Twilight awoke and raised her head. Her vision was a bit blurry, and she smacked her tongue and lips to wipe away the dry-tongued fuzzy feeling.
Around her and snuggled up to her and one another were her very best friends - Applejack slept with her spine against Twilight's - Rarity slumbered comfortably with her head resting on Applejack's shoulder - Fluttershy was curled in a tight ball against both Rarity's and Applejack's flanks as she made almost inaudibly quiet snores - Rainbow Dash was snuggled against Twilight's shoulder - and sprawled impossibly over them all was Pinkie Pie, who mumbled in her sleep something about applesauce and how it grew on special grape-flavored rocks.
As her vision sharpened and she very gently untangled herself from her friends, Twilight saw the purple tail of her Dragon Friday and Number One Assistant, Spike, draped over the edge of his bed above the library's main floor. Given that the drink cups and snack plates were gathered on the central table, along with Rarity's glasses (no doubt lovingly - even reverently - placed at the center of the table) it was evident that, once again, Twi' and her friends had chatted and giggled their way into the wee hours of the night, fallen asleep, and left Spike to do a bit of tidying up before bed.
Fortunately, Spike didn't in the least mind when this happened. He enjoyed these get-togethers as much as the six ponies did. Well he should, as each pony considered the baby dragon to be as much a friend as any of the other mares were to one another, his presence not merely tolerated, but fully and lovingly accepted.
Twilight made sure Spike's blankets were properly tucked in around him, giggling ever so slightly at the glimpse of the aqua blue Tourmaline gem Rarity had given him as part of his reward for a job well done helping her collect gems - and then rescuing her from those odd Diamond Dogs.
Feeling refreshed and fully awake from a good brushing, Twilight glided to the kitchen to start on breakfast. Smells of very basic - but none the less delicious - breakfast foods crept in to tickle the noses of the five sleeping mares.
Soon the library was alive with sound and activity as the friends went about gathering themselves for the day. Rarity and Applejack sniped playfully at one another. Fluttershy brushed her mane luxuriously. Pinkie Pie bounced merrily to the kitchen, intent on making sure everyone got a muffin for their breakfast. Rainbow Dash tried to do stretches and limbering for her morning exer-flight, but it was obvious to all who could see that "awake" had not quite yet been achieved.
Soon the six friends were chatting and having their fill of breakfast. Twilight found herself watching her friends, found herself feeling the warmth in her heart grow a tiny bit more. She had studied powerful magic her whole life, thinking it to be the ultimate thing in the universe. Thank Celestia (ever so literally) she had discovered friendship and it's vastly more important magic!
Many leagues north of Canterlot, nestled between two mighty mountains, a magic research center sat. It's halls were filled with magic users of all sorts. Unicorns mostly, but with a few rare earth ponies, pegasus, griffins and buffalo who had learned to tap the ley lines that was magical power. Really, only dragons were not represented here, as they had their own magic and were possessive and secretive about it.
In one of the older labs, among the original buildings tucked deeply into the vale, an older unicorn with a dark blue coat and dark gray mane, scowled at the scroll held by glowing horn before him.
"Again." he grumbled.
"What?" His young assistant asked, really knowing full well what had his mentor upset.
The older unicorn turned to glare at the brown-pelted red-maned young unicorn.
"You know full well." He said - as it was obvious. "Princess Celestia has ordered we stop our research again, pending another of her reviews."
"Well, ", the younger said, "we know why. We are doing some potentially dangerous work here. It makes sense to be cautious!"
"Bah." The older spat. "There is caution, then there is fatuous paralysis."
The younger shook his head. "You know we need to..."
"I know nothing of the sort! There isn't the slightest evidence that what I do here poses any extraordinary threat." He snorted and stomped a hoof. "Celestia is merely afraid to discover that hers is not the only world!"
"This again?" The younger near-whispered.
"I tire of this re-hash." The older said, words dripping with disdain. "Go home. I will inform you when - if! - we are allowed to return to our research."
The younger cocked his head. It was new and especially strange to see him acquiesce so quickly to this kind of order. Last time he'd fought for weeks before finally having to give in. Still, home early! He had been looking forward to playing the new magical game "Luna Scrolls: Groundrim". He waffled for a moment, concerned for this odd behavior, but really wanting to play instead of be responsible.
"OK. Bye!" To hell with the batty old unicorn.
It was not like any of the other letters Celestia had sent to Twilight. It was not personal in the least, purest business.
Twilight had been ordered to study a particular - and decidedly peculiar - branch of magic she had only touched on before. One that was - at the very most - a postulate that this was not the only possible universe. That not only were there other possible cosmos, but that those could be visited.
