--Chapter One--
You Pervert
or
Learning With Portals
"This one looks interesting," remarked Twilight Sparkle as she lifted an exceptionally old book from its place.
She was browsing the restricted section of the Canterlot Royal Library. With things calming down after the changeling invasion, Twilight was having trouble keeping her mind occupied in Ponyville as winter started to set in and everypony went about their seasonal activities. Twilight wasn't exactly fond of winter, so she decided to ask Princess Celestia for permission to enter the restricted section in order to learn more advanced forms of magic.
"The restricted section is filled with books and scrolls from as far back as 10,000 years that have been deemed a potential risk to the reader or those around her." Twilight hung her head, thinking the Princess was going to refuse her request. "However, as my personal student, the Element of Magic, and having defeated many a foe who would have otherwise destroyed all of Equestria, I have faith in your ability to determine what might be too dangerous to use. Feel free to use the restricted section but please remember the potential danger involved."
Twilight was suddenly beaming with joy as the Princess unlocked the door to the restricted section.
Back at the library, Twilight added the book 'Trans-Dimensional Portals' to her saddlebag along with scrolls on ancient unicorn magic from before the forming of Equestria. While the scrolls were slightly tattered, the book appeared to be in pristine condition despite being anywhere from 7,500 to 10,000 years old based on the style of binding. The only flaw she could see was that the name of the author had been removed.
"This should keep me busy for quite some time. I ought to get back to the library, it's getting late."
----------
"Hey Porter!"
Responding to his name, the seventeen year old turned around, only to be greeted by a football colliding with his face. The impact caused him to stagger backwards as he regained his balance. Regaining control of himself, he looked from the football at his feet to the group of students it had come flying from. Letting out an inaudible sigh, he scooped up the football and threw it back to the others. Giving them a slight wave, he walked through the entrance of a path that went into the nearby woods.
"I don't get it. Why didn't he get mad?"
The majority of the group turned to look at the freshman who had spoken.
"You really don't know? That's Lee Porter. He use to be the unofficial king of this school. He was a real terror. They say when anyone did him any wrong, his eyes would almost light up with the anger that would flow through him."
"What changed? Why didn't he just charge up here and try to tear your arms off?" The freshman was confused, to say the least.
"Who knows. All I see is the bastard who put me in a dumpster taking a football to the face. And he ain't stoppin' me."
----------
"This place is so far away from Ponyville. It's no wonder I've never seen it before."
Twilight had studied the book 'Trans-Dimensional Portals' that she had borrowed on her way back home and discovered the location of one such portal, some miles from Ponyville near a far off edge of the Everfree Forest. Eager to discover what secrets it held, she took off without even stopping by the library to tell Spike where she was going.
Twilight stood at the edge of the Everfree Forest, staring at what appeared to be an old stone gathering circle. It was covered in small plants and looked as thought it hadn't been used in centuries. There were a few broken pillars around the edge of the circle as well as statues of very odd creatures. Each statue had a stone bowl at its feet with a small black candle at the bottom. Twilight had never seen such creatures before. Almost all of them had an intimidating look about them, except for one.
A tall creature stood out from the others. It had no visible fangs or claws and did not appear to have any form of armor plating, natural or crafted. And it stood on two legs, despite not having any tail to maintain its balance. "It must have simply fell off over the years" Twilight said to herself.
Removing the special book from her saddlebag, she lay on the edge of the stone circle and began to study in greater detail how the portal was suppose to work. Time passed as Twilight lay there, lost in her studies. A wind came in from the forest and started to flip the pages of the book. Twilight simply cast a personal barrier bubble around herself to block out the wind and continued to read.
An hour had passed. With a sudden glint in her eye, she shut the book, stood up and went about clearing the circle of all the overgrown plants. "Alright. I've cleared the portal area. Next, I need to light one of the candles." Looking back to the spread of fearsome statues that lined the outer circle of the portal, she looked upon the tall creature again. "This seems the safest bet. May as well start here." She quickly lit the candle with her unicorn magic and went back to the center of the circle.
"Light candle.... check. All that's left is to channel the keystone." Placed in the very center of the circle was a small pedestal with a stone sphere placed on top. Carved into it was a rune she was unfamiliar with. Placing both hooves on the pedestal, she began to channel magic from her horn into the sphere. As she did, the rune on its face began to glow a bright blue. Once the rune was fully lit, the blue light started to seep out like a liquid down the sides of the pedestal, slowly filling in carved lines in the stone base that had remained unseen in the failing light.
