My Little Pony: Third Gear

Chapter 18: They Came From the Rift

The first thing they noticed was that suddenly there were neither chairs nor a floor underneath their hooves, paws, talons, or flanks. Then there was the sensation of moving directly downward, at increasing speeds, until those speeds started to become alarming. And the faster they fell, the more the wind howled in their ears.

“Oh, this is just great,” the Earth Pony said. He had a dark brown coat with lighter brown spots around his hooves and muzzle, a pale blue mane with a slightly darker blue marking the center, and blue eyes. He was wearing a black vest, rectangular-rimmed glasses, and had a globe held in upraised hooves for a cutie mark. He also spoke with a distinct accent, which residents of Equestria would find difficult to describe. “We just had to agree to be the guinea pigs.”

“Who could have known this could happen?” The white wolf asked, searching their surroundings with his bright green eyes. He wore a dark purple vest over a white dress shirt, black shorts, and a lighter purple cravat. “He seemed so... certain.”

“Which is when he’s at his most dangerous, I might note,” the Hippogriff said. Like all of his kind his forward half was that of an eagle, while the latter portion was that of a pony, therefore his feather cutie mark was not such a strange thing. The feathers on his bird-body were a dark brown, while his pony flank was a lighter brown. He had a curl of feathers in his bangs, and a short fall of darker, grey feathers at the back of his head, where most of his head feathers were white. He started to look further down with his pale blue eyes.

“I note that we’re still falling. Shouldn’t we have been brought back already?” This was from the light turquoise Pegasus. Her mane was brown with a blonde streak, and she had three cards, splayed and displaying one heart and a redheaded pony’s face, for a cutie mark.

“It’s gonna be really tough getting back,” the white Unicorn with the stylized eight-pointed star noted. She had a long, flowing dark purple mane and slightly lighter eyes. Her horn was also curved slightly upward. “Portal’s closed. Are we in trouble, do you think?”

“I wonder how much this is costing,” the Hippogriff said.

“I don’t think that’s the issue we should be focusing on, Silver Quill,” the Earth Pony said.

“Well, what, then, Smart Alec?”

“Oh, maybe the ground and the fact that we’re still falling toward it?” Alec growled.

Silver Quill glanced down. “Oh, would you look at that,”

“Huh. And here I expected –“

“Aaaaaaaaaaah! What do we do? What do we do?!” Quill cut the Pegasus off.

“There we go,” the Hipporiff nodded at the reaction.

“Mister Quill,” the wolf said, gently but firmly.

“Yeah, Doc?”

“You. Have. Wings. Now would be a great opportunity to put them to use.”

“You’re probably right. I just keep forgetting that I have them: I never actually use them, after all.”

“Ground,” Alec said.

“Hey Silver Quill, doesn’t that look like Ponyville Town Hall?” The Unicorn asked.

“Hey wait, I see a windmill. And a forest. Is that Sweet Apple Acres?” Alec asked, turning and looking around.

“I see Canterlot,” Doc Wolf said.

“I see the future Castle de Quill,”

“I see Discord-sempai!”

“KP, that shouldn’t be possible – oh wait, I see him too. And Celestia. But who in Luna’s name is that?” Alec said.

“Wait, shouldn’t we be concerned that we still haven’t slowed down yet? Doc asked.

“Me and Silver Quill have wings, but that means we can only lift two of you, right?”

“You underestimate my prowess as a handsome Hippogriff, KP: I should be able to do two.”

“Okay, which ones?”

“You all seem to have forgotten one thing,” the Unicorn said.

“And what’s that, Mage?” Alec shouted more than asked, but considering how much closer they were to the ground, his rising stress was perfectly understandable. Mage closed her eyes for a moment to focus, and her horn lit up with bright pink magic. She immediately slowed down, and the others continued to plummet past her.

“Oh right,” Alec said, and an instant later KP was carrying him with just a bit of effort.

“Whatever you’ve been eating, you need to lay off it a bit,” KP said.

“But the chocolate,” Alec groaned

Meanwhile, the Hippogriff carried the wolf in his talons. “No offense, Doc, but claws.”

