Twilight dived deeper into the fabric of the universe. The tendrils of time swirled around her, each one telling billions of stories about trillions of ponies. Each one felt too precious to throw away than the last.

Everything felt like it happened all at once. All existence compressed onto threads of fate in which alternate timelines and lifestyles branched out.

She swam deeper and deeper, watching the strings of existence dwindle closer and closer to a fine rope, until at the very end she saw a single knot tie it all together. The big bang.

It felt more like the central core of a grand jellyfish than existence itself. Existence was made up of pony’s lives, of creating things, of loving things. This—this in between space—she shouldn’t be here. But yet it was captivating.

She stared at the knot for a long time before finally chasing down one of the strings. It was a beautiful timeline.

After a long time, simple celled organisms evolved into higher creatures, which grew into ponies, who had the capacity of propelling themselves beyond, transforming themselves into ornate tapestries of existence. 

Eventually, the line would end, and Twilight would teleport back to the beginning, searching out another line to see and feel and touch and experience and live and die.

Twilight saw and felt everything about every existence.

Eventually she found one string that felt familiar. She followed the string down and watched herself be born, go to Celestia’s school, make wonderful friends and—

Be asked the question.

“Twilight, what is the happiest ending?” asked everypony.

The strings of existence all separated before this point. Billions of ponies asked the question.

It felt wrong. Why would Fluttershy ask this question? Why would Spike, Celestia, Rainbow Dash, Big Mac, Gummy, Luna, Discord—where was this question coming from?

Twilight dived deeper into the tendrils. Recursively going down each and every route from where the question was asked. She frantically chased down every pathway.

What [i]was[/i] the happiest ending? 

Out of all the many strings of existence, which one was the best? Which one would she choose for herself? Which one would she choose for Equestria? For the universe?

It took many iterations, but she finally found the tear in the very fabric of existence itself. After Star Swirl himself had asked her the question, time had extruded and divided into this interim world where everything existed all at once.

She spent billions of years finding out that information, but it felt like such a hollow victory. Yes, she knew how she got here, but she didn’t have an answer to the real question. [i]What is the happiest ending?[/i]

The question gnawed on her as she kept sliding down all the alternate timelines. Which one was the happiest? Is that even something that can be decided? What right did she have to judge what was “happy” or not? So much of life seemed to have happiness that raised or lowered depending on the happiness of somepony else. 

It took Twilight far too long to find a major breakthrough. There exists configurations in which two opposite parties can both be happy. Compromise can maximize the net happiness of an entire existence line.

Once she found configurations in which everypony can be happy, she tried very hard to find a string just like that. 

Twilight spent countless durations of eternity in the domain of existence design. She clutched at each and every string, fighting to find the happiest ending. And, like all eternities, there was eventually an end.

Her horn glowed and the path she selected glowed lilac. A single eternal string glowed brighter than all the rest, as everything else dissipated into non-existence.

Twilight raced along the lilac string until she reached her own lifetime. 

She stretched open existence and jumped inside.

[hr]

“Twilight? You okay?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight swayed a little on her throne before blinking and reorienting herself. “I’m... fine.”

“Are your sure, Darling?” asked Rarity.

“Never better,” said Twilight. Her stomach felt so queasy, but she couldn’t really place where it had come from. “What were we talking about?”

“Oh! That was me,” said Spike. “I was just wondering what the happy ending is to all this anyway?”

Twilight pondered the question carefully before holding our her hooves. “This,” she said, gesturing all around them and smiling. “This is the happy ending.”