They watched, as was always their task. In one of countless visages, spaceships soar through the void. In another knights face dragons with glowing swords. In yet another a human falls over, bleeding and dying from a weapons still protruding from them.

But over there, a different world, brightly colored with creatures that typically smile. It seems the least important, considering the gravitas of the others, but the watcher knows these things can be misleading...

A fine line spread from a tiny crack. In their world, it would be immense, but they also wouldn't see it. Nothing could see the cracks from the inside, at least of those that lived in it. Left alone, it would cause the world to dissolve. A lamentable loss, perhaps, but the loss of one in such a way could lead to others falling, cracking, and being lost.

They could not allow it.

The watcher's mind reached out across the multiverse. The had many names in many worlds, but they were all just as simple and meaningless to say as the one they were most known for. As such, it was the one they typically used, even if they didn't need a name themself. They would have to enter that world. Watching it from afar wouldn't repair it.

So they did. In an instant, or eternity, they opened new eyes. The air smelled fresh to their new nose. The grass was soft and waved beneath them. It was long enough that it tickled at his belly. He looked back to see that he had four legs, terminating in hooves. Each was as brightly colored as the cracked world had been. He was a pony, a stallion. Standard. No. Earth.

He could remember that world's history. A world called Ponytopia, populated by a wide variety of species. But most of its greatest moments were dominated by the ponies, ruled by princess Sunnylot.

Though he remembered much of the world as a whole, placing himself with precision on it was a trickier task. He turned slowly in place, face passive until he spotted something familiar. He brightened at the sight of a bakery he recognized just down the dirt road that wove through the idyllic town he was in. The town was called Sugarmane, named for the proprietor of the bakery, who was a kind soul to any and all in the town. A good starting point if there ever was one.

With the clops of his new hooves, he started that way. He was just another pony making their way for a few sweet treats, or perhaps a morning bagel. He had a mark, like the others. His was that of an eye. A bit on the nose for a watcher, but he didn't get to decide on that. "Excuse me." He closed the door behind himself. "I was looking for—"

"You're new!" A bright pink pony waved at him from behind the counter. They weren't the proprietor.  Still, he remembered her from quite a few times she had been important to the workings of that world. Her name was Pinkie. She had a last name, but he forgot it.

"You forgot it? How could you?" She pouted softly, but her smile came right back. "Come on up and tell Pinkie what she can do for you?"

He started. He hadn't said anything for her to respond to, yet. "Is Sugarmane in yet?"

"Nah." She waved it away and pushed a cupcake towards him. "You look like you need one of these way  more."

He took a deep breath. It was certainly a strange experience to taste anything for the first time. He couldn't recall if he ever had before. This was his first time in Ponytopia. He felt certain he remembered being in another world at some point, but the specifics bled away. "If you insist."

Seeing no harm, he sampled it, just to have his tongue sing out in joy at the first chew. He stood there, transfixed, at least until Pinkie waved a hoof in his face. "Pardon. Perhaps you could assist. I am looking for—"

"—something important, yup! It's not my story though. You're looking for Twibright." She giggled softly. "Funny name, but she's over at the library." She pointed past him to a tree that was also a building. "Just knock!"

The watcher blinked. His mind was already moving along the track of the pony he was seeking. The bright young filly was quite the academic, reading most everything she could, including history and science texts far beyond her peers. She was a unicorn, gifted with magic that she explored just as eagerly. "Yes. Perhaps she has some information. Thank you."

He left with Pinkie waving behind him. He took the cupcake with him, seeing little reason to toss it aside. It was delicious, after all, even if he had no real need of food in the first place.

The tree building was large enough to not only hold the library, but also serve as a dwelling for Twibright's family as well. Perhaps 'family' was generous, since it included only one other being. That being was the one that answered the door when he knocked on it. "Hello?" The teen dragon peered at him with obvious, if mild, confusion. "You looking for Twibright?"

He nodded. The young dragon looked up to his unicorn sister. "I've been sent to find her."

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The dragon blinked. "Um." He leaned back into the home and yelled. "Twi!"

That prompted some hooves down her steps as she came into view. "Oh, hello there." Despite not knowing him, a pony of few defining features, she approached with a friendly smile. "How can I help you?"

He waved her outside and, trusting creature she was, she followed him outside of earshot. "Have you noticed anything curious of late?" He doubted that she had. Seeing the cracks from the inside was not something most beings would perceive.

She nodded. "There's a crack in town." She pointed towards an area of the village he wasn't familiar with. "I was there to check on it first thing this morning."

He perked at that. "What sort of crack?"

"That's the strangest part." She clopped a hoof on the ground. "Ponies just walk over and sometimes... through it as if it weren't there at all." She glanced away and back. "But you see it?"