“None taken. I’m just relieved you’ve finally decided to give your wings a try.”

“Hey, flying’s fun. Woo-hoo!” Quill spread his wings, and started to glide toward the hill where Celestia’s astral mane was still visible. KP joined him.

Mage flew in between them. “Need any help, KP?”

“No, thanks, I... got him.”

“You sure? That seems like a lot of effort,”

“Thoughts of meeting Sempai are filling me with strength. Lets do this!” KP flapped her wings even harder, and started to pull ahead.

“Is this a race? Are we racing?” Quill asked.

“Not everything needs to be a race,” Doc said, but Quill and Mage were already chasing after KP and Alec.

* * *

By the time the new arrivals reached the hill, Spring Flight had already brought Dawn there, having detected the massive magical surge. The Hippogriff and Pegasus set their passengers down. While most of the five companions stood several meters way, staring at the gathering, the Pegasus took several slow, tentative steps forward.

“See? I told you they’d come to us,” Discord said.

“Sempai?”

Discord sighed. “Lets make this fast,” he said, and then he snapped the prongs on his tail, his talons, and his paw. There was a strange pulse, and the world’s colour seemed to dull slightly.

“Hey, did Celestia’s mane run out of batteries again?” The Earth Pony asked.

“This pressure..? This is time-stop magic,” the Unicorn said. “Right?”

“So awesome!” The Pegasus said.

“Good, you catch on quick,” Discord said. “That’s good news, since it won’t be long before the natural laws of the world force the time in this space to revert to normal. Plus, you’re making me work. So listen closely:

“As first-time inter-dimensional travelers there’re a few simple but critical rules for you to follow. The only reason you need to know why you should follow them is because you’re an alien existence, an imbalance, in this universe. Nature always seeks to correct imbalances: it fills voids, erases anomalies. That sort of thing. The less you break the rules, the less likely the universe’ll notice your presence, and maybe you’ll last long enough to return home.”

“Ooh, ominous,” the Hippogriff said past his grin. “I’m getting shivers.”

“The rule’s simple in concept, but I’m thinking it’ll probably be a challenge for the likes of you: don’t interfere with the natural flow of progression in this dimension. That goes for breaking the fourth wall as often as it does spoilers. You’ll get warnings, but do it too often and you’ll simply get erased. It’s that simple.”

“What nonsense is that?” The Earth Pony asked. “Sunset Shimmer and Twilight changed a whole bunch of stuff, and neither of them got erased.”

“That hasn’t happened yet, so that’s spoiler territory,” Discord said. “Fortunately for you we’re in zero time, so none of them could have heard you.” The Draconequus pointed a thumb at the ponies behind him. “Try pulling this sort of thing in normal time and you’ll be duly punished. Make me work harder at your peril: I hate working. Fun is my thing.”

“Wait, we’re in the show but we haven’t gotten to Equestria Girls yet?” The Earth Pony asked.

“Now that you mention it, I see Twilight’s still a Unicorn. We’re in the show timeline, but earlier than the story we’re aware of. Is that why there’s a rule against spoilers?” The Unicorn said.

“Don’t be conceited: people who spoil are much older than you, so the rule predates you by a couple thousand years. Anyway, follow the rules and you’ll survive.” Discord snapped again, and colour returned to normal. Everything started to move again all at once.

* * *

“Five new beings? Five new friends. Yippee!” Pinkie said.

“Who are you?” Dash asked.

“And how did you get here?” Twilight asked.

“It’s kind of a mystery to us too,” the wolf said. “I mean, it’s not as if we were trying to get here, specifically.”

“But we’re pumped to be here,” KP said. “This is Equestria, isn’t it? And you’re Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, and Discord? Heh-heh.”

“It is, and we are,” Princess Celestia said. “How is it that you know of us?”

“Oh, that’s easy: we wa—“ With no more warning than a twitchy Pinkie tail, a metal wash basin fell from the sky and landed on the Hippogriff’s head, interrupting him.

“That’s odd: I don’t see Derpy anywhere,” the wolf said, looking at the surrounding sky.

“I guess not everything that falls out of the sky comes from her,” the Pegasus said.

“Oh come on! Why didn’t he get one?” The Hippogriff asked.

