//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: In the Eye of the Storm // by SPark //------------------------------// In the Eye of the Storm by SPark Chapter One. "Hey Elspeth, where are you headed?" Skif waved hello to his old friend the princess, adept, and of course Herald of Valdemar, Elspeth. She paused her brisk trot for a moment and waved back. "Out to the Companion's Field." "Going to relax with Gwena a bit?" Elspeth laughed. "I wish. No, I'm going to try a new spell I found in the archives. It might be the solution to some of our problems, though sadly not to their cause." "Oh?" "Yes. It's a gate spell. One that's supposed to be very easy to cast, relatively speaking. If I can master it, it might make it possible to gate around Valdemar, even in the immediate aftermath of a storm. You can see how useful that might be." "Yes. And if we could set up gates to Hardorn, or Karse... very useful indeed!" "Want to come along and watch me cast it?" "Sure, why not? At the moment, at least, I'm not too busy. Is Darkwind coming?" "He's up to his eyebrows in something he's working on with Firesong. I didn't want to disturb him." The Companion's Field was a rolling meadow contained within the royal palace grounds. It was the largest of all the parks in the city of Haven, but few of Haven's citizens came there, for it was the refuge of the Companions, and it was a rare occasion when someone besides their chosen Heralds visited them. Elspeth had been their many times. The ruin that lay near the heart of the field was where she had first met her own Companion Gwena. And that ruin was her goal now. As she and Skif climbed over the fence into the field two white horses came to meet them. Or at least they looked like horses. What exactly the Companions were nobody truly knew. They looked like horses, always pure white, with shining white manes and tails, bright blue eyes, and silver hooves. But they were intelligent, and in some way magical. They could not speak, but most could communicate mind-to-mind with their chosen heralds. Which is how Gwena greeted Elspeth. :Ready to cast this new spell, kitten?: "Yes. As ready as I can be, at least," replied Elspeth out loud. "I thought I'd use the arch in the ruins. It's been used as a gate before, which should make it at least a little bit easier." :Hop on then, and I'll take you there.: Elspeth vaulted onto Gwena's bare back with practiced ease, and Skif was on his own Cymry almost as quickly. The two mares raced across the field, running more smoothly than any normal horse possibly could. In moments they had reached their destination. The ruins had once been a chapel. It had fallen into disrepair centuries ago, but the bell tower still remained, and the bell sometimes rang, though there was no rope to pull it. Elspeth wasn't there for the bell, though. She was there for a certain archway. The walls had fallen down around it, but the arch itself was still completely sound. She slid from Gwena's back and seated herself in front of the arch. A moment later she had her careful copy of the ancient scroll set in front of her. She weighted it down with a few pebbles, so it wouldn't blow away, and studied it once again. She already knew it almost by heart, but there was no point in making mistakes. Skif, Gwena, and Cymry stood by watching. A few other Companions, with nothing better to do, joined them. After a moment Elsepth nodded, and began the spell. Gates were strange things. Unlike most spells they drew entirely on the energy of the caster. She didn't even bother reaching for the node, with its store of magic, that lay beneath Haven. She would reach for it later, to replenish herself. For now the power must come from her. And that was part of the reason why setting up permanent gates was so hard. A normal gate would require the caster to be present, with their life-force actively being drained, the whole time the gate was active. How, exactly, permanent portals were cut off from the one who cast them and made stable she had no idea. But this portal was different. It would drain her energy, yes. And setting it up would require energy, yes. But the scroll had said that as far as the magic was concerned, the portal would be going to the same place that it went from. So no distance would be covered, and thus very little power required. She hadn't fully understood it. At first it had seemed useless. What good was a portal that went nowhere? But the scroll had also said that although to the magic it would be as if the portal covered no space, the portal would actually go to some other place. There had been something about the layers of reality, and moving among them. She knew that ordinary gates