The Sphere

Chapters

Appearence
Anomaly
Testing
Royal Visit
Research
The Calm Before...
Explanations
The Plan
Preparations
The Dig Begins
The Revelation

Appearence

Deep in Whitetail Woods, nopony was around to see the sporadic flashes of light, or hear the acute metallic sound being made there. Something was happening that had never happened in Equestria before. Something was coming, and nopony was prepared.

Rainbow Dash yawned loudly as she began to stir in her bed. It was too early, much too early to be getting up now, but there was a weather disturbance near the edge of town that required her attention today. She had only gotten the message last night, and had decided to put it off until morning, so she could catch up on some much needed sleep.

"Oh great, those stupid rogue clouds have probably started raining all over Ponyville without me to break them up by now." she said aloud as she remembered the message she got last night.

Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to freshen up. She looked at herself in the mirror, and realized that her mane was in far better condition that it usually was in. Putting the brush back down she went downstairs to the kitchen, opened up the ice box, and just started to drink some juice straight from the bottle.

"Okay, I guess I had better head out now, those rogue clouds won't clear themselves."

When Rainbow arrived over Whitetail wood, she didn't spot any rogue clouds that were threatening the whether at all. "But... my boss has never been wrong!"

As Rainbow swooped lower beneath the leaves of the trees, turning her head left and right the try to spot where the clouds had gone, she collided into a very solid wall. Blinking the stars out of her eyes, she looked up to see what she had hit.

"What the... when did this thing get here?" As Rainbow observed the offending object, she saw that it was a round boulder, about three meters in diameter. It seemed to be made of stone, as the aching spot on her forehead told her about it, and strangest of all, it was perfectly spherical.

Rainbow reached out to touch it, and her hoof almost instantly slid right off of the sphere. She tried again, and her hoof slipped off it again.

"Whoa! This thing is smoother than Rarity's hoof after a day at the spa!" As Rainbow Dash continued to look at the sphere, her initial excitement was starting to ebb away, and was being replaced by another feeling. Her legs began to shake, and she quickly looked away from the stone, only to then feel annoyed.

"Hey pal, I can look at you all I want!" she yelled. Even before she realized how silly she must have looked yelling at a rock, she was overcome by that feeling again, and backed away a few steps.

"Well, I've got stuff to do anyways. Still need to find those rouge clouds around here." she thought as she turned away and left the boulder there, not even noticing the extra effort she put into her takeoff.

"Spike, have you seen my copy of Daring Do and the nexus of light?" Twilight called up the stairs.

"No need to yell Twilight, I'm right behind you. And yes, you left it an your bedside table."

Spike, looking groggier than ever this morning, made his way into the kitchen with his apron on to start breakfast, while Twilight went upstairs. As she grabbed her copy of Daring Do from her table, she quickly opened it to make sure she had marked the page.

"Oh no! I didn't mark the page! How will I find ou-" Twilight stopped her inner rant short as the wonderful scent of baked oak cakes wafted up from the kitchen. Compelled to follow the sweet sent of the cakes, she momentarily forgot about her book problems and realized how hungry she was.

As Twilight went downstairs, she saw Spike coming back upstairs, probably to catch up on the sleep he lost after staying up all of last night.

"Hey Spike, sorry I yelled at you before, I didn't know you were right there."

"It's no problem." said Spike as he discarded his apron into the hamper, "You didn't know I was behind you, no harm done."

"You really should be getting to bed by nine o'clock you know, A young dragon like you needs plenty of rest."

Spike looked back over at Twilight, his expression neutral. "I really don't need to be told that at this point, Twilight. Why do you think I'm going back to bed?"

Twilight blushed in spite of herself. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. You're much more mature now. I guess I'm still not used to it."

As Twilight went into the kitchen, she began eating her breakfast. When she was about halfway done, she heard somepony come in through the window.

Looking to see who would be so rude as to drop into her palace unannounced, she turned around to face the hallway, only to see her friend Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Rainbow, you do know it's more polite to knock at someone's door before going inside, right?"

Rainbow looked at the floor, a small blush appearing on her face. "I uh, I can't remember where the main door is to this place." she said with an embarrassed smirk on her face. "I figured I would just come in through the window."

"Well, rude intrusions aside, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

Rainbow began shifting her weight from side to side, looking nervous. "Do you know anything about perception altering magic?"

"Well, yes, I do know quite a bit about magic that can change the way somepony sees things, in fact, perception alteration is the key component in the Want it, Need it spell, which you were pulled under the influence of and-"

"Okay, okay, a simple "Yes" would have been good. I didn't need the play by play of what happened all those months ago."

"Well, why did you ask then? Did you want to learn more about magic?" said Twilight, looking hopeful.

"Twilight, I need you to come and see this thing I found in Whitetail Woods."

Author's Note

This was an idea I had thought up, and I felt like I had to get it down. I don't think myself a good writer, but If I didn't get this written down, I felt like I was going to go crazy. Constructive criticism is welcome. I know I'm a poor writer, but after reading so many awesome fan fictions, I feel like it's time to try to write one myself.

Anomaly

“Rainbow, wait up!” Twilight called ahead, as Rainbow Dash zipped ahead of her, obviously eager to show Twilight this “rock ball” she claimed was in the Whitetail Woods.

As Twilight struggled to keep herself flying at the same rate as Rainbow Dash, Rainbow seemed to get more and more tense as they approached the boulder.

“We can’t be far now, we’ve been flying over 15 minutes.” thought Twilight, starting to pant heavily from the exertion of keeping up with her friend. Twilight noticed that Rainbow was starting her decent, and began to follow her downwards.

“Okay Twilight, it should be around here somewhere. I’m not exactly sure where it was though, but it should be really easy to spot.”

Twilight began scanning around, and quickly spotted a boulder behind a few trees that she hadn’t been there before. “Is that it over there, Rainbow?” Twilight said pointing with her hoof.

“Yes, that’s it, let’s go.” Said Rainbow, a bit of a quiver to her voice. “What could possibly be so scary about a boulder?” thought Twilight as they approached the sphere.

Twilight looked at the sphere, and for once, she was at a loss. It was just as Rainbow had said, perfectly spherical, and about 3 meters on diameter. Twilight reached out her hoof to touch it, and discovered the surprisingly low friction of the sphere.

“You see what I mean? Freaky, right?” said Rainbow, trying to look anywhere but at the sphere.

“It’s certainly unusual, but I don’t see why it would be scary, especially to someone like you.” Twilight said, reaching out to tap it a few times. “Hmm, it seems to be made of granite.”

While Twilight was busy running over scenarios in her mind of who could have made this thing, and who could have put it here, Rainbow was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. If this thing was really just a ball of granite, then why did it feel so, off?

“Maybe it’s not really granite.” Said Twilight, coming out of her revere. “Maybe it’s just something that’s made to look and feel like granite.”

“Well, how are you going to see if it’s real granite or not?” asked Rainbow. “That’s easy, I’ll just lift it up with my levitation, and see if it weighs as much as actual granite.

Twilight closed her eyes, and began to channel her magic into her horn. She focused her intention on enveloping the sphere with her energy, and once she could feel that her aura was big enough, she began to lift it up.

“Something’s wrong, that was too easy.” Twilight thought as she focused, eyes still closed. “Uh, Twilight, I think you might wanna see what you’re doing.” Twilight opened her eyes, and saw the sphere just… sitting there, untouched. Her levitation spell’s aura was now just partly enveloping the rock, and partly just hanging in the air.

“Wha… How… Huh?” Twilight spluttered, losing her focus, and dispelling her magic.

“It looks like your spell just slipped right through it Twilight, maybe you should try again?” suggested Rainbow Dash. Twilight nodded, and refocused her efforts, and this time, she put double the amount of energy needed to lift granite.

Once more, Twilight was at a loss, as her aura just slipped right through the sphere with absolutely no effect on it whatsoever.

“Okay, I’m sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for this…” said Twilight. “Maybe there is some kind of weird rock that counter’s any spell cast at it.” Rainbow began to notice that Twilight was looking less and less sure of herself with each second.

“But that can’t be right. My magic wasn’t countered, it just… didn’t work.” Said Twilight looking a bit more troubled. “Is there something wrong with your magic, Twilight?”

“Yes, of course! That must be it, Dash! I’m just having an off day, that’s all. If my magic isn’t working though…” she trailed off. Rainbow Dash watched silently as Twilight wrapped a nearby stick in her aura, and lifted it off the ground easily.

“Well, it does seem like your magic is still working, but this rock isn’t budging. Also, you’ve been slowly backing away from the rock for the past minute.” Twilight looked at the sphere, and saw that Rainbow was right. She had indeed been inching her way backwards from the thing ever since her second levitation attempt had failed.