“You figure it out,” Discord said. “You already have everything you need to do that.”

“We have a lot to figure out here,” Twilight said, “like how you all got here, and where you came from in the first place.”

“Lets call ‘how we got here’ an experiment gone horribly wrong, or right, depending on your perspective,” the Earth Pony said. “I’m Smart Alec, but you can just call me ‘Alec.’ The Hippogriff is Silver Quill,”

“Handsome Hippogriff,”

“Whatever,” Alec rolled his eyes. “The one making eyes at Discord is KP.”

“I’m a huge fan,”

“Yes, I got that,” Discord said.

“I’m Doc Wolf,”

“You’re a real wolf,” Fluttershy said, “and you stand on your hind legs?”

“Indeed. Does that bother you?”

“No, not at all. It’s... fascinating.”

“And you are a dapper dresser,” Rarity added.

“Hey, what about my vest?”

“It definitely suits you, Darling.”

“Hear that? Rarity likes my vest,” Alec said.

“Yes, it makes me wish I wore clothes,” Silver Quill said with a wink.

“Wait, do you or don’t you?” Spike asked.

“Does it matter? Ponyville’s a nudist colony. Ba-dum-dum, tis!”

“You do your own rimshots? Seriously?” Spike asked.

“Someone has to: my smart—“

“Twitchy tail!”

“Thanks for the warning, Pinkie Pie,” Quill said, side-stepping one falling wash basin. “Ah-hah! Fool me once—“ But a second basin got him.

“Careful with those rules,” Discord said, “they don’t like being played with – odd as that might be to hear from me.”

“Wash basins are falling from the sky. That’s not odd at all, at least by comparison,” KP said.

“I would say your Unicorn friend is about as odd as the rest of you, having that much power,” Gearhead said.

“You can see it?”

“I taught him that,” Dawn said.

“Hey buddy,” Quill said, siddling up beside Gearhead. “What’s the scout--?” DONG! “Will you give it a rest? That was a reference, not a fourth wall break!”

“It’s a copyright issue,” Discord said, looking at his paw. “Not to mention way too overused.”

“I have no idea what’s going on, but you guys are hilarious!” Pinkie said.

“Weren’t you about to introduce yourself?” Dawn asked the Unicorn member of the new party.

“Oh right,” she said. “I’m Aurora Mage, and...” She reached forward with a hoof and booped Dawn on the nose. “Touch.”

“Yeah, she does that,” Quill said. “’You will be touched.’ Oh wait, that sort of thing doesn’t earn a basin to the head? Okay, then. Hey, Princess Celestia, you don’t mind if I make some renovations to your old castle in the Everfree Forest, do you?”

“May I ask why?”

“It’s not like anyone else is using it,” Quill winked.

“Actually, I meant that you’ll want to be finding a way home, right?”

“Oh, that? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on what we can get away with while we’re here.”

“You forgot to wink,” Doc said.

“That’s ‘cause I didn’t mean to,” Quill said.

“Forgive our friend, Your Highness: he’s taken one too many basins to the head,” Alec said.

“No I have not!”

“See what I mean?”

“Regardless, you cannot stay here for long,” Princess Celestia said. “The world will try to correct itself from any imbalance any way it can, so it is in your best interests to be able to find a way back home.”

“Where is your home?” Applejack asked.

“It’s a sort of electronic pocket dimension that exists beside another physical dimension like this one,” Doc said.

“I don’t get it,” Pinkie said.

“Neither did I,” Fluttershy said. “Did you, Gearhead?”

“I understood the bit about power and data,” Gearhead said, “but travel between worlds is beyond me. This requires research.”

“I doubt we’ll find anything useful at the library,” Twilight said.

“Wait, the library? Is your treehouse library still --?”

“Twitchy tail! Wow, that’s happening a lot today,” Pinkie said as Alec recovered from the basin-drop.

“Did something happen to my library?” Twilight asked.

“We... cannot say. Sorry,” Alec said, and he really was.

“It is unlikely you will find anything useful at the old castle, or in the Canterlot Library,” Princess Celestia said, watching the newcomers more carefully.