passed through a very peculiar alternate reality in order to move people about. Perhaps there was some other sort of alternate reality that this gate could use, one that wasn't an energy sink the way the place between gates was. That alone would make a huge difference in the ease of casting the spell. And indeed though she felt power flow from her it was nothing at all like the horrible draining, sucking feeling that came from an ordinary gate spell. It took longer, she could feel the spell reaching out tendrils of magic, questing... somewhere. Into that other reality, perhaps. The tendrils were very fine, and took little power. After a long wait during which her personal power ebbed slowly away, the tendrils finally snapped back, and with a faint rainbow shimmer the gate popped into existence. The shimmer cleared and Elspeth could see through to the other side. It looked very much like what she had seen when looking through the empty arch, but not quite. The biggest difference was that it was night there, where it was only mid morning on her side of the gate. Her eyes widened. This gate must go incredibly far, for it to be that much later in the day. She had been trying merely to go to the chapel at Ashkevron Manor, where she'd been once before, and where there had also been an archway, but this gate had gone somewhere else entirely. She stood, and stepped a bit closer. Skif and the Companions came closer too, including a curious young stallion that she didn't know, crowding up behind her to try and peer through. "Where does it go?" asked Skif. Elspeth shook her head. "I don't know. Nowhere I've ever been, which shouldn't be possible. Gates go to places you've been to. I almost want to go through and see, but..." "What?" "Well, it's a very long way from here. I'm not sure I could gate back. This gate seems stable, but I can't quite trust new magic to do what I expect. What if it collapses? What if I can't re-establish it? It's too far from here to use an ordinary gate to get back, so we'd be trapped. Trapped so far away it might take months to get home again." "How can you tell how far it is?" "By the time. The farther you go to the east, the later it is. The further west, the earlier. Being mid-morning here, and night there... it must be literally on the other side of the world." Skif nodded slowly. He'd had the way the sun traveled and times changed explained to him once, but it had never seemed particularly relevant. Although... "What if it's not distance, but actual time? The other side looks like the same place as this side. What if the gate leads to tonight? Or yesterday?" Elsepth's eyes went wide. "I hadn't thought of that." She stepped aside, to look around the gate at the ruins around her. Then she looked through the gate again. She shook her head. "No. It's very similar, yes, but it's not exactly the same ruin. That pillar there in the gate, it's not there where we are." "It could have fallen down since, if the gate goes to the past." "Maybe, but there are a few other differences too. I don't think so. I think somehow when it said the magic would be going to the 'same' place you left from, it means you can only use this portal to go somewhere that's so very similar it's nearly identical, and somehow that makes casting it easy. Though it also makes it much less useful." Skif looked thoughtful. "Maybe. Although in the future... you could build little identical buildings, with identical arches, and use these gates to travel between any of them. That could be very useful!" Elspeth smiled. "You have quite the agile mind, you know." "Matches my agile everything else. But anyhow... if we're not going to go through, what are we going to do?" "I'm going to take the gate down now, and study some more. I've learned something, at least. I'll try casting it again to get more information later. Maybe when I fully understand it and I'm confident of making the return journey I'll go through. For now, time to end it." She raised her hands, unable to resist making the dramatic gesture with an audience, even if it was only Skif and three Companions. She touched the spell with a mental hand... and it twisted away from her like a living thing. Off-balance, Elspeth tried again, but when she grabbed it more firmly, the spell suddenly sucked power from her. She hadn't shielded herself from it, it hadn't occurred to her that she might need protection from her own magic. New tendrils reached out from it, but this time they didn't reach into that other realm, they reached directly at her. She tried frantically to fend them off, still mentally unbalanced and very confused. The tendrils ignored her attempts and curled around her, and around the others