The wind from the forest picked up again and Twilight began to back away from the center circle, her eyes torn between staying wide open to witness the event or closing to avoid the wind.
----------
Reaching the end of the wooded trail, the trees parted to reveal Lee's apartment building on the other side of a somewhat busy road. He made his way across the street, checked the mailbox and then headed inside. Once inside, he began to relax, setting down his book bag and allowing his coat to slide off his shoulders. The bag held the books he needed for class that day along with his laptop and emergency note supplies. He then removed his cap, revealing his short brown hair which had a red streak on one side, and set about preparing to enjoy his afternoon. He started a fresh batch of tea ,threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and adjusted his thermostat to maintain the current level of warmth his apartment held.
He then walked over to his bookshelf and, after a few minutes of self-debate, chose to start re-reading his copy of 'Brisingr' by Christopher Paolini. Setting the book and his glasses down on the rather small coffee table, he headed for the restroom. Grabbing the doorknob, he swung the door open. His jaw dropped.
Standing in his bathroom was a young woman. Lee wasn't wearing his glasses so she was not instantly recognizable. She had a towel wrapped around her midsection, held a brush in her right hand and an mp3 player in the other. She didn't hear Lee enter the building because of the music. To make things worse, she was suddenly startled when he opened the bathroom door, causing her towel to fall to the floor.
Neither Lee nor the woman moved or broke eye contact for about 20 seconds. After the shock had worn off, her face turned red, almost matching her hair color.
"Lee..." Squinting his eyes, he recognized his neighbor and childhood friend, Sierra.
"Geez! I know you have trouble holding onto a girlfriend but that doesn't mean you can just ogle me whenever you feel like it!"
"Why are you naked in my bathroom!?"
"Because my shower is broken. Because I asked your permission to use yours until it gets fixed. Because I was here yesterday, taking a shower, at this exact same time!" Her whole body began to shake as Lee took a step back, realizing exactly how much pain was headed his way.
"I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"
She launched herself at him screaming "Pervert!"
He felt his body hit the ground as he fell backwards in an attempt to avoid the impact. However, what he felt underneath him definitely was NOT his floor. It felt like he landed on solid stone. And that hurt. With a pain filled grunt, he forced himself into a sitting position and took in his surroundings. He was right next to a stone pedestal which had blue lines glowing brightly down it's side. It also appeared to be at the center of a large stone circle.
"Odd place... how did I get here? And where's Sierra?"
Utterly confused by this recent turn of events, he reached up to scratch his head. But instead of fingers, he felt a solid lump rubbing his head. Quickly taking his hand off his head and bringing it into view, he began hyperventilating. He saw that, instead of a hand, he was looking at a hoof!
"That's not mine! Where's my hand?!"
He attempted to stand up but came crashing backwards, unable to hold his balance on two legs. He frantically turned his head to see what the problem was. What he saw made his pupils constrict. Not only had his feet turned to hooves as well, he had....
"Wings?!?"
----------
Twilight was shocked by this. All her hard work to open a portal to another dimension and all she had to show for it was a pegasus who acted like he belonged in the Trottingham Mental Asylum. Needless to say, she was aggravated. However, being one of the elements of harmony, she couldn't let this soul crushing failure blind her to the fact that somepony needed her help.
She was about to introduce herself to the deranged pegasus when he took one of his wings in his mouth and began pulling at it, as if he was attempting to remove it from his body!
"Stop that! You'll hurt yourself!"
The pegasus froze. Releasing his wing, he slowly turned his head towards her.
"Did you... just speak?" His eyes displayed a look of severe horror.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Um.... yes. Yes I did. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm sorry for bringing you here. I was trying a new spell but it seems to have misfired. What's your name?"
The pegasus sat still with his mouth ajar for a few moments. His eyes them proceeded to roll into the back of his head and he passed out on the stone floor.
"Well that was interesting alright..."
--Chapter Two--
Too Cheerful
or
The Pegasus Who Wasn't
"There you are Twilight. Where have you been? First, I wake up to a note telling me that you're going to the Royal Canterlot Library and to expect you home around 3. Then you didn't even show up. It's almost 9. I was worried..." Spike was relieved that his friend had come back safe after being gone all day.