“I just don’t get it Dash, it’s like it can’t be touched by magic. But, that’s impossible! Everything in the universe can be affected by magic in some way or another.”

“Do you still think it’s granite?” asked Dash, finally looking up at the stone sphere. “It might be granite, Dash, but it’s something else too. It’s almost like…”

“Like it’s forbidden.” Rainbow finished for her.

Twilight just sat there for a moment, looking at the ground. “I need to get back to Ponyville. I think I should send a letter to the Princesses about this.”

“Good idea.” Replied Rainbow “The less time I spend near this thing the better.” As Rainbow Dash took to the air, Twilight spared one last glance at the sphere, before feeling the urge to look away, and took to the skies as well.

“So Twilight, what did Rainbow find?” asked Spike has he came downstairs, finished with his nap. “Hmm, how should I put this…” thought Twilight. “We found a large spherical boulder made of granite sitting on the ground in the woods.”

“Is that really all? It seemed like Rainbow was nervous about something when she came here earlier.”

“No Spike, that’s not all. I need you to take a letter.”

Dear Princess Celestia,
Earlier today, Rainbow Dash told me of a strange rock she found in the middle of Whitetail Woods. At first, I was quite skeptical of her claims that a boulder just appeared out of nowhere, but after leading me to it, I was able to see it for myself. The rock in question is about three meters in diameter, seems to be composed of granite, and is perfectly circular, probably down to the molecular level. (Although that’s just a hunch, as I can’t feel differences that small) The strangest part of my analysis of the sphere is this. It is completely untouchable by magic. I know it sounds impossible, but no amount of effort could lift it even a tiny bit with magic. I hope that you can help shed light on what this thing may be, and I must go back to conducting further tests on it.
Also, it may be notable that it seems to invoke a feeling of unease upon any who look at it.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
Twilight Sparkle.

Author's Note

I thought I would upload the second chapter by now, but I doubt that all future updates will happen this fast.

Testing

The royal duties of Princess Celestia were very dull that day. Hardly anypony had come in, and Celestia was free to just fill out mindless paperwork. “I’d give up cake for a week if I could just get a distraction right about now.” thought Celestia as she signed yet another document detailing some trade agreement or another.

As if to answer her wish, the telltale sign of dragon magic filtered in through the window and towards the princess. It manifested into a letter which Celestia happily snagged in her aura, forgetting the pile of paperwork she set down next to her.

“Oh, what have we here? A letter from Twilight?” thought Celestia happily as she unrolled the scroll. As her eyes swept from side to side, her expression became increasingly bemused. An object that wouldn’t be affected by magic? Such a notion was to only exist in books of fantasy, not in a serious letter from her former student.

But maybe…

“Captain Gilded Shield,” commanded Celestia, as one of her royal gaurds approached her. “Yes, your majesty?”

“Please inform my sister that I will be taking the rest of the day off. A small matter has arisen in Ponyville that may require my attention.”

“Yes, your majesty.” said Gilded Shield.

“Pinkie, we need another batch of chocolate chip cookies for the front counter!” shouted Mr. Cake over his shoulder.

“Coming right up!” a cheerful voice from the kitchens answered back. Pinkie started mixing the butter and sugar together, as always, and was halfway through measuring out the flour when Mr. Cake called back to her again.

“Pinkie, your friend Twilight is here to see you!” Suddenly, Pinkie’s whole body began shaking and convulsing. Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

“Ooh, Twilight has got a real doozy for me this time.” thought pinkie as she made her way out of the kitchens into the common area.

“Hey Twilight, what’s up?”

“Pinkie, you grew up on a rock farm, right?” asked Twilight, her expression almost pleading.

“Umm, yeah, that’s where I told you I got my cutie mark, remember?”

“Pinkie, I need you to come and see something with me.” Said Twilight, practically pulling Pinkie out of the shop.

“Wait Twilight, I need to check to see if it’s okay with Mr. Cake for me to leave while I’m still on duty.”

“It’s fine,” said Mr. Cake, having overheard the conversation. “As long as you aren’t gone for too long.”

“Well then, that settles it! So Twilight, what did you want me to see-woah!” Pinkie yelped as Twilight pulled her out of the store by one hoof with her magic.

“What’s going on Twilight? Why are you acting so crazy? And coming from me, I think that says a lot.” Twilight let Pinkie go, and let out a sigh.

“You’re right Pinkie, it’s just that I found something that I can’t possibly explain and-“

“Twilight, we’ve been through this, remember? My pinkie sense didn’t make any sense to you either, and in the end, you just ended up accepting it for what it was. Oh, is that why you need me? To get some perspective into your head of how little you truly understand?”

“Pinkie, wha- no. I need your help because I was hoping you could tell me about a rock Rainbow Dash found.”

“Ooh! I’m great with rocks! I grew up on a rock farm you know.”

“Yes, I know Pinkie, that’s why I need your help on this. Rainbow found a rock in Whitetail Woods, and I need your help to identify it.”

“Oh, okay then, lead the way.”

Twilight made her way into Whitetail woods, with Pinkie bouncing behind her. “Hmm, it was around here somewhere…” thought Twilight. As Twilight and Pinkie Pie made their way into a clearing, Twilight spotted the round gray mass that showed where the sphere was.

“There it is Pinkie, now I hope you can help me with it.”

As they both approached the sphere, Pinkie went right up to it and began running her hoof all over it.

“Wow! It’s so smooth! And round! It’s like a miniature granite moon.”

“So, it definitely is granite then?” Pinkie nodded.

“Yep! I know granite when I see it, and this is most certainly granite. Beyond the shadow of a-“ Pinkie trailed off, suddenly looking uneasy.

“Twilight, what’s wrong with this granite?” mumbled Pinkie, who had averted her gaze, and was now looking at the ground.

That gripping unease was starting to return to Twilight as well, but not as strongly as before.

“I don’t know Pinkie, that’s what I was hoping you could help me with. No matter how hard I try to levitate it, it won’t rise up. I also want to try a few other spells on it, to test whether it is truly immune to magic.”

“Twilight, I don’t want to be here. This thing, it’s making me feel weird. Like it’s staring at me.”

Twilight wasn’t expecting that response. Sure, the sphere freaked her out, but she never felt like it was looking at her. Twilight looked at the sphere again, and didn’t feel any different.

“I’m not sure what you’re feeling Pinkie, but I’m not feeling it. You can go now though, thanks for trying.”

“Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” Said Pinkie, looking downtrodden as she walked back to Ponyville.

Twilight tried to levitate the sphere 3 more times, with exactly the same result as before. Next, she tried teleporting the sphere. Even though casting the spell required a lot of energy, the sphere did not change its position. Next, she tried transfiguring the sphere, and turn it from granite to wood. Absolutely nothing happened. Finally, she tried to heat up the sphere, and yet again, Twilight was frustrated by failure.

“Grr, what is with you?!” Twilight shouted, then quickly realized how silly it was to yell at a stone.

Finally giving up, Twilight decided it was time to wait until the princesses replied to her letter. Princess Celestia would know what this thing was and what to do, she always knew.

And with that comforting thought, Twilight turned away and went home, noticing with a start, that she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

“I hope Spike made some lunch in my absence.”

Author's Note

This is a re-upload of the third chapter. For some reason, something went wrong, and the chapter wouldn't upload.

Royal Visit

Twilight Sparkle arrived in her palace feeling quite hungry by now. Unfortunately, Spike had not prepared anything for lunch while she was out. Digging into the pantry, Twilight decided to just have a simple grass sandwich and some water. If she was going to uncover the truth of this sphere, she had to be focused, and not weighed down by too much in her stomach.

After eating, Twilight was making her way back to her room, when she saw Spike walking down the hallway towards her.

“Spike, has Princess Celestia sent a reply to my letter yet?”

“No, nothing yet. Perhaps you should try again?” offered Spike “I could go get you some more parchment and another quill.”

“Thanks Spike, I think I will write another letter. Just be sure to-“

*Knock, knock*

“I’ll get the door, Spike. You just go get that parchment.”

As Spike went back upstairs to fetch the makings of a letter, Twilight went down to the front door to see who could be visiting. “At least whoever it is knows where the front door is located.” thought Twilight as she opened the door.

“Princess Celestia! I, uh, hello!” said Twilight, frantically running back into the entrance hall to make sure everything looked spick and span. “Oh no, the Princess is here, and I haven’t had time to prepare! I hope she doesn’t notice the mess.”

“Oh, uh, come in Princess Celestia, sorry about the mess. I didn’t think you would be coming here personally.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright Twilight. In fact, I’m surprised you can keep this place as clean as it is considering how big it is.”

“So, Princess, I take it you got my letter?” asked Twilight, a hint of trepidation in her voice.

“I most certainly did, Twilight, and if what you told me is true, then what you say has me at a loss. Tell me, did you perform any more tests on this “sphere” before I arrived?”

