//------------------------------// // Intermission // Story: Fellowship is Magic // by Mr-War //------------------------------// Meanwhile in Equestria... Celestia had known for certain that something terrible had occurred. She'd known it to be a fact, just hours after sending Twilight the warning about the increased solar activity, and the risk it posed in conjunction with the magic mirror. Her former student had been many things throughout her life. But lazy when it came to matters of important correspondence, that was most certainly not one of them. She certainly hadn't expected an immediate response to her communication, as that would've simply been too unrealistic. But she'd still expected to hear something back before too long. But nothing had come through; not a single response of any sort. And the longer it continued, the more anxious she found herself becoming. And with every passing moment, the urge to investigate grew stronger, and stronger, and stronger still. She'd managed to resist her impulse to investigate for a mere two hours, before she could no longer hold out, and proceeded to make a beeline for Ponyville at top teleportation speeds. If it was possible to cause a sonic boom while in the act of teleporting, she was certain it'd been done as she made her way to the Friendship Palace to investigate the matter for herself, and determine whether or not her friends were safe and sound. The combination of her impatience, and the speed of her travels, had allowed her to arrive at the palace just in time to observe as the open portal collapsed in on itself, and completely faded from existence, leaving nothing but the smooth surface of the mirror behind in its place. Her response had been loud, it had been fierce, and it had been most impolite, bordering on illegal in certain countries in Equestria. How the crystal structure of the palace hadn't developed stress fractures from what it'd been subjected to, she honestly didn't know. She'd inquire about that later on. An exhaustive search of the surrounding area of and around Ponyville had all but confirmed her worst fears; Twilight and the others were nowhere to be found in Equestria, and were now lost somewhere in the void beyond their own dimension. In light of such facts, much as Celestia hated to admit to such, this was now Discord's area of expertise, and she had to rely on him if she wanted to get the others back safe and sound. That was what led them to where they were currently, with Discord working his chaos magic as he consulted with the mirror, while she paced anxiously in the background. "You're certain that you haven't seen any sign of them?" To say Discord consulted with the mirror, it was a most literal explanation of what was currently going on. Through whatever manner, he had managed to use its latent magic to open portals with other worlds in a search of their missing friends. Sometimes his efforts led to meetings with the inhabitants of the strange, foreign realms, which led to communication between them. The latest of such meetings involved a rather strange looking individual. Clearly feminine -from what Celestia knew of the particulars of the humanoid form based on Twilight's notes- although the lower half of its face was obscured by a rather high collar of a white jacket. All she could really make out was a patch of dirty blond hair on top of its/her head, and piercing blue eyes and could bore a hole right through whoever looked into them. "Quite certain," the figure replied simply but firmly, in a tone that commanded respect but didn't outright demand it. "What you speak of is... most certainly not native to this world, and would stick out like a sore thumb. But I can't speak for what lays in the vast deserts beyond the city walls." "That's what I was afraid of," Discord muttered as he stroked his chin with a frown. He then proceeded to toss the frown aside before addressing the figure again. "I do hate to impose, seeing as we've just met and all, but could I trouble you to have them looked for in the event they are there? They're quite important over here and we need them back." "I'll have an eye kept out for them. If they're found, they'll be taken care of. Provided they're still alive. This is a harsh world, and I can't offer you any guarantees," the figure replied with a nod. "But how will I get in contact with you should they be found?" With a snap of Discord's talon, an object appeared in front of the figure, just hovering in air as if it were waiting to be taken. "If you should find them just call me right up, I'm always home. Just ring 362436 and I'll be right over faster than you can said Ticonderoga. That is assuming you can say Ticonderoga," Discord stated. At this the figure turned his attention to Celestia, wearing what could only be assumed as being a inquisitive look on her face. "Does he make any sense to you?" Celestia shook her head in response. "I gave up on trying to make sense of him long ago," she admitted. "I thank you for your willingness to assist us in our efforts at finding our missing ponies. It really isn't an exaggeration to say they've saved the world several times over. We could very well be lost without them." "Noted," the figure responded, before the mirror's surface fluctuated and the communication cut out completely. Celestia sighed and slouched, feeling gravity of the situation weighing heavily on her withers right now. This had been going on for days now, and she honestly didn't feel like they were any closer in their search now than they had been when they had started out. They'd searched through so, so many dimensions