//------------------------------//
// Ripples and Sacrifices 
// Story: Dimension Jumper 
// by redtau 
//------------------------------//

	I just stared at my arm for a moment. 

Free.

After all this time, I was finally free.

I wanted to go running through the Everfree, feeling the wind on my face. I wanted to knock on Twilight's door and laugh in her face. I wanted to stroll through Canterlot with Nightmare fully unleashed, watching the Princesses cower in fear of what they had toyed with. I wanted-

I wanted to know when all the God damned manticores got here.

There were over a dozen of them pacing back and forth in front of the open castle gate while staring at it. One would take a step forward, then turn and go back to pacing.

"That is a lot of manticores..." I said.

The massive shift in the castle must have attracted them..

"Watch how they are moving, like they can sense the castle but can't see it," D said with a look of wonder. "I'd really like to see how that spell works."

Nightmare's power might be enough to sneak out, maybe even give me a shape change. After her last outage though, I was in no rush to give her that kind of freedom. Even though her actions had freed me.

There was a cry, and a crash from the courtyard.

"Maybe later, but right now I think we should try and restore a little order. See if you can't gather up and calm down the creatures left in the castle. I'm going to take a look at my new castle." 





I was practically dancing through the halls, looking over my brand new castle. Everything was new and dark and beautiful, like the full moon over an ocean at night. Everything from the windows, now massive stained glass works depicting the history of Equestria, to the furniture, covered in rich dark hued cloth, had changed.

"This is fantastic! Nightmare, I knew you were strong but I never knew you had this kind of power!"

Fear is a powerful emotion, but fleeting. I had to do some of this fairly quickly near the end, and I'm not sure I got everything.

I was actually skipping up the steps towards my private room. "I'm sure everything is nearly perfect. You've fixed the castle, my seal is gone, and I am finally free! Once the sun is up and everyone is settled I'm going to town.  I'm going to put on the best outfit I've got, grab a zebra and a gryphon as escorts, and go skipping right through Ponyville!" Laughter escaped my lips as I was happy for the first time in a long time. "I'm free and out and gone and.... Nightmare?"

Yes, Sarah?

"Where is my room?"





I sat in court, on the beautiful but uncomfortable throne, looking at maps of floors for the old castle and frowning. I compared notes brought to me in the last hour and made another mark with a red pen. A pair of canids stood guard at the door, while another stood by nervously as I deciphered his scouting report. Reggie circled nearby, frowning at the map.

"Ooookayyyy......So that's somewhere between a third and two fifths of the castle that have been completely re-worked. My room is only accessible from a staircase on the first floor that spirals up to just that room. Most of the refugees are still looking for their items since what was a communal hall has been turned into apartments. There is a gem charging facility where the dungeons were, dungeons where the kitchens were, and once more we've lost the kitchen!" I sighed and scratched my head. "But I really want you to explain the eastern hallway."

What's wrong with it?

"It's fifteen point seven feet and thirty seven feet by twenty-eight feet". 

Isn't that one too many dimensions?

"Nope. It's one when you measure it from north to south and the other measured from south to north. At least the east-west direction is stable. I've also got a corridor that spirals into a dead end, a dozen rooms that are upside down, and then there's the quote unquote 'horror section' in the east wing."

"Your Majesty," Reggie said, drawing my attention. "Is there any chance we can just wall that up and ignore it forever?"

I sighed as I looked over the "map" Reggie had given me. It was only a map for the first few feet, then it become something akin to a flow chart. sections had been named things like "the hall of skulls" or "Displacement Art Gallery." I pointed at the last and raised an eyebrow.

"It was a large room, like a ballroom, but with a second floor interior balcony. There is a ton of art, some of it I suspect hasn't been seen since the first Nightmare Moon incident."

"Ok, that's the art gallery part. Explain the displacement bit."

"You just sort of... move through the gallery."

"That's what you do in an art gallery," I frowned.

"No, I mean you see a painting across the room that looks kind of neat and suddenly you're right in front of it. The paintings also change when you aren't looking."

"That sounds fun, like a speed run of Equestrian art."

"Yeah, but you haven't seen the curator," one of the canids chimed in, shivering. "Tall, thin canid in a black suit with no face and long tendrils coming out of it's back."

"Except I saw it as a gryphon. It moved whenever we moved, and it hurt to look at for too long. I'd hate to see what happens if someone tried to take a painting."

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. "I am this close to declaring this whole thing somebody else's problem and heading for the hills."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that," Red said, walking into the court. She waved a paw and all the canids departed, leaving just me her and Reggie in the closed courtroom. "I seriously hope you are joking about leaving the castle."

"Why, exactly?"

"Come here, Sarah," Reggie said, beckoning me to a window. I looked out and down at the creatures milling about in the courtyard. "Do you see them?"