Twilight had to take a moment to steady her breathing. Princess Celestia at a loss? Usually she had at least some kind of idea or theory, if not a level of understanding, on more topics than Twilight had ever researched.

“Well, yes Princess. I’ve tried to levitate the sphere, I’ve tried to transfigure it, teleport it, and change its temperature. None of my spells had any effect whatsoever on it.”

“You said that this thing was in Whitetail Woods, correct?” asked Celestia. Twilight nodded. “Good, then we shall head there at once.”

Twilight’s vision was blinded by a white flash for a moment, and after blinking the stars away, she saw that Celestia had teleported them both right into the forest.

“Can you lead me to it from here?” asked Celestia. “Yes, I remember that it was just past those trees to my left.”

As Celestia and Twilight walked forward, Twilight felt her new found confidence in the Princess begin to ebb away a little. “What if she can’t affect this thing with magic either?” thought Twilight, but quickly shook that thought away. “No, Princess Celestia is the most powerful pony in Equestria. If anyone can figure this out, she can. I hope.”

As the pair reached the sphere, Twilight began to grow nervous again, just from looking at it. This thing just defied logic on every magical level. Like it didn’t even exist to magic, though it was clearly a physical thing to everything else physical.

“Here it is Princess. I’m not sure where it came from, it just seemed to appear there overnight.”

Celestia looked at the stone sphere, brow furrowed. “I can see what you mean about this sphere Twilight, it does indeed make one feel uneasy in its presence. But for now, I’m going to run a few of my own tests on it.”

Celestia lit her horn, and Twilight watched the pale yellow aura surround the sphere. Then, even though the aura rose upwards, the sphere did not.

“Most bizarre indeed. It is as if I am picking up nothing at all.”

Twilight let her head droop at the news. Not even Princess Celestia knew what this thing was. “So, you can’t figure out what this thing is then, Princess?”

“Twilight, that was but a single test. I am far from finished with this thing.” Celestia said, looking far more confident than Twilight felt at the moment.

Celestia then walked right up to the sphere, removed her golden shoe, and then ran her hoof all over it. “It is remarkably smooth, and as you said, seems to be made of granite. But there’s one test I bet you haven’t tried.” said Celestia.

Then Celestia reared up, and began pushing the stone. It was slightly sunken into the ground, but still, it began to roll easily. Then again, Celestia was much stronger than Twilight, and it was probably no problem at all to push it.

“It does seem to be as heavy as granite,” said Celestia, putting her hoof to her chin, “but now I’m going to try a more magical analysis.”

Celestia then closed her eyes and focused. Her horn began to glow, but Twilight could not see her aura enveloping anything. “What could she be up to?” thought Twilight as Celestia continued to focus.
*****

Celestia didn’t notice Twilight’s puzzlement at her actions, as she was busy probing the area with her senses to see if she could detect anything strange. As she spread her mind outwards, she sensed the ambient magic of Equestria, as it interacted with all manner of material things, even the air around them. But then she turned her attention to the sphere, and saw that the ambient magic was just, phasing through it, without touching anything at all. Then she spread her awareness along the surface of the sphere, trying to detect any sort of spell or anything that would cause this.

After finding nothing with her awareness spread out so far, she was about to give up when, she noticed there was a faint shimmer in the magical field coming from a place behind her. Turning around, Celestia probed the area where the sphere had appeared.

“Twilight, there seems to be a sort of spherical disruption to the space where the sphere was before I pushed it.”

Celestia saw that Twilight was suddenly smiling widely, as if it was suddenly Nightmare Night when she was a filly.

“So what does it mean, Princess? Have you found out what the sphere is yet?”

Celestia shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I have not. However, the magical field of Equestria seems to be a bit, disjointed in the area where the sphere appeared, and it is also in the exact shape of the sphere, even after it was moved.”
*****

So, Celestia still didn’t know what it was, but now Twilight finally had another piece of the puzzle to work with. But still…

“But you still can’t tell where this thing came from, or what it is?” asked Twilight, noticing that the Princess grinned a bit at her question.

“Well, I have an idea, but I’m not sure if it’s correct. After all, if it were correct, it would mean a great many theories that unicorn scholars have would have been proven, and a great many more would have been dis-proven.”

Author's Note

Cliffhanger, lol. All will be explained next chapter, or at least most of it.

Research

The sun was still high in the sky as Applejack continued to cart piles of broken branches out of her apple orchard. As Applejack unloaded another pile on to the ever growing heap, she wiped a bit of sweat from her brow.

“Whew, this is starting to get tough, and I’m not even halfway finished.” thought Applejack as she strapped the cart back to her, and prepared to head out again. “Then again, I could use a break right about now.”

As Applejack headed inside for a snack, she saw her friend Twilight running up to greet her. “Well, I wonder what she could be doing out here this time of day.” As Twilight made her way in to the front yard, Applejack supposed her friend was more important to her than her snack. “Well howdy Twilight, what brings you out here this afternoon?”

“Oh, not much, I just felt that I had to see another familiar face while I wait for Princess Celestia to recover some old papers on some scientific theories that were discarded decades ago.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know much about scientific theories, but if the Princess came to see you, then something important must be going on.”

“There is, Applejack, or at least, I think there is, but Celestia told me not to worry about it, and that I had done all I could. She said I should just wait until she has more information about what we found in Whitetail Woods.

Well, that was news to Applejack. So Twilight had found something there that was apparently important enough to warrant a visit from Celestia herself, then it must be powerful, or dangerous in some way.

“Twilight, if there’s something dangerous in those woods, then I’m sure that the Princess can handle it.” said Applejack, her voice filled with confidence.

“I don’t think it is dangerous Applejack, but it’s still something that the Princess doesn’t know about, and wants to discover. She said she had an idea of what it might be, but she cannot be certain until she gathers every last scrap of information she can before putting her theory to the test.”

“And what was Princess Celestia’s theory exactly? Not that I’d understand it I bet.”

“That’s the thing, she wouldn’t tell me. I hate it when she does this! She keeps potential answers just out of reach, so I can learn from the experience, or whatever.” said Twilight, looking irritated at her former teacher’s methods.

“Now Twilight, be reasonable. Celestia probably didn’t tell you because she didn’t want to give you a false hope in case she was wrong, not that I’ve ever known the Princess to be wrong about something before.”

“You’re probably right Applejack, it’s just that now I don’t know whether I should be worried or not right now, and that worries me, you know what I mean?”

“I do, but for now, why don’t you come inside for a snack with me while you tell me all about what you found?”

Twilight smiled at that. Her friends always seemed to know just what to say to take the pressure off of any situation.

“Actually, it wasn’t me who found it,” said Twilight, “It was Rainbow Dash who found it.” said Twilight, as she followed her friend inside.

At the entrance to the Canterlot Archives, a single unicorn sat at his desk, looking incredibly bored as he scratched out numbers and figures on to a seemingly endless stack of paperwork.

“Just two more hours of this, and my shift is finally over.” thought Inked Quill, as he looked up from his desk, and out of the nearby window to see where the sun was in the sky.

Suddenly, a tall figure emerged from the entrance, somepony who he rarely saw in this part of the castle.

“Princess Celestia,” he said, bowing low, “how might I be of service today?”

“Ah, Inked Quill, you may rise. I need your assistance to find some old notes on some discarded scientific theories.”

“Well Princess, if you’ll just follow me, the notes you are looking for will probably be near the back of the archive.” As they both walked down the corridors of shelves containing various books and scrolls, the shelves started to have a more derelict look. “Please excuse the dust, your Majesty, but hardly anypony ever comes back here.”

“It’s quite alright, my little pony. I wouldn’t expect anypony to come back here looking for such old information.”

“If I may inquire, what kind of theories are you looking for, exactly?” asked Inked Quill, looking over his shoulder.

“Well, perhaps you could help me. Are you familiar with the “many realms” theory?”

Inked Quill thought for a second, his brow furrowed. “Hmm, I do recall hearing something to that nature when I was beginning my studies into the complexities of magic. Doesn’t this theory state that there are various other planes of existence, each one parallel to our own?”

“Why yes, that is correct. It seems that even old ideas still linger in the newer generations. Ah, here it is.” Celestia pulled out a dust covered book called Universe, or Multiverse? and began sifting through its contents.

“Hmm, all these ideas seem to hold together,” said Celestia, talking more to herself than to Inked Quill.

“Well, with all due respect, your Highness, those theories fell out of the scientific community decades ago, as there has never been any evidence attributed to them.”

“Until now, most likely.” thought Celestia as she looked back over to Inked Quill.

“I will need to borrow this for a time. Is that alright?”

“Of course, your Highness, whatever you need. But may I ask what this is all about?”

“All in due time, my little pony, for now, I must take my leave.”