as well. Then with another, brighter shimmer of rainbow light and a magical whoosh that was almost audible, the tendrils pulled them all into the gate, which collapsed down on them even as they were going through. A moment later there was no sign that gate, humans, or Companions had ever been there, just an empty arch in a ruined wall. The other Companions who had been standing further back stared in shock. The princess was gone. There was going to be a great deal of chaos once her mother the queen found out. They exchanged worried glances, nobody wanting to report the news. But somebody was going to have to any second now... Elspeth slowly opened her eyes. She was lying on a cold stone floor, with a nearly full moon shining down on her. She sat up with a groan. She had a horrible reaction headache. And something was wrong. Something was horribly wrong... She looked around. Gwena was lying next to her. Slowly the companion got to her feet. But... something was different about her. Elspeth could feel their bond still, it was definitely Gwena, but she looked... shorter. Stockier. With a larger head and bigger eyes. She looked like a pony, rather than a horse, though not quite like any pony Elspeth had ever seen. She heard a second low groan on the other side and looked over to see another pony. Not a white Companion this time, but a brown pony with a black mane and hooves. And... wings? Elspeth wondered if she had gone insane. A pony. With wings. Perhaps even stranger still, the pony had a marking, like a brand but somehow in color, on its flank. It depicted a black circle with silver daggers crossed over it. The pony blinked and shook its head. Then it opened its mouth. "Elspeth?" It was Skif's voice. "Skif?" she said, shocked. She stared at him. He stared back. "Elspeth, is that you?" "Yes. I think." Elspeth suddenly looked down. She was expecting to see her hands propping herself up in a sitting position. Instead she saw a pair of cream-colored hooves. She was a pony too. She looked herself over and found her same silver-streaked brown hair, but in the form of a mane and tail. Her coat was cream, and her flank also bore a mark, the winged horse crest of Valdemar with a mage's wand beneath it. "What happened?" The third voice was unfamiliar. Or... familiar but strange all the same. Elspeth looked back at Gwena, who was suddenly looking just as shocked as the rest of them. "I... I meant to mind-speak that! But I said it out loud! Companions can't talk! What is going on?" Cymry, on the far side of Skif, got slowly to her feet. "I have no idea," she said. Elspeth got up too, though for a moment she almost fell over as she tried to stand on her hind legs. Skif rose shakily next to her. "This is weird. This is beyond weird. We've been turned into some kind of... of horse-creature. But no horses ever looked like this! And I've never heard of a horse with a horn." "A what?" "A horn, you have one on your forehead," said Skif. Elspeth looked up, and could just see the tip of it. A cream-colored horn, projecting from her forehead. "Well you have wings," she told Skif. He blinked and turned around to look at them. "So I do." He spread them, then folded them up again. "That feels very strange." "And we can talk," said the third Companion, the young stallion that had been peering curiously at the portal. He got to his feet as well. All three Companions were still white and silver, without flank markings, but the other two were also as strangely proportioned as Gwena had become. Though the stallion was stockier than the two mares, and taller as well. "Where are we?" he asked. "And can we go home?" Elspeth immediately turned to look at the archway they'd come through. It looked exactly like the one in the Companion's Field. But when she tried to raise her power, her head felt as though it would explode and she staggered. "Oof. Maybe. But not right now. I need to recover before I can try casting the spell again." She felt around for a node or a ley line. If she could draw a little power it would at least help the splitting headache. But she found none. In fact she could sense no magic at all. Was this a magic-poor land, or were they having their own mage storms here? Surely this place must be another reality entirely. The strangeness of everything suggested that they were not only no longer in Valdemar, but were somewhere so far removed from it that the very laws of reality had changed fundamentally. "How long do we need to wait?" asked Skif. "I'm not sure," began Elspeth. "The magic here is..." She stopped. Had she heard something? A moment later the sound repeated. Something like soft footsteps, with a faint clicking sound. It reminded her of a dog