"I do. Honestly I'm a bit surprised. The way Nightmare got so much fear to power the castles transformation, I'd have thought all of you would have up and left."

"A good many did, but not everyone has that luxury. The few who stayed behind did so because life in this castle, even one run by a tyrannical Nightmare, was preferable to whatever they might have found outside."

"It's a good thing I'm not a tyranical nightmare then, isn't it?" I said with a smirk. Nightmare grumbled a bit but I didn't relay the message.

"Still, there is a problem inherent in your departure," Red said. "If you go, then who is in charge of the castle?"

"That's easy, just elect someone."

"Who?" Reggie asked. "The races will only vote for their own, and right now that would cause a split between the two biggest groups here, the gryphons and canids."

"The Ruby Rovers were here first, so let Red have the throne by seniority." 

"The Rovers are not well loved or respected amongst canids. My grandfather's experiments with magic circles drained our mines of valuable gems, and eventually we were thrown out of our last good mines by stronger packs. Many still see my pack as the lowest of the low, wasteful vagrants and thieves who steal to survive. If you hand us a prize like this castle, it would be like throwing us to the wolves."

"The gryphons aren't any better," Reggie added. "They would most likely try and eject all the other races, and turn this castle into a warlord's camp. But there isn't enough food here for a real camp, and it wouldn't be long before they were raiding Ponyville."

"Surely you wouldn't do that," I said.

"No," Reggie agreed. "I wouldn't. But I also won't be the one in charge. Serving as your right claw for the last few months has definitely given me a bit of power, but all that disappears when you leave. I'm an adviser Sarah, not a king."

"Not to mention," Red added, "That the number of challengers are going to increase a hundred fold from what you faced. Only the brave and desperate came to challenge an unknown like you for a crumbling ruin in the middle of the Everfree forest before. Now that the castle is restored and there may only be a gryphon or canid or minotaur in command? I wouldn't be surprised if dragons started showing up to pick a fight."

"That's going to be true whether I stay or not," I pointed out.

"Yes, this castle is a prize. Yes, the circles for charging gems is a treasure beyond dreams. Yes, there are creatures who are coming to claim it. How many do you think will not come if the Nightmare is still here? If you stay-"

"What happens if I stay? What gets better if I don't leave? Once creatures find out it was Nightmare who rebuilt the castle I'm going to have monster hunters after my head."

There was a cough, and everyone spun around. Pio, in pegasus disguise crept in the window.

"This was a private conversation," Red said, glaring at the changeling.

"Yes, among creatures. But you keep thinking of solutions that creatures would think of. You need me, need a monster, to think of monster solutions."

"Monster solutions?" Reggie asked with a chuckle.

"Tell me, do they have zoos in the gryphon empire?"

"Of course, some of the best in the world."

"Why don't you fear the monsters there?"

"Because they are caged you stupid bug!" Reggie said.

"Exactly," Pio said, turning to me. "No one fears the monsters that are shackled, but none are keen to get too close."

"My shackles are gone Pio. I'm finally free."

"Yes, Sarah, you are. Completely free. You can leave the castle and spend your whole life running and hiding. You can abandon every creature who stayed, leave them to the brutes and scavengers. You can be far, far away when that obnoxious lord brings down his wrath on whatever poor idiot holds the castle.

"You can let Harold win."

Pio flinched back from the hard look I gave him, and thoughts whirled though my head.

"Just being here isn't enough. If I can be carted away or tricked into giving up the castle then things will still go badly."

"It won't be long before someone comes to check on the castle." Reggie said.

"Nightmare, can you simulate Celestia's geas? Just an illusion of it?"

I think so. Do you have a plan Sarah?

"No, not a long term one," I held up my arm as the illusion seal formed. "But this will buy us time to work out a better succession plan."

"Good, a little more time and talking, and we might get something really worthwhile here," Reggie said with a smile. He looked out the window towards town. "I can only imagine what the ponies in town will think when they see the castle."





Twilight opened the shipment of books and groaned. Another box of trashy, young adult horror and romance. She had been grateful for the donations when they started months ago, but now it was getting tiring. Each shipment was becoming increasingly more and more focused, and it was becoming painfully obvious what that focus was.

The first book, right on top, was indicative of the entire box. A crude representation of Sarah, her eyes glowing red, her teeth sharp and bloody, stood over a wounded mare, a brave stallion attempting to put himself between the two. The title, depicted in a dripping blood motif, was "Terror at Canterlot High". Twilight pulled it out and tossed it into the growing pile in the corner of the library. There was only so much space in the tree, and already these new books were going to back stock.

Twilight pulled out the crumpled newspaper that had been used as packing filler so the books wouldn't shift. It had not escaped her notice that all the filler paper had been stories about Sarah. This one, from a rag of a tabloid, claimed that Sarah had escaped the castle and was living in an abandoned mansion outside Manehatten. 

CRASH

"Hello Rainbow Dash."

