you'll need it. EDIT: This story appears to have a Teen rating. I'm not sure if this was always like that, but having a Teen rating means things such as death, blood, and sexual innuendos are possible. Be wary, and be glad it isn't rated "Adult.”… …Twilight, Afizha here. I have to agree with ponygood11 on getting out of there, but do so in a way that doesn't make you look like the cause of what's going on. That ship that was described sounded like one that nearly decimated our planet in another universe. And to give you a scale of how much destruction that means, our world has a population in the billions and almost all of that day was surviving… …josh here - i agree with ponygood on the matter of taking the opportunity to run; better safe than sorry you know? but into the Band? there’s no way of guaranteeing your safety out there without Sand Blaster and that’s a maybe, i suggest using that stone you just got to good use and teleport as far as you can, run, find somewhere to hide, and think of a plan!… …Giginss here. Looks like things got really interesting. And by interesting, I mean completely horrifying. I suggest you run, fly, etc, anything to get out of there. Typically, aliens aren’t there for friendship, cuddling, and hugs. That’s Cadance’s job. Anyway, bits and pieces of knowledge are adding up. That strange lightning was the result of a massive band of mana that runs underground, and anything that crosses over that band will get struck by a massive amount of it. Crossing that band without protection is a last resort, although you might have enough power to shield from it, alicorn strength and all. I wish there was a measuring tool to figure out the strength of your shield and the power of the lightning. There also are things capable of shielding from those discharges. Would it be a metal, like iron or gold? Will it be entirely crystal? Will it be that pearlstone? I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Best of luck, Sparkle… …When does Bill Cipher appear?… …why are you concerned with Bill Cipher? this world already has someone like him, you know? Discord… …-keyandthelocks- is currently offline… …You do know that "decimate" means "to destroy one tenth of," right? I'd suggest "eradicate." Also, you might want to correct your final sentence, as it doesn't make sense. I'm not trying to be rude, but I don't know how to sugarcoat this… …yea, that works better seeing that they were trying to do just that. As for the last sentence that was meant to indicate that before we could stop our destruction was that all we were doing was just surviving with the threat of destruction over our heads. Also, I don’t know if the mirror world had them or not, but the reason most of what I say doesn’t make sense is I have to write them on my phone… …Akumakami is back! Yeah, the interface changed. It was mostly green before, now there is a lot of blue. A bit too much, actually, but they’re working on that, along with the little other bugs. Word of advice Twilight, the idea of plans not surviving contact with reality is doubly true with technology. Hmm, you seemed to have stumbled across a society that is slightly more techno than magic. Likely they ran out of this pearlstone sometime between now and your future. That might have caused some sort of societal break down, possibly even a war or two. As for your current situation, I’m actually not sure entirely. Verdant’s (coincidentally, the name of Celestia’s son in one of my universes) reaction was left a little ambiguous and I couldn’t tell if his “damn” was in shock and awe or in recognition. In other words, I can’t tell if he knows what this is or if this knew. What I find curious is how little damage that thing caus. Yes, it whipped out a tower into oblivion, but most things of that size are known to be city destoryers in terms of fire power. Which probably means the are looking for someone. Possibly you. You said/thought it looked similar to the thing that brought Fluttershy here. It....might be possible that they were listening in as I feared someone might, and tacked you to here. There is a small chance that this is a misunderstanding- that they thought you were sending out some kind of distress signal, which kind of were. Unless of course this happens around here sometimes. Still, the size of this thing and what it can do. I’m actually a bit alarmed, but for other reasons. This is the past and if you’ve never heard of anything like it. That either means that this place got entirely annihilated or that the timeline is about to get royally bucked so hard that the crazy side sleeping in Starlight Glimmer’s head will be clapping in amazement. The darkest scenario I can come up with is that these are entity that are intentionally whipping out advanced forms of technology and techno-magic for their own dogmatic/bias reason. Still, I’m betting money at the moment that when you come to, the attack is probably going to be over or mostly over and there is a fair chance you have been abducted. If not ,you might get blamed for what just happen, so tread lightly. If you’re not abducted, consider feigning a head injury if it seems plausible to pull off. Either way, figure out if Vardant knows what the hay that was. And if you are abducted, or eventually are, well.....there’s a fair chance they’ll be trying t remove us from you. Ironically, they might even be able to send you home, but unless this is a big misunderstanding, I doubt they’re that nice. Though, if that happens, I’m also betting we’ll end up on FLuttershy for a while, or one of the aliens. Good luck, Twilight Sparkle, and possibly goodbye. Akuma out! PS Twilight there is an old timetravel trick that might be of use to you. In various universes unrelated to you, timetravelers that get trapped in the past will facilitate a rescue by sending a letter or engraving a message to a friend they know will be able to help, instructing them on when and where they are and how to help them. Sometimes its people who stayed in the past and are sending their goodbyes to their friends. Not sure how you might apply this, but always good to have the idea incase something comes up. After all, this ship could probably take you all the way to Equestria, and might have a cloaking field. PPS I would say I’m sorry about freaking you out, but I’m not. lol, XP. Don’t worry, I’ll stick to the shocking and weird stuff and avoid the really freaky and scary stuff, mostly. Hopefully I won’t have to indirectly tell you too much if I have to inform Ine about any of them. Don’t know why I would, but entities like that can be odd sometimes in what they are focused on.PPPS You do NOT have to answer this now, you have more important stuff to deal with. But how big is equestrian, geographically I mean? We know the lay out, but the deminsions differ across the multiverse as it being a small or large country.PPPPS Again, not important for now. Ask Fluttershy a question for me: What is the scariest looking but friendliest and/or fearful kind of creature she’s ever met? I am legitimately curious about that. And I’m sorry about all the Postscripts- but at least I adds Ps instead of Ss… …four rings and a square-like shape, huh. Oh, right, LeftMoss here, I think its similar to the drones we have here, yet larger and has an (I believe) Plasma gun (or multiple), seeing as it was able to vaporize a tower. With the airship being miles up and you’re still able to make out details, it might be, I don’t know, the size of a mega-city? or maybe just a large city, because maybe a mega-city is much larger, and that’s a problem, though with Infinity most likely accusing you of being the reason why it’s there, you might have many, many more problems than just that. For what to do, I would say run, but be safe about it, take cover behind buildings, as teleporting would likely make Infinity more suspicious… …What's up, new voice here. The name's Omnipresent Microorganism. A lot of the stuff there looks like some of the things we have here. Those screen things sound a lot like televisions. I have a theory, but it's probably wrong, so I'll keep it to myself…]