“Surely there’s something,” Twilight said.

“There is, but it’s dangerous knowledge, therefore Starswirl the Bearded guarded it very carefully. I can show it to only a select few of you. Only those I can trust completely.”

“Understood, Your Majesty,” Twilight said, bowing.

“You too, Gearhead,”

“Actually, I was thinking of taking a parallel path,” Gearhead said. “They said they were from another world, one of data and electricity. That means their signatures should be very different from ours, since we are made from physical material. I would like to build a sensor array that can read their signatures, and then scan some of our other friends here. By running some comparison readings, I should be able to come closer to finding their home world so we can send them home sooner.”

“Very well,”

“We’ll have to work on generating all the energy needed to break the barrier between worlds, too,” Twilight said.

“Now that you mention it, the air is unusually clear of auras now,” Dawn said. “It must have taken most of the ambient magical power to open up that portal. Creating that much power again won’t be easy.”

“That is an understatement,” Discord said. “Someone on the other end was reaching out, and that’s why the energy from here connected so easily to the energy there.”

“Maybe they’ll keep reaching out until they get their friends back?” Fluttershy said.

“You may not want to depend on that,” Discord said. “Not that I doubt the power of friendship, but who knows how long it’ll take to create a new dimensional doorway?”

“Couldn’t you do that?” Rarity asked.

“I can create a dimensional door, but I can’t guarantee it’ll open where you want it to. I’m the Spirit of Chaos, after all.”

“We will go with Gearhead’s plan first,” Princess Celestia decided, “but if an idea occurs to you, please do not hesitate to share it. Twilight, please choose two more of your friends, and I’ll transport you to Canterlot.”

“Rainbow Dash?”

“I’m in,”

“Applejack?”

“Sorry, gotta help at the farm after what happened before.”

“Then, Pinkie?”

“Okay, but we’re throwing the welcome party right after we get back!”

* * *

As Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity gave a tour to the newcomers, Gearhead flew down to the Hangar to get started on the sensor chamber. Fortunately he already had a working basis, with the sani-station he had built into the Wind. While that was mostly designed to purge impurities, such as unwanted Dark Magic, it was already equipped with various sensors in order to get the initial reading anyway.

Gearhead instructed his automated assembly equipment to go aboard the Wind and remove the sani-station so he could start upgrading it. He also programmed them to modify the stall slot to accommodate a much larger and complete sensor package.

The task that was before Gearhead was to try to find some marker within the five other-dimension visitors that the ponies of this dimension did not possess. This marker would allow the group to identify which doorway led to the world from which the five visitors hailed – in theory, at least. The only one Gearhead knew of who had experience in interdimensional travel was Discord, and he was not talking.

Gearhead did not know what he would be looking for, so he simply decided to modify the chamber and stall to scan for everything of which he could think to scan. Of course, this omitted the things of which he could not comprehend. Fortunately, he had five visitors from another world from whom to draw inspiration, assuming they were able to cooperate. After all, he did not want them to suffer a shower of wash basins violating the rules Discord had mentioned, even if Gearhead himself was unaware of what they were.

Gearhead modified the chamber from its original cylindrical shape so that it became nearly spherical, and then he set his sensors into cluster arrays to surround whoever stood inside the chamber. Naturally he still had to ensure the sanitary equipment remained intact, otherwise he would be removing one of the chamber’s key functions in the process of fulfilling a role that might not be as useful, least of all on a sealed vessel.

Reinstalling the chamber on the Wind seemed prudent because that allowed the sensor chamber to be both mobile and secure, while also being accessible, since he could not bring anyone to the Hangar or Laboratory and still maintain his security in either room. For now, Gearhead had his assembly equipment secure the chamber in the hold, in case the visitors really did have any useful feedback for expanding its sensor array.

Thinking of sensors and sensor arrays, Gearhead thought it would be prudent to check for residual signatures over by the portal site. With the sani-sensor chamber connected to the Wind’s sensor array, he put the assembly equipment back into standby, then boarded the Wind and launched.

* * *

Discord cleared his throat.

“Oh, sorry,” KP wiped her muzzle and shook her head clear. “I’m trying to be cool about this, I swear.”

