Equestria

“What do you mean she never made it back!?” Shining Armor asked none-too-calmly.

He’d been eating lunch with a few of his friends when Spike had come bursting into the mess hall; babbling about Twilight, teleportation, another universe, and a breach in something. Shortly after the drake’s rather confusing report of events (and giving him a paper bag), a private had burst in and given him a more refined version of what had happened.

Needless to say, he hadn’t taken the news well.

Said private continued trying to calm down her hysterical captain. “Exactly that sir. Princess Celestia has requested your immediate presence in Twilight’s study, along with as many unicorns as you can round up in the next five minutes. I believe her majesty has a plan for rescuing Miss Sparkle.”

“Did she give you any details?”

“No, sir.”

Shining sighed and nodded his understanding, slightly less panicky now that he knew they at least had a plan. “Alright. Everypony spread out and spread the word. Unicorns and earth ponies scour the castle, pegasi check the grounds. You have five minutes.”

“Yes, sir!” was the collective response before everypony galloped or flew off to their assigned search areas, leaving Spike and Shining alone in the mess hall.

“Didn’t she abandon that project?” the stallion asked.

“Yeah, and for a long time I heard nothing about it.” Spike replied. “Then, we were hanging around in the study one day and she was reading and she suddenly went ‘of course!’ and before I know it I’m jotting down a bunch of random numbers while she rotates the rings on the Breach.”

“And…I’m just finding out about this why?”

“She was worried you’d think it was too dangerous and try to stop her.”

“Why would I-” Shining stopped and thought for a second. “Okay, so maybe I would have. But you’ve got to admit, I had a good reason.”

“That’s what I said!” Spike replied heatedly. “I kept trying to tell her this was a bad idea, but she wouldn’t listen!”

Shining sighed. For one of the most gifted unicorns in Equestria, his sister could be really dumb sometimes.

“Come on.” he told Spike. “Let’s go find out how her majesty plans on bringing her home.”

((((((*******))))))

Spike waited anxiously on the upper level of the study with Shining Armor and his parents, watching as unicorn after unicorn trotted into the room, all of them confused about the purpose of their summons.

“Come on, come on, hurry up…” he said quietly.

He still couldn’t understand why he’d let Twilight go through the Breach. He’d told her that he thought it was a bad idea, but he hadn’t done anything else to stop her. She’d told him not to worry right before she went through, so he’d done his best not to. Instead, he’d sat and waited patiently for her safe return.

For ten minutes, he'd just waited.

After ten minutes, he'd begun pacing nervously.

Then, after half an hour of no activity, the portal had closed and cut off any hope that she would return in the next few minutes…and Spike had finally decided he could start worrying again.

Two hundred-meter dashes and two unintelligible strings of random words later, he was waiting on the upper landing of the study, anxiously tapping his claws together as Shining directed the arriving troops and castle staff downstairs toward where the Breach sat waiting. His parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet, sat over by Twilight’s desk. The former was in the middle of keeping the latter from having a mental breakdown, and Spike couldn’t help feeling guilty as he continued to stare at the lower levels.

“I should’ve done something to stop her.” he said out loud.

Night Light heard him, walked over, and laid a comforting hoof on his shoulder. The drake turned and looked at him sadly.

“This isn’t your fault, okay? You know as well as I do that when Twilight has a ‘moment’, nopony can stand in her way.”

“If you say so.” he replied, remaining unconvinced. He then returned to watching the lower level, shaking his head at the rather small group that had accumulated in the past five minutes. “Is this seriously everypony they could find!?”

“Most of the troops are out overseeing the preparations for the Summer Sun celebration.” Shining said calmly. “Plus, they did only have five minutes.”

Spike sighed heavily. “Well then, I hope it’s enough for whatever the princess has planned.”

“That makes two of us, Spike.”

The whole family turned to face the source of the newest voice, and immediately bowed to the slender white alicorn that approached them.

“Now, now…this is no time for formalities. We have work to do.” said Celestia

No sooner had they risen than Shining addressed her. “Forgive my forwardness your majesty, but I’ve been very anxious to know the details of the plan you’ve come up with for rescuing Twilight.”