Princess Celestia held the book close to her, lit her horn, and cast a teleportation spell to get back to Ponyville.

“If I’m right about this thing, many firsts are about to be achieved in Equestrian history.”

The Calm Before...

The sun was just starting to set over the horizon, casting all of Whitetail Wood into shadows. Amidst the trees, the great granite sphere just sat there, unmoving and unchanging, unaware that it was being scrutinized by a pair of mismatched eyes.

“Come on, you stupid thing, do something!”

Discord continued to try working his unusual brand of magic into the sphere, but nothing about it either moved, or changed. Once more, the draconequus ran his lion’s paw over the perfectly smooth surface.

“What are you?! Reveal your secrets!” he shouted, not caring for how silly he must have looked at the moment. Then again, could anypony really tell the difference with Discord?

Discord heard a soft beating of hooves behind him, and he turned to see his best friend, Fluttershy.

“Is there something wrong, Discord? I heard you shouting as I was out gathering food for my animal friends.”

“No, nothing’s wrong Fluttershy, it’s just that I’m frustrated by this thing.” he said, gesturing to the sphere behind him.

“Oh my, did you make that? It looks very nice.”

Discord heaved a heavy sigh. “No, I didn’t make this, I just found it here. I don’t know what it is, or where it came from, all I know is that it is somehow immune to my magic.”

“Uh, Discord,” Fluttershy whispered, her voice growing faint, “could we maybe go someplace else? I could make you some tea back at my cottage.”

“Well, I do suppose this thing is pretty boring. It just sits here, like a rock. Oh right, it is a rock. Okay then, tea it is.”

Discord turned back to Fluttershy, and was startled to see she was already trotting back to her cottage quite a bit more quickly than was necessary.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” asked Discord, teleporting in front of the shy pegasus. “It’s like you’re afraid of that rock.”

“I uh, I don’t like it. It makes me feel weird. It’s like something inside me doesn’t want to look at it.”

“Really? I didn’t feel anything, and I’ve been staring at it for the better part of 10 minutes before you came along.” Discord stated calmly, giving a parting glace back at the stone orb.

“Well, maybe it doesn’t affect you that way, but I still don’t like it. Can we get going, please? I still want to make you that tea I promised.”

“Alright Fluttershy, for you, we can leave it be.”

Twilight had just returned home after a lengthy conversation with Applejack about what she found, and even though Twilight voiced her concerns about the strange round stone, Applejack didn’t seem very worried at all. Perhaps Applejack was right. Perhaps Twilight was, once again, worrying over nothing, as the sphere didn’t seem to have put anypony in danger for as long as it was in that forest.

“Spike, are you there?” called Twilight up the steps to the bedrooms. Nobody answered. “He must have put himself to bed. He’s become so independent as of late, he might even want to move out and get his own house before long.”

With Twilight musing about the potential future of her number one assistant, she decided to head into the kitchen and have a few bites before going to bed. After a few mouthfuls of juice and hay, she went upstairs to her bedroom, where, sure enough, Spike lay in his basket, sound asleep.

Twilight put her own head down on her pillow, and tried not to think about that ominous sphere that was left in Whitetail Wood.

Suddenly, Spike’s head bolted upright, as he began to look as if he was sick. A second later, a loud belch was heard, followed by a flash of green fire which materialized into a scroll.

“Ugh, are you kidding me? I was having such a nice dream.” complained Spike as Twilight snatched the scroll out of the air.

“Hmm, sending me a message at this hour? This must be important.” thought Twilight as she looked at the Princess’s royal seal upon the scroll. Unrolling the scroll, Twilight began to read.

To my former student

Princess Twilight Sparkle,
Twilight, I think I know how to determine what the true nature of the sphere is. I need you to return to Whitetail Wood with Spike and your other friends tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. if they are available. I will need somepony I can both trust, and who has already seen the sphere to help me run one final experiment on it. My sister will be there as well, and if this experiment is successful, it may mean the dawning of a new era in Equestria.

-Celestia

Finally, it was time to unveil the mystery of this thing. Tomorrow, all would be revealed, hopefully. And what did Celestia mean by the dawn of a new era?

“Sleep first, worry tomorrow.” thought Twilight as she laid her head back down on the pillow, and fell into a steady sleep.

Author's Note

Bit of a shorter chapter this time. I've been kind of struggling on what details I want to include before I reveal too many plot points.

Explanations

It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, and Rarity was diligently focusing on her sewing. She had already been at it for about half an hour, and it was only 7:30 in the morning.

“Stupid deadlines, why can’t Sapphire Shores realize that these orders are nearly impossible to fill in the time she needs them?”

Suddenly, Rarity heard the bell over the door ring out through the boutique, and a pair of hooves stepping over the threshold.

“I’ll be right there!” called Rarity over her shoulder, as she finished sewing one last hem of her current piece. “Three down, only eight more to go.”

As Rarity made her way into the central room of her shop, she saw one of her fiends standing in the doorway.

“Twilight, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I’m here because the Princess would like you and I, as well as the rest of our friends, to meet at Whitetail Wood at 9:00 this morning.”

“Well, uh, even though I do have quite a full schedule, as well as a deadline to meet by 2:00 today, I suppose if the Princess has asked for my presence, I’ll have to put that first.”

“Oh no, Rarity. Princess Celestia said that it was fine if you couldn’t make it.” said Twilight, beginning to back out of the shop.

“Well, could you please tell her that I am very sorry for not being able to heed her call, but I am simply swamped with work today.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her, and it was nice to see you again, Rarity.” said Twilight as she left the shop, swinging the door closed behind her.

Deep in the center of Whitetail Wood, Princess Celestia and four other ponies sat on the ground, next to the large granite sphere. The other ponies saw that Celestia was continually doing calculations on a nearby notepad, and kept referring to a book that had definitely seen better days.

Nopony bothered to ask what she was doing, even as her ears flicked upwards, and she stood up.

“Ah, it appears twilight has returned with Rarity.” Celestia said to Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Flutershy.

But, even though everypony saw Twilight walking towards the group, no one saw Rarity anywhere in sight.

“I’m sorry princess, but Rarity said she couldn’t come. She said she was too overwhelmed with work, and I’m sorry Princess. I couldn’t do as you asked and-“

“Twilight, it’s fine. I believe I told you in my letter that your friends were to only come if they were able to? I quite understand what it means to be too tied up with work.” Said Celestia calmly.

As Twilight looked back at her friends, she broke out into a large smile. “So Twilight,” said an eager sounding Rainbow Dash, “are we finally going to fix this? Are we finally going to solve this mystery?”

“I hope we do, Rainbow,” said Applejack, before Twilight could open her mouth. “I’ve seen a lot of rocks in my life, but nothing quite like this.”

“I still don’t like that thing.” murmured Fluttershy, looking at the ground, “It still makes me feel strange. Like it doesn’t want to be looked at, or something.”

“Princess, do you have any idea what this thing is, and why it’s making everypony feel this way? And how come I can’t affect it with my magic?” asked Twilight, clearly eager to hear what her mentor thought of the situation.

“Well twilight, first I must ask you a question.” Said Celestia, eyeing her old student. “What do you know of the theory of alternate realities?”

Twilight thought for a moment before replying. “Not much, Princess. Basically all I know about it is that it states that our reality is just one of many, all stacked up against each other, but the theory fell out of favor, due to lack of evidence.”

“Well, I think this thing may be the first piece of evidence to that theory,” began Celestia before Rainbow Dash cut her off.

“Hang on a second, I don’t really understand much of what you said, but if this stone ball is from some parallel world like in the comics, then how could it have gotten here?”

“I was getting to that, Rainbow Dash.” Said Celestia, turning her sharp gaze towards the mare in question.

“Uh, sorry Princess, please continue.” Said Rainbow, looking bashful.

“As I was saying, I believe this sphere may be the first evidence that we have of other worlds. As you can see, magic is simply not affecting it. All magic, whether natural or controlled, just phases right through the matter itself, as if the matter itself follows some other set of laws.”

Celestia stopped, as she noticed twilight had her hoof in the air. Celestia had to hold back a chuckle, as she saw her former student acting like she was in school again. “Yes Twilight, do you have something to ask?”

“Princess, even though it may be a bit off topic, but if the known laws of physics can be broken at any time, even by something from another reality, then are they truly laws to begin with?”

“Hmm, an age old philosophical query. But worry not Twilight, I’m sure that there will be time to answer that after conducting the little test I have planned for today.”

Twilight and her friends grew attentive, as they waited for Celestia to unveil her plan to them.

“To see if this thing is truly from another world, I think I’m going to open the very doorway that this stone came through, and see what’s on the other side.” said Celestia, seeing the suddenly shocked expressions on most of the pony’s faces.