trotting over stone, the way its claws might click. She looked around. The ruins were of some large structure, she could see a number of dark archways leading who knew where. Although they would not have to navigate a maze if they wanted out, thankfully, one half-fallen arch showed trees and grass, and a path leading among them, all silver and black in the moonlight. She heard the sound again, closer. Suddenly an immense creature burst from one of the darkened archways. For a moment she stared in shock, then it roared and leaped at the little group. With yelps and whinnies they scattered. The thing nearly cornered Cymry, but she twisted away from it. "Get out in the open!" yelled Elspeth, and headed for the archway leading outside. She tripped once, running on all fours was unfamiliar, but thankfully not very hard. Cymry put on a burst of speed and caught up with the rest, the monster close on her heels. They clattered down the path, which led to a gorge, crossed by an extremely rickety bridge. But there was no time to make sure it was safe, Elspeth dashed out onto it, praying it would hold. By some miracle it did and all five of them reached the far side. The creature skidded to a halt. It was far too broad to step easily on the bridge and its weight would no doubt break it. It seemed to know that. It flapped its wings in agitation, but they were tiny, too small to fly with. Elspeth stared at it once more. "Am I seeing things, or did we just get attacked by a giant rabbit?" said Skif shakily. "No, you're not seeing things," said Elspeth. It was, indeed, a rabbit the size of a house. It had small, useless wings but its claws and fangs seemed anything but useless. They also seemed to belong to another creature entirely, as did the curved horns on its head. "Maybe they're having mage storms here too," said Elspeth. "That thing looks like it could be some kind of change-creature." The others nodded. The rabbit-thing turned and hopped back the way it had come, revealing a cat-like tail trailing behind it. Elspeth turned and looked at the path ahead. Something had worn the trail. Something had built the bridge. Something had built the ruins, for that matter. If they followed it they would no doubt encounter people. But looking down at her own hooves she had to wonder what sort of "people" they would be. "So what now?" asked Skif. "We need that archway to make a gate back, right?" Elspeth nodded. "Yes. But that's probably not our biggest problem. Monsters can be dealt with. The magic... Skif, I can't sense any magic here! None at all! And the gate sucked me dry when it pulled us all through. I couldn't even light a candle right now, let alone cast another gate spell. Without ambient magic, I can't recharge. We... we may be stuck here." "I can't sense any magic either," said Gwena in a subdued voice. "Which means that we Companions aren't going to be any faster than an ordinary horse. We have to draw on magic to run." Elspeth sighed. "Well, it's not like Skif and I will be riding you anyway, so you'd have to slow down for us to keep up. But that's not really good news. If you can't sense magic either, there may not be any magic to sense." "Then what are we going to do?" asked Skif, sounding worried. "We'll follow this trail and see where it leads. Whoever made it must surely still be around. Once we find the natives, we might have a chance to find some magic. If there is any anywhere to be found, they'll probably know about it. Even if they don't have a mage, they should have stories, legends, tales that might point the way to finding one. That's the only option I can think of." They trotted through the forest, following the often-times faint path. As they went, Elspeth distracted herself from the unwelcome thought of being stranded here by introducing herself to the third Companion. She discovered that his name was Dale. He was unpartnered, which made Elspeth breathe a sigh of relief. To separate a Herald and Companion by such a distance as they'd come would probably be a very bad thing. Dale was older than most unpartnered Companions, but some never did choose. "There was once when I might have, but... the lad himself chose otherwise," said Dale with a note of melancholy. "He was a good boy, he could have been one of the best, but he let a family feud twist him. And I would not make him another Tylendel." Elspeth could only nod. Tylendel was the only Herald she knew of whose Companion had repudiated him. Heralds had to be selfless, and to put the needs of the kingdom ahead of their individual desires. That was the essence of what a Herald of Valdemar was. But Tylendel had clung perhaps too tightly to his family. A Herald wasn't required