“Yes well, if I’m going to be stuck with you, I’d appreciate a little less drool in my mane, thank you.”

“Maybe there’ll be less if we get flying,” Silver Quill suggested.

“That may depend on our flight order,” Discord said. “I’ll take the lead.”

“That sounds fine,” KP said, and they took off. “Where are we going?”

“My guess is ‘anywhere but here,’” Quill said.

“You’re determined to talk your way into trouble, aren’t you?” Discord asked.

“And why not?”

“It’s part of his thing,” KP added.

“Because that’s my thing,”

“Discord, you don’t talk your way into trouble: you are trouble.”

“Oh no, you’ve discovered my true nature,” Discord said, deadpan.

“Actually...”

“Whoa!” That was KP, noticing the sun glint off of an approaching object (or were they approaching it?) before it came in close. It was massive compared to them, with a long, blade-like prow, great wings, and a double-V tail. And it was made of metal and shedding some sort of light dust from turbines on the wings.

“What is that?” Quill asked as the pilot threw the craft into an airbourne skid to negotiate around the three flyers.

“Oh, that’s just Gearhead’s flyer. The Silver something, I think.”

“But I’m a ‘Silver something,’”

“With the way names are in this place, you’d hardly be the only one, Quill,”

“Duly noted,”

“I am going to get a quick reading at the portal site,” Gearhead’s voice said over a loudspeaker hidden somewhere amidst all the armour. “I shall return shortly.”

“You may as well take us with you, if you’re going somewhere nearby anyway,” Discord said.

“Very well,” Gearhead said, and he lowered the ramp, “but any remaining signature will be fading, so please board now.”

* * *

“Now this is worth the trip,” Smart Alec grinned as he looked around inside the Golden Oak Library.

“Pardon me, but the Carousel Boutique is much better decorated than a library,” Rarity said.

“We’ll forgive you, since you wouldn’t have noticed how special this place is, having lived with it all your life,” Mage said.

“As opposed to y’all, who’ve just arrived?” Applejack asked.

“Think about it: every town or city has a town hall or castle at its center, and as its symbol,” Alec said. “How many other places do you think have their library inside a tree, and so centrally located?”

“Haven’t thought to ask,” Applejack said.

“But now that you mention it, none of the other towns or cities I’ve delivered my couture to have anything like this,” Rarity said. “Still, I built the Carousel Boutique from the ground up, and its design is as unique as the clothes I sell.”

“I don’t think there are many who would disagree with that,” Mage said, “but Town Hall is more emblematic of Ponyville than your store. But this library? Not only is it inside a tree, but its asymmetrical design is pleasant, and it has a warm, homey feeling. It fits Ponyville’s thatch roof houses very well.”

“And as a bonus, it’s bigger on the inside,” Alec grinned more widely. Then he suddenly became sombre.

“What is it?” Rarity asked.

“Just wondering something. You know, with all that’s already happened from inside this library you’d expect at least a commemorative plaque.”

“How would you know what’s happened here?” Applejack asked.

“Lets just say we’ve had eyes-on for some time, and leave it at that,”

“From where?”

“The other side of the portal, of course.”

“Actually, that makes a strange kind of sense: I mean, why else would we end up in Equestria unless it was nearest to the Rift? Since the walls were weaker, we came through easily,” Mage said.

“Still doesn’t explain why we appeared in the sky,” Alec said.

“’Rule of Funny,’ maybe?”

“Among other factors. But can you imagine where else we could’ve been sent?”

“I don’t want to,” Mage shuddered, “so topic change: Touch!”

“What’cha do that for?” Applejack asked, while Rarity giggled.

“This I proclaim before Celestia and Luna: I shall collect all the boops!”

“That could land you in trouble someday,” Rarity said.

“Me?” Mage tilted her head and batted her eyes.

“You know, you’re very good at that,”

“Thank you,” Mage smiled. Then she turned, seeing something shine in the window. “What was that?”

“One of Gearhead’s test flights? He’s always going off somewhere, but he’ll be back soon enough,” Applejack said. “Actually, he can get places a lot faster than most ponies.”

“Is that a challenge?” Mage asked.