“Is that what that book is for?” asked Twilight, now noticing the book and notepad, along with a quill and ink that lay on the ground near Celestia’s hooves.

“Yes Twilight, I have been going through come of Brilliant Point’s old theories and equations for how a rift between the realms may be opened, and I believe that we now have a rift right here to observe.”

“Is it the sphere?” asked Twilight, “Because I don’t see anything that resembles a doorway near here.”

“No Twilight, the sphere is simply matter that was brought through. I believe the matter that was in the place of the portal when the sphere arrived switched places with it, and now resides within that other world.”

“So, if this portal is like a revolving door to another realm, then why can’t we see it?”

“It’s closed at the moment, Twilight,” replied Celestia, “but it left a mark, a sort of scar if you will, that I believe I may have found the spell to open up again.”

“But what about the boulder?” asked Pinkie Pie. “All this talk of other worlds is making my head spin. What are we going to do about the rock?”

“Oh, well that’s simple, my little pony. The sphere is now useless.” Said Celestia calmly, as she reared up next to the sphere. Twilight and her friends watched with trepidation as Celestia heaved the great smooth stone away from her, and rolled it down into a ditch, where it fell with an audible thump.

“So, the rock isn’t dangerous or anything?” asked Applejack. “Then why do I still feel put off when I look at it?”

Celestia turned to Applejack and calmly replied, “I believe it has that effect on ponies because even the simple act of observation creates a small disturbance in the magical field, which is then relayed back to your subconscious. Since the sphere does not create that disturbance when viewed, your conscious and subconscious minds are at a conflict, creating the feeling we all get when seeing it.”

“Finally,” thought Twilight, “this thing is starting to make more sense. But still…”

“So Princess Celestia, what is this test you have for finding this other world? And how did this portal even get here?” asked Twilight, looking back to her mentor.

“To answer your second question, I honestly do not know how it got here. It may be magic that nopony understands, or perhaps something even deeper than magic itself. To answer your second question Twilight, I have recently finished refining a spell from Brilliant Point’s original equations to try to reopen the portal.”

Celestia steeled herself to what she was about to ask. “I think the only way to make an accurate statement as to where this portal leads is for somepony to go and see. My little ponies, I require a volunteer.”

Author's Note

Damn, don't you hate those cliffhangers? I know this chapter was a bit talk heavy, but I had to get most of the explanations out of the way in a single go for my plans of the next chapter.

The Plan

“Princess, are you saying you want somepony to go in there?” asked Twilight, pointing with her hoof at the depression in the soil where the sphere had appeared.

“Yes, Twilight, that is exactly what I’m saying. While I wouldn’t order one of my own subjects to put themselves in potential danger like this-“

“I’ll go.”

All heads turned to look at Rainbow Dash, who had unexpectedly stepped forward at the Princesses call for a volunteer.

“Are you sure, Rainbow Dash? This may be a perilous journey, and I cannot guarantee that you will return from that other world with no adverse effects.”

“Relax Princess, it should be fun! I’ll be the first pony ever to venture into another world, just like in the comic books.” Said Rainbow Dash, looking as confident as ever.

“It’s not that simple, Rainbow, but if you’re sure, then we shall begin at once.”

Celestia strode purposefully to the depression in the soil, and began to concentrate. Her horn glowed with a golden aura, and much to the pony’s surprise, a ball of simmering energy, the same shape and size of the sphere, had appeared in the air.

“If you are still certain about your decision Rainbow Dash, then step into the depression. When you reach the other world, don’t move, or I may not be able to bring you back. Just look around for one minute, gather what information you can. I’ll bring you back once the minute is up.”

Rainbow Dash, looking a bit overwhelmed by all these tasks, looked up towards Celestia. “You can count on me, Princess.”

Rainbow Dash strode purposefully into the sphere of energy. “Good luck, Rainbow.” said Twilight.

“Yeah, and while you’re there, bring us back a souvenir!” chirped Pinkie Pie.

All the other ponies watched in silence as Rainbow Dash gave one final nod to Celestia, who focused one final time. There was a flash of light, and an unnerving sound, and Rainbow Dash was gone.

Rainbow found her vision at a loss for a moment when the flash consumed her. When she opened her eyes again, she was met with nothing but darkness.

“Hmm, this world isn’t very exciting so far.” she thought, as she began to feel around with her hooves.

She seemed to be sitting inside of some kind of stone bowl, as feeling with her hooves indicated. Remembering that she only had a minute to look around, she scanned as much as she could with her eyes, straining to adjust, but was still met by total darkness.

Rainbow then tried walking forwards a bit, to see if she could proceed forwards.

“I know the princesses said not to move from this spot, but a few seconds couldn’t hurt.”

She tried climbing up the side and out of the bowl, but she just ended up finding the curve just went upwards continually.

“It’s not a bowl,” thought Rainbow Dash with a growing fear, “it’s a sphere.”

Reacting instinctively to her sudden claustrophobia, Rainbow Dash tried to life off with her wings. On her first flap however, not only did she fail to lift off, but a sudden wave of heat surged through her.

“What the hay?! Why can’t I fly? And it is getting warmer in here?” Rainbow thought as she considered trying to take off again.

Even as Rainbow Dash flapped a few more times, she couldn’t take flight, and the temperature inside the sphere seemed to be increasing at an alarming rate.

“I hope my minute is almost up,” thought Rainbow Dash, sweat beginning to form on her brow. “If I don’t get out of here soon, I’m gonna be cooked!”

No sooner had Rainbow formed the terrifying thought, than her vision was enclosed by a sudden burst of light once more, and she found herself back in Whitetail Woods, her friends looking at her with looks of relief.

“Rainbow, you’re back!” exclaimed Pinkie, looking as happy as ever, “Did you bring us back a souvenir? How was that other world? Was it just like the comics?”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Princess Celestia, stepping forwards, “are you alright? You’re covered in sweat. Do you need me to bring you a doctor?”

Rainbow did a quick once over of herself before replying, “Nah, I’m okay Princess, but it did get pretty hot where I was.”

“Please Rainbow, you must tell me all of what you’ve seen and felt on the other side of the portal.” said Celestia, trying to sound comforting.

“Well Princess, there really isn’t much to tell, although it did get kind of scary.”

“How was it scary?”

“Well, I appeared in what seemed to be a hollowed out stone sphere. There was no light at all, and I was closed it at all angles. I’m kind of ashamed to admit it, but I am a bit claustrophobic.” said Rainbow, shuddering at the memory of the feeling.

“Hmm, then it is as I suspected. The portal to that other world lead underground it seems, right into the middle of a layer of granite.”

“Wait, Princess,” asked Twilight before Celestia could continue, “is the sphere that came here just part of that granite layer, and is shaped like a sphere just because that was the shape of the portal that cut it out?”

Celestia looked back at her former student. “Yes Twilight, I believe that is the case. It seems my suspicions were correct.”

“Wait, Princess, there’s something else I should tell you about while I was there.” said Rainbow Dash, now looking at the ground. “While I was there, I couldn’t take off. Every time I flapped my wings, I just got hotter and hotter. What could possibly have caused that?”

Celestia looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m not sure, Rainbow Dash. Your inner pegasus magic should have allowed you to fly, even if you would have very quickly hit the ceiling of the sphere.”

“So Princess,” asked Twilight, looking excited, “if we were to tunnel upwards through the ground, we would reach the surface of a completely new world?”

“It would be quite the undertaking, as we would not have any magic to aid us, but in theory, yes. However, we don’t know if such a world could possibly function where magic doesn’t seem to work.”

“But Princess, we can still live without our magic, can’t we? Even after Tirek stole all of our magic, we could still think and feel and move around just fine.”

“Yes Twilight, theoretically we can all still live without our magic, but would you want to? Even for something as amazing as this?”

Twilight considered her options. On one hoof, it would be terrible to lose her magic, even if it was only temporary. On the other, she could never pass up the opportunity to make so many new discoveries.

“Yes Princess, even without my magic, I would still want to go explore the other world.”

Then, Celestia broke out into a big smile. “I knew you would say that Twilight! I’m so proud of the scholar within you.”

“But like you said, this would be a big undertaking. We would need mining equipment, non-magical light sources, an air supply for an extended stay underground, a workforce, come to think of it, I should make a checklist for this. You were right Princess, this is a big undertaking.”

“You are certainly right about that, Twilight. I’ll go back to Canterlot and have some of the initial arrangements made for this project. In the meantime, why don’t you all get home? I’m sure there are some ponies who have missed your presence by now.”

Preparations

With a flash, Princess Celestia teleported back to her bed chambers. As she exited her room, she called down a passing guard.

“Excuse me sir, but could you please fetch my sister for me? There are many important matters we must discuss.”

“At once, your Majesty.” said the guard curtly, bowing before taking off down the hallway.

