Beyond Equestria

by |Scripture|

Chapter 1

“I am glad you could come, Twilight.” Princess Celestia and the yet to be coronated Princess Twilight Sparkle walked down the polished marble halls of Canterlot Castle. Spike sat on Twilight's back, looking through a book. “I hope you are able to help us understand this tear.”

“I'm flattered you wanted me to come, but I really don't know what I could contribute. I went through all my books before coming here, and there was nothing about what you're describing,” Twilight said.

“It is a phenomenon even I have never seen before. But I have gathered the finest minds in Equestria to analyze it. Perhaps the others will be able to tell you more. From what I have been told, it may function as some kind of portal.”

“A portal? Spike, did I-”

“No, you didn't bring anything on portals. And there's nothing in this one about it.” Spike put the book back in Twilight's saddle bag.

Twilight stretched her wings out briefly, her crown shifting slightly as she did so. She readjusted it quickly. Her new extremities were taking time to get used to, to say nothing of the crown. “Is there anything else we know?”

“My new captain believes that something has been going in and out of it since its appearance. It is why I had your coronation delayed. We can speak with him, if you wish.” Celestia stopped in front of an ordinary door flanked by a pair of Royal Guard. “Here we are. The rip is in this room.”

Twilight grinned, then took a breath to contain her excitement. “Okay, let's see it.”

Celestia pushed open the door to reveal a large round room full of ponies huddled around folding tables and crates covered with papers, chatting with themselves. In the center of the room sat the rip, sitting as though it were painting on a wall. Its edges shimmered with ghostly purple energy, while its surface shined like a mirror without reflections. A scientist would occasionally approach it with a device, look at said device, then walk off, seemingly satisfied.

Twilight approached the rip slowly. “It's amazing.”

“Kinda underwhelming,” Spike chimed in.

“What were you expecting, a giant horseshoe arch? This rip represents an entirely new field of research! Who knows how much we could learn from this!” Twilight reached a hoof out to touch the rip, feeling it tingle as she got closer to the surface.

“Well don't touch it! You could lose a hoof!” Spike exclaimed.

Twilight drew back. “Right, sorry.” She turned around and saw Celestia speaking with an orange stallion with blue hair, clad in similarly colored armor. She trotted up to them.

“-and two of my guards woke up in closets this morning. Not only that, we lost more scrolls as well, all pertaining to either the Elements or Princess Twilight directly. We're being scouted,” the guard said intensely. “I propose we lock this area down until we capture this intruder.”

“Wait, somepony's after me?” Twilight interjected.

The orange pony jumped, but promptly composed himself. Celestia chuckled. “Twilight, this is Flash Sentry, our new Captain. Flash, this is Twilight.”

Twilight blushed a bit as Flash bowed. She found the blue of his eyes quite striking. She snapped herself out of them before he rose and adjusted her crown. “It's a pleasure, Captain.”

“The pleasure is mine.” He looked at Celestia, who nodded. “As I was telling the princess, we believe something is coming in and out of that tear. I've found guards unconscious in closets and other obscure areas, and others report seeing somepony sneaking around the castle. Any time they give chase, the intruder manages to slip away. We've found information missing as well. It started out as newspapers and the like, but now important scrolls have gone missing, and it's information that relates directly to you and your friends now.”

“Do you have any clues?”

“None. Just whispers and glimpses. But every time we chase the intruder, they come back here, and the intrusions started when the rip appeared. I'm increasing guard patrols in this area, and I've already made arrangements to have you guarded as well for the duration of your stay. I'll even be on patrol tonight. I don't mean to have anything happen to you, Princess.”

Twilight blushed again. “Thank you, Flash. It sounds like you have everything covered.”

Flash bowed again. “Just doing my job, Your Highness. If you'll excuse me, I have some more preparations to make.” With that, he turned and left.

Twilight didn't realize she was staring until she heard Celestia gently clearing her throat. She looked up to the the sun princess smiling at her. Spike nudged Twilight's side. “Somepony likes the new captain.”

“I do not! I just... admire his skill. He seems to know what he's doing.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Twilight. You think he's cute.”

“Flash is very capable. His squad was one of the few that did not fall to the changelings during the wedding,” Celestia said, saving Twilight from trying to argue with Spike. “But in the meantime, perhaps you could look at the research team's findings?”

Twilight nodded, silently thankful. “Good idea.” She turned and perused the findings for a few minutes before being drawn to the tear. It stood taller than even Celestia, making a faint humming noise. She reached her hoof up again, hovering just off the surface of the tear, her hoof tingling. She reached forward, her hoof passing through the surface like water. It felt normal, except-

With a yelp, Twilight recoiled. She stared at her hoof as Spike ran over. “Twilight, are you okay? What happened?”

“I reached through the portal, and it felt like my hoof was changing into something else. It feels okay now, but that...”

“Didn't I tell you not to touch it?”

“It didn't hurt, it was just weird.” Twilight took a breath. “I won't do it again. Come on, help me sort through some of this data.”