already, only to meet with nothing at all. She didn't want to host negative thoughts, but she was starting to fear that the worst had truly come to pass. "We're getting nowhere," she sighed and sat down on her haunches on the crystal flooring. She then leaped up with an excited yip at feeling something against her flanks. Looking down she saw that it was the frown from earlier, currently scurrying about much like a rodent or cockroach would. With a frown she stomped on it with her back hoof, putting an end to that particular nuisance at least. "Nowhere? My dear 'Tia, we haven't even begun to reach Nowhere yet," Discord replied as he faced her and crossed his mismatched arms over his chest. "Believe me, I've been to Nowhere, and you'll know it when you see it." Celestia frowned in response. "I'm in no mood for your jokes right now, Discord, all I care about is getting Twilight and the others back, safe and sound!" "And you think that I don't!?" Discord snapped back, his tone quite harsh; harsh enough that it actually caused Celestia to falter at hearing it. "I'm just as concerned about them as you are, 'Tia, if not even more so. So if I'm joking about the matter, I assure you that it's a necessary defense against my own going anymore insane than I already am! We've been here for days, going through alternate dimension after alternate dimension in our search, only to come up with nothing. Trust me, you're not the only one who's getting worried here; we're quickly running out of alternate dimensions where they could possibly be. And once we get to the end of the line, we'll either have to start over and circle back through and see if we missed anything, or start looking elsewhere..." Celestia really didn't like the tone Discord's voice had taken when he mentioned looking elsewhere. It sent an uncomfortable chill right up her spine. "I'm almost afraid to ask what that would involve," she admitted uneasily. "Well once we run out of alternate dimensions to scour, we'll have little choice but to switch our focus to alternate realities," Discord stated. "I'm... sorry I don't understand. Aren't those the same thing as one another?" Celestia asked. Discord gave an amused chuckle in response as he shook his head. "No, no, my dear, they're both quite different," he stated as he waved his lion's paw, and began crafting a visual display to make the explanation easier. "Alternate dimensions, parallel dimensions, whatever you wish to call them; they all exist in the same space, at the same time, but they're out of phase with one another and don't interact with one another. But as numerous as they all are, there's only a finite number of dimensions in existence." Celestia focused on what Discord was saying, paying attention as various lines and shapes were being drawn up as an illustration point, doing her best not to get lost in the process. "Alternate realities, however, are another matter entirely. In this great big multiverse we call home, there's a nearly infinite number of these alternate realities, created to reflect different outcomes to different decisions. For every decision we may make, there's countless alternate realities where we make entirely different decisions, which spawn different results, and different outcomes. There are literally billions upon billions of alternate realities in existence, some of them almost identical to our own, while others are drastically different to the point where they can't even be recognized; like for example, realities where we're all griffons, or where you're Rainbow Dash's mother," he continued on. "Rainbow Dash's mother?" Celestia asked in disbelief at the notion. Discord ignored the question and continued on, knowing that such a discussion would simply lead them into quicksand. "Generally these realities exist independent of one another. But sometimes an event will occur that can lead to one meeting with another; in this case the magic mirror malfunctioning during the solar flares. This is exceptionally dangerous, since Starswirl the Bearded never intended for the portal to work in such a way." Celestia swallowed nervously at hearing this. "Can... can we find them if such is the case?" "Eventually," Discord replied, although he refrained from elaborating on the matter further. "It won't be easy though. Alternate realities can be... temperamental to deal with. I can poke holes through alternate dimensions with ease, traveling as freely as I please. Not so much wither alternate realities. Poke too many holes too quickly without closing them back up, and..." Discord paused as he allowed the illustration to speak for itself, that being hundreds of circles all clustered together, before they each began developing holes, one after another, before they all began to rupture and collapse in on themselves. "Need I say more?" he asked. "I'd rather you not," Celestia stated quickly in response. "I thought not," Discord replied. "On top of that difficulty, there won't be any guarantee that the ponies we find in these alternate realities will be our ponies. There's going to be a myriad of minute and seemingly insignificant details that will have to be combed through in order to tell who's really whom. I'm going to warn you up front that once we start sorting through realities, we're going to come across versions of Twilight and the others that come from worlds far worse off than our own. Versions who we'll want to help, and provide sanctuary, and even keep. But we can't afford to do that. Too many of any one individual, or any number of individuals, all housed in the same reality can have drastic consequences. We're talking imbalances that scare even me," he explained. "And the point of telling me all of this is what exactly?" Celestia asked. "So you can be prepared for what to expect when push comes to shove, of course," Discord stated, before giving a mutter about something relating to backstory and world building. There were so, so many things Celestia wanted to say to Discord right now, many of which were horribly unkind. But she stopped short of uttering any of them when something far more pressing caught her attention; that being the shimmering of the surface of the magic mirror. And the shimmering soon warped into a swirling pattern, looking much like a whirlpool was forming. "Look," she said as she gestured to it with her wing, bringing Discord's attention to it as well. "What's going on?" "I don't know. But I think something is actually attempting to force itself through the portal from the other side," Discord stated as he watched. "Could it be them?" Celestia asked. "Doubtful. If they were where another end of the portal exists, they'd just walk right through it. This is more like something forcing a connection between two worlds to be established when there is none," Discord explained. "And I don't have an iris to close over the portal to prevent whatever it is from coming through." Whatever nonsense Discord was talking about, Celestia was far too distracted to actually pay any attention to it; far more preoccupied with the fact that whatever was on the other side of that forming vortex, it was forcefully entering their world. And much as she wanted to believe it to be, she knew that it wasn't Twilight who was behind this. She was one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria's history, but even she didn't have the power to be doing something like this. So it went without saying that whatever was responsible for establishing a portal all by itself -and a fully stabilized portal at that- it was even stronger than her former student. And then the portal was breached as something stepped through into their world. But what it was, was far beyond anything she had ever imagined possible. Standing before both her and Discord was an alicorn stallion, the likes of which she'd never seen before. Not that there had really been that many alicorn stallions, but that was beside the point. Whoever this stranger was, he stood tall -at least as tall as she herself was- with a frame not unlike her own, though there was no regalia present on his frame. Unlike her, his fetlocks were unshorn, although they looked well maintained. He had black hooves that looked at if they'd been polished to a high sheen, which contrasted sharply with the white fur that covered his body. His horn was equally polished, giving it a mother of pearl sort of presentation. Both his mane and tail were a very pale platinum blond, and would've been considered white at first sight if not for the contrast against his fur and feathers. But the most outstanding physical aspect were his eyes. While his irises were a striking ice blue, the sclera that surrounded them were a deep, deep black just like the pupils. Whoever this stranger was, he was both quite handsome, and quite beautiful. On top of having a very commanding presence that made even her feel humbled. He then took a step forward, and promptly tripped over his own hooves, falling to the floor in an undignified heap with a thud that made her and Discord both flinch. "Well that was unexpected," Discord commented to himself as he watched their new guest shake his head. "A strange form, this is," the stallion said in a strong, but silky smooth voice as he looked himself over, before slowly -and quite awkwardly- climbing back onto his hooves cautiously. It was at this point that Celestia finally cleared her throat in an effort to make herself known. "Can... can we help you?" The stallion finally turned his attention to them, looking at her first, then at Discord with a look of absolute confusion, before looking back at her once more. "I am seeking one of importance. Perchance of great importance," the stallion stated. "You are... whom?" "Princess Celestia," she replied. "Then you are the one that I am seeking. It is good to be making your acquaintance," the stallion stated. "Likewise. Although to be making a proper acquaintance, I'd need to know what your name is in turn," Celestia stated in response. "Of course. I offer you my apologies," the stallion, before clearing his throat and straightening up. "In my time I have been known by many names, by many titles. But I am perhaps known best by the name of Eru Ilúvatar." "Eru Ilúvatar," Celestia repeated as she tried to get a feel for the unusual name, and and nodded in the stallion's direction. "It's nice to make your acquaintance. Although now I'm curious as to from where you hail. As well as a number of other things at the moment." "I am sure you are. But before I explain myself, I must ask a question. Pray tell what exactly is... that... standing next to you? What sort of abomination stands before you?" the stallion asked and gestured with his head in Discord's direction. "Abomination? Well now, it seems my reputation precedes me, even in other dimensions," Discord commented in an almost giddy fashion. "I, my friend, am Discord, resident Spirit of Chaos to this world! I'm the one who ensures things are made interesting when order gets to be too... orderish." The stallion merely blinked once, before turning back to face Celestia again. "Is it in need of smiting?" he asked. "Oh, yes, at least once a week," Celestia agreed and giggled. Discord merely frowned and crossed his