Tori Scarlen

Princess Celestia was fuming as she made her way through the Magic and Science wing of the castle. Luckily for her, there was no one in that particular wing. At least, no one who wasn’t hiding in the beaker closet. The Princess can be terrifying when angry.

Divination, the sign read. All in all, she wouldn’t rather have to talk to him, but if what she saw was true, then something must be done. And the Princess was absolutely sure of who “killed” her student. She stepped up to the crystal ball in the center of the room. Her horn glowed with her magic, and a face appeared.

He was a stout, middle aged man. His face was plump, and his body even more so. His robes shimmered with gold, and a golden laurel wreath shone on his head. His mustache quivered as he spoke. “Princess Celestia,” said the man in the crystal ball. “What would you have me do for you? Surely not more gold. You know it will cost you. But I’m always open for renovations. I don’t see why you won’t let me touch those hideous statues in the garden, they’re simply horrendous. A little shine here and there never hurt anyone.” He waved a hand in the air. “In other news, the last batch of guards you sent me were wonderful! Their corpses will line my entryway for generations to come!” His laugh was scratchy, but booming and baritone. It was rather unsettling. And his rant was getting annoying.

“ENOUGH!” said Princess Celestia. “I need to ask you something, King Midas.”

“Alright, geez.” Midas shrugged. He leaned into his end of the crystal ball. “What do you need to know?”

Celestia was still contemplating the gold, turned to rotting flesh. “What have you done to my student, Midas? She is currently a heap of bones covered in a Midas Brand Gold shell!”

“Now, now, Celestia. You know I don’t have the power to kill anything living across the dimensional planes. I can’t even communicate across dimensions. I rely on you for that. And you know that there is only one universe with no restrictions applied access to the void.”

Celestia squinted, racking her brain for any being that could possibly do something of that caliber. Her mind drew a blank, until a deep foreboding came across her. There were those who could achieve such a feat. And they did it thousands, nay, even millions of times a day. “The Summoners...”

“Yes, my dear Celestia. The Summoners did this, working her to the destination desired. It’s not instantaneous, you know. She will stop in four, maybe five more worlds before coming back to you, hopefully alive, certainly not unchanged. And guess what, my dear? I can see her right now...” His baritone laugh rang through the halls long after the face in the glass faded away.

Woodlands Hospital, Emergency Care

Dr. Monterey Beale was having a headache.  Ever since he was charged with this girl, the sensation was overwhelming. He turned away from the feeling of overwhelming raw power. Not looking at her helped a little, but not much. The power coming from this girl was incredible to overwhelm someone of his caliber...

“Doctor, is there something wrong?”

“I-I don’t know...” He said in a thick German accent.

“Whaddaya mean ‘I don’t know?’”

“I’ve never seen such an influ-” The doctor quickly shut his mouth.

“Influx?” said the nurse.

“Nothing. It's nothing.”

The nurse turned to the monitors.

“Doctor, something’s going wrong, er, right!”

“What? What is it?”

“Her readings are going back to normal. Even the heart rate is rising to standard.”

“Wh- how?” The doctor peeked under the mask on the patient’s face. The blood had dried since she broke her nose, but the stupid nurse left during the resetting and the bone tore through some skin. Now the girl’s nose was half off, and her face was a bloody mess. At least, that’s what it was supposed to be. But the nose was perfectly fine. But wait...

Since when did she have purple hair? As the pieces clicked together in the powerful brain of Dr. Beale, he facepalmed. The signs were obvious. Of course, this was obviously some sort of magic. But the nurses didn’t need to know why he was such a good surgeon. Dr. X-Acto, he was called. He used to be a professor, a long, long time ago. And even more miraculously, he found his way home a while back, with the help of some molecular physicists and a good astronomer. But this was his place now. He could always invite the poor thing lying on his cot to go back from whence she came. But that would be compromising. Transfers are loud, and there is room for error. She could end up in unpleasant places. But he couldn’t let anyone slip by without a chance back. After all, there was only one power under the sun (he giggled at the joke) that gave out such a strong aura, unique and loud. A power he only felt once near entrance exams about ten years ago.

This could only be Lady Sparkle.

Jordan loved watching his dad work. Being a surgeon, his family never really had too much monetary problems. But Tori was perfectly fine when she got up. No surgery needed whatsoever. And while this was somewhat disappointing that he no longer had a reason to stay, the fact that she was perfectly alright and walked out the door a mere ten minutes after entering, was a feat that he wished he could see. He turned from the bench he was sitting on to see Tori come into the lobby, her face unharmed. And still, she looked like she was in pain.

“Tori, what’s wrong?” he asked, leaning forward.

“I- I don’t know. A headache, maybe. The doctor in there, it’s like- like we’ve met before. Deja vu, I guess.” She rubbed her temples. “I just don’t feel... good, right now..”

“The doctor?” he asked, surprise on his face. “That’s my father! How could you have met? Did you live in Germany or something? My dad’s German.”

“No...”

“Then how do you know him?”

“The voice, his voice... he’s hiding something.” The last words came out with finality. “Can I talk to him?”

“Sure.”

As they walked, Jordan felt a sense of dread at the kind of talk awaiting them.