To call the idea controversial would be to seriously understate the matter. There were wizards who held it as fact that there were no alternate universes. Others who thought it was plausible, but visiting one would by the nature of these muliverses be impossible. It was a rare one indeed that thought both were true.
This made studying the work done fairly easy, as there was so little to study. The first work had been done before Celestia and Luna had become Equestria's leaders. Mage Skycanter had discovered that the ley lines tended to be arranged not around the celestial body that he stood upon, but around a center that itself moved about. From this he postulated an outside force, and that force had to emanate from someplace.
Twilight was very surprised to find some very serious study of this phenomenon had been done by a very young Princess Luna. She had discovered that it was possible to tap directly into this center, opening a gateway into unimaginable power. The princess also concluded, however, that despite having the sense that this could bridge worlds, there was no actual evidence for those other worlds, and the power was terrifically dangerous in itself, the slightest misstep releasing waves of destruction. She abandoned the research for being too dangerous and unethical a pursuit.
There were later peeks at the idea - vastly more cautious in light of Luna's research. Each time someone managed to tap the center, more evidence would be gained of its source and each time it would appear to be from outside their world. Each time the center was tapped, the experiments were abandoned because the destruction was impossible to contain. Usually it was just some ruined lab equipment, or part of a building. But, sometimes ponies died, or worse.
For a very long time there was nothing but theoretical research into the phenomenon. Experimental confirmation was largely considered unethical at best. But as wizards began to have a real grasp of how magic worked - began to have a real understanding of the underpinnings of the universe itself - this ley-center became increasingly important to that understanding.
Recently there had been one old wizard who had chosen to start confirmation experiments again. He was considered a bit of a fire-brand at best, and eccentric and even outright crazy in some corners of the wizard world. Sorcerer Raik Leeves was insistent that he had found a way to control the power of the center. The long safety record of his experiments suggested that he had indeed found a way. In the record Twilight had access to - which was a few years old - he had tapped the center no fewer than 14 times without incident. He likely would have run other experiments since.
Luna had counseled her sister to pause the experiments, having others (and herself) go over the findings and raw data. They had to be sure there weren't other effects. Luna and Celestia both were satisfied that Raik and his graduate student assistant were taking proper and effective steps for safety, and allowed him to continue - three times.
Twilight was utterly amazed by the raw data. Without peer review and independent verification it wasn't possible to claim knowledge, but what the data suggested was astonishing. Infinite alternate universes. Universes where magic only expressed itself as a weak nuclear force. Universes where magic was the sole force. Universes that could support pony-like life!
All being fed by this one central bit of... nowhere. This center that was not in a place, didn't have location unless it was viewed from within a universe.
It was a difficult concept to grasp. But the maths made any other conclusion nonsensical.
Twilight could only come to one conclusion herself as to why Celestia wanted her to look into this. Those experiments were ongoing, and something about them or some data to come from them changed things. A cusp had been reached, and Twilight was certain she knew how to deal with that.
"Spike?" Twilight called out to her friend.
"You rang?" Spike said as he entered the study room, using what Twilight considered a very adorable impression of the "master butler" that Spike had been playing at lately.
"Time for a letter to Celestia."
Princess Celestia read aloud from the parchment that had arrived in the traditional puff of green flame and light smoke. Her sister listened intently.
"...so it is my opinion is, if these other, alternative universes do exist then it is supremely dangerous to open a doorway to one at random. The differences must by definition include reversals of charge in matter among other potentially reactive changes where simple contact could be catastrophic. This is significant over the problem of loosing uncontrolled energy from the ley-center during portal openings.
"However, there is a way to mitigate the danger, if the portal can be controlled to only allow vision to pass (Please see attached standard grimoire notations), in this way the researcher can decide on the compatibility between our universe and whichever universe has been accessed.
"Limiting the reach of the fist doorways would, if my calculations are correct (again, please see the attached standard grimoire notations), help make sure the alternative universes are similar to our own, further reducing the risks involved."
Celestia looked up inquisitively at her sister, who had been going over the notation Twilight Sparkle referred to.
"It is obvious why you chose her as your pupil." Luna remarked. "She seems to have an innate feel for the magic as well as the theory."
Celestia nodded, the glimmer of pride in her eye obvious.
"'Tia, when I experimented with this... I really can not describe the sheer power involved."