mismatched arms across his chest, already plotting what he'd do to get even with Celestia. "All joking aside, Eru, I believe you have a number of questions to answer," Celestia stated as she once again grew serious. "Eru?" the stallion repeated, a slight tilt of the head following. "I am not accustomed to being addressed in such an informal manner. But under present circumstances it is acceptable." "That's good," Celestia replied, "now then. From where do you hail? How do you know of me? And what brings you to our world?" "Your first question is... very difficult to answer. But I will try," Eru began as he mentally contemplated what to say next. "Where I hail from is... perhaps best described as the other side. My... dimension, universe, reality, what have you; I am the creator of it, and everything found within it." At this both Celestia and Discord's jaws dropped, with Discord's actually meeting the crystal flooring, before bouncing back up into a closed position, only for it to hang open once again. The one they were currently addressing, was another dimension's equivalent of their own Faust! More so than even that, they had apparently taken a physical form, and crossed over the dimensional boundary to meet with them directly! And what had they done? They'd engaged in the most informal manner of address anypony could possibly imagine! Before either of them could even begin to express their apologies, their distinguished guest was already speaking again. "As to why I have come here. I know not the manner in which it has occurred, but I assume it was unintentional. You have lost others, correct? Seven of them? One such as yourself. One possessing a horn but no wings. Two possessing wings but no horn. Two possessing neither. And one who is far different from all the rest. They are yours, from this dimension, yes?" Had she been sitting down, Celestia would've instantly jumped up at hearing this. "You know where they are? Are they safe? Are they hurt?" she asked, her voice bordering on frantic at this point. "At the present moment they are unharmed. But as to safe, I fear that cannot be answered presently," Eru explained in a solemn manner and shook his head. "I know not the manner in which these seven came to be, but they have interfered in a matter that has grown immensely complicated as a result. Presently I find myself in need of your assistance, for I cannot handle this matter on my own. I ask for your help in resolving this matter before things can potentially become worse than they are now." "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold up! Time out!" Discord objected as he made a "T" signal with his hands. "Let me see if I'm understanding this, just to make sure I don't need to send my ears in for a tuneup. You, the progenitor for all of existence in your dimension, have come here because you need our help with something?" "That is indeed the situation," Eru affirmed and nodded. "Huh. That's definitely a first," Discord commented, trying to decide if he should feel honored or humbled at the moment. "Eru," Celestia spoke up as she stepped closer. "You said that Twilight and the others have gotten involved in something back in your world. Can you tell us just what's going on presently?" "If nothing else I can at least try and do such," Eru stated. He contemplated stepping forward, but one look down at the legs of his current form discouraged him from doing such. "On one particular little world, a test of importance is unfolding. The species of Man is destined to inherit the world for itself. But in order to do such, they must actually prove themselves worthy of what they are to receive. To do such, they must remove the last vestiges of the old order from the world, to allow for the establishing of a new order. This requires completion of a certain, specific task, while facing specific perils along the way to test their dedication and worthiness of inheritance. But now I fear that such may actually not come to pass." "Because of Twilight and the others?" Celestia asked. Eru nodded in confirmation. "They have gotten themselves mixed up with those at the very heart of the test, unknowingly setting into motion a sequence of events that were never intended to transpire. And now that they have been set into motion, there is no way of telling where things may go from here. Every action they take leads to the possibility of even greater complications coming about," he explained, before sighing and shutting his eyes. "I do not blame them for what has occurred. They had no way of knowing what would come about, they merely wished to help those they have come to regard as friends. It is quite commendable of them," he continued. Celestia nodded in agreement with that bit of assessment of Twilight and her friends. "Well now, this certainly piques my interests," Discord commented. "So how exactly can we go about helping you with this situation? What's our area of expertise that makes us vital?" "What I need is for you to bring them back to their own world, before they become anymore involved than they are currently. I cannot directly intervene in this matter myself. Even if I could, I do not believe that your friends would actually heed my pleas to refrain from further interference. Nor do I believe that I can physically remove them on my own, based upon everything that has happened so far," Eru explained. He still had no idea how they had successfully -even if only temporarily- rendered the Balrog into stone, despite having witnessed it for himself. Whatever magic they wielded, it was considerable. It was no wonder that Sauron feared them