Love Is A Miracle
Chapter 6: 1984
“HooWEE! That trip felt like it took forever!” exclaimed Applejack as she stepped out of the passenger car. Her friends all nodded in agreement and began smiling as they saw their destination back dropped against the late afternoon sky: Canterlot Castle.
“About time guys. Sheesh, what did you do, take the scenic route?”
Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy all turned their heads and found Rainbow Dash slumped over a bench. Her expression was one of absolute boredom before she began to stretch and stand up.
“Rainbow Dash, whatever are you doing here?” asked Rarity, surprised to see the blue pegasus at the train station.
“Did you decide to come wait for us? Did you already find Twilight? Do we need to start the ‘Rainbow Dash found Twilight celebration’ party!?” Pinkie asked in her rapid fire manner. The rainbow maned pegasus just looked at Pinkie Pie and shook her head.
“No, Pinkie. I’ve been waiting for you guys this whole time; what’s it look like? I was beginning to think you were never gonna make it!” Rainbow Dash complained. She then zipped over to Applejack and poked her with a hoof, “What’s the big idea, holding on to the letter the Princess sent to us? The guards won’t even let me into the castle without it! I get all the way here just to get stuck waiting because you slowpokes had to take the train!”
Applejack and the others couldn’t help but start to chuckle a little at Rainbow’s predicament, “Ya know Dash, if ya hadn’t flown off in the first place ya wouldn’t have forgotten the letter,” the orange earth pony replied.
“Yeah but Twilight’s in trouble and we don’t even know what’s the emergency. So I HAD to hurry! Something might have changed and terrible things could be happening to Twilight right now!” Rainbow Dash countered.
“She does have a point, darling. Why don’t we hurry over to the castle? The Princess is waiting for us,” Rarity stated, rallying everyone to run in unison towards the castle.
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Twilight Sparkle looked at Lucy and walked up to her before politely offering her hoof, “Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she greeted. The nervous human looked at the pony and composed herself.
“Lucy Canterbury. A pleasure to meet you, traveler,” she replied, taking Twilight‘s hoof in her hand and shaking it.
Sean looked at Tiffany slightly puzzled, “Did she not know about today’s events?” he whispered to the scientist.
“I thought she did. I don’t see why she wouldn’t know; she’s always been deeply involved with the science department,” Tiffany quietly replied.
Lucy let go of Twilight’s hoof and looked at Stella, “Sister, why did you not tell me this phase would be conducted today?”
“You have been so busy with several projects, I wanted to surprise you,” Stella replied, smiling and watching her sister’s reaction.
“You know I don’t like surprises,” Lucy said while looking down with obvious discomfort.
“But you must admit, of all the surprises to drop upon you, this one has to be the best. Twilight Sparkle, here, is from the parallel dimension Doctor Sparks’s device has accessed. This is one of the moments you have been dreaming of for quite some time. It is a tremendous breakthrough for mankind, don’t you agree?” Stella said encouragingly.
Lucy shifted herself and pulled out one of her folders, “Which is another reason I am unsettled by your not telling me about going ahead with this phase today. I have been going over the equations while I was overseas.”
Twilight looked at Lucy with concern and then looked at Tiffany questioningly, “Miss Lucy is in charge of the scientific division and travels around the world looking into competitive R&D. She was a child prodigy in mathematics, working on quantum mechanics and astrophysics; she’s even put forward several theories of her own. Using them helped me to develop my teleportation theories. She usually works opposite hours to us in this country so she handles business affairs at night,” Tiffany explained.
“That is true, Doctor Sparks, thank you for the introduction. But it is more important I show you what I discovered,” Lucy stated and began to show Tiffany the papers from her folder, “I have been going over your formulas for compensating the energy limitations and dimensional anchoring, during my travels.”
“Your theories have always been sound, but I wanted to go over them again because I felt something was missing. I realized it just recently, while on my return flight. There is a limitation on the targeting specimen, not only dimensionally, but in person as well,” Lucy explained, pausing to look at Twilight briefly, “Or pony in this case. The problem with using a dimensional anchor to draw a parallel entity over is that the entity and the anchor then become spatially limited. As the anchor is providing the entity’s missing dimensional sustenance in the host dimension, they must remain within a certain boundary of each other’s presence. Otherwise, they shall both expire,” she quickly stated.
