Back in Equestria...
Back at the Academy, things were finally calming down back at the department, what remained of the prototype was hidden away, all the staff had been sworn into secrecy, and the student body bribed. And now all that remained was for the senior faculty, some of the greatest minds this field has to offer, to meet up and decide on a course of action on what to do about their missing colleague, there was only one problem...
Intended Consequence was a middle aged unicorn stallion, with neat grey mane, and a periwinkle coat, he wore a pair of small round spectacles and held the position of department administrator, a unique position, as no other department has one, as the administrative role is usually taken by the head of the department. He was an organised, neat, no-nonsense kind of pony, the kind of person you need running a group of individuals whom megalomania and lunacy were common... and that's just the students. He sat back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with his hoof, and said "So, let me check if I heard you correctly, your plan is to do nothing?" He paused "and that's it?"
Lucky, a rather scruffy unicorn stallion with messy, sandy-coloured mane and bright green coat, who was the chair of Conception in the department, an interesting role that mainly deals with the creation of something from nothing, rubbed the back of his neck apologetically while saying, "Well, its not as if don't want to do anything, its just what can we do, that's my point." Lucky is a friendly everypony with a spotted past and a questionable skill set. Mostly self-taught, he ended up in the academy by a complete fluke, but soon rose to prominence through his instinctive understanding of chaos magic.
"He has a point, consequence," said Complexity, the chair of Manipulation. She had an electric blue coat, with a light pink and cream mane. She was only half paying attention, as she was currently reading a magazine, as well as filing her hoof and eating a packet of potato chips, which was quite an impressive feat for an earth pony. While earth ponies are not completely uncommon in the academy, they mostly stuck to theoretical fields, as they are generally disadvantaged in the practical application of magic. However chaos magic acts a little differently, and it has given her some unusual abilities to compensate for the lack of a horn. She continued, "After all, its not even as if we know if the poor mare is still alive, for all we know, she could have simply been erased from existence." As she spoke a tendril of her mane snaked down into the packet and ferried a chip to her mouth, while another lock turned a page of her magazine.
"That's a bit cold Complexity," said Quantum Query, a stallion with a mulberry coat and rose mane, who was the chair of improbability. It takes a certain kind of mind to work with improbability, because it deals with the absolutely inconceivable, you are always setting on that fine line between unlikely and impossible. Fortunately Quantum possed such a mind, unfortunately for his colleagues, this rather unique perspective on life gives him a spontaneous nature, as he was quite welcome to the idea that nearly anything is possible. Despite his unpredictable nature he was very friendly and good natured. He was currently wearing a small frown and looking at his only present female colleague, saying, "Snowy is our friend and colleague, we owe her enough to at least try to find out what happened to her. I'm sure she would do the same for us."
"Sometimes I wonder..." said Complexity, eyeing her hoof critically "...If that mare even has friends." Seeing Quantum open his mouth she said, "Friendship is mutual, Quantum, and I have rarely seen her initiate a conversation that was not work related, she spends most of her time that she isn't at work at home, and she has consistently shot down my offers to 'hang out', not to mention she hates your guts Quantum."
"No idea why," Said Quantum, sadly.
Lucky rejoined the conversation. "Maybe its all the terrible short puns you subject her to?" he said sarcastically. "What's up with that, again?"
Quantum cleared his throat, "Well I myself have noticed her anti-social behavior, and I believe that it is due to a lack of positive self image and esteem. I am attempting to improve it by-"
"Constantly belittling her? how is that going to help?" interjected Lucky, raising his eyebrow.
Quantum raised his hooves in the air. "Can't you see? I'm trying to better her self-image by teaching her to laugh at herself! by laughing at her own perceived flaws means that they will bother her less, so she can be more confident and stop trying to prove herself in the eyes of others!"
The room was silent for a moment as everyone contemplated his bizarre logic. Despite it feeling fundamentally wrong, try as they might they couldn't really poke any holes in it.
"...Aaanyway," said Complexity, "This still doesn't change the fact that snowy is most probably dead."
