Large Hadron Collider, CERN, Switzerland, Planet Earth
6/14/2052 AD, 9:55 AM
Scientists from all over the world were getting everything perfectly ready for the big test to be ran in 5 minutes: recent theories and formulas had pointed to the possibility of creating an energy source strong enough to power an entire continent by bombarding an artificial micro black hole with large amounts of antimatter. The LHC was capable of producing either, but now it was time to try to produce both in the same test and combine them into something greater. If all went well, human technology would be revolutionized and advance in leaps and bounds.
The scientists took their positions and prepared to record this momentous occasion for posterity and further study.
Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Lab, Ponyville, Equestria, Planet Equus
6/14/1002 CR, 1:58 AM
Twilight grinned excitedly as she looked to the unicorns she’d assembled for a test of a new field of magic. Dimension hopping had occurred before, but it had never been controlled before. Twilight and her fellow scholars had formulated a way to not only cast a spell to bridge dimensions, but also a way to harness the immense energy that linking two dimensions would create. The resulting energy, if it could be harnessed, would enable Equestria to make incredible advances in technology and magic.
As the clock struck two, she and the army of unicorns poured their magic into the device while casting the new spell…
LHC
10:00 AM
After the Collider had been activated, the scientists watched in stunned silence as a micro black hole formed in the safe confines of the machine. Next, billions of atoms were smashed together to create the antimatter to fling at the vortex, which started to emit energy that would make the largest fusion power plant seem weak in comparison.
The scientists started to take notes and congratulate each other on their collective success, but their joy was cut short when the vortex glowed a menacing green and started to expand through the confines of the collider as if its prison hadn’t been there, crackling with purple lightning…
Twilight’s Lab
2:00 AM
“It’s running perfectly!” Twilight squealed in excitement as the machine started to glow and hum, resonating with much more magic than she and the others had poured into it.
However, her smile fell when she felt the energies start to slip out of control, as if they were being fueled by another force on the other side of the miniscule gate to another world. The gate grew larger and swirled with furious green energy and purple lightning.
“Everypony! Run!” Twilight yelled as she tried to cancel the energy flow, but to no avail.
The two vortexes had become linked, and the energy from each end fueled the other, creating more and more energy with no end in sight. On Earth, newscasts were telling people to seek shelter, but on Equus, the world was starting to descend into a mass panic that nopony could calm down
The Terrans and the Equuans both looked on in horror as their entire planets fell into the dimension holes, but even then, the gates continued to expand faster and faster. At the rate it was going, calculations predicted that both universes would be completely consumed in two weeks.
On Earth, people tried to return to business as usual, but the inhabitants of Equus continued to panic out of fear of the unknown.
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America
6/28/2052, 6:00 PM
Professor Lewis Knight, PhD adjusted his glasses and sighed as he tried to forget the images of that day two weeks ago. He was Utah’s brightest man, and so he was his state’s representative to the test at CERN. Not to mention a large portion of the theories had been his. His reputation was tarnished, he was a laughingstock on the world stage now in spite of his attempts to present findings on what went wrong, and people were petitioning to have his Nobel Prize stripped from him. He couldn’t blame them. He’d pretty much thrown the entire universe into a blender and hit frappé. Even if he figured out what went wrong, it wasn't like he could just fix things.
As Lewis drove away from the University to his home in Indian Hills, he considered turning on the radio, but all the stations were static. Even the satellite ones, so he drove in silence.
At the age of 25, Lewis was a prodigy. He’d been engaged before the incident, but his fianceé broke off the engagement as soon as she saw him again, saying that he was obviously not as smart as he led everyone to believe if he could screw up the entire universe that badly.
After fifteen minutes of driving, Lewis pulled up in front of a three story house. It had been his grandfather’s, then his father’s, and now he had it all to himself after his parents moved out to live in a smaller home and his siblings had also moved all over the place.
“Nothing like a house that’s way too big for one bachelor to make me feel even more alone,” Lewis muttered darkly as he got out of his car. “Well, at least I’ll have papers to grade. That should distract me well enough.”
After entering the large house he called home, Lewis set his shoes by the door, took off his jacket and put on his slippers. His smartphone started to ring in his pocket, and after sighing again, he answered with, “This is Professor Lewis Knight. How may I help you?” He sure didn’t feel as friendly as he was sounding.
“Professor, go take a look at the news,” the voice of the dean said excitedly. “I think this could turn your life around for you.”
Lewis muttered thanks and hung up before dashing to the sofa and flipping on the TV, which was already tuned to the local news.
“—satellite findings have indicated that our planet has changed dimensions,” the woman on TV announced. “It has tripled in surface area, and there are new continents in the oceans that were not there yesterday. The ‘mishap’ with the Large Hadron Collider two weeks ago has been pinpointed as the most likely cause. Dr. Lewis Knight, who teaches theoretical physics at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah was the supplier of more than half of the theories and formulas that were tested that day, so he is most likely the man with the most influence on these changes to our planet and system. Stay tuned for more details as they develop.”
Lewis turned off the TV set, dumbfounded. Maybe his reputation wasn’t destroyed after all!
The phone rang again, and this time, his friendliness was genuine.
“Yo! This is Professor Lewis Knight! What can I help you with?”
It was the dean, once again.
“So, what did you think, Dr. Knight?” the dean’s voice grew softer as he apparently spoke to someone in the background. “It’s a smartphone! It lets me talk to people who aren’t nearby! I’m not talking to myself, ma’ams!”
“It was great,” Lewis said happily. “Who was that, sir?”
