//------------------------------//
// Scene 6 - The Map Room 
// Story: Beyond the Bounds of Universes 
// by CTVulpin 
//------------------------------//

	“No, I think I understand the basic idea now, Princess,” Sci-Twi said as the group entered the Map Room.  “But I don’t see why you’re so certain I’m tied up in all this.  The Map is linked to you and your five friends and, until now, hasn’t ever summoned anyone besides the six of you.  I’ve never even been to Equestria before now, so how would the Map even know me, let alone summon me?”
“Funny, “Starlight Glimmer said, “I was just wondering the same thing.”
Princess Twilight stopped halfway to the Map and glanced back at the others with an uncertain frown.  “I don’t understand the ‘how’ or ‘why’ any better than you girls,” she said, “and I’m not 100% sure this is even right, but consider the evidence.”  She pointed to the Map, where the paired set of Twilight’s cutie mark was still flickering between Ponyville and beyond the edge of the table.  “I’ve only seen the Map pair a cutie mark with itself once, very briefly, when it was reactivating after Starlight and I undid the damage she’d caused.  Now it’s happening again, and persisting.  Second, Sci-Twi, your cutie mark appeared on your hand about the same time the Map activated here, and the ones on your flanks now are still flashing the way mine and my friends’ do when we’re being called.”  She held out a hoof to Sci-Twi.  “And it’s a quick and easy hypothesis to check.  Just approach the Map with me.”
Sci-Twi nodded, smiling at the appeal to scientific method, and joined the Princess.  Sunset Shimmer, Starlight, and Spike gathered nearby as the two lavender ponies approached the Map.  A few seconds went by, and then the Map changed.  The images of Twilight’s cutie mark stopped flickering around and hovered over the center of the table as the model of Equestria rapidly shrank down toward the center and turned into a round, featureless lump.  A thread of crystal stretched out from the lump for a short distance, and another lump rose up to meet the thread.  Another thread emerged from the second lump to connect to a third lump, and so it continued for over a dozen iterations that described a gradual curving path from the center of the table to very edge, with one last thread of crystal reaching into the void.
“Well, that was informative,” Spike snarked.
“At least we know the theory was right,” Sunset said. “Still: What in the world?”
Princess Twilight ignored the commentary as she counted the lumps.  “…Twelve, thirteen… fourteen.”  She frowned.  “Fourteen steps in all, but it extends beyond that.  Why is that famil- oh!”  Her eyes flew open wide, and then quickly narrowed.  “Surely not,” she said, “but… This could be the Tau’rin Chain, from the end-point here in Equestria back to the home universe of the Order-naries, Taryn.”
“What are the Order-naries?” Sunset asked.
Princess Twilight started to answer, but Starlight spoke up first.  “They’re a small group of mercenary heroes from a distant universe of humans.  They came to Equestria pursuing a universe-hopping demon called Tau’rin and managed to stop it here with the help of the Elements of Harmony.  The Order-naries stayed in Equestria for about a year, having a few adventures, until someone from their home found a way to get them back home.  And it seems our Princess here has made it a hobby to find a faster way to travel between Equestria and Taryn.”  Princess Twilight gave Starlight a startled look, and Starlight said, “What?  You were away for several hours, and Spike gave me the crash course.”
“Ah,” Twilight said.  “Anyway, that’s your answer, Sunset.  There’s always been this little itch in my mind that I have friends I can’t easily visit or even write to.  Everypony I know in Equestria is just a train ride or a couple days of flying away, at most, and I’ve got the Mirror and the linked journals right here for you, Sci-Twi, and the rest.  The Order-naries, though, are out of reach.  That does raise a question, though.” She turned to give the Map a suspicious look.  “The Order-naries haven’t been in Equestria once since the Tirek incident and the Map’s creation.  How does it know about them, and my efforts to reach them?”
As if it had been waiting for that question – and in retrospect, Twilight thought it may very well have been – the Map shifted again.  The chain of lumps and crystal thread sank into the flat surface of the table, the cutie mark images vanished, and a stack of loose papers and folders emerged from the table in front of the Twilights.  Princess Twilight snagged the top couple of sheets in her magic and scanned them quickly.  “Celestia’s Sun,” she said breathlessly, “these are my notes on inter-dimensional magic!”
“That’s where they went?” Spike exclaimed, “The Map… ate them?”
“Not just that,” Sci-Twi said, “I’d wager it somehow was able to read and comprehend what was written on them, and then decided we need to work on them.  Or… something like that.”
“Well, one thing’s for certain,” Princess Twilight said, “the power behind this Map is much stronger and more mysterious than we’ve been giving it credit for.”