"Actually, no she is not." Said Consequence, now that he felt this conversation was back on track.
They all looked at him, "She isn't? how do you know?" asked Complexity.
"Well as you asked, at various times I have felt the need to place dormant tracking spells on all of you..." he began.
"Yeah, because that's not creepy." Said Lucky, bemused.
"Not to mention a blatant invasion of privacy." Said Complexity, glaring.
"I said dormant, believe me I have better things to do then pry into your social life," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Not that I require a spell to know what you two get up to in your spare time."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" said Complexity, icily.
Consequence adjusted his glasses, while nonchalantly looking the papers in front of him. "You really should wait till you get home before indulging in such activities," he shuffled his papers, "Or at least find a room."
Complexity paled, while Lucky quickly stammered out, "Th-that was a misunderstanding! I was just passing her in the hall and I tripped on her mane! we had a tumble and I got tangled!"
"Of course you did," said Consequence, "As much as I am fascinated by your love life, I believe we have business to discuss."
"Aww, that was getting good!" Wined Quantum, earning a pair of glares from the two embarrassed ponies.
Consequence cleared his throat. "As I was saying before, I had placed tracking spells on all of you, including Snowy," He said "This spell, among other things, keeps track of the hosts health, and I can say with absolute certainty that Snowy I currently in the peak of health."
"So where is she?"Asked Quantum, "If we know where she is, it should be easy, right?"
Consequence sighed "Unfortunately I do not know where she is, her location is a complete Enigma to me."
"Some tracking spell," Muttered Complexity.
"I assure you that my spell is infallible, if she is anywhere within this universe, my spell could locate her." Said Consequence tersely.
"Then where is she then," she shot back.
"I believe I have already answered that question." He said, leaning back.
They thought about what he just said, then it hit them.
"You can't be serious..." said Complexity, her face etched with disbelief.
"I'm rarely not." said Consequence.
"But come on, another dimension? That's just absurd." Said Lucky, waving his hooves in the air.
"It is our job to deal with the absurd, I fail to see how this is different." he said calmly. "Besides, if you recall, Snowy's 'Window' was designed to view other dimensions. Is it such a stretch of the imagination to consider that when it broke, it sent her away to one such place?"
They all conceded that in their line of work, stranger things have happened.
"So..." said Quantum, "if we know that she's alive, why don't we go get her?"
Complexity snorted "Just because we know that she might be trapped in some form of other universe, doesn't mean that we're any closer to bringing her back."
"Of course we are!" exclaimed Quantum, "We now know a destination! That's closer than we were before."
"And where is that destination precisely?" she said as she begun filing her hooves again.
"Well its..." began Quantum, before stopping. "Well..." once again he petered off, "Its..." he waved his hoof vaguely in the air, "...somewhere." he finished lamely.
"My point exactly." Complexity said smugly.
"It really doesn't look to good." agreed Lucky.
Quantum pouted, "Of course you would side with her." he accused.
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Lucky, narrowing his eyes.
Quantum gave a sly look "I always find it funny how the wrappers from those hearts and hooves day chocolates you buy always end up in Complexity's waste paper bin."
"What in Equestria were you doing looking in my waste paper bin?!" exclaimed Complexity, blushing profusely, while Lucky buried his head in his hooves.
"Would you believe that I was searching for the paperwork Breezie?" said Quantum, grinning.
"No!" said complexity, nearly shouting.
Quantum's grin didn't subside. "How about I was looking for incriminating evidence for your relationship with Lucky?"
"Definitely more believable," said Complexity, before adding hastily, "And we are not!"
Intended Consequence sighed as the bickering continued 'None of them are taking this seriously' He thought. What he needed was some sort of way to motivate them... Yes, that could work.
"Well if you are unwilling to help, I suppose there is very little we can do then." He said calmly.
The other ponies stopped arguing, Quantum with a look of dismay, Lucky looking confused and Complexity suspicious.
Consequence continued, "I suppose all that remains is to discuss how we will explain this to the head of department." He said innocently, adjusting his glasses.