The sun had begun to set when Twilight slowly backed through the open door to her library home, levitating an unconscious pegasus inside and gently placing him on the carpet. This came as a shock to the small dragon.
"Who is he?" Spike was staring at the pegasus whom Twilight had been carrying. His mane was short and brown with a streak of red running through one side. His tail was somewhat short and trimmed, matching the color scheme of his hair. And his coat was nearly as white as Rarity's.
"I don't know, Spike. Whoever he is, he needs my help. Go prepare the guest bed."
The little dragon quickly scampered up the stairs, eager as always to assist the purple unicorn in her daily activities. As he disappeared from view, she dropped her saddle bag and opened it with her magic, removing a rather old book. "What went wrong? I followed the books instructions to the letter! The spell, in combination with the pedestal and candle marker, was supposed to open a portal to another worldly. But instead, I have an unknown pegasus passed out in my home. I know enough pegasi. If I wanted to know more, I'd go to Cloudsdale! Maybe I missed a step?" She skimmed a few pages in the book before closing it and letting out a sigh.
She leaned over the stranger and brushed his tail off of his side to reveal his cutie mark. A red diamond with a snake wrapped around it, devouring it's own tail.
"So odd... I feel like I've seen this before... but where?"
"Twilight! The room is done!" Her dragon assistant came running down the steps.
"Great. Let's get him to bed. Perhaps after a good nights sleep he'll be a bit more stable."
Levitating her guest once more, Spike and her walked the pegasus into the guest room and tucked him in. Shutting the door behind her, she went back to the book.
"I'm going to bed Twilight. Unless you need anything else?"
"No thank you Spike. Get your rest. I'll be up soon. I need to make sure I didn't miss anything in this book..." She had re-opened the book and was already flipping from page to page. Spike gave a shrug and went upstairs to his waiting bed. The moon rose well beyond the horizon as Twilight sat in study, reading chapters aloud while fighting back yawns. After two hours, her eyes betrayed her and fell shut as she passed out at her reading table.
----------
The night passed without interruption. As the sun rose in the sky, a stray beam shone onto the pegasus's closed eyes.
"Rhhmmm...nnnnnn.....no....NO....stupid wings...AAAHHHHHHH!" The Pegasus had sat straight up, sweating profusely and breathing rapidly. After taking a few moments to calm down, he let out a big sigh.
"Note to self. Remember Sierra's shower schedule. God... whatever she did, it gave me one hell of a headache." He reached up to rub his sore head but stopped mere inches from contact. Closing his eyes, he began muttering to himself.
"Please please please please..." Slowly bring his hands into view, he opened one eye. "Hooves... So it wasn't a dream..." He let out a loud sigh of disappointment. Noticing a tall mirror on the wall, he got out of bed and went to it. Taking a few minutes to examine his new body, it all finally sank in. "I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore..."
Looking around the room, he spotted the door. Walking over and pushing it open, he discovered the next room; a library with the purple speaking unicorn from last night, slumped over a desk by his door. She was out cold. Careful not to wake her, Lee tip-toed passed her and began to browse the library shelves.
'Is it tip-toed? Tip-hoofed doesn't sound quite right...', he thought to himself.
"Let's see... E, F, G, H. History... history... here it is. History of Equestria. Equestria? Must be the name of this place. May as well start here." Grasping the book in his mouth, he slowly crept to a desk on the opposite side of the room as his purple friend. Setting the book down, he ran into a slight problem.
"Right... no fingers... How to solve this..." Lowering one side of his hoof to the cover, he gently lifted it up to reveal the first page. "Easy enough..."
"Equestria.... home of ponies, unicorns, pegasi, griffins... center of the continent... ruled by two Princesses.... raise the sun and moon?"
'Alright, so they have magic here. That's cool.'
"Surrounded on all sides by desert, dense jungle, mountain ranges and badlands. These areas are populated by various monsters, such as manticores and cockatrice, as well other sentient species, such as diamond dogs and dragons."
'They have dragons too? Not bad.'
"Oh good. You're awake. Did you sleep well?" Lee's host had awoken, her purple mane slightly disheveled.
"Well enough, all things considered."
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?"
"Lee. Lee Porter."