“With a Unicorn who can levitate instead of walking, and not worry about fatigue, you could probably teleport ahead of him, provided you knew where he was going.”

“Oh, there is that, isn’t there?”

“You’ll just have to wait ‘till he gets back,” Applejack said, shrugging.

“I can wait,” Alec said.

* * *

“You’ve been smiling at me for an awfully long time, Miss Fluttershy,” Doc said. While the others were moving toward the center of town, Fluttershy had balked, so Doc had agreed to walk with her toward her cottage and the Everfree Forest, where there were less crowds.

“Yes, well, I’m always excited to meet a new critter friend, although you can also talk like a pony can. I mean, of course my critter friends can talk, and I can understand them, most of the time. But not quite like this.”

“I understand. I’m quite unusual for a wolf.”

“Not that I’ve met very many wolves, them being pack animals and rarely straying from their own territories – except for the Timberwolves, sometimes, but they’re different.”

“Ah yes, of course. Ponyville is always lucky when it comes to such encounters, it seems.”

“There are lots of ponies around who can help protect it, from powerful Unicorns like Twilight, to fast Pegasi like Dashie, and strong Earth Ponies like Applejack. Then there’s Gearhead, who creates an endless series of instruments that also help. Compared to them I... sorry, I’m rambling.”

“No, I don’t mind listening at all. In fact, it’s exactly the sort of thing I do back where I come from.” Doc spotted some choice logs that could serve as chairs, and sat on one. “Why don’t you have a seat, and tell me what’s on your mind, Miss Fluttershy? You may feel better simply talking it out.”

“Okay,” Fluttershy lay down on a long log, and looked at Doc past her bangs. “Where should I start?”

“Wherever you feel most comfortable,”

“Well, it’s like I said before: everypony else contributes to Ponyville’s and Equestria’s well-being in big ways, and they accomplish great things practically every day. But I’m not sure what I do that another pony couldn’t. Would it be so bad if I gave my Element to a braver pony?”

“I’m hearing that you’ve become uncertain of your contribution to your friends and the place where you live, but can you look around you and truly say that you don’t see your impact everywhere?”

“I... don’t know. Nopony’s as impressive as Princess Celestia or Princess Luna, but I wish I was more than the one who hides behind everypony else or stares a hard-to-tame animal down.”

“Miss Fluttershy, with all due respect I doubt even you really define yourself by your fears, and you’re far, far more than the Element of Kindness and The Stare. If you looked around for the kinds of changes you’ve brought to others’ lives, pony and forest critter alike, I think you would agree.

“Of course, you yourself are your harshest critic, and the closer you are to something, anything, the harder it is to step back far enough to see the full picture. And there’s nothing in the world you’re closer to than your own self. That means that it’s hardest for a pony to see her own value, so comparing yourself to others really isn’t fair. At least not until you’ve trained yourself to step back and see your whole value.”

“But how do I do that?”

“Perhaps you could look around at everyone you encounter, in every place you go, and specifically look for things that you know are different. Now, this will be more challenging for you since you’ve lived with the changes for so long, you’ve probably forgotten the way things were originally. So you may have to ask others so you can get a point of comparison. Do you think you could give that a try, Miss Fluttershy?”

“Well, I might... no, I can do it! Oh, I’m sorry, did I startle you?”

“I’m just taken aback by your self-assurance, especially in light of what you’ve just said. You’re even braver than I thought you were.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy blushed. “I’ve been challenging myself a lot more lately.”

“Well then, if you keep on doing that I’m sure you will be able to see your value even more easily.”

“Thank you, Doc Wolf. I feel much better now.”

“In that case, should we continue same time next week? Assuming my group is still in Equestria then?”

“Okay,” Fluttershy smiled. She got up, and started to lead Doc again. While her back was turned to him, Doc breathed in with a paw on his chest, then breathed out, hand extended to the side.

“It’s good to be helping,” he said softly.

Which was when a decent sized aircraft flew above their heads, heading toward the Everfree Forest. “That was unexpected,” Doc said.

“It’s Gearhead,” Fluttershy said, her eyes gleaming. “He’s going to see if the sensors can pick up anything useful. Discord and your friends, KP and Silver Quill are also aboard.”

