I heard the familiar, heavy footsteps of my boss, Jared, shuffling down the well-travelled hallway before I saw the neatly groomed top of his salt and pepper hairdo float over the top of the cubicles. He was a seemingly respectable guy in his early forties with that characteristic charismatic glint in his eye. The only thing about him that rubbed me the wrong way was that he tended to brown nose people from time to time, but nothing really came of it. In the end, I chalked it down to him encouraging us to do our jobs right. What struck me as peculiar was he always wore the same, impeccably groomed blue suit to work while the rest of us often gravitated towards casual dress.
I brushed some of my long hair out of my eyes as he casually leaned against the door frame to my meager office, a small grin on his face, and a nicely sized folder under his arm.
“Kate!” he announced, tapping the folder. “It’d look good if you had this work on my desk by tomorrow.”
I’d always coveted a position within the higher-ups during my lengthy tenure, and one of my talents was a particular skill at organizing even the most disheveled stack of paperwork. If I could impress the latest in a long-string of managers, that lofty new job could finally be mine.
“Well, I just need to get this other crap out the way and I can start,” I said cheerfully.
“I knew I could count on you! Bertha is still on her lunch break,” Jared said with a chuckle. He handed me the folder and I eagerly put it in the ‘IN’ tray; if I clocked in a couple hours of overtime, I could have it done in time for dinner.
***
I’d finished signing off on the last form when I glanced at the clock for the final time and saw that it was almost midnight. I closed the folder, and put my pen down next to it with a satisfied sigh before taking the folder and strode down to Jared’s door, simply marked ‘CEO’.
I pushed the door open and walked around to the front of his desk and put the folder on top before clocking out for the day and leaving the office, so sure that my hard work would pay off and I’d be sitting in my city-view office space by the time I came back.
Three days went by, and I didn’t hear a single word about any promotions for a job well done. Every so often, I passed by Jared’s office, stealing a glance with high hopes he’d finally tell me I got the job. It was on one of my return trips from the restroom that I spied the once empty managers office with boxes and new furniture, chairs, etcetera.
Excitedly, I went in to relish in the smell of ‘new office’, then noticed the embossed nameplate on the desk. “Matthew”, it read. My eyes were drawn to a folder on the desk, and my heart pounded at seeing that it was the folder I had organized. As luck would have it, I saw Jared walking down the hall.
“Ah! Just who I was looking for!” he said, clapping his hands together before I could ask him what the hell was going on. “Step into my office.” Once we were in, he closed the door. “Finally, getting all caught up on that work was a boon for us,” he said as he slumped into his chair. “With that done and dusted, and a new manager in place, we can finally get things moving forward. Have you met him yet by the way? He was here yesterday.”
My gut dropped to the ninth circle of hell. “What did you have me do all that work for, then?”
“Oh, that. The new manager needs to get in the swing of things. This’ll give him time to catch up.”
“How does a new entrant manager have more experience than someone who has been working for you for fifteen years?” I demanded.
“Your work for us has been invaluable, but this is someone who has been to business school and studied to get qualifications,” he replied, leaning forward with his elbows on his desk. “Kate, I know how much this meant to you, but you haven’t been properly trained for this position.”
“You never even gave me a chance!” I scoffed. “Just because the new guy is qualified doesn’t make him experienced!”
“Look, if it’s any consolation, I can give you a raise and some more time off.”
“Come on! You know how quickly things would go south without me! If I was a manager, I’d be able to help get things more organised!”
“I’m sorry I got your hopes up, Kate. Just doing paperwork doesn’t mean you’re qualified to lead a team. You’re too valuable in your position to risk promoting you into one you’re not prepared for.”
I indignantly folded my arms over my chest. “Are you sure you just didn’t want to make the new guy’s job cushier?”
“Watch it, Kate. You’re already getting the raise, so don’t throw that away.”
“Throw it away? The company was behind because the work was piling up; if I can finish that much work in that short of a time frame, what asshole thinks he can trump me?”
He leaned back in his chair, leaning his right elbow against the armrest, twirling a pen in his left hand. Suddenly, his charismatic way with words made all too much sense. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag now,” he said nonchalantly. “I was going to wait and see how long it took for you to figure it out, but you can’t really turn down a twenty percent raise and an extra six weeks annual leave off.”