“Well,that was boring,” Spike yawned. Night had fallen, and he and Twilight were headed to bed.. He rode on Twilight's back again.

“Are you kidding? That was amazing! It's a shame it's not supposed to last much longer. Imagine if it was permanent! We could learn so much about portals, enough to transport ourselves instantaneously across Equestria!” Twilight had to restrain herself from skipping, as Spike would likely fall off.

“Yeah, and maybe open us up to monsters from another dimension.”

“Oh, don't worry. I'm sure Captain Flash has this whole castle crawling with guards. Nopony's going to come after us.”

“I hope you're right.”

The pair walked into their room, nodding at the two guards outside, who saluted. Theirs was a sparsely decorated room, with only a pony-sized bed, a dresser, a fireplace, and a smaller bed for Spike in it. “I don't think I'm ever going to get used to being treated like royalty,” Twilight said, placing her crown on the nightstand next to her bed, then crawled under its sheets. Spike hopped into his bed and curled up.

Twilight shifted around in her bed for a few minutes before finally finding a comfortable position. Rainbow Dash had shown her some ways to control her wings, but those lessons were cut short by her trip here. And none of those lessons could accelerate her adjustment to new limbs. Once she found the right spot where her wings weren't bothering her, it wasn't long before she fell asleep.

Spike awoke and yawned, his mouth incredibly dry. He entered the adjacent bathroom and took a few swallows from the faucet. As he returned, he noticed a cloaked figure hovering over Twilight. “TWILIGHT, WAKE UP!”

The next thing Spike knew, he had slammed into the wall, his bed sitting in his lap. Twilight turned to see the figure shove her crown into a saddle bag as guards burst in. The figure charged the pair, deftly dodging their attempts to grab it and running out the door. Twilight was up and after her at once.

The figure turned several corners, but Twilight wasn't far behind. She saw the figure trip up and dispatch each guard that came its way with glowing teal conjured objects, and it was still ahead. Twilight heard hoofsteps behind her, and teleported ahead of the figure to try and trap them. She smiled just as the figure teleported past her and kept running.

That's an advanced spell! Who is this pony? Twilight thought as she gave chase once more. It wasn't long before she heard Flash Sentry call out, “In the name of the Princess, HALT!” Twilight rounded the corner to see the pony figure headbutting Flash. The two traded blows briefly before Flash took an uppercut from a gold-armored hoof and was knocked to the ground.

Twilight spotted her crown fall from the intruder's bag in the scuffle. She lunged for it at the same time as the other pony, the two grabbing hold of it at the same time. Twilight locked gazes with the intruder, only seeing an ornate golden mask.

Flash tackled the pony, knocking the crown from the two ponies' grip and into the rip. A magic shockwave from the intruder knocked both Flash and Twilight away as she leaped through the portal. The portal itself flashed and crackled as the intruder entered.

Flash pulled himself up, a thin trail of blood leaking from his nose. "Where did-" he sighed, seeing the tear settling down. "She got away."

"We have to go after her! She's got the crown!"

"At least it wasn't you. I sent a runner for the Princesses, they should be here soon." Flash wiped his nose and noticed the blood. "Whoever that was, they're good. My fault for underestimating them."

Spike trotted in, brandishing a large stick he found somewhere, followed by Princess Luna. All eyes were on the tear, now resting as it was when Twilight had first arrived. "Gone,” Luna spat.

“She got the better of me. I'm sorry, Princess. It won't happen again,” Flash said, bowing.

“Was anypony hurt?”

“Princess, she took my crown! I have to go after her!” Twilight exclaimed.

Luna looked at the tear, face contorted in deep thought. Flash stepped forward. “I have to disagree. I don't think it's a good idea to just jump through holes in the air after pieces of jewelry we can make more of.”

“Flash, that was no ordinary crown; that was the Element of Magic itself. It needs to be found before it is used for dark purposes,” Luna replied. She turned to Twilight. “You should go now. To delay would only give the thief more time to escape to wherever they've gone.”

“I'll go check on my men, then. And then I'm going to figure out how one pony managed to slip by four dozen guards.” Flash departed with a salute.

Luna returned the salute. Twilight spoke up. “Princess, she teleported. That's no easy spell, and if Flash really did put four dozen guards in this section of the castle, whoever took my crown can't be an amateur.”

“I will notify your friends, if this pony is planning to steal the Elements. In the meantime, if you need anything, get it now, and swiftly.”

Twilight paced as her mind raced with countless items she might need for a trip to the unknown, preparing for every eventuality. She even considered getting her friends to come along, facing the rip with the full set of the Elements of Harmony, but realized that would take hours. She sighed, having come to a conclusion. “Princess, tell my friends and Princess Celestia what's happened and where I've gone. Spike, come with me.”

Spike hopped up an Twilight's back. He pointed forward with his stick. “All right, let's go!”

“Put down the stick, Spike.” Spike dropped it reluctantly. Twilight took a breath to try and slow her racing heart, then hopped through the tear.

Luna stared after her. “Good luck, and be careful.”

Comments

[Gboyd]

Hmm...... I like this. Keep going......

Please?