"TWILIGHT! You HAVE to come see this!" The speedster cried. Normally she would be all excited about a new trick she had worked out, but this time her voice sounded more serious.

"What? What is it?"

"Can you cast that cloud walking spell on yourself?"

A few minutes and one nerve wracking flight later, Twilight and Rainbow Dash stood atop a small cloud high over Ponyville. 

"Look!" Dash said, waving a hoof at the Everfree. "The castle is gone! I noticed when I did my weather patrol this morning! The Castle of the Pony Sisters is just gone!"

Twilight squinted into the distance, looking for the grey and white crumbling towers that marked the castle in the forest. All she could see was a dark shadowy hole where the castle should have been. She scrunched up her face and glanced up at the noonday sun.

It can't be a shadow, there isn't anything to cast it. Twilight's horn glowed, and the air in front of her and Dash shimmered and shifted, her magic acting as lenses for a massive telescope. Both she and Dash gasped at what they saw.

The ancient castle was transformed. Where old, square towers had stood, now majestic dark spires reached into the sky. What could be seen above the treeline was obviously larger than the original castle's proportions, and far outside of Sara's power to construct.

Had she gotten that spirit to help her instead of hunting her? Or are the rumors that Nightmare is free true? Has she been hiding the renovations under an illusion like she hid herself? If so, why reveal them now? Is this more or less worrying than the idea that she changed the entire layout of the castle in a matter of hours?

"Um, Twilight? You want to come back to reality with the rest of us?"

Twilight shook her head, snapping out of her musings which were already spiraling into dark thoughts. "We have to go and see what's going on."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," Dash said sarcastically, waving a hoof at a pair of Night Guard hovering nearby. "You know these two won't let you anywhere near the forest."

"Ms. Dash is correct Ms. Sparkle," one of the guards said, addressing her with an air of formality she had grown used to in the past few months. "As the bearer of the Element of Magic AND the most powerful unicorn in a hundred miles you represent too tempting a target for the daemon in the woods."

"The castle's change has already been documented with flyover photos and all information has been passed up the chain of command."

"Explain to me, again, why I don't get access to this information for weeks on end?" Twilight asked annoyed.

"National security miss. There is only ever one copy of the photos until they have been released by the princesses. Though, since this is such a big development, I'm sure Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will be hearing about it sooner rather than later."





In Canterlot, in a dining hall turned war room, Princess Celestia looked over the photographs of the newly restored castle with a faint frown on her otherwise unreadable mask of neutrality.

"This is only from this morning?" she asked.

"Yes," the unicorn before her said, shuffling folders and reports. "It appears that there has been a drastic reduction in creatures we can see from overhead. I'd like to think that they all left when the changes started."

"Thou fears a different reason for their absence?" Princess Luna asked.

The unicorn shifted uncomfortably, adjusting his noble robe. "In the initial court hearing, during the questioning, Sarah Jordan noted that one of the spirits, D, was able to power transformations by dissolving parts of her body." The unicorn looked up from the report worriedly. "I'm concerned that she got tired of waiting and started using other creatures as blood sacrifices."

A look of shock and horror washed over Luna's face before she managed to return to a neutral mask. Her long isolation and recent reintroduction to life in Equestria meant she lacked some of the diplomatic skills her sister had honed over millennia. "This is surely only one likely possibility, just as their exodus is another. We must not jump to conclusions regarding Sarah, as that is what caused so much trouble in the first place."

"Still," Princess Celestia said. "She has not responded to any of my letters, despite me writing her once a week." A smile flickered over her face. "I swear, sometimes it feels like I'm writing friendship requests to go with Twilight's friendship reports."

"Speaking of Twilight Sparkle, my guards are still keeping her safe aren't they?" Princess Luna asked. "I lent you those four right after Sarah's banishment, and their updates have been sporadic at best."

"She is well and safe your majesty. Two of your guard keep watch on her at all times, while a third watches the castle. The fourth rests and cycles as needed." The unicorn smirked. "The only trouble they've had since you assigned them are a few bouts of curiosity and the problem with the zebra in the Everfree." The unicorn frowned. "However, if this is a shift in Sarah's nature from simply amassing power to going on the offensive, I may need more soldiers to keep her contained."

"We do not yet know the nature of her stance," Celestia said, rising from the table. "Your agent's work acting as contact for that canid pack has allowed you some level of information gathering as you pass letters and supplies in and out, but I fear we will need more direct information. You will have to send an envoy to see what the situation is on the ground. If the castle is restored, then my geas may have been broken and Sarah might walk free across Equestria. While I have no real wish to detain her, the panic such an action would cause is not something I can allow. If the geas is still in place there is a chance we can negotiate for Sarah's peaceful release."

"Of course your majesty, I will send my most amiable and careful diplomat," Lord Harold said, bowing low. "You have my word."