Twilight grabbed Fluttershy and Verdant in her magic. "Okay, running!" She dragged them through the streets, into an alleyway.

The ship-drone-city thing flying above them was being shot at by Acket's defenses - the still-standing towers themselves. They pulsed a bright green, launching dozens of energy beams into the sky - hitting the drone-ship directly. The circuitry in the drone-ship sparked, sending arc lightning down to the surface - but it still flew. It fired its weapon again - and it wasn't a weapon that could be seen. Another tower was disintegrated before their eyes, no sign of any laser, bomb, or projectile of any kind.

Verdant glanced at Twilight. "What happened to you?"

"Sorry, froze for a sec, you know..." She stuck her head around they alley they were in - Infnity was nowhere to be seen amongst the screaming crowd. She saw a few dragon mages summoning power to their wings and shooting into the sky like ships, flying in formation towards the drone-ship. They were disintegrated before they arrived, all their magic power worth naught in the end.

Twilight gulped. "I'm getting us out of here..." She took out the pearlstone and activated it - using the magic to teleport to the outskirts of town. Then she used her own magic to teleport again, instantly, even further into the distance.

Even from this far away she could still see the drone-ship - though now she knew how high up it was, slightly above the cloud layer. Still tremendous - but not as large as Canterlot. It might have been Ponyville sized.

