Celestia observed the writing utensil with wonderment.
“What a simple, yet useful device. Like a quill and ink mixed together.” thought Celestia as she used her mouth to draw upon the paper she was given.
“And this parchment, it’s almost as white as my coat, and perfectly cut too.”
Celestia began by making a crude sketch of the highway from the point of view where she first emerged. It wasn’t easy, as the utensil she was using needed more pressure to distribute the ink than a quill did. It was also made of an unidentified material that made it more slippery than a quill, but it was flexible enough that Celestia was able to bite into it slightly.
When she was done, she handed the work back to the people across from her, who took it and looked it over. They said some more words in their language and Celestia listened to every word as best she could. Oh how she wished she could understand them. This would be so much easier if she could just talk to them.
Suddenly, she heard three sharp knocks on the door leading into the room, and the elder biped stood up, and opened it. In the doorframe stood another bipedal person, this one stood stalk still upon seeing her, and whispered something to the one who had let him in.
Then she saw the female who had been holding her drawing tear it right off, revealing another sheet of pristine parchment beneath. Celestia quickly gestured back towards the writing utensil and the parchment, and noticed that the newcomer, still standing in the doorframe give a surprised yelp at her sudden motion.
The elder said some more things to the newcomer, probably to console him, as the female handed back the utensil and pad of parchments.
Celestia thought, “How can I tell them to get me back to the portal?”
Deciding on what to draw next, Celestia began.
The Night Guards assembled more quickly than Twilight expected. At least a dozen armored ponies who were sprouting bat wings were already gathered at the portal when Twilight and her friends arrived. Princess Luna was already there as well, briefing the group on their objective.
Beside the group, there were what looked like dozens of brass canisters lined with blue crystals. Each one had an opening large enough to fit a hoof through.
“Ah, Twilight Sparkle, you’re here, as well as your friends.” said Princess Luna.
Acting impulsive as ever, Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up. “So when do we get moving?”
“At ease, Rainbow Dash, first you must know what is in store for you on the other side.” said Luna, looking over at the pegasus mare. “You must all be willing to yield your magic to these devices,” she said, gesturing to the brass canisters, “and go through the portal and search on hoof. You will not be able to fly on that other world, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow looked nervous for a moment before responding. “No matter what it takes, I’ll never let Princess Celestia down, even without my wings!”
“Then what you must all do, that includes you all as well,” said Luna, looking at her company of guards, “is place your hoof inside these canisters. There is a magic sink rigged up in each one. You will lose your magic, but it will all be stored up in these things until you return.”
Twilight had never heard of these things before. A device that could hold somepony else’s magic for later use? Why hadn’t she ever heard of these before?
“Princess Luna,” Twilight spoke up, “are you certain we will be able to get our magic back from these devices upon our return? It’s just that I’ve never heard of anything like them before.”
“Your concern is valid, Twilight sparkle, but these devices were developed very recently, as nopony had ever thought that the construct within them was ever useful. But be assured, they have all been tested, and they definitely operate the way they are supposed to. You will most likely be needing two of them, as you currently hold the magic of two ponies within yourself.”
Twilight stepped up to one, as did her friends, and put their hooves through the holes. Instantly, Twilight felt a great pressure leaving her, as all of Princess Celestia’s magic was siphoned away into the canister. The crystals that were lining it shone brightly with a golden light that matched the color of Celestia’s magic.
Twilight watched as her friends did the same, each one grimacing as their magic was drained away. Their eyes faded in color, their cutie marks vanished, and even their coat color seemed to have gotten a bit duller.
Finally, all that was left was for Twilight to give up her own magic. Once again, she placed her hoof into an empty canister, and once again, she felt that a great support that was holding her up disappear, and she had to fight for a moment to keep her balance.
“Well, this stinks.” said Rainbow Dash, now looking at her blank flank. “Can we please just get on with this?”
“Oh it’s not so bad, Rainbow.” said Fluttershy, “It’s only temporary, and we’ll find Celestia soon enough.”
As optimistic as Fluttershy sounded, Rainbow Dash still held a grumpy expression as all of the night guards each filled up their own canisters with their magic.
“Alright,” said Luna, “now that that’s done, it’s time for me to send you all through the portal. One by one, each of you step into the depression in the ground, and I shall send you over. Once you arrive in the cave, please move aside quickly so the next pony may enter. Twilight Sparkle, would you like to go first?”