“Now where did I leave those order forms?” thought Celestia as she made her way towards her office. Rummaging through the stacks of barley used order forms that were used in trade with other nations, she eventually found a stack of dusty sheets, which revealed themselves to be blank forms for ordering from the gryphon kingdom.

As Celestia began to fill them out, one by one, she saw out of the corner of her eye a flash of light as her sister teleported into her office with her.

“Hello dear sister, you missed most of this morning’s day court.”

“Ah, Luna, I’m glad you’re here. There’s no time for that now, I have a large project which I need supplies for, and I need your help dealing with some of the formalities of foreign trades.”

Princess Luna looked over some of the forms that were already filled out.

“30 units of mining grade dynamite? 45 canisters of compressed atmosphere? Celestia, I highly doubt that there are any buried treasures underneath Equestria that would substantially add to the royal treasury, considering how much money you and I have already.”

“Oh no, dear sister. You misunderstand. These tools are not for digging down, they are for digging up.” Replied Celestia, taking pleasure in her sister’s befuddled expression.

“I do not understand, Tia, dig upwards? I’m sure I need not tell you that we are already above ground.”

“Luna, I think it’s about time I told you what has been taking up so much of my time recently.” said Celestia, as she began filling out another order form. “Recently, the bearers of the elements of harmony have discovered something that could potentially change the world as we know it.”

“Well, this is news. Was it a crashed alien spacecraft by any chance?” asked Luna, looking unamused.

“No, it wasn’t a spacecraft, but it is alien in origin. It is the first evidence that ponykind has of the existence of other realms.”

“Tia, if what you say is true, then I’m not sure it is so wise to rush in to things like this. And you haven’t even told me what it is that they found, or what all this,” she gestured to the pile of order forms, “has to do with it.”

Celestia sighed, and proceeded to tell Luna all of what she both knew and suspected about the sphere, the portal, and the world beyond.

“This is most unusual indeed.” said Luna, looking pensive. “But if we are truly on the cusp of discovering a whole new world, then shouldn’t we take this more slowly? It’s not in your nature to rush into things like this. Tia, tell me, is something else going on?”

Celestia turned back towards her sister before replying. “Yes Luna, there is. Princess Twilight Sparkle has personally requested to be a major part of the operation, and you know how excited she can become at the prospect of learning new things.”

“Well, if you need help with any of this paperwork, I’ll be happy to lend a hoof.”

“That would be nice, Luna.”

And with that, both of the royal sisters began the most boring part of the most exciting thing to happen since their reign began.

“Finally, all done!”

Rarity put away the final dress she made into a box, where it would later be sent to fill Sapphire Shore’s order.

“I hope the others had more fun with the Princess than I have been having in here.” she thought darkly, as she heard a hoof knock on her door.

“Be right there!” called Rarity as she made her way to the front of her shop and opened the door, only to see her friend Applejack on the other side.

“You know Applejack, the store is still open. You could have just walked in.”

“Oh, uh, right. Anyway, I’ve spoken to Princess Celestia with the others, and they have come to a decision about what to do with the sphere.”

“Sphere? What sphere? Did something happen?” asked Rarity, looking nervous at the thought.

“Oh, you haven’t seen it yet? There’s a great big hunk of rock cut into a perfect orb shape out on the Whitetail Woods that just appeared recently.”

“I’m sorry Applejack, but I don’t know to what stone orb you are referring.”

“Well, I guess it don’t matter much, but Princess Celestia found a gateway to another world, and Rainbow Dash went thought it.”

Now Rarity was looking quite a bit alarmed. “A gateway? Like in the stories? And you said the Rainbow Dash is stuck on the other side?!”

“No Rarity, RD is fine. She was brought back, and told us that she appeared underground in some other world. Now Twilight wants to dig to the surface to see that other world, and we need to find some skilled diggers. I figured since you buy a lot of gems, that you might know some ponies who are a skilled hoof as busting up rocks.”

“Well, Applejack, I’m glad to hear that Rainbow Dash is okay, but I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t know very many miners. Most of the gems I have a find myself in the fields using my gem finding spell, and my dear friend Spike usually helps with the digging. There’s really something to be said about a dragon’s endurance, you know.”

“Aw shoot, I hadn’t even thought of Spike. He would be great for this project.” said Applejack. “I gotta go ask Twilight to see if Spike can left a hoof with digging through granite, and since he’s a dragon, she should be able to handle the heat just fine. Thank you so much Rarity, you’ve probably just made this job a whole lot easier.”

“Oh, it was nothing Applejack, you know I would love to do my part in this grand undertaking.”

Applejack then left the shop and headed towards Twilight’s palace.

Author's Note

I might not be updating as regularly any more, now that school has started back up for me. Thanks for all the support.

The Dig Begins

Whitetail Woods was bustling with activity today. It had only been two weeks since the sphere arrived, and already the area where it was found was packed with supplies such as crates of pickaxes, canisters of compressed air, dynamite, electric lanterns, and most unusual of all, a dozen or so neon blue crystal shards.

There were also miners milling about, most of whom were earth ponies, waiting for instructions from the foreman, who was waiting for Princess Celestia’s signal to brief the workforce.

The foreman, Stone Heart, looked over at Celestia, who finally gave her nod of approval. Now was the time to tell everyone what was going on.

“Alright everypony, listen up!” bellowed Stone, as he looked over the gathered workers. “Today we begin an assignment never before attempted in Equestrian history. Today we venture into a new world, and begin our long dig to the surface.”

Some of the workers had already begun muttering amongst themselves, mostly with incredulity, but Stone Heart continued his speech regardless.

“Most of you might not believe what I’m saying, but here’s the deal. A portal discovered near here by Princess Celestia has revealed that it leads to the underground of a new realm. A few things you should all know about this place: First, when you arrive there, you will have no ability to use your magic. That means for most of you, you will be unable to increase your strength and endurance.”

At this point, most of the crowd’s expressions had turned to worry, and one of the miners spoke up, “If we won’t be able to use our magic, then why are we going to this world in the first place?”

Stone Heart looked disapprovingly at the pony who had spoken out of turn. “What is your name?”

“Uh, my name is Dig Deep.” he said, suddenly trying to hide behind his orange mane.

“Well Dig Deep, all I know is that we are doing this because Princess Celestia said she needed a mining workforce, and we were the ones who took the job. I promise that we will be well compensated for our time once our work here is done.”

Stone Heart turned back to the rest of the crowd. “Now, as I was saying, you will have no access to your magic, plus, I’ve been told that the conditions will be quite hot when we get there.”

None of the ponies assembled looked worried at that. They were all used to digging at high temperatures.

“Our objective is to reach the surface of this new world any way we can. Before anypony goes through the portal, I will be sending a lit container of dynamite through first to clear out a larger area. After which, all the debris will be brought back through. Once the area is cleared, we can enter the portal, no more than two by two, and begin our work. Any questions?”

Several hooves shot into the air. Stone Heart picked one at random.

“Uh sir, you haven’t told us where the portal is yet, plus, you haven’t told us what those are for yet.” he said, pointing at the neon blue crystals.

“Ah, well, the portal is currently closed, and therefore invisible. It is right over there,” said Stone Heart, pointing at the depression where the sphere came through, “and from what I have been told, the crystals are called aeon crystals. Now I’m no unicorn, but from what I gather, these shards are almost alive in their own way. They gather and store magical energy from Equestria’s magical field, much like a pony does, and that energy can be used by any unicorn who triggers them.”

Most of the miners were looking confused at this point, so Stone Heart decided to keep things simple.

“Basically, these crystals will be gathering the necessary energy to open the portal over and over again. It only opens for a short time, and all who want to travel between worlds must be standing within it. Once we are all through, the crystals will be arranged in the proper formation so that when triggered, the portal will open automatically every 30 minutes.”

At this point, most of the gathered ponies had put their hooves down, and Stone Heart nodded towards Princess Celestia.

“My little ponies,” she spoke to the crowd, “if you are ready, we shall begin at once. I will have the dynamite sent through first to clear some area, then I shall start sending you all over.”

Nopony objected, so Stone Heart took that as his cue to go over to the dynamite cart. As he pushed it into the area of the portal, he turned to Celestia before saying, “I hope you find what you seek when this is over, Princess, for all our sakes.”

Celestia nodded, and began to focus. With her magic, she quickly lit the fuse of the dynamite, then cast the spell to open the portal. With the cart now out of sight. All they could do was wait.

“WAIT!!!” yelled a framiliar voice, as a purple alicorn with a dragon on her back flew beneath the canopy and towards the group of assembled workers. “Don’t start without me! Oh no, am I too late? Did I not get to see history in the making?”

“Relax Twilight,” said Spike, sliding off of her back, “everypony is still here. It looks like the operation hasn’t even started yet.”

“Actually Spike,” said Princess Celestia, “I’ve sent the dynamite through to the other side to clear the area. I think it’s time I brought back whatever’s left after the blast. Also, I’m glad you could come to help with this endeavor.”

Celestia then lowered her horn, and once more, cast the spell to open the gateway. A sphere of fragmented granite shards, as well as bits of the cart the dynamite was in appeared, before immediately succumbing to gravity and collapsing into a heap.

Stone Heart took that as his cue to begin miner’s part of the operation. “Alright everypony, clear away that rubble. I’m betting it will take a few more castings of that spell before all of that rubble is safely on this side. Then, we’re going in.”

As earth ponies began loading the fragmented granite onto their carts with looks of distaste on their faces, Celestia turned back to her former student.

“I’m so glad you could join us Twilight, but could any of your other friends come as well?”

“Sorry Princess, they were all too tied up in their work to come today. It’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks since this all started. It feels like a lifetime ago that I saw that sphere. Speaking of,” Twilight looked around, “where is the sphere? I thought you left it in a ditch.”

“Oh, the sphere? I had it buried somewhere of the corner of the woods. I wouldn’t want it to distract anypony here while they are working.”

Celestia looked up, and saw that the rubble had been cleared away. She lit her horn again, and cast the spell only for another ball of rubble to appear. Even as it collapsed into a heap, the miners were already clearing it away in their carts.

“I wish I could help them, Princess. This would go so much more quickly if I could just use my magic to move the debris.”

“It’s fine, Twilight. Everypony here came knowing that it was going to be a lot of hard work, and that magic wasn’t going to help them.”

The miners seemed to get even more efficient as they continued their work. Already the second mound of debris was cleared away. When Celestia saw this, she concentrated once again, and opened the portal, bringing in a much smaller pile of debris.”

“I think that’s all of it. Once this is cleared away, the workers can go through the portal themselves.” said Twilight.

At this point, it only took a few miners to quickly clear away the last of the rubble.

“Alright, time to send over our first brave soul. Who’s it going to be?” asked Stone Heart as he looked over the workforce of ponies.

“I volunteer to go first.” said Dig Deep, as he came forwards.

“Alright, have it your way.” said Stone Heart. “Just step into the depression, and Princess Celestia will take you through the portal.

Dig gathered any supplies he might need from the nearby crates, including a pickaxe, and an electric lamp. Then he made his way over to the portal and stepped into the depression. After a quick nod towards the Princess, Celestia began to cast the spell once again.

“Here goes nothing” thought Dig as light consumed his vision.

“Well, this doesn’t seem all that alien. It’s just a hole. I’ve been in plenty of holes.” thought Dig Deep as he lit his lantern and looked around.

The battery on the lantern would only last a couple of hours before he would need a new one. He looked down, and saw that he was standing in a depression, just like the one he was in that brought him here, but the walls of the hole were fragmented and broken.

“The dynamite clearly did its job.” he said aloud with a small chuckle as he stepped off the depression and headed towards a wall.

“Well, I’m supposed to be digging up here, so I guess I’d better start now.” he thought as he swung his pickaxe into the granite wall.

No sooner had he begun to chip away at the wall, than another pony appeared, carrying a pickaxe and a tank of compressed air.

“it’s not so hot down here.” said the new pony as he looked around. “I expected it to be at least as hot as those coal mines I used to work in.”

“I dunno,” replied Dig Deep, “It is quite warm I think, and is it just me, or is it getting warmer?”

“Well, it looks like you’ve already started your work, so you’re bound to work up a sweat.”

“You better get off of that depression, more ponies are going to be coming through.”

From that point onwards, the work continued quite systematically and without interruption for a few more hours. Ponies came and went, bringing debris back through the portal once it opened. The crystals had taken over for Princess Celestia, and were now opening the portal like clockwork, once every thirty minutes.

“Who knew venturing into an alien world would be just as boring as mining in any old tunnel? Except now it’s going to take a lot longer, as I’m not as strong here.” Said Dig Deep from the edge of the considerably larger cavern, wiping sweat from his brow.

“Well get used to it.” said Stone Heart, who had come through the gateway the last time it opened. “We still have a job to do, and we aren’t quitting until it’s done.”

“Yes, yes, I know. I just thought that being in an alien world would be more, I dunno, sci-fi, like in the comics.”

“Well, it might get interesting soon. Just before I came over, Princess Twilight said she would be coming here the next time the portal opened.”

Just then, there was a flash of light at the portal, at this point, not even a bother to the toiling ponies, and a purple alicorn with a dragon atop her back appeared.

“Well, here we are Spike! Isn’t this exciting to be in a completely new world?” asked Twilight enthusiastically.

“I don’t know. To me it just looks like another cave.” said Spike, looking around. “I thought we were supposed to be digging upwards. How come everypony is digging sideways?”

“Well Spike, the chamber has to be wide enough for all of the equipment and supplies to come through. Once it is, then the ponies can start digging upwards.” Said Stone Heart, approaching the pair. “But if you want to start tunneling upwards now, then be my guest.”

Spike got off of Twilight’s back and stepped towards the far wall of the cavern. “Watch this Twilight, I’ll make short work of this rock.”

Spike began swinging his claws at the granite wall, beginning to chip away at the stone much more quickly that any individual miner had done so far.

“Something’s wrong, Twilight. This should be easier.” said Spike after a good 15 minutes of digging and chipping through the stone.

“What are you talking about Spike? You’re doing great!” said Twilight, sweating profusely. “I can see that you would also be able to withstand the intense heat down here with no problem.”

“Intense? Twilight, it’s hardly more than room temperature down here, and I’m the one who has been doing all the work.”

Spike turned back to look at Twilight, only to see that her fur had become matted with sweat, and she was blinking a lot more than was necessary.

“Twilight, are you okay? You don’t look well.” Asked Spike, looking concerned.

“I’m fine Spike, I just need some water, that’s all.” But even as Twilight opened her canteen of water to take a drink, she collapsed to a sitting position.

“Twilight!” yelled Spike, rushing over to Twilight’s side. Spike instinctively put a claw over Twilight’s forehead, and felt that she was much warmer than he remembered. “Oh Twilight, you’re sick! We need to get you back to Equestria now!”

Spike rushed to the side of one of the miners. “Excuse me, can you help me friend? I need to get Twilight back to the portal. Do you know when it opens next?”

“It still has about 10 minutes before it opens. You came here with Princess Twilight, right?”

“Yeah, she’s over there,” said Spike, pointing with a claw at his fallen friend, “she’s sick or something, we need to get her home.”

The two wasted no time on getting Twilight back to the depression of stone where they knew the portal would soon open and take them to safety.

“Come on Twilight hang in there,” said Spike, trying to get Twilight to drink some water out of her canteen. “You’ll be home soon. By the way,” he said, looking over to the pony who helped him, “I never caught your name.”

“My name is Dig Deep. I was the first once through the portal.” he said, looking Spike in the eye.

“What happened to your eyes? They look all greyish. Are you blind by any chance?” asked Spike, slightly taken aback by the pony’s gaze.

“No, my eyes, have always been green. They only turned grey that one time when Tirek stole my magic that one time. Unless…”

Dig Deep looked over his shoulder and at his flank. Blank.

“What the?! My cutie mark! What happened? I had it when I came here. Do ponies lose their cutie marks when they come here or something?”

Dig Deep and Spike looked at the unconscious form of Twilight. The familiar six pointed star was still there, but it was somehow duller, and more muted than he was used to seeing it. And Twilight was still heating up…

…Until a bright flash obscured the vision of the trio, and they found themselves back in Equestria.

“Somepony, get some cold water, quick!” shouted Dig at some of the miners who were on break.

A full canteen of freshly chilled water was brought, and Spike took it, quickly unscrewed it, and tried to tip the contents into Twilight’s mouth.

“Come on Twilight, you’ve got to drink. Last winter you kept on telling me not to eat the snow because it would chill me much faster than having the snow just touch my scales. So come on, please Twilight, please wake up!”

Twilight’s eyes fluttered for a second before managing to swallow some of the icy water.

“I think her fever broke. She’s not getting any warmer.” Said Dig Deep, forgetting all about his blank flank, his mind solely on the sleeping alicorn at his hooves.

Spike sighed in relief. “I don’t think she’ll be going back to that world any time soon.”

Author's Note

Originally, I wanted this chapter to finish the story, but I've decided to split it up in to two smaller chapters. There will be one more chapter after this one.

The Revelation

Twilight slowly became aware that she was lying on a bed. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw that she was back in her room in her palace in Ponyville.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alright.” said a familiar voice. Twilight turned her head to see Spike, as well as her friend Rainbow Dash standing by her bedside.