“How do you know all that?”

Fluttershy turned her head. Doc could now see the little earpiece, with its little green light glowing. “Another one of Gearhead’s inventions. It lets us talk even without more magic. My other friends also have them, and so do Dawn and the Pegasi helping Gearhead at his shop.”

“That’s certainly useful,” Doc said. No wonder she has issues with her self-confidence, when an Earth Pony can make such convenient and futuristic items.

“He’s probably the best inventor in Equestria, but all he really wants to do is farm, like the rest of his family. He doesn’t see what he does as being anything special.” Fluttershy looked up. “Oh, that’s just like me not seeing my own value!”

“It is,” Doc said, pleased Fluttershy was getting the point so quickly. He liked her a lot, so he was happy to see that she was so happy.

* * *

“Pretty convenient, being able to talk with Fluttershy without having to slow down,” Quill said. While Gearhead focused on his flying, the others had taken up some of the stations. Discord remained standing a couple meters behind Gearhead.

“The comms are very useful that way, connecting us regardless of the situation. As long as there is a node nearby we can communicate with a speed on par with Spike’s Sending.”

“You’re slowing us down? Are we near the location already?” KP asked.

“We are near enough that we would risk contaminating or purifying whatever traces might remain with the Wind’s particle energy.”

“Ah, okay. Wait, you said ‘nodes?’ So what did you do, drop probes all over Equestria?” KP asked.

“That is not a bad idea, considering not every town or city wants or can afford an Alicorn Array.”

“Can we assume from the name that this is a variation on your Alicorn Engine?” Quill asked.

“You can, and that is astute of you to notice. Where the Engine provides power and propulsion, and can only be used by a highly-proficient individual, the Array is composed of four structures that work together to erect a barrier. The scale of the barrier varies depending on the town or city to be protected, but so far it is fairly effective.”

“Don’t you want them to be fully effective?” KP asked.

“That’d be ideal,” Discord said.

“However,” Gearhead continued, “the Arrays can only protect against existences for which it knows to search. They have a history of not knowing what to do with new types of possible threats. And that is part of the reason why I do not rely on remote or automated defences, despite their speed in reacting to known threats. So I take the time to train a crew to control their home’s Array, as well as to communicate with other towns and cities.”

“Wait, what about me?” Discord asked.

“Of course your signature got added to the exceptions list. That was not the case when you were a rogue agent.”

“I’m still a rogue,”

“Thus the ‘agent’ bit,” Gearhead said wryly. “We are here.” He put the Wind into a hover, and started sweeping the area with every sensor he had, including the ones based on his Read and Shift Focus abilities. “No residue down here,” he said, and moved the ship forward, displaying their surroundings on the wrap-around screen, with the sensor readings overlaid.

“In fact, there’s little or no magic residue here at all,” Discord said.

“But given where we are, would that mean..?” Gearhead put the feed from a belly camera up on the main screen. It pointed down a hole and through a long, busted-out tube into a cavern. A cavern which the camera’s zoom function and filters seemed to indicate was empty.

“Pardon me, but what are we looking at, exactly?” Quill asked.

“You seem to know much about this world. Are you, perhaps, also familiar with the Legend of the Mirror Pool?”

KP and Quill were silent for a long moment. “That’s it?” KP asked finally. “But it looks empty!”

“’Looks’ being the operative. We can go down once our scans are complete, just to be sure.” Gearhead started taking the ship up, scanning all around them, and then directly upwards. “I recommend you all buckle up: I am taking us up to the portal’s altitude.”

“That was a long way up,” KP said. “Oh ponyfeathers.” She quickly sat down and strapped herself in.

“What do you mean?” Quill asked, while Discord simply stood by and grinned.

“We’re going up, fast,” KP said, and then Gearhead had changed the Engine mode to maximize their climb. Where the aft verniers usually provided thrust, and the wing turbines supporting lift, now the wing turbines were doing most of the work. Quill grunted as he felt himself being pressed into the ground, Discord crowing as he stood his ground. Quill was just reduced to lying belly to the deck when Gearhead eased up enough for the Hippogriff to float weightless for a moment, and then he touched back down.