Verdant put a hand to his eyes. "Oh no... They're going to use it..."

"Use what? Who?" Twilight demanded.

Fluttershy pointed. "I think that streak flying towards the ship..."

"It's a missile," Verdant said. "A very large missile..."

The pearly-white streak was disintegrated several yards from the drone-ship - but that didn't stop it. The act of disintegration made it explode in a brilliant star-like globe of superheated air. The drone-ship was consumed by the spectacular explosion - and several towers of Acket below were shattered by the shockwave of the weapon. Twilight saw the shockwave coming towards them - kicking up dust and forcing clouds to form. "COVER YOUR EARS!"

The covering did little to help them - they didn't go deaf, but the shockwave was still powerful enough to shake their skulls.

Fluttershy gasped. "My... How loud must that have been IN the city?!"

Verdant shook his head. "...Too loud. Too dangerous. They shouldn't have used it..."

"The drone-ship's gone though..." Twilight said. Them she frowned. "Okay, what WAS that?"

Verdant looked nervous. "I'm not the guy you should be asking..."

"Buddy, I want to know what almost killed us and why." She hoped to Celestia that it wasn't after her.

Verdant gulped. "The... Golems of the Desert. Mindless leftovers from the Ancients that prowl their cities. For whatever reason, they have started attacking us recently. They continually get more brazen and intense - this was the worst attack yet." He looked around nervously. "Citizens are leaving by the thousand..."

Twilight gulped. "...These... Golems. They live in the Desert?"

"Yes."

"And I need to go there." At least it isn't aliens.

Fluttershy bit her lip. "...Yes this does sound bad..."

Verdant shook his head. "They've only attacked our city so far, they seem to be fixated on it for some reason. I've never had any reports of Golem attacks unless you trespass on their territory - Fosis - and even then sometimes they'll let you off. They... Don't think like we do. I can't really explain it. Don't make me."

Twilight frowned. "Well... Fluttershy, I think we should head out as soon as possible. Perhaps go talk to these... Golems. See if we can find out what's going on."

Fluttershy blinked. "...Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No, but there are ponies and dragons dying in there Fluttershy - I can't just do nothing."

Verdant blinked. "...Huh."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"It's just, you're not the first to say that. Last week, during the last attack, there was a pink unicorn who did that. Went out into the desert promising to help us if she could. ...She hasn't come back."

Twilight gulped. "...I'll look for her. What's her name?"

"No idea, I didn't give her the tour. I just heard about her secondhand - ponies like you and her are rare."

Fluttershy sighed. "...You're right about that..." She turned to Twilight. "...We should go and help them, if we can."

Twilight nodded. "Verdant... Can you take us to Sand Blaster?"

Verdant nodded. "Indeed I can..."

The city of Acket was a wreck - a wreck that was rebuilding itself with magic, yes, but still a wreck. Dragons and ponies walked around, many having been rendered temporarily deaf, others needing medical treatment for the damage to their eardrums. The city slowly repaired itself - the Pearlstone being guided to fuse back together and rewiring everything. The bustle that the city once had though was put on hold - half the televisions were dead, the trams and elevators were broken down, and the ground was no longer flat and even.

Twilight sighed - this was terrible. There had to be something that could be done...

Verdant led them to the edge of the city, the place where the band started. The foundation of Acket ended abruptly, the only part extending over the band being the large, black claws that absorbed the lightning's energy as it shot upwards. There was a small dock-like area filled with sand and a number of tiny sled-like ships - and one big one.

Verdant pointed at the big one - a tremendous sled with four rails on the bottom and a three-story pearlstone structure set atop it, completely sealed off from the outside with only the smallest areas for windows. In the back was some sort of round pearlstone device engraved with brightly glowing runes. On the front, the name Sandshell was engraved with a decorative etching.

A cream earth pony with a pair of goggles on his head leaped off the top of the Sandshell. "Prospective customers?"