“You know just as well as I the manager gets more than double that! Don’t think you can pay me off and keep me under your thu—oooohhhhhhhhh,” I realised, a knowing grin spreading over my face. “All these years, you never intended to promote me. You just wanted to keep me where I was!”
Now that I think back at it, my accusation was a bit redundant. Maybe I was so pissed, my mind came up with something to try and convince myself that he was the villain in all this.
“Here’s the thing, during his studies, he interned for another office, where they trained him for a supervising position. Not only is he more qualified, he can do what you do, if not better, and much more. If you like, you can take the rest of the day off to clear your head. And tomorrow. And the following.” His stupid, smug little grin kept spreading proportionate to my rising anger as the metaphorical penny was flicked in the air.
“You’ll be getting a nice little severance package, that’s for sure,” he laughed, crossing his arms. “And I’ll write you a letter of recommendation sure to impress anybody else looking to hire you!” I felt like he was just adding insult to injury at this point. “But in all seriousness, you have until the end of the week to move all your stuff out.”
And the penny dropped. Heads or tails, it didn’t matter. I was royally screwed either way. Despite me wanting to slap his smug face into next week, I knew a better way to get back at him. Under the silent, yet irate guise of being upset, I quietly got up and left the room without saying anything, bumping into a few of my co-workers along the way. After fifteen fucking years working for this asshole, he just so callously up and fires me to hire his preppy son? I made my way to the office where I saw the folder, and with a nefarious grin, casually picked it up off the desk and walked back to mine to take what I could home.
Without this folder and me to get things done, he’s going to have to scramble to get new forms and reorganise the paperwork, setting the office back at least a week. I didn’t care how long it took them to finish, I just wanted to inconvenience them as much as possible. Yeah, I know it was petty and vain, but what else could I do after being callously betrayed? Was this something I’d regret doing later?
Probably not.
As I was walking up the street to my car, folder in my bag, I spied a trash can and tossed the folder in with a few other bits of refuse to hide it.
I was feeling pretty darn happy with myself when I got home, despite everything. Because I’d been working a well-paid office job, I’d been able to afford a more luxurious apartment and acquire a nest egg so I could at least live comfortably. Modern amenities, wide open plan layout, flat screen TV, you get the picture. Anyway, revenge does feel pretty sweet if you can pull it off. To mark the occasion, I got undressed and put on my favourite sweatpants and a tank top I often wore around my apartment. I opened my bedside drawer and pulled out a dented and thoroughly scuffed mint tin, then one of the funny smelling cigarettes from within.
What a better way to relax? I lit the thing, the wonderful aroma instantly filling my senses, and went to get some snacks and soda from the kitchen before I sat down in the armchair, turning on the TV. If you haven’t done mindless channel surfing, or at the very least watched TV while baked, then you’re definitely missing out. I was watching one of those ‘How It’s Made’ segments (I officially hate hotdogs) when the screen began to get increasingly fuzzy, cutting in and out and distorting the sound. It was on not-so-excessively long exhale that I thought I was seeing things, but after a minute, the issue began to worsen, like reception getting bad in a storm. The screen went from random static to an outright polar bear in a snowstorm.
I got up to check there was nothing wrong with the cable box or the line coming into my place, then went around the back of the TV to check the connections.
I unplugged and plugged everything back in to see if that would work. I grumbled in annoyance when I looked back and still saw static, so I unplugged everything again then went to find the phone. I dialled up customer support for the cable company, and when I returned to the lounge after having punched in the numbers for the automated menus, the TV was still running static. The line for the call picked up.
“Yeah, hi… There’s something wrong with the cable... Well, it’s just running static,” I informed as I walked around to glimpse behind the TV, then my breath hitched. To make sure I wasn’t completely out of my mind, I looked from the screen, to the plugs on the floor, then to the smoke I was holding. “No no, I unplugged everything... Yeah, but that’s not the weirdest thing, the screen is still running static.” That certainly piqued the dude’s curiosity. “Some time tomorrow? Good... No, this hasn’t happened before... Alright, see you.”
When I hung up, I saw a little glass ball the size of a softball brazenly fall out of the TV and land on the wooden floor with a rather ominous thud, where it rolled to a stop against the edge of the rug with my eyes glued to it. I gave it a curious nudge with my foot to make sure it was real and not a figment of my THC-induced imagination.