He was about to say as much when he realized that he didn't. That world's watcher had already found the crack. And, in a moment of realization, he remembered who he was. He was a stallion named Watcher. And sharing that information with her came with risks. "You are a perceptive pony." That much was safe to disclose.

She looked measurably relieved. "I thought I was the only one. Even my brother doesn't see it. He's started calling me crazy. But I'm not. I've already tested for that." She nodded with confidence at that statement. "It's clearly not normal."

He was quiet a moment before he sank to his haunches. "How comfortable are you with existential lines of thought?"

Twibright perked an ear. "Are you asking philosophically? It never bothered me much." She shrugged gently. "I am here." She pointed at herself. "That I can formulate the question is, itself, an answer. Could there be more, yes. But I cannot perceive it, so it is of little use to me in comparison to the many things my senses can perceive and act upon." She danced a little in place. "I don't get to share those thoughts with many other ponies often. This is fun! What are your thoughts?"

He considered that for a long moment. "What if I told you that I could perceive those things beyond? And that, in order to help you protect this world, it needed to be done?"

Her cheer dimmed quickly. "Oh. That sounds less pleasant." She peered around, clearly for other ponies. When the coast was verified clear, she leaned in towards Watcher. "I don't mean to be unpleasant, but do you have any proof of your words?"

Watcher shook his head. "I do not. If you are unwilling to come along without that assurance, I can understand."

She tapped her chin for a moment. "Well... I do like mysteries..." Twibright flicked her tail as she nodded. "I can't place why, but I find myself trusting you. How do we fix this?"

"It is a small thing." He held up his hooves close together. "But, with your help, it will be completed quickly. Since you have noticed it, you can take me there as the first step." Even he, a watcher, had a harder time spotting the disturbances from the inside. "Let's not make any scenes though. We don't want to bother any of the others."

Twibright nodded at that. "Like my brother." She nodded back towards her home. "So where is beyond then?" She started walking, leading him to the edge of the town.

"I can tell you on the way." He doubted he would tell her much about that. "But our first priority is the safety of you and every other pony."

She drew to a sudden stop so sharp he collided with her rump. She twirled to face him, eyes shining with literal sparkles in a way her simpler universe used to make sure one knew she was fascinated. "You aren't a pony! What are you? Where did you come from?"

His lips flattened into a thin line as he realized what he just let slip. She was going to be trouble. But he couldn't leave her to her own devices either. He could have the crack sealed by himself, but it would take longer that way. Finding it, to start. "Let's save those questions for after we've dealt with the problem. It would hardly do to start a discussion while a friend got hurt."

Her cheer fell to imagined horror. "Right. Right. We wouldn't want that." She took a breath as she turned around to resume her trot. "So, this is dangerous then? I had a feeling it was. I wasn't sure how to address it, but, that it was problematic felt certain."

"You mentioned you saw other ponies interacting with it." He moved to her side, both weaving through town. "Describe it."

"I'm uncertain I would call it 'interacting' exactly." She rolled a hoof, walking on the other three. "They didn't even see it. They'd just walk right through it, and when they did, I could see their forms as if I was looking through a cracked sheet of glass for a moment until they were far enough away from it. I asked if they were alright, but they just looked at me as if I were losing it, and just trot along their day as if nothing had happened."

Watcher nodded. "I expected as much." He didn't want to worry the unicorn, but he felt he owed her the warning. "If you were to pass through it, that may well be your fate." He sliced the air with a hoof. "Do not pass through. You did well to keep your distance, but take note of it." Digging through his memories, Twibright was an analytical pony. She had done exactly as she should have. "Let's address this so the others never have to know what they missed."

Twibright's head bobbed in an eager nod. "The other ponies are great, don't get me wrong, but I'm excited for a little adventure!" She giggled. "Besides, I can't wait to see how I did in my experiment on the effect of music."

He perked an ear at that. "Effect of music? Twibright, have you been experimenting on it already?"

She froze. "Um..." Her cheeks flushed. "Yes. I wanted to see what would happen. And, if anything did, I could keep watch on it and make sure nopony was harmed."

He sighed gently. "You are fortunate." Ahead of them, the crack came into view. It wove angrily through town. He followed its trail with his eyes as it wove through buildings and occasionally right through a pony, not that they seemed to notice. "It's still small enough to be treatable." He relaxed, feeling confident he had arrived in time. "Twibright, I am going to use you as an unbroken anchor to help glue things back together."

She took a deep breath, ears down. "What do we have to do?"

The next hour was spent with Watcher guiding her through a process that she didn't think would work. In fact, by the time they had completed their task, Twibright looked at Watcher like he was quite the strange pony, which wasn't an incorrect assumption. "And this will help?" She balanced awkwardly on one hoof. "Somehow?"

He held up two of his own. "You must remain still." He took a slow inhalation, his power reaching out in all directions. Grasping her, then grasping that crack, he brought them together in a way that didn't involve any of the three dimensions she knew and lived in.