Quantum looked confused for a minute, before he suddenly donned an evil grin and glanced at a still unphased Complexity.
"Why bother, well just do what we normally do." She said dismissively.
"And is that precisely?" Said Consequence, whose tone hadn't shifted.
"We'll just get Snowy to do it." She said, before Her eyes widened in realization, "Oh..."
"Lucky's head went back to burring his head in his hooves, "Oh Faust."
Consequence gave the tiniest smirk, 'Now they get it.'
"It had all started as a joke, hadn't it? a way of messing with the new mare?" Said Quantum, grinning "Lets make her spend a day with the boss, it'll be a laugh, teach her to loosen up a bit, take her of her high horse, I believe was the general gist if I remember correctly?"
"Well how was I supposed to know she was one of the only five ponies in Equestria who could stand being in the bosses presence for more that ten minutes?" Said Lucky, throwing his hooves in the air.
"But it didn't take long for you to start exploiting that, did it?" Said Quantum, with a sly look.
It was true. Not long after the prank, on the same day Complexity needed to file an important research proposal, she had come into the office with a splitting headache, and a meeting with the head of department felt like a death sentence. On the same day Snowy also happened to be going up to the bosses mansion to submit some of her research findings, so Complexity asked if since Snowy was going that way, if she could present her proposal for her, which after some small scale bribery, she agreed.
But what started as a one-off favour, had gently spiralled into unofficial standard procedure, and most staff members, whenever they needed something given to the boss, it usually ended up on Snowy's desk, with a small bar of chocolate (or a big one if Snowy was in a bad mood) and/or a carton of Snowy's favourite drink.
"As if you were any better," said Lucky, "You did it to."
"As if it matters," said Complexity, "If we don't get Snowy back, we might have to deliver them ourselves again."
"Its not that bad, right?" Said Lucky nervously, "I mean, we used to do it all the time, we could do it again, couldn't we?"
They all thought about it for a moment.
All three of them shuddered.
"Yeah, we need Snowy Back." said Complexity.
"Yep." agreed Lucky.
"Good to have you on board." said Quantum.
"I take it you three are willing to take this discussion seriously now?" said Consequence, with his hooves steepled in front of him.
"Fine," said Complexity. "But I hope you have some sort of plan since I'm still at a loss."
Consequence Smiled, and his eyes seemed to sparkle. "Well you are in Luck, because I solution is something I have."
"Wha.. Really?" Said Lucky, surprise etched on his face.
"You don't think you could have told us that before we spent half an hour bickering whether it was possible?" Said Complexity, annoyed.
"Never mind that," Said Quantum, "Lets hear it!"
"Consequence leaned back on his chair, and began to explain in his own special way. "I wonder if any of you have considered the problem, I mean actually considered it. if you do, you might find that the solution is already contained within."
This drew some confused glances, but the others remained silent, Consequence explains things at his own pace.
He continued. "You have been so busy stating that traversing universes is impossible, yet the impossible is what we do, and indeed one of us already has."
"we have?" asked Quantum, before getting shushed by the other two.
Consequence gave a chuckle "yes indeed, as you should know, unless you have already forgotten who we intend to rescue?"
Slowly the other three ponies looked at each other, realization growing on their faces.
"If Snowy is in another dimension..." began Lucky.
"...means that her device moved her there..." said Complexity.
"...and that means that we could use it to bring her back!" finished Quantum.
"Therefore, I believe that with some time and effort, that Snowy's 'window' could become a door." Consequence concluded.
Gone were all the uncertainty and dissonance, all of them wore determined grins, and Consequence was once again reminded that that these three were the tops of their fields. And, along with Snowy, were quite possibly some of the most dangerous individuals in Canterlot, and when you could get them to agree on something, they were virtually unstoppable.
"So what's our first move?" said Complexity.
"Well, first I need to get this research cleared by the department head," said Consequence, "but after that, I believe our first course of action should be to find where Snowy keeps her research..."
"Oh goody, I've always wanted to see where Snowy lives!" said Quantum.