"I remember all to well. I don't think I've ever been as frightened as the day your experiment unexpectedly gave us Long Hoof Ravine." Celestia bowed her head thoughtfully. "As we know more about magic, this becomes more and more important... Luna, it is inevitable we will have to face this one day. Right now Raik Leeves has managed to further this arm of research faster and safer than any other, his assistant is level-headed, and a strong influence for caution. The only other living pony in the world who can understand this level of magic has just told us there are further ways of keeping this safe. I fear if we stop this now, it could be generations before the opportunity again arises."
Luna bit on her lower lip, and returned her gaze to Twilights calculations. After a few moments she sighed.
"I take your point. I say we look at Raik Leeve's lab one last time, to be sure the magical wards are in place and still strong. If so, then allow Raik to continue. How say you, dear sister?"
Celestia nodded. "I agree. Scribe? We have a letter to send!"
Raik rumpled the scroll with a flash of red-hued magic.
"What gives them the right to bring in anyone else to judge my work!?" He snarled. "What gives them the right to threaten to halt my research on foalish 'safety inspections'!?"
He trotted out of his office and past the 'keep out' tape across his lab door.
"I decide what becomes of my work!"
He came to a short, skidding stop at the center of the arcane mural on the lab floor. His presence made the many defensive wards light up, growing in power to contain the energies of the ley-center.
"I'll show them the real data. They can't help but be convinced if I have even the merest sample from another world to show them." He concentrated, his horn glowing now in the red hue of his personal magic.
"And to hell with Sparkle's insipid suggestions. Only the most remote and bizzare universes hold the evidence I seek."
With that, he sent magic out to the huge arcane murals that surrounded the center of the room. They glowed bright red with his magic, then lightened, becoming white with the pure power of the ley-center.
Raik muttered words in an ancient tongue, guiding these energies into the shapes he needed, shapes with width, height, depth, and dimensions there were no words for. Raik felt the portal take shape, then hook into a new reality. It felt bizarre. Indescribable.
"At last!" He found himself saying, quite against the safety protocols he had written.
Raik quickly returned to casting the spell.
The tiniest opening formed at the lab's center. Raik risked a look and adored what he saw. Red and orange light flickered through the portal, a smell like hydrogen sulfides and hot metals. He took a cautious step forward to the edge of his protective circle.
Through the keyhole he could see a new world. It was brightly lit, and there was movement. He wondered it it was life, and if so, might it be intelligent?
He glided over a sampling container, and positioned it near the portal. Concentrating hard, he urged a bit of the surface of that world slowly through. Just the tiniest sliver of... well, dirt might be the closest analog.
As it settled into the container, he brought the top over and sealed the container with it.
Success!
Setting the sample down, he began to relax the flow of energy from the ley-center. The portal began to shrink, exactly as he postulated it would. He had just become the first wizard ever to open a portal to another universe, retrieve a sample, and safely close the portal.
He allowed himself to bask in his success for a moment, imagining the adulation, the reward that would be showered on him. With a smile, he thought to make sure his assistant was treated as well - he knew much of his progress came form the young unicorn's natural sense for caution and his sense for finding ways to make things work.
Raik startled from his reverie. The room had impossibly gotten brighter.
The arcane murals on the walls were dark. They no longer tapped any energy at all. Yet the portal was open still, and wider. Much wider.
Something reached through it. It was like a Gryphon's grasping talon, only seeming to be made of a rough gray clay and with an extra digit. He'd heard of a creature in the far southlands, Zebras called it a "monkey". This was like some horrible, twisted version of a monkey's hand. It gestured, and the portal opened further.
A second hand appeared, then a third and a fourth. The hands seemed to grasp the edges of the portal (Impossible, as it had no edges) and force it open, wider and wider.
Raik found he was without any idea of what to do. He'd never for a moment considered the need to force the portal closed.
The portal was wide enough now that it came dangerously close to his circle of protection. He could clearly see a burning, writhing world that was part chaos, part order. The owner of the hands rose through the portal.
The head was ridiculously like someone had used and ice-cream scoop to plop some dirty gray clay atop the creature's neck. Along the bottom of the scoop thousands of long villus wriggled disgustingly.
As the creature swung the first of eight cloven-hoofed legs into the lab, Raik looked up at the head.
Thousands of tiny, shiny black eyes looked back. Randomly scattered around the entire head. Cold. Hungry.
Terror.
It pounded on his mind like millions of sledgehammers.
Terror.
There was no looking away.
Terror.
His legs buckled. His mind was nothing but a cacophony of screams of abject horror. It produced no more rational thought.
The creature rose to its full height, destroying the roof of the building. It stretched out it's four arms and made a shrill cry. Darkness enveloped the research facility. Faded back to the twilight of the day, only a deep pit left behind.