to give up family and friends, but they had to put their duty first, and family second. But for Tylendel, when an old feud had sparked into active flame and Tylendel's twin brother had been killed he had gone beyond all reason. He had used magic, the same magic a Herald learned in order to defend the helpless, to massacre the ones he thought responsible, man, woman, and child. An act perhaps understandable, but never forgivable. And no Companion would ever risk such a thing happening again. That thought was enough to put a damper on Elspeth's already flagging spirits, and she remained silent for the rest of their trek through the forest. They emerged just as the moon was setting and the first hints of dawn were lightening the eastern sky. The forest gave way to a massive apple orchard, obviously well tended, and beyond that they could see a town, spread amid low, rolling hills. It was a town like none they'd seen before, a bright and colorful place, with every house seeming to bear decorations in every color of the rainbow. Beyond loomed a mountain, and just visible on the mountain slope was an impossible fairy-tale of a building, domed and spired and clinging somehow to the mountainside. As the light slowly grew they all gaped at the scene. Whatever they had imagined this alien world might be like, this was not it. "It's beautiful," said Dale softly. "It's nothing like home, but it's beautiful." The others could only nod. Then Skif added, "And if they're not sticking that castle to the mountain with magic, I'll eat my... uh..." he had the sudden, uncomfortable realization that he was naked. He wasn't even wearing boots! He glanced at the others, wondering if they could tell he was blushing. "Uh. Anyway, they have to be using magic!" "I don't know, the engineers have been doing some amazing things, so magic might not be needed, but it certainly does look as though it were built by some kind of mage. Some kind of very powerful mage." Elspeth stared into the distance as the light continued to grow. Then she shook herself. "Let's get going." After walking all night they were all tired. Elspeth almost turned aside when she saw a road leading to a farm, but farmers weren't what they were looking for. They needed to reach the town and ask about magic. But as she looked at the sign over the farm she had a sudden, sinking sensation. The sign itself was easily intelligible, it simply showed an apple. But this was not just a foreign country but a completely alien world. They wouldn't be able to read the writing. They wouldn't even be able to speak the language! How could they ask about magic when they couldn't communicate? Ahead a pony came trotting down the road. A mare, if the appearance of their own group was anything to judge by. But she was oddly colored, a light orange that Elspeth had never seen in any sort of equine. Her mane and tail were straw-blonde, tied with ribbons, and she had a hat on, though she was otherwise unclothed. Her flank was marked as well, with a picture of three red apples. "Howdy there!" she called out, making Elspeth jump. She was speaking Valdemaran! How was that possible? "Ya'll look a mite tired. You folks headed t' Ponyville? You been down at Sweet Apple Acres or did you come through th' Everfree Forest?" "Uhm..." said Elspeth brightly. "We came through the forest," said Skif. "We didn't know what it was called. But we're headed for the town there, yes." "Well ya'll just keep right along the road and you'll get there lickity-split. Though if'n ya'll want to rest up and eat a bite, there ain't no better place to buy some victuals than my apple farm." "Thank you," said Skif, "but we have no money to pay you with." "Sounds like ya'll 've been in a bit of trouble then, coming outa' th' forest without gear er bits. Tell ya' what, you can come have a sample on me. No charge." "That's very generous of you," said Elspeth. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food. Breakfast had been a long time ago. "I'm Applejack," said the stranger as she continued down the road. "I'm Elspeth. This is Skif, Gwena, Cymry, and Dale." Elspeth felt a bit odd introducing the Companions. Usually she had to explain to... to humans that Companions were people too, but other than their lack of flank symbol the Companions looked just like anybody else here, it seemed. Elspeth noticed Applejack glancing at the Companion's flanks several times, but the orange pony said nothing. Elspeth wondered if the lack of symbol had any particular meaning here. As they walked under the apple sigh, Applejack called out "Big Macintosh! Big Macintosh! We have guests!" An enormous red pony, with a draft horse's build, came out to meet them. He