“Of course Princess, I’m ready.” said Twilight with a firm resolve.
Twilight Sparkle stepped once more into the portal’s radius, and she watched as Princess Luna cast the familiar spell to open the way. With a flash, Twilight found herself back in the cave underneath that new world.
Stepping out of the portal, she watched as the area shone brightly again, and Rarity appeared inside the cavern.
“Oh, how drab this place is,” she said, stepping out of the depression in the stone, “after the incident with those diamond dogs, I told myself that I would only ever step hoof underground once again if there was no alternative.”
“Well Rarity,” began Twilight, “I’m sure that you will survive long enough for us to get out of here. The tunnel leading up isn’t that long, and I’ve already gotten a glimpse of the surface.”
Before Rarity could respond, the portal flashed again, and Pinkie Pie appeared in the cave. One by one, all of Twilight’s friends, and then the entire company of night guards were inside the now cramped cavern.
“Alright everypony,” said Twilight, “today we will all venture forth into a strange new land, and try to recover the missing Princess.”
Twilight began to walk upwards through the tunnel, her friends and the guards following close behind.
an update!
I can feel that somepony will do stupid things.
5024856 That makes the very large assumption that magic would be converted into one of our forms of energy.
Magic has no equivalent in our universe. It obeys none of our universe's rules.
It's a foreign fundamental principle from another universe entirely. Any 'conversion' is likely to have devastating results.
5001150 So what happens if humans live in Equestria for a while? Humans need to eat and drink and breathe and metabolize.
What happens as their 'Earthverse' atoms are replaced by "Equestriaverse" atoms? And, for the ponies, vice versa?
Have you thought of the effects of two fundamentally different universes directly colliding?
The interface would be rather... energetic, to put it lightly.
Simplification: don't try to use physics to justify magic-nonmagic interactions. The reality is, if two intersecting universes don't coexist nicely, one will tend to overwrite the other and/or violently explode and possibly trigger another Big Bang.
Uhm... so this Equestria is far more primitve than in the show?
Because we've seen that ponies have paper in addition to parchment. All their books seem printed on paper. They even have enough production capacity to make tissues and toilet paper.
They also have electric lights, electric or gas stoves, film cameras, printing presses, microphones, recording equipment, a hydroelectric dam, derigibles...
5059374
You just tried to use physics to justify magic-nonmagic interactions.
Also, It's precipice because magic doesn't follow the rules of our universe that it doesn't work in our universe. But if it is an energy, and can be measured, then that energy must be conserved in our universe. Heat obviously exists on Equestria and on Earth, so I don't see why you would call it "our" form of energy.
The form of energy that we have that Equestria doesn't is the strong nuclear force. The electrons orbiting the atoms are the same in both universes, which is why stuff can still be seen and touched in both, but the nucleus of an Equestrian atom is easily interchangeable with magic, which is why the conservation of matter doesn't seem to apply there. As for why our matter's strong force isn't converted into heat when it reached Equestria, it's because the strong force is much stronger than the differences in the dark energy between both universes.
5059428 No, I used physics to explain the predicted outcomes of two dimensions with non-compatible fundamental physical realities intersecting.
I didn't include magic in that part of the argument.
Once you put magic back into it, you just have to throw up your hands and declare 'a wizard did it', because there's no logical way to explain anything after that.
5059428 Uhm... if Equestria didn't have an equivalent of the strong force, they could not have hadrons... you know, protons and neutrons?
The strong force is what binds the quarks together.
If what you say is true, Equestrian matter would be utterly unstable in our universe and be composed of a substance we couldn't even begin to predict the nature and composition of.
I believe you mean the weak interaction must be absent from Equestria. That force is not required for normal matter to exist, and its absense would imply that no radioactive isotopes or particle decay can exist in Equestria, which would mean their matter is hyperstable. Hmm, that would also mean they either do not have nutrinos or their nutrinos can only interact via gravity.
But then bringing such metastable matter into our universe could trigger a quantum catalytic effect, similar to what was feared of strangelets and the 'ice-nine' fiction.
5059434
That's only true with respect to how human's view magic. In Equestria, magic is as much a science to ponies as geology is a science to humans.
5059448
Even though Equestria doesn't have a version of the strong force, the hadron of the atoms are still held together by something. On Earth, there's no magic to break down or build up that something, so their structures are actually more stable on Earth, not less. In Equestria, you see things change size and mass almost in every show. That implies matter is pretty unstable there.