Spike nodded vigorously. “Yeah, what do we do? Do you have some kind of enchantment for reopening the Breach, or are you going to use some ancient artifact…what’s the plan?”

Celestia sighed as she prepared for the disappointed looks she was about to receive. Then she looked them in the eyes and told them her plan, putting as much faith behind her words as she could.

“The plan is to use a basic energy transfer spell to reenergize the Breach and hopefully force it back open. Captain, you will then lead a rescue party through to the other universe, deal with whatever kept Twilight from returning on time, and bring her back home.”

All four of them stared blankly at her for a long time. The silence she received as an answer made her almost wish that they’d start screaming at her about how terrible that plan was. Instead, they responded quite calmly.

“That’s it?” Spike asked, disappointment layering his voice.

“Your plan is to pump the Breach full of energy and just…hope for the best?” Velvet asked disbelievingly. “With all due respect, please tell me you’re kidding.”

“I’m afraid not.” Celestia replied. “My knowledge of the Breach gate’s mechanics isn’t as broad as Twilight’s. Without any further information, this is our best option.”

Spike and Shining sighed in unison, and Velvet appeared to be on the verge of fainting, which made her feel even worse about her lack of understanding. “I’m sorry. I wish I were more prepared for this.”

“We all could have done something differently.” said Night Light, everypony turning to listen. “But that doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done and no amount of worry or self-deprecation will change anything. The best thing we can do now is go through with the only plan we have, and hope it works.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Velvet asked.

“Then we’ll work to find one that does.” said Shining.

Velvet looked at each of them in turn, her husband sharing her son’s look of determination while Spike held one of doubt. Finally deciding that hysterics weren’t going to save her daughter, she took a deep breath and put on the most confident smile she could manage.

“Then let us not waste any more time.” Celestia said, starting toward the stairs.

“Yes.” Velvet agreed, taking a deep shuddering breath. “Standing around won’t bring my daughter home so I can ground her for the next month.”

Night Light glanced at her as they went down the stairs. “You do know that we technically can’t do that, right?”

“Says who?” Velvet retorted. “I don’t care how old she is. She’s in a lot of trouble for making me worry like this.”

Her husband shook his head and smiled. Well, at least she’s not panicking anymore.

Celestia and Shining Armor followed close behind, while Spike stayed on the landing to watch as they all took their positions at the front of the congregation.

Celestia faced all of the ponies gathered in the small study and raised her wings for silence, which came almost instantly. Only when the last whisper had been hushed down did she speak.

“We haven’t much time, so I’ll skip the pleasantries and get right to the point.” she began, lowering her wings. “As some of you might know, Twilight Sparkle has been researching an ancient artifact known as the Breach gate, which possesses the ability to transport the user into other universes. About an hour ago, she succeeded in opening the gate and traveling to another universe. However, she has yet to return.”

There were a few stray whispers from alarmed ponies in the crowd, which quickly silenced themselves as Celestia spread her wings again.

“Anypony who knows Twilight knows it isn’t like her to be late. Our best chance at bringing her home safely is by using a basic energy transfer spell to reactivate the Breach and, hopefully, force it back open. Should we succeed, Captain Shining Armor will lead a rescue team through the gate to deal with whatever kept her from reaching the return portal in time and bring her home safely. Any questions?”

The entire congregation remained silent, waiting for her next order.

“Then let’s not waste any more time.” Celestia said as she turned toward the Breach and ignited her horn. “Everypony aim for the small lock on the bottom and fire when ready!”

Celestia’s beam hit first, followed closely by the Sparkle family’s beams. Slowly at first, but faster as everypony finished charging their horns, more beams began feeding the lock. More and more appeared until there were about fifty unicorns feeding the Breach.

Spike watched the Breach intently from the upper landing, jumping to his feet as he saw the runes on the rings and the spaces between the door panels glow pure white, just as they had before Twilight had opened it.

It’s working! It’s actually working! he thought excitedly.

THUNK

Suddenly, the beams vanished and everypony was blown back several feet, landing either on their rumps or on their backs. Even Spike, who was nowhere near the Breach, toppled over backwards from the force of the blast. He quickly got back up to survey the gate, only to groan in frustration as it grew dark once more.

