Jim Spades followed Pale Fire into the stadium, but while he went up to his seat to retrieve his bag, she went up on stage to talk to the Sonic Rainbooms. He glanced that way as he rooted through his things for paper and pen. He then had a thought. Of course! He had already written out a full explanation. All he had to do was link her to it.
Jim looked up as he found what he was looking for. He could not hear what was said, but the discussion seemed to be involved. Fire held up a finger, then pointed towards him. A moment later he started down, meeting her halfway.
"Hey, I gotta get their numbers. Write down yours and I'll get back in touch later."
"Sure, but I just remembered I wrote up an account of what happened to me," he said, "If you give me your e-mail, I can just send that to you."
Fire scratched the back of her head.
"Well, I don't actually have an e-mail address," she said.
Jim boggled at this. "Seriously? How does that even work?"
Fire grimaced. "Look, it's a long story. I'll get one. Just give me your number and I'll text you. Hurry up about it." She curled her fingers up twice in a 'hurry up and give it' gesture.
Jim quickly wrote down his number, hoping it was legible, and handed her the piece of paper. She snatched the pen out o fhis hand and turned back towards the stage too fast for Jim to react.
"Sorry, I'll get it back to you!" she called over her shoulder, quickly walking towards the Rainbooms. Jim was not sure what to make of that, but he supposed it was only a pen. He lingered for a moment, unsure what to do, until his phone chimed.
"Nana-nana nana-nana na-na na-na Batman!" That text notification could be a bit embarassing. He checked and saw Fire had texted that she would contact him later. He decided this was a polite way of suggesting he not stick around.
Up on stage, Pale Fire was attempting to explain her situation.
"Alright, so if someone could give me their number?" she said.
"Ooh, ooh, pick me, pick me!" the pink one, who Fire thought was called Pinkie. That was a bit too on the nose.
"Err, sure," Fire said, handing the pen and paper to Pinkie. After a second's hesitation, she added, "Oh, and I borrowed that pen, so don't forget to give it back."
"Maybe you should finish explainin', sugar," Apple... tini, was it?... said. Oh wait, Applejack. She knew it was a booze reference. "You said you needed our help with somethin'?"
"Right," Fire said with a nod, "It's just a little hard to explain. You see, I'm from another dimension, like Twilight and Sunset there. Did I get the names right?"
Twilight and Sunset glanced at each other.
"Yes," Twilight confirmed, "So you're from Equestria?"
"Actually no," Fire said, "A third dimension, somewhere else. There are a very, very large number of dimensions. It might even be an inifinite number... I'm not sure."
"Uh, is infinite even a number?" Rainbow Fash or Slash or whatever asked.
"In a manner of speaking," Twilight said, "It's quite fascinating, actually..."
"Twilight?" Sunset interrupted, "I don't think that's the point here."
"Oh, sorry," Twilight said, blushing slighltly.
"So what's up? There some other bad guy whose butt we need to kick?" Rainbow asked, cracking her knuckles.
"Possibly?" Fire responded, "There are rules to this sort of thing, though. I'm honestly not sure if you'll be able to help."
"Hmmm... so there are limits to interdimensional travel? But since you came here... is it the number of people?" Twilight said. She looked Fire up and down, as if searching for what made her unique.
"No... well, yes, sometimes, but that's not the primary issue here," Fire said, "Alright, let me try and explain this as succinctly as I can..."
Later, in the school library, Pale Fire crept out of her hiding place. She was not crazy about the sleeping accomodations, but she did not have a lot of options. Besides, it was that Twilight who had given her the idea in the first place. The security at this school was just the worst. She had been staying here for weeks and no one had noticed yet. She supposed she COULD have managed to find something better, whether by scrounging together money or with some clever scheme, but she had been fairly certain the targets were in or near this school (and she had been right), so it seemed simplest.
Her meeting with those seven girls had gone about as well as could be expected. She had agreed to follow Twilight into her world by her own methods to enlist the help of the people... sorry, ponies there. Fire groaned to herself as she remembered the dawning realization. That other world was one she had been too before. It had its advantages: largly peaceful, fairly high magic, and a rather loose economic system that allowed plenty of opportunities for a vagabond like herself (she was growing fond of that word). However, the whimsy of it got on her nerves. What was she, ten years old?
That was an annoyance for another time. Right now, she had work to do. Fire took out her phone (or at least, what functioned like a phone in this world), started up a school computer, and set to it. Setting up an e-mail address was simple enough, and a text to that Jim guy was answered fairly quickly. Soon she had the promised account in front of her, and she began to read.
The text she read is recorded elsewhere, and so it will not be recounted here.
The next morning, Pale Fire examined the statue that the Rainbooms had told her served as the portal between worlds. She tapped on it experimentally. It seemed, to all intents and purposes, to be an ordinary statue. The portal was apparently in the pedestal, so was the statue on top even necessary? And what would happen if the pedestal were moved? Would the portal move with it, or would it now be suspended in midair? She would have to ask about that when she met with them later. First, however...
"Hey, there you are!" Jim Spades called from the sidewalk as he walked up, "Why did you want to meet here on a Saturday?"
Pale Fire looked up from her examination. "Because I live in the school, obviously," she said casually. She carefully maintained a blank face so he would not know if she was joking or not.
"Huh. Really?" he asked curiously.
Pale Fire sighed. Apparently, some people were too simple to pick up on false irony. Or... wait, did that follow? Whatever, it gave her a lead-in.
"Yes," she said with a nod, "You see, I'm an interdimensional traveller. That means I generally don't have much money." She paused for a moment. "Plus, this school has like, the WORST security."
Jim tilted his head, a puzzled look on his face. "Are you making fun of me?" he asked.
Pale Fire shook her head, "Actually, no, though I was hoping you'd think I was. As it is, I'm guessing you won't be that surprised when I show you this."
Pale Fire took her cell phone out of her pocket and held it out to one side in some sort of anime or sentai pose. As Jim watched, it stretched out like taffy. It's color and texture changed to that of wood, and within moments Fire was holding a walking stick about the same size as her.
"Woah!" he exlaimed, "So you're magic like those other girls?"
"Eh, not quite," Fire said. With a flick of her wrist, the staff started to contract and soon she was holding a cell phone again. "Their magic comes from one dimension over. I'm from one much further away."
"Huh... so it's a multiverse kind of thing, like Crisis on Infinite Earths? Like, their dimension's vibrational frequency is just a bit off from ours, but yours is way different?"
Fire rolled her eyes. "Ok, first off, that vibrational thing is a load. That's not how matter works. However..." She thought about it for a second. "Ok, so it's wrong but it's at least a good enough picture that it saves me some time explaining. I gathered from your little story that you're big into Batman? He's not the biggest on multiverses I don't think."
Jim nodded, then looked at her curiously. "You're into Batman, too?"
She shrugged. "Well, my brother was, and I read his stuff. I do like that Morrison fellow. I looked into it last night and it seems like this dimension's comics aren't too different from those in mine."
Jim then asked the other question that had sprung to mind. "So are you some sort of interdimensional cop or hero or something? Were you after Sonata, Aria, and Adagio?"
"Well, not exaaactly," Fire said, waving her hand in an 'eh' gesture. "Here, take a seat and I'll fill you in."
She gestured at the ground. Jim looked around and there were no seats. He moved back from the statue and sat cross-legged on the grass. Fire stood with her hands behind her back and began.