5059454 Assuming they have atoms...
You're still thinking in terms of our universe's construction.
They could be made up of nothing but rainbows and sunshine dust held together with Cosmic Duct Tape.
MAAAAAAGIC!! *waves hand across the air and little sparkles float off*
5059938
That's not how I see Equestria. If you don't like this story, feel free to leave a dislike on your way out.
So, does Pinkie still have a special relationship with physics or is she going to have to scare this new world into obedience too?
5060559
Other than the Pinkie Sense, I see all of Pinkie Pie's physics breaking abilities as nothing more than the show's cheap attempt to get a laugh out of the audience, and they have no place in Equestrian world building.
5060837
Ah, so she's still psychic then? Groovy.
Hope they're not aggressive, since they have to be cautious due to not knowing what's going on and whatnot. Twilight would likely help there... worried though she is, that worry would likely be enough, in this circumstance, to get her to be cautious... possibly over-cautious, even. XD Likely to Rainbow and the guards' annoyances. XD Or some of the guards, should you decide to give some of those night guard thestrals actual personalities.
Just realized. You never said that Celestia did or did not go through the portal with or without her royal regalia(collar and crown). Shouldn't they have noticed those by now? Or would they notice them soon after, as they get to studying more, since they were too shocked to notice them at first due to her being a completely different species and whatnot?
And did some creative thinking since Celestia is so dang clever and creative with her plans for teaching Twilight, to show off her intellect.... more in next comment, to help focus on those details.
Here's the thought. Since Celestia knows that there's reason to rush with getting them to bring her back, she draws a 'cave' drawing by her drawing of the road of the cars... this is enough to make them realize she wants to go back, but not enough to get them to do so, wondering why.
By judging facial expressions(something political dealings with other species on Equestria), she can tell they can understand, but are reluctant. So, how to make them realize why? She looks around, taking in every detail. She sees a few boxes, the door, the office.... and then she notices something on one of their arms. A watch.
Though Equestrian watches are noticably larger, they do have them. And by the look, the same number of markings are on it, even if they're not marking she recognizes. But, the similarities are too much to dismiss, so she gets an idea.
She draws a cave drawing again.... but inside it, she draws a door. She calls forward the one with the watch and brings him and the drawing to the nearest door in the room. She points to the drawing, then to the watch.
After looking at it, they realize she means there's some sort of 'door' within that cave. And something about time.
As they're contemplating, she points to the drawing, then to the watch.... then to the door they're by as she opens and closes it. After that, she points to the door, then the watch... and motions her hoof on the watch in a semi-circle, drawing a 'half hour'. Then, she opens and closes the door, then draws the other half hour before doing so again... all while sincerely hoping to herself that she's right to assume that the same markings means they have the same perception of time as Equestria does.
Those motions together get the officers to realize that the 'door' opens every half hour, and at this point, James remembers that Celestia appeared in a flash of light in that strangely round spot in the cave. They realize that maybe that round spot is the spot of some sort of portal or something, and she needs to return to it for some reason. ... and obviously, the linguist expert would want to tag along.
This is just an idea on Celestia's side of things though. No idea on Twilight's other than what I already mentioned.
I like this story becouse it's one of a kind, but could you make the chapters a bit longer? Thank you.
5063445
I predict hijinks in the future, hopefully not ones that will cause an international incident.
5062082
I see I forgot to mention that. She doesn't have her regalia on, and was naked going through the portal.
5070126 Ah. Well, then perhaps drawing a picture of a crown and pointing to herself will be a good enough reason to convince them to bring her back. XD
It really stretches credibility to think that a gizmo like that can hold unlimited amounts of magic—that is, hold Celestia's magic. Surely it wouldn't impact the story for Luna to take charge of her sister's and Twilight's magic. And the idea that the containers differentiate between Celestia's and Twilight's magic and automatically selectively take the foreign magic from Twilight while leaving her own to be taken by a second device makes even less sense.
5763540
First off, no one said that the amount that the devices could hold was limitless, since Celestia does not have limitless magic. Second off, the reason two devices were needed for the magic of two ponies was because everyone's magic is a little different, and outside of a life form, that energy will push against foreign magic. It's not because the device could differentiate between the two types, its because the magic itself within the device would have pushed Twilight's energy back out of it.