Sean listened and raised his eyebrows, “Now, I know I’ve been around Tiff and all the science types long enough to not be completely stupid about all this techno babble. So, if I’m hearing you right, it sounds like you just said Tiffany and Twilight have to stay near each other, or they die. Am I right on that?” he asked.
Lucy looked at the man and nodded, “You are correct in that statement, Mr. Knight. I have not been able to determine the exact distance or time it will take for the entity and anchor to expire if they are apart. However, according to the numbers I have crunched, Doctor Sparks and Twilight Sparkle must remain in close proximity at all times.”
Stella walked up to her sister and put a hand on her shoulder, “Are you certain of this, Lucy?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Unfortunately, I am most certain. This is why I was so upset when you surprised me with this. I wanted to be sure that we were prepared to do so without risking their lives,” Lucy replied.
Tiffany and Twilight busied themselves looking at the numbers in Lucy‘s file. They both read over the figures and frowned slightly. Each one began calculating in their heads while muttering to themselves for several seconds.
“I can’t believe I missed this,” they said in unison. Human and Pony then looked at each other apologetically.
“I’m so sorry, Twilight. I can’t believe I didn’t think about the danger this would cause you,” Tiffany said.
“Or you! We’ll have to be really careful then, which is too bad since I was hoping to show you my long distance teleportation spells,” Twilight lamented.
“Doctor Sparks, we should proceed to send Twilight home until the procedure can be more thoroughly proven,” Lucy said.
Tiffany looked to Lucy and then back to Twilight, “I suppose I should. It’s too much to ask of her to risk herself for our experiment. At least I knew what I was getting into when I started. She, on the other hand, was completely surprised.”
“But what about yourself? I wanted to continue learning more about your world and your kind, but I don’t want to do something that might risk your life!” Twilight retorted.
They both thought for a second before cracking a smile together, “Hey, what if we just don’t stray apart from each other? If we’re really careful, I can stay longer and you won’t have to send me home just yet,” Twilight suggested.
“Yeah! It’s not like we can’t stand each other or something. We’re both excited to learn and we’re not in any hurry. So why don’t we do that?” Tiffany replied.
“If you are certain about this, Doctor Sparks,” Stella said, looking at the young woman questioningly.
Tiffany and Twilight both nodded their heads in unison, “Yes, Miss Canterbury. Please, we would like to continue the experiment. It shouldn’t be very hard to stay together. We can do this,” Tiffany said firmly.
“Very well then. I am used to taking risks with investments; this one is a little more unusual and higher then normal. You have my permission and support, we will simply have to work around it a little,” Stella replied, approvingly.
“Sister, you put a lot of faith in her decisions. Perhaps this time we should be more cautious,” Lucy said.
“Doctor Sparks has proven herself time and again. I trust her judgment in this situation,” Stella declared.
Lucy sighed and went over her formula charts again, “Very well. Then we should take all provisions to ensure they are kept together at all times during Twilight’s visit here. I also believe you will need to consider several security matters as well.”
“Oh, that was something we wanted to discuss!” Tiffany said, suddenly remembering, “I wanted to see if Twilight could discover the dimensional parallels between our worlds, and I thought our friends would be one manner to do this. We wish to visit them and see!” she said excitedly.
Sean’s face darkened slightly and he crossed his arms, “I thought I said that would be out of the question. We’re already taking risks just to visit Miss Canterbury here as it is. From a security point of view, this will be a difficult undertaking. Aside from the travel concerns, can we really just reveal Twilight to people indiscriminately?” he stated before looking at Tiffany and cutting her off, “I know your friends are trustworthy and all, but there’s no guarantee they might not accidentally speak to the wrong person. We’re talking the highest level of proprietary information here. I would have to set up all sorts of contingencies in preparation for this; the risk mitigation alone would be a headache,” he said quickly.
“Or, I could just turn invisible, like a mentioned earlier,” Twilight suggested. Her horn began to glow and before anyone could say anything she vanished from sight.
“Incredible. Did she just use magic?” Lucy asked while looking in awe at the spot where Twilight had been standing.
“Pretty neat, huh?” Twilight said from what appeared to be nowhere. Tiffany reached out her hand to where Twilight’s body would be and felt resistance. The pony giggled a bit, “Hey, I’m still right here. So, what do you think? Still need a ton of security measures now to hide me? This certainly beats taking that back entrance we used earlier,” she declared.