"Yes. I'm Twilight Glimmer and this is Flutterski." Verdant raised an eyebrow but said nothing, forcing Twilight to realize she'd used Fluttershy's real name in front of Verdant. ...She hoped that wouldn't bite her later. It probably wouldn't, seeing how the Influence had been wrong about so many other things over the course of her adventures.

The stallion grinned. "Hello, you two! I'm Sand Blaster! I trust you can pay fare?"

"How much?"

"Fifteen yuan to cross the band to the Lost Desert proper. Thirty and I can get you all the way to an oasis!"

Twilight nodded - it seemed reasonable. She handed him thirty coins. "When do we leave?"

"Few minutes, just gotta wait for a bit to see if we get any other passengers. Thank ya kindly - you too Verdant, I loooove customers!"

Verdant nodded. "I wish you both luck." Then he flew away - Twilight noticed he was flying out of the city, presumably fleeing from further danger.

Sand Blaster kicked the side of the Sandshell, popping open a hatch. The inside of the Sandshell was dark - lit only by magic wafting off the pearlstone walls - and cramped. For how large it was, there was a lot less space than Twilight expected.

Sand Blaster laughed. "Yeah, don't worry, there's actual rooms for sleepin' and a living room up above, just have to make room for the engine here." He led them up to the top floor, which had five tiny rooms with beds, and a table in the middle with a bunch of cards on it. "The controls are down below, through that tiny hallway you saw to the left. I'll be there if you need me. I'm going to go look for other passengers..."

Twilight nodded. "This will do nicely." She looked out one of the tiny, thick windows - they were tinted, scratched, and battered, but she could see through them, at the city of Acket. She saw a tower get rebuilt in under a second. This place was in danger of being destroyed - but it was so beautiful. She couldn't let that happen.

...Wait, but what if that changed the future? She shook her head - this was just a big mess to think of.

The two of them were startled by a small, snakelike dragon slithering in. She was red, slightly larger than Twilight, and wore vibrant red robes. "I apologize, I did not mean to startle you."

"It's.... fine." Fluttershy said. "I'm Flutter...ski and this is Twilight."

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Acolyte Ruby." She bowed gracefully. "I hear we will get to know each other well, the trek across the band takes a day and a night at the speeds this ship can attain."

"Wow... It must be huge..." Twilight said.

"Not really, you could get over it in a few hours as the pegasus flies... overland is slower and more rigid."

"Mmmm..." Twilight said.

Sand Blaster came back up to the cabins. "All right, we got another passenger coming on, then we're full. Prepare to set out!" He turned behind him. "Here are your crewmates."

"Oh, I know them..." Infinity said, smirking.

Fluttershy and Twilight gasped. Ruby raised a claw. "I don't know you."

Infinity facehooved. "...Ruining the moment..." She shook her head. "I'm Infinity. That's Flutterski and Twilight. I've been following them. You see, Twilight is not as she seems... She is something else..."

Before Twilight could do anything Infinity ripped Twilight's cloak off, revealing the Witch's Eye and her wings. Twilight froze, unable to move, unable to think, only able to see how this could go wrong.

Sand Blaster laughed. "Huh. Interesting. I'm going to go start the engine, you four sort out your problems." He walked down the stairs, uncaring about the alicorn with an eye in her chest shenanigans.

"Uh..." Infinity said. "But... But... I have theories! She has enough magic power to affect the day-night cycle! She's attached to an ancient machine! She's... She's..." Infinity facehooved, looking to Ruby. "Well, what do you think?"

Ruby stared at the Witch's eye in awe. "...The Oracle..."

"The what?" Infinity said.

"She is the chosen Oracle."

"The what!?" Twilight said, louder than Infinity.

"There... There is a prophecy in my order, that the mare with three eyes will be gifted with the power to see what others cannot... She will go to all the ancient altars, gain wisdom, and prevent the cataclysm of darkness..."

Twilight gulped. She wished she could say she was surprised at this. "...Are you sure I'm this... Oracle?"

"...Can you see what others cannot?"

"...Yes..."