"Lee? That's a rather... unique name. You must not be from around here."
"You have no idea." Lee gave a little smile and rolled his eyes at his comment.
"And your cutie mark. It's also unique. What does it represent?"
"My... cutie mark? What's that?"
Twilight pointed to Lee's flank. Looking back, he saw what she was speaking about.
"You mean my tattoo? I honestly have no idea what it means. I got it as a tribute to my father, because he had one just like it before he..." Stopping mid-sentence, Lee's ears drooped as his head sank low to the floor.
"Oh no. Is that a sensitive topic? I'm sorry. I won't bring it up anymore."
Lee gave his head a shake and wiped a tear from his eye. "So how did I get here anyway?"
Twilight went returned to her desk and retrieved a large book, bringing it back to her guest.
"This book told me of an ancient portal between realms. I succeed in activating it but the portal spat you out instead of a trans-dimensional being. I'm really very sorry about that."
"Don't worry about it. It it helps you feel any better, I am from a different dimension. I'm also not a pegasus. I'm a human. Your portal worked, but it seems I'm now covered in fur and feathers."
Twilight seemed frozen in time. Her eyes didn't move, not even to blink. And her hooves were planted firmly on the ground. What felt like a very awkward minute later, she snapped out of it and gave Lee a disapproving look.
"Everyone knows humans don't exist Lee. If you don't want to tell me who you are, then you could have just said so." She scolded him before setting the book inside her saddlebag.
'Well that's not too surprising... I'd be skeptical too if some random guy told me he was from another dimension, but looked human.' Lee thought to himself.
"Sorry." He shrugged his shoulders. Or atleast he assumed he did. The usual motion ended in his head ducking down into his shoulders. 'Close enough'
"Anyway, I'm heading into town to get a bite to eat and then see if anything is on sale at the market. I'd send Spike to do it but he promised he would help our friend Rarity find more gems for her boutique. Would you like to come with me?"
"If there is food involved, I'm in." He gave a weak smile as his stomach began to grumble at him.
"Excellent. Why don't you wait out front for me? I just need to take care of something." She motioned to the front door and Lee complied. Waiting for the door to fully close, she used her magic to grab two pieces of parchment and a quill pen. Wasting no time at all, she started on the first piece:
'-Spike
I have gone into town with our guest. I need a letter delivered to Princess Celestia whenever you wake. It will be left by this note. Please do this before you leave for Rarity's house.
-Twilight Sparkle'
She left the first letter open and began on the other.
Dear Princess Celestia,
In my studies on magic, I have accidentally teleported a pegasus of unknown origin to Ponyville. He says his name is Lee and he claims to be a human in disguise. Normally I wouldn't give such a ridiculous notion any thought but the only reason I was able to summon him was with a book from the Royal Canterlot Library. You warned me of the potential dangers inside and I would like to be certain my guest poses no threat. If there is anything you might be able to find out about him, It would ease my mind. I'll keep him busy in Ponyville until you respond.
Also, here is a sketch of his cutie mark. It might help identify who he is.
Your student,
Twilight Sparkle
She tucked a small drawing of Lee's tattoo within the letter before closing it. Placing her saddlebag on her back and locking the door behind her, Twilight set out with Lee towards the town.
----------
"Is it always like this here?" Lee asked, his head flitting back and forth as they passed between several pastel colored ponies. Some were idly chatting, while others were seen doing business at the various shops and stands littering the town center.
"Like what?" asked Twilight, stopping to inspect several quill pens that appeared to be on sale.
"It's so... cheerful. Bright, even. Everyone is smiling and I swear I could hear spontaneous music one street over."
"Well... yes. This is Ponyville after all. Apart from the occasional disaster, it's pretty peaceful around here." She raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are things not like this where you come from?"
"Frankly, no. Most people have one issue or another that weighs on their heart, making it hard to be kind. There are some happy people, but nowhere near as much as here. And what few happy people there are, they rarely are this public about it. Most people are either too busy to be happy or are simply depressed. Kindness is a bit of an inconvenience."
"That sounds horrible. How can such a place exist? And how is it you are how you are? From your description, you shouldn't be nearly as calm or polite as you are." Twilight tilted her head slightly, her curiosity piqued again.
"I use to be..." Lee turned his head, avoiding Twilight's eyes.