I gingerly picked the orb up, and after turning it over, soon became a translucent milky white in response, before the TV started flickering with lines of blue and black.
Like the needle of a skipping record player, a broken, garbled voice came from the speakers. I dropped the glass ball out of surprise, and it faded away as quickly as it came. Having been more curious than I otherwise would have been, I picked it back up to find out what was going on. A blurry figure appeared on the screen. As the static cleared, I saw a weird-looking blue blob thing. It too, held an orb that looked like the one I had, and I saw it holding the thing between both appendages.
“I am way too high for this to be happening…” I mused. “Yeah, that’s it… I-I’m… I’m just high…” I added nervously, more or less trying to give myself some sort of rational explanation. “Heh…”
Whoever or whatever was on the screen must have heard me, for it circled its left… arm, I think, around one of its ears, then motioned for me to put both my hands on the orb like it was doing. I cupped the ball between both hands, then the static cleared up, fully revealing the creature on the screen. I had a hard time figuring out what to make of it, but it looked like some kind of horse with a shorter, more rounded muzzle and feminine features, with impossibly large eyes and shoulder length, light-blue hair.
“Hello!” it exclaimed. I stumbled back over my rug almost immediately and caught my heel on the edge, then fell into my armchair—which was probably for the better—still clutching the orb. Did… Did it just talk to me? “How nice to meet you!” I could only stare. That’s all I did for what felt like hours, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Is that your universe behind you?” Uhhh, what? “It’s so exciting to meet somepony from another plane of existence!” Universe? Planes of existence? Somepony? Either there was something more than I expected in that spliff, or I was tripping harder than I had initially thought.
“What… the… hell…” I said very slowly. All I heard was the word ‘pony’, which just made me wince harder, like watching grown adults playing with children’s toys.
“What is this ‘hell’ you speak of?” she said, tilting her head like an adorably confused animal.
“What’s going on?” I asked nobody in particular.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Pardon my rudeness. My name is Luna. What is yours?”
First I get fired from my job, and now, somehow, this thing is appearing in my TV. I’ve passed beyond the point of stressed and into the grey mist indifference of complete shutdown of all but emergency services in my brain. Fuck you, universe. “Oh hello, Luna!” I said cynically. “Mind telling me what’s going on, or if I should be seeking rehab or psychiatric help?”
“How to explain in a capacity you’d understand…” Normally I’d be insulted if someone said that, but given the circumstances, it was understandable. “This mirror is a portal to other universes.” Aahhh, okay, gotcha. Not really, but no need for her to know that.
I tried to make heads or tails of this. “But you’re in my TV, not my mirror.”
“What is a TV? Is it some kind of viewing portal like this?” And by ‘this’, I assumed she meant the mirror on her end.
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
“Can you use it to communicate with other universes?”
If you count shows and movies that take place in other universes, then, “Sure, why not,” I said, shrugging my shoulders. And then it clicked. “You’re from a different universe?!” It took me longer than I would have liked to fully realise what she said.
“And so are you!” Luna excitedly exclaimed. “I can’t believe it worked!”
“Yeah, I never expected to be talking to you either!” I exclaimed with faux enthusiasm. She immediately stopped what she was doing and glanced at me. “But please, do go on. From the very beginning, and slowly explain what happened so I can understand why you’re inside my TV.”
“Oh, I’m not in your ‘TV’. It is acting as a viewing medium between myself and you.” I think the fact that’s exactly what a TV is more or less designed for is confusing me, so I disregarded that for the moment to focus on what she was talking about. “But, I digress. The mirror I am currently looking into has been designed for interuniversal travel.” What got me is when she said “interuniversal travel”. Travel.
“You must need a lot of power to run that thing,” I jokingly said.
“Yes, it does require a fair bit of magic.” Magic? Hah, my ass. “After so long trying, I’m so glad I managed to make it work!”
“Are you some kind of freaky unicorn? How do you even exist right now?!”
“Different planes of existence,” she repeated with a wink. “Across all of space-time, there’s invisible rifts, or tears in the fabric of each universe.” Oh, so this is one of those multi-verse theories, except it’s apparently not just a theory anymore. Neat. “The mirror allows for visual contact, while the orb you hold allows for direct communication and translation.”
“How did you even find me, exactly?”
