"Well?" The word was said with growing impatience. The question demanded an answer, but Twilight found she had none. She needed more research, more understanding. She needed more [i]time.[/i] But she couldn't delay further... or could she? Twilight's eye began to twitch... Sure, time manipulation hadn't worked out very well for her in the past (she chided herself for the pun), but what if she didn't [i]change[/i] time, just... Twilight Sparkle [i]froze[/i] time. The world was motionless. Motes of dust hung in sunbeams like stars amongst the infinity of space. Pleased with herself, Twilight was hopeful. It just might work. But she'd need help. ---- Blinking twice after her teleport, Twilight stood in a narrow crystal hallway, deep within the roots of her castle. The gems set into the door before her pulsed, the only sign of movement—beyond herself—in all the universe. Of course the door itself was barely even part of [i]this[/i] universe. Beyond it stood the Nexus, a hub between worlds and realities foreign to everything most ponies ever knew. She'd first glimpsed the place briefly, during her ascension years ago. She'd felt its strange caress again, as she'd chased Sunset Shimmer through the mirror. But it had taken another decade for her to pierce the Veil on her own, creating this portal tying her world into the great knot of larger existence. She opened the door, stepped into the abyss, and lit her horn. "I summon the Council!" Instantly—for time had no sway here—other doors opened and an influx of creatures poured forth. Many were ponies; winged, horned, both, and neither. Many more were not. There were hulking bipeds, tiny hexapods, aquatic serpents, winged rodents, and all manner in between. But from doppelganger to eldritch horror, they all had one thing in common: they were all named Twilight Sparkle. As scores of bodies settled into whatever passed for resting positions, Twilight Prime spoke. "I've asked you here, because I need your help." "No doi," snarked a gruff looking alicorn. She was missing a wing, and heavily scarred beneath her leather armor. "So get to it!" "Right, so... I've been asked a question, one which I must answer truthfully. The problem is that any answer given is likely to carry with it implications on the very nature of reality, personal identity, free will, quantum theory, and more." Nearby, a hivemind of hoof-long arthropods chattered up at her. "Good question," Prime said. "For example, what is the difference between nature and nurture? How does one's identity, the choices someone makes, and therefore who they are, vary with simple circumstance of upbringing? Many of you are perhaps identical to me at the genetic level. Yet our lives differ wildly. But with others, our entire lives may be nearly identical. Does that mean we have no free will?" "Yeah yeah yeah," mocked the one-winged alicorn. "We've all had philosophy 101." "Aarrr ooorrraahh aahhheeeeraaooo," a lavender star-walrus bellowed as he orbited lazily above the bulk of the crowd. "I'll say whatever I damn well please if it'll make this go faster." She spit a few strands of blonde and rainbow-colored hair out of her mouth. "I left two very eager, very naked mares waiting in my bed." Prime shook her head, trying—unsuccessfully—to get certain images out of it. "Ohhh.... not a fan of the ladies then?" "No, but... that's my point. Why do our tastes differ so? Please, I need your help." She looked around. "I need all of your help." In the end, the Council agreed. And so the work began. It took centuries. Committees formed, debated, and dissolved. Cults formed, fought, and frayed. Entire schools of philosophy were invented and discarded. But the Nexus is timeless, so a very long instant later, Twilight Sparkle stepped back into her own reality. ---- With a pop, Twilight stood once again before The Giver of The Question (as she'd come to think of her.) Time resumed. "Twilight?" Rarity queried. "Is everything okay? You look like you were far away there for a moment." Twilight grinned and then practically shouted. "Yeast-raised, 183mg/c^3 density, cinnamon and sugar coating at a 2:7 ratio by weight, served at 41.74 degrees!" "What?" "That's the answer, I assure you. That is, objectively, [i]the[/i] best doughnut in the multiverse!" Rarity chuckled. "So I guess you're on team doughnut then." "Huh?" "Darling," Rarity shook her head good-naturedly at her scatter-brained friend. "I didn't ask about the best doughnut. I asked what was best, cupcakes [i]or[/i] doughnuts." Twilight's eye began to twitch...