Shining sat up with a groan. “Uuuugh…well…that went well.”

“Truth be told, that went about how I expected it to.” Celestia agreed as she stood up.

“So what now?” Night Light asked as he helped his wife up.

“Now…we need to work on understanding the Breach so we can figure out how to open it, since obviously we went about it in the wrong fashion.”

“But how? Where do we even start?” Velvet asked despairingly. “If we start from scratch like she did, she could be stuck there for months!”

“We might have to.” Shining said sadly.

“Or we could just look through her notes.” said Spike, who’d joined the group while everypony else had been talking.

Suddenly, all eyes were on him.

“What?” he asked, slightly uncomfortable with the new amount of attention he was receiving.

“Do you know where the notes are?” asked Celestia.

“Of course! Right this way…” he said enthusiastically, now heading back upstairs with the princess and his adoptive family close behind.

He jogged over to Twilight’s many bookshelves and propped the ladder against the far right side. He then climbed up to a section halfway up the case and started tossing various binders down to the ponies below.

“You think she took enough notes?” Night Light asked Velvet jokingly as he caught the fifteenth binder.

“To be fair, interdimensional physics must be quite a broad subject.” Velvet answered matter-of-factly.

After tossing thirty-two fully stocked binders, Spike finally slid down the ladder and dusted his claws off as he rejoined the group.

“This will take some time to look through.” Celestia mused.

“Look at the bright side: we’re not starting at square one.” Night Light said, to which Shining nodded.

“We should take it in shifts to search the binders for anything pertaining to opening the gate.” Velvet advised.

“Unfortunately, we won’t all be available all the time.” her husband countered. “Princess Celestia has a country to run, Shining’s got an army to run, and you and I still have jobs.”

“I’m sure my editors will understand me taking a leave of absence, especially once I tell them the circumstances.” she replied.

“But you can’t do it by yourself, honey. You need help.”

“We could always get Moondancer. She studies as much as Twilight, and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind lending an extra hoof.”

Once again, all eyes turned to the purple dragon, who slightly cringed under their unwavering gaze.

“What?”

“Buddy, you are on fire today.” Shining said with a grin.

Spike grinned and took a bow.

“Then it’s settled. Spike, go find Moondancer so that we can assign shifts. Captain, you may return to your post. I’m going to go dismiss these ponies.”

As everypony went their separate ways, Spike turned to Shining. “I hope we get her back.”

“Don’t worry Spike, we will.” Shining replied as he walked away.

Night Light raised a brow as he passed. “You don’t sound too sure of that.” he said quietly so Spike wouldn’t hear.

Shining took a moment to glance back at the drake, who was now organizing the binders on the desk. “I have no doubts that we’ll get her back. I’m just worried about what condition she’ll be in when she gets home.”

((((((*******))))))

Washington D.C.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, pick up already…” Myles whispered anxiously as he listened to the dial tone. “Hurry up dammit! Before it disappears!”

Finally, the dial tone ended and a groggy voice answered. “Hello Myles. Why are you waking me up this late? Early? Whatever?”

“Mike, put your glasses on and get to your computer! Now!”

He listened to the sudden flurry of activity on the other end as his partner woke himself and his computer up and slapped on his glasses.

“Alright, I’m here.” said a much more awake-sounding Simmons. “What’ve you got for me?”

“Sending…now.” replied Myles as his fingers danced across his keyboard.

For a long moment the other end of the line was silent as Simmons watched the satellite feed his computer junkie of a best friend had sent him.

“Myles, is this live?” he asked.

“You bet it is.”

“Then get Remus on the line. He needs to know about this.”

There was a moment’s delay as Myles connected their boss to the call. The dial tone had barely started before the line was answered.

“This had better be good. You know you aren’t supposed to call me unless it could be a threat to national security.”

“This is important, sir. I assure you.” Myles replied. “There’s been a prolonged break in the Earth’s EM field that started about ten minutes ago and has been there ever since. Agent Simmons has the live satellite feed, so he can confirm. This is the longest EM break in recorded history.”

“Wait, you’ve known about this for ten minutes and I’m just finding out about it? Why?” asked Simmons.