so. But this test simply wasn't for them to undertake. And now that they had, there was no certainty of what would come to pass next. With the knowledge that Sauron now possessed as a result of his meeting with the one named Twilight, quite literally anything could happen. She had no idea as to what she had potentially unleashed upon Middle Earth in her efforts at helping. "I think that can be done," Celestia replied as she nodded, opting not to explain how that was exactly what they'd been trying to do all this time. "Most excellent," Eru stated. Perhaps this test could still be salvaged yet, and disaster avoided. With no further words he turned around, and then stopped, looking about curiously. "This," he said as he looked at the mirror, "this is the means by which travel was achieved?" "It is," Celestia stated as she stepped forward. "It's a portal to a specific dimension, although recent solar activity on the surface of the sun seems to have interfered with how it works, and resulted in it making contact with your world," she explained. "Most fascinating," Eru commented, his voice tinged with genuine interest. However he knew that there was no time for discussion of such a matter; perhaps another time. With no further words he stepped forward. He then planted his face right against the surface of the mirror, hard, and fell back in a startled manner, once more falling onto the ground. "What?" Celestia asked a she stepped forward and placed her shod hoof against the surface of the mirror, finding out for herself that it was indeed quite solid. "The portal's closed!" she stated in both surprise and horror. "That is not good," Eru commented as he picked himself up off the floor again. "I was certain that it would remain open." "Have no fear, Discord is here!" Discord stated in a very triumphant -or outright boastful- manner. "When our friend here decided to break the dimensional divide, I had enough foresight to trace the portal back to its point of origin. Now that we know where to actually find them, retrieval should be a piece of cake!" he stated as he stepped forward and waved his lion's paw over the surface of the mirror to reopen the portal. As he did this, the three of them were greeted by the sight of a single large eye, made entirely of fire with a long slit pupil, staring right back at them. And then came a booming voice, speaking in a language that neither Celestia nor Discord understood, but could tell regardless that it was full of anger. While Celestia and Discord reacted with surprise, Eru merely glared back at the eye in the portal, before shouting right back, again in a language that they didn't understand. This quickly descended into what amounted to a back and forth shouting match between the two participants. "Do you have any idea what they're saying?" Celestia asked as she looked to Discord in hopes of getting some answers. Discord shrugged in response. "Haven't a clue. Unless..." he paused as he reached behind his back and quickly withdrew a compact, flat, narrow-shaped device with a great many buttons on it, before depressing one of them. "That should do it." Celestia had learned long ago that it was best not to question Discord too much about what he did, because the answers she would get tended to boggle the mind. But even she was curious about what he was up to this time around. "Closed captioning," he responded to the unasked question as he looked towards the portal. But then he did a double take at what he was seeing. "Well now, this is interesting." Wanting answers, Celestia looked forward as well, although she wasn't expecting what she was seeing. Whatever Discord had done, words were now appearing out of thin air as Eru spoke with/yelled at whoever/whatever was on the other end of the portal. Unfortunately the words were giving them no answers, as it was nothing but unintelligible nonsense. That wasn't even hyperbole either. The words that were appeared literally said "unintelligible nonsense" in explanation of what was being said. They were also saying "censored for the sake of young readers" and a number of other things, before even the words became incoherent. And then it was just random symbols, making it look like they were talking in some form of hieroglyphics. The back and forth shouting match continued much as it had been playing out, until Eru finally reached his limit and needed to breathe, nearly collapsing to the floor in the process, far to winded to continue. "Eru," Celestia spoke up as she stepped forward. "If I may ask, just who or what is that on the other side of the portal?" "That," Eru breathed, "would be Sauron. One of the last vestiges of the old order in need of being cleared away from the world." "I take it this "Sauron" has no interest in assisting us in your endeavors?" Celestia asked, although she already knew the answer. Eru shook his head as he straightened back up again. "None whatsoever. As long as the old order remains, he maintains his power over the land of Mordor and all that reside there. And he is very intent on doing everything to prevent losing that. He is intent on not allowing anymore outside interference to occur in the present order of things. And being aware of what he is presently, he is doing everything in his power to prevent just that. He is presently blocking the portal from being established. We cannot travel through," he explained. "And he actually thinks he can oppose you in this?" Celestia asked. "It would appear such is the case. I am weak in this world; far weaker than I had assumed would be the case. My influence here is nothing compared to my own world. If