"...Then what are the chances?"

Twilight nodded slowly. "Well then... I... Fluttershy, meet me in a room, we need to talk." She ran through a door, shut it, and locked it, breathing heavily. "Okay... Ooooookay... Destiny shows up again..."

Fluttershy nodded. "It... Does have a way of finding us doesn't it."

"Cataclysm of darkness!? How vague can you get!?"

"There may be more. We should ask her. The prophecy could also be false..."

"Prophecies rarely are if they get an entire order around them..." She bit her lip. "I... Hey you guys." She looked at the Eye. "Apparently you help me see what others cannot, so help me here. Oracle? What? What ancient altars?" She pursed her lips. "And now I wait for a response..."

"You could, maybe, respond to their questions now, if that's all right with you."

"Ah, good point Fluttershy. Right... Key's still offline - I'm getting really concerned for him now. What happened to his mission? What... I... I haven't heard from Zen in a while either..." She gulped. "Moss was right though - Infinity does seem to have it out for me. And now we're sharing a ship with her... I mean, I think she's harmless, but she could find things out she wasn't meant to know..."

She shook her head. "Okay, who the heck is Bill Cipher? Anyone like Discord I think I should be made aware of! And Nickel... What were you trying to say about me and Pinkie? That we are... Connected to you in some way? Naturally?"

Fluttershy blinked. "...That explains so much about Pinkie."

"What do you-" Twilight blinked. "Oh. Oh my Celestia, you're right. That does make a lot of sense... She knew this whole time!"

Fluttershy shook her head. "...I'm not sure if I should be mad or not..."

"Worry about it later," Twilight said. "She probably knew it'd drive us mad anyway. ...It probably did drive her mad..." She shook her head. "Right, Akumakami, uh... You're the master of worst-case-scenarios, aren't you? I'm fine, wasn't abducted or anything. And as for this 'shipping' of yours... No it isn't really surprising, but please, think of it from my perspective. Me, basically being forced into a relationship that doesn't make any sense against my will!? It's DISTURBING that's what it is! And that description of omnishipping doesn't help!"

"Oh, my..." Fluttershy said. "That sounds..."

"It's specifically the six of us."

Fluttershy blushed - hard. "...My. There is... Definitely something wrong there."

"No, really?"

"Um. Akuma? Could you... Maybe not?"

"I don't think what we say is going to make much of a difference, seeing as it's already happened somewhere else..." She shook her head. "If I ever get access to those other universes I'm going to liberate them from that forceful shoving..."

"...How is that any different from the adventure we're on?"

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, then shut it. "...Good point..." She scratched her chin. "I... I think this isn't any different from the destiny and heroism we dealt with on a daily basis. But romance just... Wasn't a thing. It feels unnatural to me..."

Fluttershy blushed. "Oh, there are a few I'd be interested in..."

"...Do I need to slap you?"

"Oh no, this is normal. ...I think. How would we know?"

"That's the problem, we wouldn't, and other Twilights and Fluttershys wouldn't either!" She sighed. "Something to think about if we ever figure out this Witch's Eye thing, I suppose... Not like I can access these other worlds or anything. Yet."

"Sounds like a goal."

"Anyway... They had some questions." Twilight cleared her throat. "Uh... Lemme compare it to something on Earth, since I know most of you live on an Earth-like place as humans. I've seen their globe. Our estimates put Equestria itself at about the size of North America. Yes, Ponygood, I'll look out for Alderan. And Fluttershy, Akumakami wants to know what's the scariest looking creature you've ever met that ended up being the most friendly?"

"Discord."

"...Yeah, that seems pretty obvious doesn't it?"

Fluttershy laughed. "Yes it does."

"One last thing..." Twilight shook her head. "You mentioned a 'they' Akumakami, a 'they' that work on the interface you use. ...How do they fit into this?"

Then the Witch's Eye began to glow.

"Oh. Well, guess what I'm doing." She leaped onto the bed and sat meditatively, ready for the influx of information...