Forced Perspective

**Twilight**

As bad as I feel about what’s happened to Derek, I’m a bit excited about having a good problem to work on. This is what I excel at; research! I brainstormed my ideas, found books relevant to my hypotheses and gathered my note taking paraphernalia. I’m ready to begin!

I had just cracked open the first book, when there was a knock at the door. I trotted over and opened the door.

“Hi, Applejack.”

“Howdy Twilight. I was just checkin’ in, making sure everythin’s alright. Pinkie said something about a ‘dangerous experiment’.” She poked her head in and looked around, presumably searching for giant test tubes or tesla coils.

“Everything is going just fine. I was actually just in the research stages.” I smiled and gestured over to the desk which was piled high with books.

“I guess there’s nothin’ too dangerous about that,” she said, though she sounded uncertain. “I’ll leave you to it.” And simple as that, she trotted away.

It was really nice of her to stop by like that. I’m lucky to have such good friends.

****

Okay, maybe in retrospect I should’ve come up with something other than saying a ‘dangerous experiment’. I can’t get any reading done with everypony checking in on me all the time, I thought as someone new knocked on the door. I let out a “Huhhhh” of frustration.

“I’m fine!” I shouted at the door.

“Um...okay…I just thought I would make sure.” I barely heard Fluttershy through the door.

I turned back to the book.

***

I finished filling another scroll with notes and tried to levitate it onto the pile. Though for some reason it wouldn’t go. I raised my head and noticed in surprise that it was already dark out. When did that happen? I also noticed the glowing scroll bumping into the ceiling as it tried to mount the pile. “Huhhhh.” I guess I need to take a break to organize these…

***

“Twilight darling, some of us were going to meet up at IHOCK for some breakfast. Care to join us?”

“I’m sorry Rarity,” I shouted through the door, “I really can’t break away right now. Thanks for the invitation.”

“Oh, okay dearie. Invitation is open if you change your mind. You really should get out of that dusty library every now and then, clear your head.”

“Thank you Rarity,” I called to her, still reading.

***

The door rattled slightly as, once again, somepony knocked on it. Maybe I should post a ‘do not disturb’ sign on it or something. I pushed my chair from the desk hard and capped my ink bottle.

“Hi!” said Pinkie, bouncing up and down as I answered the door.

I growled: “Hello, Pinkie. What brings you back here today?” My smile would probably have been more believable if my teeth weren’t grinding together at the same time.

“The girls and I were going out for some lunch and we thought if you came you could tell us all about your fun and dangerous experiment.” The bouncing stopped and she just stood there waiting for a response with her head cocked slightly, and a giant smile on her face.

“I’d love to Pinkie, but I can’t right now. I promise as soon as this is over, I’ll come have fun with you girls. But right now, I really need some time by myself to concentrate.” I leaned my head out through the door and looked up and down the street. “Um...where’s Spike?”

“Oh, he’s right here.” Pinkie pulled Spike from somewhere just long enough for me to see his wide eyes and flailing arms before she returned him to wherever. “He’s safe with me!” She saluted and disappeared, zipping away and leaving a cloud of smoke. “Bye, have fun with your experiment!”

***

Finally! I’ve read all of the relevant books on the subject. I’ve reread my notes, postulated, considered, and hypothesized. And I think- “Grwrgrwrg,” my stomach grumbled -it’s time for lunch.

I pushed back from the overladen desk and stretched.

And to think Derek said he didn’t like to read. He’s...well that’s not right. He isn’t a he anymore is he? I guess the correct term would be she...She’s been shut away in my room with those books since breakfast yesterday! I knew all she needed was the right kind of book. My list of popular books from each genre has come through once again. She’d started with action/adventure; went to sword and sorcery; tried mystery; but who would’ve guessed her interest was in romance novels?

I looked over at the stack of books I had perused for answers about why the spell had failed. The best answer I’ve gotten so far was that her body doesn’t have the right genes for equine features. The spell, in theory, will still work. The pattern and effect are still embedded in her; it’s just waiting for the transformation to be possible. The problem I’m having is trying to figure out how to supply her body with the correct genetic material to complete the transformation.

Unfortunately I’m the foremost scientist when it comes to anything human so there isn’t anyone I can go to for help or even a reference manual to check. I discovered their world and was one of very few ponies who even knew what a ‘human’ was! That list contained myself, Princess Celestia and now Rainbow Dash.

I couldn’t help but relive the discovery. I was investigating the multiverse theory and cast a powerful scrying spell hoping for another universe. It gave me a brief look at that strange world. To establish a more permanent link, I needed better conduits and more juice. Luckily Princess Celestia was also interested in the strange new planet, so she assisted.

I walked into the kitchen looking for something light we could snack on while we talked. I never thought I’d say this, but reading isn’t going to get me anything else. Maybe I just need to talk it out. Sometimes it’s easier to organize your thoughts by explaining them to someone else. The only pony I can really talk to about this is Derek, though. I wonder if I can tear him, I caught myself again. no, her away from her book for a minute, I thought with a smile. That really is a strange name, though: Derek. It doesn’t really seem to fit anymore does it?

I grabbed a pitcher of water, some crackers and peanut butter in my magic and headed up to see Derek. As I approached the door I heard a high pitched “eeeee” that I recognized instantly. It made me smile knowing somepony was enjoying books as much as I do. I opened the door and set the snack down on the bedside table. Derek looked up from her book with the biggest, dopiest grin I’ve ever seen her with.