“What happened to you?” asked Spike. “You looked fine for a while in that cave, then, next thing I know, you’re collapsed on the floor with your body temperature getting higher and higher.”

Twilight strained her memory. “I’m not sure, Spike. At first I thought the heat of the cave was getting to me, but if what you say is true, then the heat was coming from within me.”

“Well it’s okay now,” said Rainbow Dash, “You don’t have to go back to that world ever again now.”

“What are you talking about Rainbow? Of course I have to go back there. It’s only because of me that this whole operation started. I have to see this through to conclusion. Besides, what are you even doing here?”

“Well, I was at home chillin’ after today’s work, when I heard Spike calling up to me. He said that you had gotten sick or something, and you needed to get home. Obviously, I couldn’t leave one of my friends hanging, so I followed him to where you were, then carried you back here.”

“Well thanks for that, Rainbow, but now I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia explaining what happened.”

“I already sent it.” said Spike, looking proud for being on top of things. “I also included the details about that pony, Dig Deep, who helped you out of the cave. He apparently lost his cutie mark and eye color while in that other world. Your cutie mark was fading as well.”

Suddenly, Twilight heard a knock at the front door.

“I’ll get it.” announced Spike as he made his way down the stairs.

As Spike opened the door, he was met with a face he was starting to get used to seeing in this town. “Princess Celestia, come in.”

“I came as soon as I got your letter. Is Twilight alright?” asked Celestia, looking unsure for once.

“Yes, she’s awake, and I bet she would like to speak with you about some of the new things we have learned about that other world.”

Spike led Celestia upstairs to Twilight’s room, where Twilight was sitting upright in her bed.

“Princess Celestia!” exclaimed Twilight, “What are you doing here?”

“When I got Spike’s letter about how you had fallen ill from going to that other world, I came as quickly as I could, to make sure that you were alright.”

“Well, I think I’m alright now. I don’t feel any worse off, and it seems that my fever is gone too.”

“I’m glad to hear that, replied Celestia, “but I need you to tell me exactly what happened in that cave that put you into this state.”

“Well Princess, I’m not exactly sure. I was just standing there, surrounded by the miners, watching Spike claw his way through the stone.”

“I still think that it should have been a lot easier than it was.” Spike cut in.

“Spike, you were doing great. You were doing better than any one individual miner, and you didn’t even have a pickaxe. But anyways Princess, as I watched Spike dig, it was getting warmer and warmer. I thought the heat of the cave was getting to me, but Spike says that the heat was coming from within me.”

“Hmm, and Rainbow Dash,” said Celestia, now looking towards the pegasus, “you said that it got very hot in that world for you as well, didn’t you?”

“Well Princess, it did get hot, but only after I started flapping my wings.” said Rainbow Dash, slightly taken aback to being addressed.

“Are there any other clues that might be useful as to why this happened?” asked Celestia to the group.

“Well Princess,” Spike began, “there was this pony who helped Twilight get out of the cave and back to Equestria, and he has lost his cutie mark. When we both looked at twilight, we saw that her cutie mark was getting fainter as well, and the fainter it got, the warmer Twilight became.”

“This is troublesome. It’s like the magic is burned right out of any pony who enters that world, and the more magic a pony has, or uses, then the faster it burns.”

“So Princess, what you’re saying is that I can never survive going back there?” asked Twilight, looking at the bed sheet disappointedly.

“Perhaps you may be able to.” said Celestia, “Do you remember when this project was first started? I asked you if you would be willing to give up your magic to see that other world.”

“Yes, I remember,” replied Twilight, looking up into Celestia’s gaze, “but I don’t see what that has to do with- Oh! I get it! I don’t need to burn out all my magic, because I can just give it to somepony else.”

“If you would be so willing, I can keep your magic safe for you while you go back through the portal.”

“I think that would be a good idea, Princess, but this operation could still take days to complete. Perhaps I should wait until the miners near the surface before returning.”

“Very well then. If there is nothing more to be said here and now, I must return to Canterlot. Please notify me when the workforce of miners near the surface of that other world.”

And with that, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Spike had to shut their eyes as the flash of a teleportation spell filled the room.

“So, do you think we’re going to see any aliens when we reach the surface?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“First off, Rainbow, the word “alien” literally means “foreigner”. We would be the foreigners on that new world, so that makes us the aliens. Second off, without magic, I can’t see how intelligent life could have evolved. Perhaps we will find strange plants and animals, but the odds of finding a race of beings is incredibly low.”

“Aw, so no super high tech space age equipment?”

“Sorry Rainbow, this is reality. Not a comic book.”

In the days that followed, the ponies continued their work, digging ever upwards through the stone. They had left the granite layer, and were now digging much more quickly through some other rock layers. Some metal ores had been discovered, but no gemstones. Rarity finally got around to seeing what all the fuss was about, although she didn’t take to the idea of visiting a cave, because as she put it, “I’ve become more than familiar with caves and tunnels in the past, and I would not care to repeat those experinces.”

Rumors had been spreading steadily over the small town of Ponyville. Everypony was noticing the sounds of work coming from Whitetail Woods, although by order of the foreman of the operation, nopony was allowed in to the work area without his approval.

“Twilight, I have a message for you.” said Spike, walking into the kitchen while Twilight was having lunch. He opened the scroll and began reading the note. “It’s from the foreman of the mining operation. He said that they are nearing the surface, as the rocks are becoming less dense, and there is dirt which is becoming increasingly more moist as they go upwards.”

“Oh good. Spike, please take a letter for me.” Said Twilight as she finished her last mouthful of oats.

No sooner had Twilight made her request than Spike already had a quill and parchment ready to go. Spike began to write as Twilight spoke.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, the mining operation is almost complete. As I would like to be one of the first ponies to break through the surface of an alien world, I request that I keep my magic safe with you. I hope that you will be able to come soon.

Your former student,

Twilight Sparkle

As soon as Twilight had finished, Spike sent the letter on its way to Canterlot.

“Now all we have to do is wait for a reply.” said Twilight.

Twilight and Spike ended up just sitting in the kitchen, waiting. They didn’t have to wait long, however, as not even six minutes later, Spike ended up belching out a scroll with Celestia’s seal on it.

Dear Twilight,

It seems that this endeavor of yours is finally about to pay off. I shall be waiting for you near the portal, so that you may transfer your magic to me before going through.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

Twilight wasted no time in getting out the front door, and making her way into Whitetail Woods. Finally, today many new discoveries would be made about a completely new plane of existence. Sure, the rocks that were found already provided some information, but the surface is where observations can be truly made.

As Twilight approached the work site, she spotted Princess Celestia speaking to Stone Heart. Celestia caught her eye, and nodded her in.

“So Twilight, the portal is going to be opening in another four minutes. Are you ready to do this?” asked Celestia.

“I’m ready, Princess.” said Twilight, looking determined. “Just tell me what to do.”

“Simply touch your horn to mine, and prepare yourself.”

Twilight nodded, and touched her horn to Celestia’s. Suddenly, Twilight felt weak, like a layer of material that had been holding her up had just been stripped off. As Twilight steadied herself, she looked over her shoulder to her flank. Not seeing a cutie mark there caused her a brief moment of panic, but then she remembered what she was to do.

“Alright Princess, it’s time to see this other world.” Said Twilight, stepping into the depression where the portal was.

Twilight didn’t have to wait long, as the aeon crystals discharged their magic, and Twilight was sucked to the other side of the gateway. She then found herself back in the cave she had visited before, though much had changed in the past few days. The chamber was much wider than it was before, and iron structural supports sprouted up here and there. The entire place smelled of sweat, and Twilight could see a tunnel sloping upwards at the far side of the room.

Twilight went straight up the tunnel, where she found three earth ponies with shovels digging through the soil. A quick glance at their flanks confirmed that they had lost all their magic while here.

“So guys, how are we doing? Are we close to the surface?”

The one still digging up at the front replied with, “By our estimates, we should reach the surface within 2 hours.” He then turned his head towards one of the Earth ponies who was securing another structural support. “Hey, could you bring this dirt back down the tunnel?”

“Sure thing.” Said the other pony, as he began scooping dirt into a small cart.

The digging pony turned back to Twilight. “Oh yeah, it’s almost time for us to get our well deserved paym-“

*Clang*

The miner stopped dead as the metal end of the shovel had struck a hard metal surface. Confused, she brushed away some of the dirt, and shone his lantern straight at the offending object.

A sliver of solid iron met his vision. He cleared away more dirt with his shovel, and revealed a thick iron tube running straight through the ground.

Twilight was flabbergasted as she looked closer at the iron tube. She was able to make out strange blocky symbols painted upon the object in yellow paint. She couldn’t understand what the symbols meant, but she knew it implied one thing.

This world was occupied as well.

Author's Note

Of course there will be a sequel. In fact, this is just the beginning of a great many things to come.