"What do you mean?", she asked as she took a step closer, attempting to reestablish eye contact.
"I don't want to talk about it.", he responded with a cold tone, taking a step back.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Twilight took a step back as well, widening the distance between them.
They stood in complete silence for a few moments. After a some of the other customers left the stand, Lee looked back at Twilight, regaining his smile.
"So, who is Rarity? You mentioned her back at the library."
"She's a unicorn, like myself. She owns Carousel Boutique, Ponyville's tailoring shop. Her and Spike are probably out now gathering gems for her creations. With winter setting in, she needs to gather as much as she can to last through the season." Twilight had also regained a smile as their conversation reignited.
"Do you have any other friends? We haven't run into anyone yet."
"Yes. My other friends are Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Applejack is busy harvesting the last of the fall apples from her family orchard. Fluttershy is preparing the warrens for all the critters of Ponyville to hibernate in during winter. Pinkie Pie is busy at Sugarcube Corner baking all sorts of sweet treats. And Rainbow Dash is volunteering in Cloudsdale, helping prepare new pegasi on how to make clouds produce snow."
"And Spike is...?"
"Spike is my dragon assistant who lives with me at the library."
"Assistant... dragon..." His face turned very serious, as though the entire future of the world depended on Twilight's response.
"Um... yes? He's a dragon alright."
"So let me get this straight. There was a dragon in that library and you didn't tell me because...?"
"I didn't think it would be that important. Dragons aren't that uncommon you know. Besides, he's still a baby."
"Awwww... I really wanted to see a dragon while I was here."
"Twilight Sparkle!"
A bright burst of light exploded in front of the pair, revealing a tall and elegant pony. She had wings larger than any Lee had seen before as well as a horn. Adorning her figure were very regal leg covers and a large gold raiment around her neck. A golden crown encrusted with a purple gem sat on her head. Upon her appearance, everypony, except Twilight and Lee, bowed before the magnificent pony. She had a very serious look on her face.
"Princess Celestia! Did you get my letter?" Twilight looked very excited to see her teacher visit her in Ponyville.
"Yes Twilight. And it led me to a very troublesome discovery. Is this him?" She motioned to Lee. His eyes went wide. 'So this is one of the royal sisters? She's alot bigger than I imagined she would be,' he thought to himself.
When Twilight gave a confirming nod, Celestia grabbed them both to her side with magic. She then began concentrating as a yellow glow overtook her horn.
"Stay close to me and don't move.", she said very sternly. The yellow glow expanded rapidly, encompassing the three of them. With a flash as solid as when she arrived, Celestia, Twilight and Lee vanished, leaving all the nearby citizens of Ponyville with a perplexed look.
----------
A timberwolf walked the edge of the Everfree Forest, sniffing at the stone circle that sat dangerously close to the wild lands. A bright spark emanated nearby, scaring the wolf back into the forest. A bright light quickly expanded and popped, revealing the Princess along with Twilight and Lee. While the two smaller ponies looked around confused, Celestia wasted no time in walking to the circle.
"Is this this the same place where you summoned Lee?" Her voice portrayed a sense of great urgency.
"Yes Princess. What's going on anyway? Why did you bring us back here?"
"Lee. Go stand by the pedestal in the center." Not wanting to argue with royalty, Lee did as he was asked.
"Twilight, do you still have the book you borrowed?"
"Yes. But why are we here? The spell didn't work the first time..."
"He's a human, Twilight. He cannot stay here."
"How can he be a human? Those are just myths!" Twilight looked very confused by what the Princess was saying.
"Allow me to show you. Lee, I need you to place a hoof on that keystone on top of the pedestal."
Doing as he was told, Lee stood still as Celestia charged a beam of yellow blue light into the keystone, causing the circle floor to light up. The circle began to show an image. In it was a red haired girl, slumped on the floor. And she was crying.
"Sierra? Princess, does this thing do sound?" The princess nodded. Her eyes closed and she began concentrating harder. A voice began to project from the image.
"Give him back! I promise, I won't ever try to hurt him again! Please! Oh god, please! I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it!" The image faded away as Celestia ended the beam. She turned to her student.
"He must go back. His kind do not belong in Equestria. They were the catalyst that spawned Discord. We cannot risk him returning a third time. What does the book say about sending somepony through the portal?" Twilight removed the book from her saddlebag and quickly flipped to a specific page.