“Hello Derek.”

“Uh...hi Twilight, just let me finish this paragraph real quick.” She went back to reading and I saw the grin grow ever so slightly. I busied myself with applying the peanut butter to the crackers, arranging them on the tray and pouring our drinks. After a minute she slid a bookmark into the book and set it down on the bedside table. I hopped up onto the bed and set the tray between us.

“I don’t know if I can send you back,” I said.

I noticed her pupils dilate, her eyebrows rise and her cracker-filled-hand freeze halfway to her mouth. I regretted my phrasing, but I plunged on. “What I mean is, there isn’t any solid information about what to do. This kind of thing hasn’t ever happened before…” I chewed a cracker as I thought.

“If you can’t solve this, maybe it’s time to ask Celestia for help.” Derek slowly finished her cracker’s journey.

“I was actually hoping you could help me before I contact Princess Celestia.” I emphasized her title.

“How can I help? I don’t understand the first thing about magic.”

“Sometimes just talking through my ideas can help, and who knows, maybe what I need is just a different perspective?”

“If it means getting me changed back and going home, I’ll do what I can.”

I nodded and decided to keep it simple. I explained how the distance from here to her universe was simultaneously very great and infinitesimally small. How bridging the gap was less of a matter of finding the right universe -her body’s frequency would naturally find its match- and more a matter of having enough energy to reach it. I explained how before we needed both the element of magic herself and an alicorn princess to open that kind of bridge. So the only way I was going to be able to open it again was with some kind of help.

Derek’s brows creased as she thought. Her hand rose slowly to her chin as she stared off into the middle distance. I picked up another cracker and levitated it to my mouth slowly waiting to see what Derek was thinking.

Eventually she said: “What about a lever?”

“A lever?”

“Yeah, if you need to lift something that’s too heavy, you can use a lever. If it’s still too difficult you simply need a longer handle. Is there something like that for magic?”

“Well...yes...there are runes and components you can set in specific orientations to maximize your magic...Think of it like this.” I picked up a drinking straw, unwrapped it and poked a few holes in it with my magic. “Normally magic is slightly unfocused. For most applications it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t require that much force.” I blew through the straw and moved its wrapper. “But for more powerful spells you need more focus.” I used my magic to plug the holes and this time when I blew through the straw the wrapper leapt off of the tray completely. “The problem,” I explained to Derek, “is that Celestia and I already plugged the holes, and it still took more power than I have.”

We sat in thought, the only sound being the occasional crunch of a cracker or an ice cube bumping against the glass.

“Sending me back would be great,” Derek muttered looking down at her hands, “But it doesn’t really matter until you can fix what I look like…”

“I’ve been working on that too. It seems I can’t cast another shape changing spell on you until the first one has run its course, otherwise the second one will just be overwritten by the first one. The good news is once the first spell is complete, changing you back should be easy. The problem seems to be that you don’t have the right genetic material for equine features. So all we have to do is figure out a way to get the genetic material into your system, and the spell will take care of the rest.”

Suddenly I was sprayed with a mouthful of semi-moist cracker crumbs. “No, no, no. There is no way that’s going to happen.” Derek said as she backed away from me.

“No way what’s going to happen?” What is he freaking out about? Do humans have a way to pass genetic material back and forth? That would solve all of our problems! If he could absorb some pony genetics, he could complete his transformation, then I could have Princess Celestia help me reopen a second portal and I could send him home! “Do humans have a way to pass genetic material?”

Derek looked surprised but after a second the look changed to disgust. “Well, yeah…” she said, skeptically.

This is incredible! Humans are such an interesting race! I leapt from the bed and ran downstairs.

**Derek**

I heard her rummaging around downstairs but I wasn’t paying attention. Did she not know about sex? Was I about to have the birds and the bees talk, with a pony? With a unicorn no less? Every time I thought the weirdness had slowed down... She charged back into the room and leapt the second half of the way, landing in the bed with barely a bounce.

I chewed on my lip. How do you explain sex and reproduction to a race that doesn’t have it? How do they do it? Do they not have the equipment? It's not like I checked... I could feel her eager eyes boring into me; it was as if she were trying to read the words off of the inside of my skull. The quill rested above the notebook ready to take down whatever I said, and occasionally one of her ears would flick then spring right back to rapt attention.

I searched the room for inspiration. What could I possibly relate it to...my eyes fell on the book I was reading. Wait a minute, of course they have sex. That’s what I’ve been reading for the last day and a half! I leaned over, grabbed the book, and handed it to Twilight. She looked perplexed as she took it in her magic. She stared at the cover, which had a white pegasus stallion holding a light red earth pony mare.

It was obvious the moment she finally realized what I was implying. I watched the blush spread across her face and deepen. Her ears pitched back against her head and her eyes opened wider. She dropped the book and looked up at me, surprised.

I could also tell the moment she started seriously considering the idea. Her blush slowly faded, and her eyebrows scrunched as she doubtless searched her databanks. Her mouth slowly fell open as she considered the idea. I enjoyed another cracker. Every now and then she would shake her head as if arguing with herself, but her eyebrows creased further and further as she withdrew into her thoughts.

“Doesn’t matter if it'll work,” I said as I retrieved my book and headed downstairs, “there’s no way it’s going to happen.”