She shrugged. “Currently the mirror’s function is difficult to control. I suppose it’s sheer dumb luck that I stumbled across you. I don’t fully understand how it works, I just know what it does.” ‘Luna’ cleared her throat So, tell me, what are the rest of your kind like?” Oh boy, look at me winning the lottery.
“Do you just want to give me the third degree about my planet?”
“Heavens no, I come with a proposal!” It just kept getting weirder and weirder by the second, so I gave up all pretense and decided to take everything at face value. In reality, I was more likely to have tripped and passed out on the floor. Might as well ride this out as long as possible, I guess. But okay, a mirror that acts as a portal between universes I can understand, but what has any of that got to do with me?
“For so long I had wondered what it’s like on another world!”
“So… You want to come here?” I asked, putting two and two together.
“Precisely!”
“No offense, but the wider scientific community would likely want to dissect and study you if you were to wander around here.”
“Why would they do that?” she asked with a cocked eyebrow. “The rift in the mirror I am using is not currently big enough to allow for physical travel, so one’s immaterial being must trade places with the other.”
Brain.exe had stopped functioning. Would you like to reboot?
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but I gave up caring by this point. “So let me get this straight. You want to swap places with me just so you can see what it’s like on another world? That should not be fundamentally possible!”
“Oh? I thought it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity for interuniversal travel, wouldn’t you say?”
This insane mirror horse just offered me a holiday on another freaking planet! But, as insane and beyond the realm of scientific plausibility as this sounded, a small part of me couldn’t help but be intrigued at the prospect. I’d briefly thought about taking some time to myself. Apparently, I didn’t have to look far. The Bahamas, margaritas being served by ripped men, bikini-clad women and sunbathing are nice, but an entirely different world? If there’s one thing today taught me, if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was.
I cautiously leered at Luna. “How do I know you’re telling the truth, or if there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“We’d be swapping bodies. Is that not enough motivation by itself to trade back?” Well I couldn’t argue with that, and I couldn’t deny that a holiday did sound good.
“Look, you can understand my hesitation. You’ve never met me, I’ve never met you. It goes without saying there’s the potential for a lot of nasty surprises on both sides.”
“Oh, of course. Every culture has its ups and downs, yet it doesn’t excuse the want to know and learn. We’d both gain valuable insight and perspectives about one another, even if nopony else would believe either of us,” she said with a chuckle. “Call it our little secret.”
This was all coming way too thick and fast, and I was way too high to properly digest the information. “Look, I’m not in a position to make informed decisions like this, especially not of this magnitude. Can you give me a few days to think about it and get back to you?”
“Why, of course!” Luna said happily. “When you hold the orb like you are, it will let me know you are willing to talk.”
“When I’ve thought of my answer, I’ll call you, alright?”
“Very well. Until then.” Luna must’ve dropped her orb, because the screen suddenly went black.
I went around to the back once more to plug everything back in, and sure enough, everythingstarted to function normally. I put the orb on the coffee table to act as a paperweight for some magazines, then went to take a shower, though it was mostly to calm my nerves after… that...
I made dinner afterwards, and all the while I was sitting at the table, the orb never left my field of vision. I wanted to keep an eye on it for as long as possible to make sure it was actually real, and wouldn’t disappear from sight the moment I looked away. I had to go to bed eventually, so I gave it one last look over my shoulder just to be sure it was still there, and then I resigned to bed where I elected to deal with it the following day.
***
The next morning when I woke up, I’d completely forgotten about the encounter, chalking it up to a weirder-than-normal trip.
That only lasted until I walked through the lounge to get to the kitchen, and my tired, wandering morning eyes made contact with the orb, making me stop dead in my tracks. It shocked me back to the very real possibility that my experience hadn’t been as a result of a dream or anything else. I made breakfast, and sat down on the table to eat, but watched the orb instead of the morning weather, trying to figure out what I should do.
I decided that taking a day to myself would be good, so after I ate, I went and got dressed to go out. It was a bright, sunny day to myself much needed. Being upset and brooding over being fired wouldn’t do me any good, though the bitterness about Jared still remained. I don’t understand how someone could so carelessly fire a loyal employee after fifteen years of hard work.
I couldn’t say that Jared gave me reason to distrust him. Sure, we had a few minor hiccups in our working relationship, but nothing ever made me think he would do something like that. Sometimes you don’t really know if someone was playing your hand until they put their cards on the table.