“Classified by the Feds for now, Doc,” the dean replied. “Can’t tell you yet. You’ll be meeting them soon enough, though. It has to do with the new continents that sprung up in the last few hours. They want to talk to you. As such, I’m ordering you to take the rest of the semester off. Your students will be merged into other classes until further notice.”
“But sir, my students—”
“Will be fine, Doc,” the dean cut in. “They’re bright kids. Now, your visitors will arrive tomorrow morning, around eight AM. Be ready.”
“I wake up at six every morning,” Lewis reminded his superior. “It’ll be no problem.”
“Good,” the dean’s voice said, satisfied. “Now, I can tell you that you’ll be receiving a foreign dignitary and an ambassador. This will be crucial to our future. The ambassador may stay for an extended period of time, so please be aware of that. Goodbye, Doc! Have a good night!”
The dean hung up before Lewis could protest.
Just great, Lewis thought. My redemption requires me to entertain two people who rank higher than me, and one of them could be staying for weeks! Better prep the guest room.
The guest room was on the second floor, and though it was well-furnished, it was lacking in decoration. There were two beds, two arm chairs, a desk and a computer, a radio, a case of various books, two dressers with mirrors, and a pair of nightstands with lamps.
Not knowing how his guests would feel about something as touchy as religion, Lewis removed all religious books from the shelves and stuffed them in the bottom drawer of one of the dressers.
Lewis prepared himself for bed after the guest room was prepared, and set his students’ homework on his work desk. He’d talk to the dean about what to do now that he was forced to take the rest of the semester off.
Once he was ready for bed and in his pajamas, Lewis climbed into bed and fell asleep ready to sleep well for the first night in half a month.
Lewis found himself being interviewed by news reporters from stations from all over the globe. The crowd outside his house filled the entire large lawn and even poured into the street.
“Dr. Knight, what’s it like having your reputation bounce back from such a tragic occurrence?” one asked.
“It feels incredible,” Lewis replied with a grin. “First, you feel good, but then you lose it all. Then you get it all back, and more, and then you’re even happier, because you have a real appreciation for what you have.”
“Do you realize how much this extra space will aid human population growth?” another inquired.
“Well, overpopulation definitely isn’t a problem now, and you’d be blind to not see that,” Lewis chuckled. “Mankind loves the unknown, and exploration’s in our blood. We’ll have those new areas mapped in a few months, I guarantee it! And all that space means more room for us to live in!”
Another reporter asked something, but something caught Lewis’ attention from out of the corner of his eye: something navy blue. He turned his head, but saw nothing but more reporters dying for his attention.
“Dr. Knight? Is everything alright?” a reporter asked with concern.
“Oh, everything’s fine!” Lewis chuckled. “Now, what was the last question?”
Knight Residence
6/29/2052, 6:00 AM
♫ “Ring, ring, ring, time to get up, Lewis!” ♫
Lewis’ built-in alarm on his phone went off at exactly six AM, causing the theoretical physicist to roll over in bed.
♫ “Ring, ring, ring! If you don’t wake up, I’ll sing!” ♫
The sound of Lewis’ own singing grated on his ears as he grumbled and sat up.
♫ “Ring, ring, ring! C’mon Lewis! You’ve got a big day ahead!” ♫
Lewis grabbed his smartphone and fumbled with it for a second before turning the alarm off.
Groaning and stretching, Lewis got out of bed before heading straight to the bathroom for a cold shower.
The shower did the trick, and Lewis was wide awake as he got into his day clothes. He dressed formally in a suit and tie before putting on his Nobel Prize medal, which he’d gotten for being the mastermind behind cold fusion.
Lewis ate a breakfast of oatmeal and pineapple juice before brushing his teeth and double-checking his hair to make sure he was looking sharp.
Once he was fully satisfied, Lewis waited in the front room, glancing out the window from time to time to see if his visitors were almost there.
Finally, at two minutes til eight, a collection of federal vehicles swarmed the front of his house, including a limo which he suspected contained his guests. A woman in all black with a chauffeur’s hat and sunglasses left the vehicle and walked around to the side facing Lewis’ house, but waited for a large group of people in suits to obscure the door from view before finally reaching for the handle.
Lewis’ curiosity grew as the black suited-people formed a ring and started forward. He couldn’t see any sign that there was anyone in the ring of people, but he dashed to his door anyway and waited for the doorbell to ring before opening it.
“Dr. Lewis Knight, I presume?” a well-built black man asked.
“Yes, that’s me,” Lewis replied. “What do you need?”
Before the man could answer, a female voice from inside the circle groaned.
“Can’t you let us out of here already?” the voice demanded. “You said nopo— I mean nobody was supposed to see us, but we’re there now, aren’t we? Is this how you always treat foreign dignitaries?”
“And I need to interview him and learn everything he knows about what happened!” another female voice said angrily. “I can’t do that while all of you are surrounding us!”
“Dr. Knight, what you are about to see, you are to tell no human being about except for those certified to have that information,” the man continued gruffly as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “You are about to make contact with beings from what used to be another world. They’ll explain the rest, but allow me to warn you: they’re not like any being you’ve ever seen.”
“Excuse me, what did you say?” Lewis exclaimed, unable to believe his ears.
“These are denizens of what used to be another world,” the man stated again. “Don’t make me say it again. The answer won’t change.”
“Okay, I won’t tell anybody,” Lewis sighed.
“Very well,” the man said, stepping aside. “Princess Sparkle, Ambassador Heartstrings, this is the man you’ve been asking for.”
Two horse-like creatures looked up at Lewis, and he did something a man of his scientific standing would be ashamed of: he fainted.