"In order to travel through the portal, he just needs to stay in close proximity to the keystone on the pedestal." She quickly ran to the human statue and lit the candle at its feet. Celestia then turned to Lee.
"Are you ready?" Lee placed both of his hooves on the pedestal and gave a nod. As Celestia began to charge her horn again, Lee looked to Twilight.
"It was nice meeting you, even if you didn't believe I was a human." Twilight gave a smile back and was about to respond when the Princess shot another beam into the keystone. It glowed bright blue and lit the hidden marks of the circle once more. In a blinding flash of blue, the pegasus was gone. Celestia let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad we could handle that without an incident. Twilight, would you please gather the keystone for me? Something this dangerous can no longer remain out in the open for anypony to accidentally activate."
Twilight walked to the pedestal and picked up the strange sphere with her magic. Before she even turned around to give it to the princess, several timberwolves leapt from the forest, howling loudly and startling the unicorn. In her panic, she lost control of the keystone and it fell to the ground, cracking open to reveal a vivid purple gemstone. It glowed so bright, it blinded the timberwolves as well as the princess.
"Twilight?" Blinking rapidly, the princess's eyesight returned. Looking around, she barely spotted the wolves running back into the forest. But her student and the keystone were nowhere to be seen.
"Twilight!"
--Chapter Three--
Stairway To Infinity
or
How We Know The Earth To Be Banana Shaped
"Where am I now?" Annoyance filled his voice as Lee stood, attempting to glean any details he could from his dark surroundings. Pitch black was the environment he found himself in. He couldn't even see the floor he stood on, if there was a floor at all. Without sight to rely on, he turned to sound, noticing the faint but growing tap of footsteps. They grew louder and louder until coming to a stop about 10 feet away, by his best guess.
"Hello Mr. Porter. Glad you could finally join us." The sound of clapped hands lead to a light flashing suddenly, forcing Lee to throw his hooves up to shield his eyes. After allowing time for his eyes to adjust, he lowered his forelegs, only to notice he still had hooves. Turning his head quickly to both sides, he verified that his front still matched his back.
"Alright. So I'm not home and I'm still a pegasus. That's unfortunate..." Sighing loudly, he looked around and found himself inside a small room. Several pictures occupied the walls. Pictures of humans. The people who occupied them all wore casual clothing and appeared to be enjoying various activities. One showed a small child holding a football. Another contained a large group of people enjoying barbecue at a picnic table. However, none of the people depicted in these pictures had a face. No eyes, mouth, nose or any trace of an emotion. They were simply blank.
"Only a temporary setback, I assure you. What is unfortunate is that my other guest has yet to arrive.". The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. In the center of the room stood a large wooden office desk. Several pieces of blank paper were scattered on its surface. In front of the desk sat two plastic chairs. A sphere of blue light, no bigger than a tennis ball, floated out from underneath the desk and quickly made it's way in front of Lee's face. "Please, have a seat."
"Am I to assume you are the reason I am here, instead of at my home?" Lee approached the desk and occupied one of the chairs. Upon sitting, one of the pieces of blank paper rose from the desk, floating off to the side. Upon it's surface, words began to appear, though there was no visible pen or quill from which the writing should be coming from. Lee turned his attention to the floating page and cleared his throat as he read aloud as the ball of light fluttered behind his ear. "Name: Lee Porter Age: 17 Gender: Male Realm of Origin: Hercules Universe.... Are these things supposed to mean something to me? Just where the hell am I? Why am I still a pegasus?" His voice again betrayed a note of annoyance as he asked questions in rapid-fire order.
The orb floated away from Lee and turned a light shade of violet. "Please, dear sir. It would be rude to discuss such things before all guests have been accounted for." A faint scream began to form somewhere in the room. "Speaking of which..." Just as the light had put more distance between itself and the agitated pegasus, a rift opened suddenly behind Lee and a still screaming Twilight Sparkle flew out of it, colliding with him and knocking him out of his chair.
The impact left Lee laying on the ground with his head stuck under the desk. Twilight was laying belly up over Lee's back, her head still swirling from the sudden collision. The orb switched back to it's blue color and quickly floated over the disoriented ponies. "Oh dear. Perhaps I should have warned you of that... Not to worry. I shall make it all better.." A small blink of light overtook the ponies and the upturned chair, causing them to disappear. They reappeared instantly in the proper place, sitting in front of the desk once more.