When I caught up with my friends, I didn’t tell them about the orb. Honestly, what would I even say? Instead, I kept from mentioning it by telling them what happened at work. They were none too happy about it either, and two of them even offered to put in a good word at their jobs if I needed work. I told them I wanted to take a relaxing holiday to completely unwind and think about what I wanted to do next in life.
When I think about it, the only reason I began at the firm was because I’m good at organising and planning. I was head of the student council at school, and when I applied for an internship at the office, they were quick to notice, and things went from there. Most of the people there in my time were nice, which made the job and environment easier to work in, and Jared always had a way with words. A combination of all that must’ve made me complacent with the status quo.
I spent the third day going over my options. If I took a holiday overseas like I originally wanted to, my savings would definitely take a hit, but I’d still be able to cover at least three to four months of living expenses. After that, I’d be in the shit.
With a mug of coffee in hand, the morning was spent on the laptop looking at ticket prices for flights. I’d been out of the country as a kid before, but that was on the rare occasion mum and dad decided to take us somewhere as a family. It was always an option to bring one or two of my friends to split the costs and have fun together, but that was something they also needed to think about.
I chuckled at that thought. Kind of like me with Luna, really.
Instead of looking online, I sat in my chair and began to look at the orb similar to how I looked over the options online. I ran through the implications of what could happen but, ultimately, I’d never know what'll happen unless I went through with it. Like booking tickets for an overseas trip, you’re relying on the presented information, but that’s an option Luna never gave me.
Because of the sheer absurdity of the offer, I wanted to think Luna in my TV was some kind of dream, but I knew better, unfortunately.
Honestly, there was no easy decision as to what I could have done. Throw the orb out the window? Someone else would have found it. Destroy it? I was tempted, but that tiny little piece of my mind yearned for me to go through with it. That, folks, is what you call morbid curiosity.
I went into the lounge and sat on my chair, where I planted myself and looked at the orb intently. I was constantly throwing choices around in my head. How many people would get a chance like this? You just don’t. Ever. Even Luna said it was sheer happenstance that her mirror managed to create a portal to my TV. Somehow.
On the other hand… Nice hotel, beaches, sunbathing, booze, and all the eye candy I could ask for...
Granted, I could return home and still have fun, however there were still a lot of unknowns to consider on bothside. Both places I’d never been to before, and there were a lot of pros and cons, moreso on Luna’s behalf because I was essentially going in blind. Before I made any more decisions, I figured it would be a good idea to speak to Luna about a few of them first.
That still left the question of how long I’d be gone. I still needed to move my things out of my cubicle. Which just reminded me that since I hadn’t had a call from Jared, he mustn't have found out about the file I “requisitioned”.
I picked the orb up, and almost immediately the tv began to do the same thing as yesterday. I waited for what felt like an eternity because of my apprehension, and at the five minute mark, lines of static began crisscrossing the TV, and Luna showed up on screen after a moment.
She cocked her head and said; “That took longer than expected.”
“I said I’d call you back in a few days, didn’t I?”
She looked taken aback for some reason. “For myself, it has been five and a half months, or about one-hundred fifty-six days for perspective since we last spoke. I assumed that your decision was forgone after a week had passed.”
“Woah woah woah, five months passed for you, but only a few days for me?”
And like that, realisation dawned on her face. “It would seem the time streams in our respective universes run out of sync with each other. Relatively speaking, time passes quickly on my planet.”
“So…” I gave the math some thought and tried to break it down. “...one day on Earth is roughly fifty-two days on your end. That still begs the question of how long you would want to spend on my planet if I’m going to be taking your place for exponentially longer,” I said with an air of apprehension. Though, I couldn’t help but think that this deal just got better. One day in lieu of two months? I could get behind that, especially since I didn’t have to pay for it. Monetarily speaking, of course.
“Our proposal is this. I shall spend the first twenty-four hours on your planet, and if you decide you want to change back at any point during, then you just need to contact me,” Luna affirmed.
“Alright, but there’s some things I want to ask you first. Regarding you, your planet, and so on.”
“And you were concerned about me giving you the third degree,” she said with a comically pointed smile.
“There’s a lot of variables here. I want to make a fully informed decision,” I said sternly.
“I can agree to this, if you do the same for me. To make it fair, we shall ask questions in turn.”