“I’ve been trying to get you guys a definite location of the source using a government satellite, but every time I try to focus in on it-”

“-it starts screwing with the satellite.” Remus finished.

The line was silent for a moment before Simmons spoke up. “Sir?”

“This isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s happened one other time, and the consequences were so terrible that all involved were sworn to secrecy under penalty of death.”

“What happened?”

“I’m not at liberty to tell you anything else, except that it is of utmost importance that we deal with this before it becomes a national threat.”

“Sir, with all due respect; if we’re going to deal with anything, we need to know what it is first.”

Remus was silent for a moment, then he sighed.

“The first thing you need to understand is that everything you’ve ever heard regarding the multiverse theory is…well, it’s true. There really are an infinite number of universes, all home to a completely unique set of circumstances. But all the theories you’ve ever heard have glazed over one important fact.”

“Which is?” inquired Myles.

“Our universe, Terris, is not at the center of this vast web. It also isn’t the only universe capable of having such an impact. There are six other ‘parent’ universes capable of creating other ‘child’ universes. The only one with the means of bridging the gap between us, however, is Ethis.”

“What ‘means’ of transportation could possibly bring them over here, to our universe?” Simmons asked, awestruck.

“The source of the EM field break is called a Breach, an interdimensional portal connected via network to every other universe in existence. The first time it was activated, I was visited by a bearded man in a robe who, to my great surprise, was shocked to discover that he was human.”

“What happened to him?” Myles asked.

“At first, he seemed peaceful enough. He was more interested in learning about Terris than anything else for the first few hours. Then…and to this day I still cannot understand why…he went on a rampage. He ran back towards the Breach’s last known location, firing all manner of unearthly energies from his hands, even succeeding in killing a man before he was finally put down.”

“How have we heard nothing about this?” Simmons asked, bewildered.

“Obviously, me and the boys did a good job cleaning up.” Rufus replied.

“This is un-frickin-real.” Myles said simply.

“I wish.” Remus said sadly. “I hope that you now understand why we need to wrap this up, and do so quietly. We can’t risk letting whatever psychopath that portal spat out run free, but we also want to avoid a panic. Mr. Avalon, do you at least have a general location of the break?”

Myles zoomed in as far as he could with the satellite before it began flickering.

“It seems to be centered in Southern Nevada.” he replied.

“Alright. Agent Simmons, I’m handing you control of three of the CIAs best squads as well as requisitions clearance for any equipment you think you’ll need to track down whatever came through the Breach. Mr. Avalon, you will stand by for technical support. And gentlemen?”

“Yes sir?” they responded simultaneously.

“I cannot stress enough the importance of this operation remaining covert. Can I count on you to see this through without being detected?”

“Of course, sir.” Simmons answered for both of them.

“Good to hear. Simmons, I haven’t forgotten your request for my recommendation for the presidential Cabinet. If you pull this off without a hitch, you’ll get that recommendation. Guarenteed.”

He gasped audibly. For the past two years he’d been trying to get into the president’s most trusted inner circle of advisors, where he believed his administrative skills would be better employed and he’d be able to do more good for his country. He was fully eligible, except that the recommendations he had didn’t carry enough weight. But if Remus, a former Cabinet member himself, recommended him; that spot was as good as his.

Myles chuckled. “Sir, I believe you’ve made Agent Simmons soil himself.”

“And you’re next Avalon. You remember that request for additional funding you sent me?”

“Yes. Wait, are you actually-”

“Do you remember how much it was?” Remus interjected.

“Yes…why?”

“Double it.”

Simmons heard Myles squeak over the line and sniggered. “Now who’s soiling themselves?”

Suddenly, voices could be heard in the background. Remus cleared his throat.

“Alright sweetie, I’m gonna have to let you go. The wolves are back.” He paused and pretended his wife was talking to him. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow. Love you too, hon. Bye.”

Myles cackled like a hyena after Remus hung up. “Good bye, honeybunches!” he said in a high-pitched, girly voice. “Oh God...”

Simmons wasn’t listening, however. He was too busy punching the air in triumph.

Author's Note

Hope you're enjoying so far!
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Thank you and have a wonderful day!