Twilight shook her head rather forcefully, bringing herself out of the impact-induced disorientation. She than began to take in her surroundings, noting the faceless pictures on the walls, the office desk and the odd floating light in front of them. After staring at the light for a few seconds, she turned to Lee and opened her mouth to speak, only for him to place a hoof over her mouth, stopping any questions she was about to undoubtedly ask.
"Whatever it is, I don't know. I'm as much in the dark here as you are. The only thing I know is we are here and this light seems to want to speak to us. Alright?" Gesturing his free hoof to the floating orb, Lee held his other hoof in it's place until Twilight gave a small nod. After removing his hoof from her face, Twilight took a deep breath and turned her attention back to the light. "All right. We're both here now" he said. "Are we waiting on anyone else or can we finally get some answers out of you?"
The orb flew back to a position behind the desk. "Indeed you can. All guests are finally present, so we may proceed. But before you ask your questions, let me get the basic ones out of the way. To start, I'd like to welcome you to The Threshold to Infinity. This is my realm and I am it's creator. I go by many names. Some would call me The Green Wraith. Others would call me The Adamant Guardian. Others still refer to me as Immortal Thunder Reaper. And above even them... there are those who call me... Tim."
The ponies sat staring at the minuscule orb, not saying a word. After a few seconds of awkward silence the light flashed away. In it's place sat a large brown office chair with it's back turned to Lee and Twilight. It swiveled forward, revealing a tall man wearing a white business suit and a red tie. His face matched those of the people in the photos. "Tiiiiiimmm.....?" He emphasized on the last name, allowing more time to lapse before leaning back in his chair and waving his hand towards the still floating paper, speaking out loud, "Young Twilight Sparkle is not of his world. She is forgiven, as she does not know. However, the human known as Lee has no excuse. Clearly has no sense of humor..." as the words were written down line for line.
Lee seemed to take some offence to Tim's last statement, letting out a small scowl and staring at the floor. Twilight took notice and let out a small giggle before turning to address their newly-changed host. "His world? You mean Earth, right? Do you know anything about it? Lee didn't tell me much and what he did tell me..." Her eyes wandered to the floating paper as it copied down her words as well. "Well, let's just say I'm having trouble believing it's exactly as he claims."
"And doubt him, you should. Humans can be a bit melodramatic at times... It's usually best to weigh their words carefully and take anything presented as 'fact' with a grain of salt. No, their world isn't that bad at all. It has many places of natural beauty, much like your own world. And the people there mirror your own people in many ways. Almost everyone has something that drives them. Some great dream of accomplishment or a vision of a changed future. Music, art, literature... Knowledge! Entire generations of humans dedicating their lives to the pursuit of study and discovery! In a way, I admire them. They still have what I have long lost... the deep drive to seek knowledge. To claim it as their own and become the masters of their realm. I still document the universe, but it is now done out of necessity rather than a sense of discovery."
"Excuse me? I don't mean to be rude but this place looks like a simple office to me... How can you document the universe from here?" Twilight stared intently at her host, one eyebrow arched as she stroked her chin with her hoof. A small frown adorned her lips.
He leaned forward once more. "Yes. Perhaps I should go a bit more into detail about that. But rather than sit here and bore you with all the specifics, I think I will simply show you..." Tim clapped his hands three times, causing each corner of the small office to let out a small but noticeable pop. Each wall then fell outward, kicking up dust as they hit the floor, causing a loud crash.
Once the dust had settled, Twilight and Lee stood from their seats, their faces caught in a state of pure astonishment. "So... many... books..." Twilight was practically drooling. She found herself inside what she could only describe as the biggest library she could ever imagine. What had once been a simple office now sat in the middle of a gigantic circular room. The walls of the library were covered in bookshelves and had several levels circling upwards. It seemed to spiral up into the heavens, with no end in sight. And there were several hallways leading into other areas of the library on each level. Moving back and forth on each level were many other people who looked exactly like Tim, removing or replacing books from their shelves, sitting down and reading books and even writing new books. Those who weren't writing or reading in some manner were peering out windows with large telescopes pointed towards a deep starry sky.
"Would you care for the tour?"