“Firstly, tell me about yourself…”
I don’t know how long she spent talking to me on her end, but two hours later, we’d exchanged details about one another’s lives. I told her about my friends, how I was recently fired by my condescending boss, as well as any relevant bits and pieces. In turn she told me about her sister, though why she didn’t mention anyone else I don’t know. Luna mentioned how she was a royal princess, which caught me off guard. The most surprising part was when she told me she lived in a castle. A freaking castle!
I was rather gobsmacked when Luna told me she was over a hundred years old. Apparently, her kind, Alicorns apparently, lived exponentially longer, though she didn’t say how long. Their planet, appropriately named Equus, while home to a large population of equids, other mythical races such as minotaurs, gryphons, sirens, phoenixes, dragons, and many others called it home. This sounded like something straight out of the realm of fantasy! David Attenborough could’ve narrated a new show: Fantasy Animal Planet.
The one thing that I couldn’t put my finger on, was that when I asked Luna about why she wanted to come to Earth. She didn’t give me any straight-forward answers outside of “for the experience”. I tried pressing her for an answer, and the more I began to understand what she meant. I wanted to take a holiday to somewhere I hadn’t been before, and so did she, but that was a more extreme example. If I wanted to unwind and find out what I wanted to do in the future, then it wasn't unreasonable she’d want the same. It made me rightfully cautious, however, but I couldn’t figure out why. So long as it had nothing to do with me, I would be fine.
“Here’s what I want to do. You hang around for a while, because there are one or two last things I need to take care of. When I’ve made my decision, I’ll call and give you your answer, regardless of what it may be.”
“Very well, then.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t take as long this time. Promise.” I put the orb on the table, then cupped my face in my hands.
My grandparents—on my mum’s side—taught their kids how to make the best of a tough decision, and often gave them a choice of equal weight to the other. They would always tell you to take a moment to clear your head and toss a coin. That was something he used to do when I’d regularly visit as a kid. It’s how I learned to prioritise.
I pulled out a ten cent piece from my bag, sat back down, placed the coin in the crock of my index finger and underneath the nail of my thumb, then flicked. Half way down, I caught it in the air.
“When you want to make a choice you’re unsure about, don’t ever worry about what side it lands on. When that coin flies through the air, your thoughts will focus on the thing you want more.”
Good old grandad was right.
I quickly picked up my phone and placed a few calls. I was supposed to be going out with my friends tonight, so it gave me a good opportunity to call them and say I couldn’t make it because I wasn’t feeling well and needed a few days. I didn’t want someone coming over and finding someone that wasn’t entirely me, and given how I wasn’t expected at work… Well, that wasn’t a problem. I picked up the orb and it took less than ten seconds for Luna to appear this time.
“Apparently true to your word.”
I looked her in the eye. “I want to set some ground rules.” An indirect answer, but one that still made my choice clear. “Since we’re going to be parading around in each other’s bodies, we should set limits with what we can do.”
“Agreed,” she said with a soft smile.
“I’ve organised things on my end so that you won’t be bothered. There’s plenty of food so you don’t need to go out and potentially get lost, or worse. That said, try not to burn the building down if you want to cook something.”
She scoffed. “Any functional adult should know how to cook.”
I liked her already. “Right now, your best source of information and entertainment about Earth would be the television.” I was just trying to give her reasons not to leave the apartment.
“I still don’t know what a television is, though I suppose I’ll find out in due time, and I can agree to those terms. However, you will likely be around my kind more than I will be yours. I just ask that you not draw any unnecessary attention that would potentially uncover what has transpired. This includes Celestia.” Hmm, sounds like if I can win over the sister, then it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to keep everything from going tits up.
“I have left a journal with scheduled events and other minor responsibilities that I ask you accomplish to the best of your ability, thus nopony will think I am not who they think I am. Understand?”
“Do what you’d normally do during the day to avoid suspicion,” I repeated. I gotta say, being a princess certainly sounded appealing.
“Feel free to write your experiences down for me to read when I get back, too.”
“Sounds fun, I guess.” Luna touched her orb to the mirror on her end and the surface of both shimmered like a pool.
“Touch yours to the surface as well,” she said eagerly.
“One more thing. Try not to do anything stupid.” I reached forward to make the connection.
“I could say the same thing for you, too,” she mused.
The point between the orbs began to radiate a bright white light. It grew exponentially, enveloping everything within sight in a matter of seconds. I felt a slight tugging in my chest, and after that, everything went black.