Stella nodded and smiled, “Well Mr. Knight? This should go a long way towards mitigating your concerns,” she said confidently.
Sean opened his mouth as though to protest, but immediately closed it. He let out a breath and pulled his cell phone from his pocket to check the calendar, “Alright then, but I insist on escorting these two everywhere. This is still a bit reckless. I don’t know why you can’t just have your friends travel to PNVL or make a video call. If this is the direction your project is going, then we do it under my watch.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Stella conceded, “Does it not, Doctor Sparks?”
“Of course! And we’ll be careful! The best kind of research is field research, right?” Tiffany asked, gesturing to where invisible Twilight stood.
“Absolutely. We’ll be very careful. So when can we get started?” Twilight replied excitedly, reappearing.
“You may want to discuss this tonight, at your home. The afternoon is growing late, and you have other matters besides our guest to take care of,” Stella reminded.
“Oh! That’s right! In all the excitement I lost track of the time-!” Tiffany gasped in concern while bringing a hand up to her mouth.
“I’ll cover those issues and arrange a ride for you to go home. If this crazy experiment is going to go through, you may as well start planning tonight. Don’t worry about your moped either. It should be fine where it is or I’ll have it delivered,” Sean said reassuringly.
“Oh, thank you! Sorry to have to dump so much on you-” Tiffany began, before Sean smiled and waved his hand in reassurance.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just doing my job, as usual,” he said and nodded to everyone present, “Which I better get started on right now, if I’m going to beat the rush hour. Good afternoon, Miss Canterbury, Miss Lucy, and have a good night.”
“Good night, Sean. I appreciate all your concerns,” Stella replied.
“You have my gratitude for your efforts,” Lucy stated. Sean departed quickly.
Lucy then turned to face Tiffany, “I will stay in touch if I happen to find other concerns regarding your project. Good night, Doctor Sparks.”
“Good night, Miss Lucy. And you too, Miss Canterbury. Thank you both so much,” Tiffany said.
“You have my thanks too. I promise to do everything I can to stay out of sight. I won‘t let you down!” Twilight stated.
“Then go. We will talk again about all of your findings. See you later and have a good night, my little pony,” Stella replied.
Twilight cast her invisibility spell and was out of sight. Tiffany opened the door wide to allow the unicorn to exit, but then paused to think about the action.
“Hm, it won’t do to open doors wide when no one else is going through it. We’ll have to figure out how to get around this,” Tiffany said before the door closed behind her.
Stella’s office was quiet once again and the last two occupants silently contemplated this turn of events. The business woman smiled at her younger sister, “They are quite a pair, don’t you think, Lucy?”
“Yes, and despite being so different in appearance, their mannerisms and tone of speaking are alike. It makes me wonder what our pony versions must be like,” Lucy pondered.
“You should ask Twilight when she returns then. She had much to say about my own,” Stella replied with a hint of mirth.
Lucy gave Stella a sideways glance; she knew asking what Stella learned would not reveal much. She asked, instead, about another topic, “What of our old friend, dear sister?”
Stella’s mirth was replaced with disdain, “You can see for yourself.”
Lucy sighed a little and opened the curtains to the large windows in the office. She immediately brought her face to the telescope lens and peered through. The woman recognized the view and focused on a particular building. It was a skyscraper, equal in height to Canterbury Tower. The building had several seemingly random inset perches; atop each perch were statues of gargoyles, eagles, lions, rams, and dragons. Lucy wondered if the architect had been crazy when designing the building. She then tightened the scope and looked at the top floor of the building. The top floor also had statues lining the sides, except they were a combination of the previous ones, forming a bizarre hybrid creature. She homed in on a specific window, where she saw a man standing in view.
He wore a black business suit with a white shirt and red neck tie. The suit appeared to be well tailored and customized to fit his tall, gaunt frame. His hair was a bright white and cut closely to his head. Lucy could see the man was holding a pair of binoculars and facing her direction. Before she could question whether he could see her he let go of the binoculars with one hand and waved as a broad, toothy grin stretched across his face. Her eyes went wide when she saw him mouthing out three words: ‘I see you.’
Lucy pulled back from the telescope with a grimace of disgust and closed the curtains. She looked over to her sister whose face had hardened and heard her mutter a name like it was a curse.
“Drake N O’quus.”