was chewing contemplatively on a wheat stem. "Howdy," he said in a slow, deep voice. "You show these folks around while I fetch them some apples," said Applejack. "Ya'll look tired, so I'll spare you the grand tour," said Big Macintosh in that same slow drawl. It still made Elspeth's head hurt, hearing these strange creatures speaking her own native language. It made no sense at all! But she supposed she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Or was it gift pony? The thought was enough to actually make her smile. "This here is Sweet Apple Acres," continued the huge stallion. "Been in the family fer generations. Ma sister Applejack 'n I manage it now." Applejack came trotting back out, carrying a large basket laden with apples in her mouth. She set it down in front of Elspeth. "There ya' go. Dig in!" Elspeth bent down and took an apple awkwardly in her teeth. The Companions were more graceful about it. Skif dropped his, and looked very embarrassed. Seeing how the Companions put theirs on the ground and then took bites from them, Elspeth imitated them with fairly good success. Not having hands was very awkward. But the apple tasted very good, better than any apple she'd ever had before. She ate it core and all. There were enough apples for her to have a second, and then a third. Finally there was just one left. Dale glanced around at the others, and when nobody else made a move he took it and ate it in just two bites. Well, he is the biggest of us. He's almost as big as Big Macintosh is, even, thought Elspeth. :Very true,: said Gwena to her, mind-to-mind. :I didn't think you could talk like this here!: replied Elspeth, surprised. :Our gifts still seem to work, even if we can't draw on magic,: came the reply. :I just wish we had more gifts among us. All we've got is a little mindspeech. None of us is a farseer, or anything useful like that.: :Well, it may come in handy all the same.: "Thank you very much," she said to Applejack out loud. "If there's anything we can do to repay you..." "Aw shucks, you don't have to do nothin'. I couldn't turn away folks that were down on their luck, it wouldn't be right." "Thank you again. But before we go, I wanted to ask... do you know anything about magic?" Elspeth wanted to hold her breath. Here was the moment when she'd find out if magic was taboo, or common, or completely unheard of. "I'm just a plain ol' earth pony, not a unicorn like ya'll," said Applejack, "I don't know nothin' about magic. But if'n you're looking fer a magic expert, ya'll should look up ma friend Twilight Sparkle. She lives in the library right smack in the middle o' town, ya can't miss it. She's one o' the best magicians in Equestria." Elspeth's heart jumped. There was magic here! There was hope of going home after all. She tried to not get too enthusiastic, if she couldn't sense it, the magic might be something she could use, but... :You notice that she said she was an 'earth pony' and not a 'unicorn' like you?: asked Gwena silently. :Yes,: replied Elspeth. :If that means what I think it means...: :If it means what I hope it means, it means you can cast magic here too. You just need to re-learn how.: :Ugh. If it's anything like learning in the first place...: :It will still be better than being trapped here forever, kitten.: Elspeth smiled. "Well, we'd better get going. Thank you again Applejack." "See ya'll! Good luck!" When they had left the apple farm Gwena and Elsepth shared their hopes with the others. They all agreed that Applejack's reaction to magic had been a good sign. And hopefully this "Twilight Sparkle" would be able to help them get home. Only a few minutes later they reached the town of Ponyville. All five of them had to make an effort to keep from staring. The town was full of ponies, which they had expected. But they hadn't expected the variety of bright and unlikely colors that greeted their eyes. There were blue ponies and purple ponies and even bright pink ponies. Their manes and tails were even more colorful. And all of them had markings on their flanks depicting a dizzying array of different objects. A vividly pink pony suddenly dashed up to their group. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! There are five of you! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" She bounced up and down like a puppy, or an excited child, then dashed off again, leaving Elspeth and her fellows completely bewildered. "What was that about?" asked Skif. "I have no idea," replied Elspeth. "But look, I think that might be the library." It was a tree. Elspeth had lived for a while in a tree. But the Hawkbrother ekele had been a sort of glorified treehouse. This was a house made from a living tree. How the tree was still alive with its trunk carved out Elspeth had no idea, but it seemed to be thriving. Magic, perhaps? And it was immense, towering over the smaller buildings around it. They approached the tree. Elspeth raised a hoof to knock on the door when a passing pony called out "They library is closed in the morning." Elspeth blinked. "Why?" The pony, an improbable shade of vivid dark fuchsia with smiling flowers on her flank said, "Because the librarian is also an astronomer, she keeps late nights and likes to sleep in." "That seems like an inconvenient arrangement for everybody else," said Elspeth. The pony smiled. "We don't mind! Everybody likes Twilight Sparkle, and even if we didn't she saved all of Equestria once. The least we can do is let her enjoy her hobby." "I see." She exchanged glances with Skif, who shrugged. "I suppose we'll just wait then." The lawn in front of the library was lush, and Elspeth settled down to lie on it with a grateful sigh. Her hooves were sore. She hadn't known hooves could be sore, but hers definitely were. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but she started awake when somebody called out "Hello?" She looked up to see a purple pony, with a horn on her forehead, standing in the open doorway of the library. The others had apparently napped as well. She saw Skif shoot her a guilty, apologetic look. He normally would have made sure somebody stayed up to keep watch, but apparently he'd been as lulled by the peacefulness of this place as she had. "Hello?" said the purple pony again. "Hello," said Elspeth. "Are you, uh, Twilight Sparkle?" "That's me." "Applejack said you were the person we should talk to about magic." "Oh yes. I love to study magic! Why don't you come in?" Inside the library it was both spacious and cozy, with bookshelves lining the walls and a clutter of books and papers scattered across desks, on the floor, and pretty much everywhere else. It was nothing like the tidy libraries Elsepth was used to, but it was obvious that people here did many things differently. "So what can I help you with?" said Twilight Sparkle. "Well... it's a long story," said Elspeth. "We come from somewhere else. Somewhere, uh, well, an entirely different world." Saying it out loud sounded completely insane. "A world where I guess magic works differently, because although I'm a mage, I haven't been able to cast a single spell since I got here. I was hoping that you'd know about gate spells, and could teach me how they work, and how to get back home. There was something wrong with the gate spell that brought us here, else we wouldn't be here at all, so even if I could cast magic normally I wouldn't trust it to return us. But if you know about gate spells..." "By gate spell, you mean a spell that can take more than one person from place to place, instantly?" Elspeth nodded. Twilight chuckled. "A portal gone wrong hm? I thought that only happened to me! No, I haven't had much luck with portals or gates or whatever you want to call them." Elspeth's face fell. "However," added Twilight, "You're in luck. There's somebody visiting here who knows far more about all kinds of magic than I do. The princess Luna. I'll go see if she's awake yet." Elspeth perked up. Even if this Luna wasn't able to help her, just the existence of gate spells on this world was a good sign. Twilight clattered up the stairs to an upper level of the library, and a few minutes came back down with another pony following her. This one was different than any they'd seen thus far. She was just a little bit taller than the other female ponies, and she had a horn, longer and more slender than Twilight's, and a pair of wings as well, broader than Skif's. Her coat was dark blue, and her mane and tail a lighter blue. The mark on her flanks was of a moon in an inkblot of night sky. "This is princess Luna," said Twilight. Elspeth realized that she hadn't introduced herself, or any of the others. "I'm Elspeth," she said, deciding to leave off her own "princess." She had never really liked the title, and she didn't want to turn this into some kind of diplomatic occasion. "This is Skif, Cymry, Gwena, and Dale." She gestured at each as she named them, and Luna nodded politely at each one. But when Luna's eyes met Dale's she froze. They stared at each other for a moment that grew more and more charged as it drew out longer and longer. With a sudden feeling of horror Elspeth realized what must be happening. And Luna, somewhere deep within the recesses of her mind and soul, where before only her own dark side had whispered, heard another voice. :Luna. I Choose you. Above all others, and when I had thought never to Choose any, I Choose you.: