Chapter 2: Astral Displacement

When I got home, I was half expecting the entire apartment complex to be overrun with kids, but evidently they all had better things to do. So I was okay to just rush into my house, because I wouldn’t be seen by anyone who hadn’t already seen me. However, before I opened the door to my house, I realized something important: my dad doesn’t know what happened to me. If I just walk in, and he sees me, he’ll freak out. I should have sent him a message first… Oh well. Too late for that now.

I trotted inside, preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. What I found, I was not prepared for at all. My dad was in a wreck. He was crying quite openly. Now it takes a lot to break him like that, I know, so I’ve never seen him this bad. Whatever happened, I just hoped someone he loved didn’t die again. When I opened the door, he immediately looked at me.

“Jason…” He almost whispered. I guess he found out somehow.

“Dad…” I said, but it just didn’t sound right with Celestia’s voice. I was at a loss for words, too. I just didn’t know what to say. I thought he’d be the one to help me get through this when I got home and let loose the bottled up emotions. I was pretty good at bottling up emotions when the need arose, but it looked like I’d have to keep them hidden away until I helped dad through his depression.

I calmly walked up to my father, some kind of instinct driving me. It wasn’t just my connection to him as family, but something else too that drove me to want… no, need to help him.

“Jason… I saw the pain you went through… I saw what happened…” He said, tears free-falling to the floor. I gave him a strong hug to comfort him. I guess the event had been caught on video and uploaded to YouTube, and the school sent Dad an Email about it.

“It’s okay. I’m alive, and that’s all that counts. I’m still here, and I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.” I told him. Even the sound of my voice seemed to calm him down.

“But… what about what happened to you? What are we going to do about it? How are we going to fix it?” Dad asked.

“None of that matters right now. Just remember that I’m not dead, and I’m still me.” I told him. I felt a bit of my own darker emotions lifting as I spoke to my dad. He didn’t say anything else, but just cried into my coat… a coat that was now as much a part of me as anything else I’d been given.

We spent a long time like that. It wasn’t until the sun went down that I realized my dad had fallen asleep. I chuckled a little, and taking my dad in my magical grip, I carried him to his bed where I lied him down and even lied the covers over him. I suddenly felt like a mother, doing this for him. The roles have been reversed. Funny, I never imagined I’d be playing the Mother’s role in this relationship.

I felt my own fatigue catch up to me then, and I knew I could finally get that rest I needed. I trotted off to my own room, and collapsed onto my bed. I was asleep within mere seconds of falling onto my bed.

***

“Discord, what happened?”

“Something attacked me. I don’t know how, but it stole my Chaos.”

“Stole your Chaos? I didn’t think that was possible.”

***

I was awoken by the feeling of unfamiliarity. I could tell somehow that I was no longer where I’d gone to sleep, maybe because of the ambient magic, maybe because I was far more comfortable, or maybe because I had some sort of sense for this kind of thing, either way, I knew I’d been moved. Thanks to years of conditioning, I could get up real quick without a single complaint. So that’s what I did when I felt the feeling of unfamiliarity. One instant of sight was all it took to conclude I wasn’t where I’d gone to sleep. I quickly looked around, trying to register where I was.

The room was mostly purple, like a cartoon night sky. There was a fireplace not that far from me, and a door just behind me. I was on something resembling a bean bag, but it was pretty flat, and functioned more like a bed. There was also a desk, on which lied a quill in ink, and lots of paper. Somehow, this place was familiar, but as I was still waking up, I just couldn’t wrap it around my head. I tried looking around for some clue as to where I was. My efforts were rewarded with a picture. On the desk, a picture sat, showing Celestia with her student Twilight, and her sister Luna. It took about 10 seconds to register what this meant.

“I’m… I’m in Celestia’s room!” I quietly exclaimed. My attention was drawn to a window, where I could hear someone groaning. I quickly got up to see who it was. When I got to the window, my breath caught in my throat.

“C-Celestia… what happened?” Celestia was lying collapsed in a heap on the balcony. She was obviously exhausted. She’d just done something huge, and whatever it was totally drained her.

“I couldn’t… close… the gate. I’m… sorry.” Celestia breathed. At least she was alive… Still, I had to do something. She obviously knew what was going on, but in her state, there was no way I was getting much info. Still, I had to try.

“You’re in really bad condition. What can I do to help?” I asked. I knew I had to help if I wanted anything more than what I got. What she said next caught me by surprise.

“Take my place… Act in my stead… and let me rest. That’s… all I need.” She replied. Her struggle to stay conscious was becoming more evident as she spoke. “Tell my sister… everything.”

And then nothing. She was gone. There wouldn’t be anything else from her for a long while, now. I gave a short, solemn bow, before lifting her with my magic, and bringing her to her bed. As I set her down, I reflected on her request. She wanted me to step up to the plate? Honestly, she must be going nuts or desperate if she’s asking someone else to take her place. Why would she ask someone else to be her?

I hardly had time to contemplate my questions, because no sooner did I set Celestia down, than a knock came from the door.

“Your Highness, I’ve brought you breakfast.” I heard someone say from outside. At the mention of breakfast, my stomach rumbled. I quietly giggled, and then went to answer the door. On the other side stood a servant with a plate of omelets and bacon-shaped hay balanced on her back. I smiled thankfully at her and accepted the plate.

“Thank you.” I said simply. I caught sight of Luna just down the hallway, and she saw me too. She smiled and waved at me. I smiled and waved back, mainly because I didn’t want the guards by the door to get suspicious. She was headed my way, too.

“Good morning, Tia.” She greeted happily.

“Good morning, Lulu.” I replied uncertainly. I wasn’t sure how the day played out for the Alicorn Sisters, but at some point, when I had a moment of privacy with Luna, I’d tell her what was going on. But until then, I’ll have to just play it cool.

“You know you seem well rested for somepony who’s worked on a big project overnight. Are you sure you didn’t just use that “project” as an excuse to go to bed early?” Luna asked. I couldn’t tell if it was suspicion or playfulness in her voice, but either way, the question surprised me. It was a good thing I hadn’t already taken a bite of my omelet, or I would have choked. Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer. She moved on to another question that surprised me more. “So, what’s with that bag?”

Wait, WHAT?! I almost gave myself whiplash with how quickly I looked at the bag hanging by my side. It was my laptop bag! I’d forgotten it entirely when I was comforting my dad yesterday! Unfortunately, I did have to answer this question. So I spit out the first lie that came to my mind.

“Oh, it holds a device relevant to my uh… project.” I said rather hastily. Then I realized just how many ways that lie could go wrong. Now I was going to have to show her the laptop and act like an amateur in handling it. I just hope sharing information about it will be enough to distract her from the relevance of whatever project Celestia had been doing… “It’s quite interesting. It seems to run on electricity rather than magic.”

“Oh? What is it?” Luna asked curiously. I lifted it out of the bag and showed it to her.

“It might be called a laptop, based on a few pop-up messages, though it might also be called an Acer. I’ve discovered it used massive amounts of data to run multiple “programs” at a given time, though the more it runs at one time, the slower the whole system runs.” I said. I opened it and pressed the spacebar to wake it up. I entered the password and only just managed to avoid acting awkward when my Rainbow Dash wallpaper showed up. Luna was watching me operate this alien machine with rapt interest. I looked immediately at the Network icon and I was not very surprised that there was no connection. However, I was surprised when a second later, it picked up on my home network. What the heck?! But… how is that possible?! The network’s in a whole other dimension! I shouldn’t be able to reach it! Unless…

“Tia, what is all of this?” Luna interrupted my mental tirade. Right, I still had to distract her with information. Wait, Celestia asked me to tell Luna about what happened to her. I didn’t want anyone else but Luna to hear, and what I was showing her on the laptop was a perfect excuse to invite her into Celestia’s room. I nearly beamed with joy as I set my plan into motion.

“Hey why don’t I show you more in here?” I asked, moving slightly back through the door. Luna smiled and almost accepted, but then one of the royal guard came tearing down the halls.

“Princesses!” He shouted. I closed and put away the laptop. I could already tell it was going to be a long day before I could tell Luna about the Event.

“Princesses! Discord just showed up and said he needed to speak with you two!” the guard said. Luna immediately turned towards me, but I was still looking at the guard.

“Lead the way." I demanded firmly. I had the feeling last night's dream was about to come true.