“I’d appreciate a little more warning next time!”

Gearhead started the detailed scans. “You know, there have been few enough times I have felt compelled to do something I could not explain. Few enough I could count it on a hoof. Now this happens, and this time Pinkie Pie is not singing. So far as I know. What could this be?”

“Karma?” KP said.

“What is that?”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll learn about it later.”

“Well, I hope this trip is worth that,” Quill said.

“I could not say,” Gearhead said. “There is a wealth of data to sift through first, just as there will be from your body scans.” His console beeped. “The scan is complete. Now we can go back down and have a look at the Mirror Pool cave.”

“Oh wait, that means –“ Quill dove for a seat. He almost had it, but then the force of the ship’s dive had him sailing toward the ceiling.

“Please do not scratch the paint,” Gearhead said.

“Easy for you to say!”

“You do realize--”

“What?!”

“You have wings,”

There was a pause. “Oh yeah,” Quill spread them, but flapped them wrong, launching himself into the ceiling even faster.

“That one was completely on you,” Discord said.

“I think I got it this time,” Quill said shakily, and he launched himself toward the floor.

“But you’re already on the ceiling,” KP said.

“I guess I should really be thinking in three dimensions, huh?”

“One would almost think you are not used to being a Hippogriff,” Gearhead said.

“Yes, almost,” Quill said dryly.

“Stopping,” Gearhead called.

“Oh,” Quill flipped, braked, and landed perfectly on the deck. “A perfect landing!”

“I’ll admit that wasn’t bad as a landing,” Discord said, “although I’m disappointed you didn’t get hit by the Rule of Three.”

“Well, there’s humour and then there’s beating a dead tree. Not everyone gets decide which one is fair,” Quill said.

“I will not begrudge him a win,” Gearhead said, setting the auto-pilot to hold their position. “Now, let us go see what we have.”

Two minutes later, Discord summed up their findings: “Nothing. A whole lot of nothing.” And he was mostly right, since the pool was empty.

“You think all that magic vapourized it?” KP asked.

“As in, turned from a liquid to a gas?” Quill flew up near the rocky ceiling and felt the rock with a talon. “It’s slick with moisture.”

“Then KP is correct,” Gearhead said from the bottom of the empty pool. “The gathered magic evaporated the water. But other than around the area that was covered with the boulder, which was blasted apart by the release of magic, the vapour is condensing against the rock. And returning.” He flew back up, out of the pool. “That confirms that part of the magic that contributed to the portal opening came from the pent-up Mirror Pool.”

“That’s a decent amount of energy,” Discord said.

“As is your own, and every other residual scrap left behind in the area from various encounters. The Alicorn Amulet. Otto. Possibly the Elements and Anklets too.”

“And don’t forget your precious Engines and Arrays,” Discord said.

“Yes, I would have discounted them as a factor, but it is possible. I will have to crunch the numbers, and then we will have a benchmark for the minimum amount of energy required to open another portal.”

“’Minimum?’ Why don’t I like that you said that?” Quill asked.

“Experience,” KP said flatly. “But can you really come up with that much power?”

“The amount should not be an issue, since we have the Engines and Array at our disposal. I just have to store it all in condensers. I would actually prefer it if my Engines were a factor, so I will not have to convert energy types. But I can do that if necessary. No, ‘power’ is not a factor that is in question here. What we need to discover is how to identify your home dimension among all the unknown number of possibilities.”

“Infinite,” Discord said.

“Really?” Gearhead asked.

“Yes, ‘really.’ Because not every dimension needs to be so entirely different from one another. Just one different decision is enough to create a different world with a new timeline in some cases. And that is why there are an infinite number of dimensions, making the matrix of existence immeasurable. Oh, I’m sorry, does that make you feel small? Insignificant? Distressed? Depressed?” Discord grinned maliciously.

“If there are truly infinity possibilities, then they fill me with awe. I could not visit them all during my lifetime, but I certainly would like to visit some of them.”

“Which means that you probably will,” Quill said. “Hey, no tub!”

“Guesses aren’t spoilers, I guess,” KP said.