I were on the other side of the portal, clearing Sauron away would be a trivial matter. But I cannot do that from here," Eru explained and sighed. "It would appear that in my efforts to set things right, I have unintentionally locked myself out, and can do nothing but watch as things unfold before us..." At this the Eye of Sauron began speaking again. Although to them it sounded like it was actually laughing at this sudden turn of events. Discord scowled at this, and proceeded to poke the eye right through the surface of the mirror with his lion's paw, catching it right in its slit pupil. This in turn caused to eye to shake and shudder about, before more incoherent screaming followed in the aftermath. "Well now, I certainly didn't foresee this coming about," Discord commented as he snapped his eagle talon, causing the blocked portal to close once again. "I'm not used to having someone actually oppose my chaos magic. This is an insult of the highest order, and I'm not going to stand for it! I'm not about to let some evil eye block our efforts at getting our friends back!" "Dare I ask what he intends to do?" Eru asked as he looked to Celestia for answers. "There are times when it's best not to ask such questions," Celestia replied as she stepped back, equally uncertain, and far more concerned with what Discord might be planning. Discord ignored the both of them as his voice grew in strength and tone. "Mr. Eyeball thinks he can stop us from going in the front door? Well then we'll just go in the back door!" he practically roared as he swiped at the air with his eagle talon, causing a tear in the dimensional fabric to appear in the middle of it, and grow in size. As it opened, however, they were once again greeted by the Eye of Sauron, staring back at them. Or rather glaring at them. "Now listen here, sonny! If you know what's good for you, then get out of my way! You seriously don't want to test me!" Discord stated furiously. Sauron's response sounded equally furious, but was completely unintelligible. Wanting clarification, Discord looked back at Eru. "You... do not want to know," Eru replied flatly. "So then he wants to do this the hard way, does he? Fine by me! You don't want to step aside? Well then forget going past you, I'm going through you!" Discord disappeared from view, before reappearing on the other side of the room, his twisted frame twisting even more as he reconfigured himself into a large, raging bull. Hooves of solid steel, sharp horns that were black and shiny, and jets of steam exhausted from his nostrils as he snorted and bellowed. He scratched at the ground aggressively, before charging forward, head held down as he aimed his horns straight for Sauron's eye, intent on breaking through whatever obstruction they were being presented with. Eru and Celestia both cringed as Discord impacted the surface of the portal hard; very hard. Hard enough that he practically bounced off of it, his entire body looking more akin to an accordion than anything else. "It would seem our friend is quite intent on keeping us out," Discord commented wearily, before groaning and collapsing backwards on the floor of the palace, the portal disappearing in the process. Celestia wanted to sigh, groan, cry, and outright scream all at the same time in response to this development. If even Discord couldn't force his way through to Eru's world, there wasn't much that they could be done by the rest of them. Even if she were to send for Luna and Cadence, and get them here right now, their combined might would still amount to nothing in this matter. Eru sighed at witnessing all of this. "It would appear we are helpless to do anything but wait," he said as he turned to face Celestia. "I am sorry for my inability to do anything of usefulness on this matter." Celestia shook her head. "You let us know where to find our friends, and that they're at least still alive. That's more than we had before you came here. Now it's just a matter of finding a way to actually get to them, if such exists." "If it doesn't exist, it will after I get done with it," Discord stated as he proceeded to pick himself back up and unfold himself, back into his original form. "Everything has a weakness, everything has a way in. I refuse to believe that whatever magic this Sauron character is using to keep us out, that it's completely impenetrable." "I would advise you not to take Sauron lightly. He is no mere conjurer of tricks, meant to wow the uninitiated. He is a formidable foe," Eru warned. "Well then that's just fine, because neither am I," Discord stated, before turning his attention to Celestia. "I'll leave your distinguished guest to you, 'Tia, I can't do anything useful from here." "Very well then. I'll contact you if I need you for anything," Celestia replied and nodded. With nothing left to be said Discord took his leave, leaving both Celestia and Eru behind in the palace. "So then," Celestia began slowly, "it looks like you're our guest for the time being while we sort this matter out." "It would seem as such," Eru replied and nodded, recognizing that returning to his home dimension wasn't a viable option at the moment. He was more or less left to rely on the kindness of his current hosts. "Perchance might I be able to impose upon you?" "Of course. How might I be of assistance?" Celestia asked. "This form that I presently find myself in. I did not select this for myself. It is very foreign to me, and I am left without knowledge as to how it works. Perchance could you educate me on the matter?" Eru asked. Celestia merely nodded in response. "Yes. I think that could be arranged."