“Well that was a trip,” Sunlight remarked as he got back on his feet. “That apparently still isn’t over,” he added with a frown upon getting his orientation. Or lack thereof.
Space. Not “outer space” but not far from it. All around him was blackness filled with glowing points that shifted slightly in shape as they drifted about. The distance was infinite. Some of the glowing points were nothing but tiny specks a million miles away and some were as large as himself, floating by no more than ten feet from his reach.
The young man opened the satchel he had brought with him through the custom portal. His parents had given him a guidebook to assist in any issues he might encounter. After all, they had to make a special portal to cross dimensions and, even though it should have been a smooth process based on existing magic, they took no chances. Good thing too.
As he was about to turn the page to the FAQ, a voice called out to him.
“Heya! What are you doing here, Lighty?” Pinkie Pie shouted as she skipped over to him through the dark not-void.
Sunlight’s brows raised. It was Pinkie Pie alright…but younger. Much younger. Gone was the slight extra pudge of over a decade of bakery work. She looked like she did in the old photos his mothers kept from high school. Her pink skirt and cropped blue overshirt were straight out of Sunset’s oldest photos of their high school group.
“Uh...Pinkie?” he asked hesitantly. Twilight warned him about interacting too much with members of a dimensional miscalibration.
“Sunlight!” she replied back with a gleeful bounce and then a strangling hug. “We’re tied! Now it’s my turn! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Spacetime #498. This is the portal hub, silly. You’re not supposed to stop here.”
“Wait,” Sunlight narrowed his eyes and clutched his guidebook. “What about you? Where are you from? You have to be from my or Middy’s spacetime if you know about us.”
“Oh, pffft,” Pinkie waved it off with the sound of a raspberry. “I know about all of you. Sunlight and Midnight from #498/526, #128/512, and #745/920. Though, please don’t tell anyone about the last pair. They told me not to tell,” she whispered into his ear. “Now hop on through. You’re portal is coming over. Tell Middy I said hi! No more time to talk. I’ve got a whole lot of Pinkie’s to manage!”
Sunlight noticed the floating and glowing portal that was hovering towards him. She must have meant that one. He was going to open his mouth again but two more Pinkie’s hopped on over to the one talking to him and started asking for directions. Both were older, though more one than the other. Shaking his head, he took the advice of this Pinkie and his mothers and jumped through the portal that was nearly upon him.
“I tried to ask her myself but she was really adamant about keeping it secret,” Midnight shrugged as they walked along the autumn forest trail. Dry leaves of somber colors rustled beneath their steps.
Rarity gave a “hoho” of amusement. “That is most certainly our Pinkie Pie.”
“Someone’s Pinkie Pie anyways,” Middy shook her head. “It’s just normal for me to see Princess Twilight with Fluttershy and even some of the others from Equestria with different people because I grew up with things that way. Seeing people who are from the human world but a different dimension in different relationships can make it feel so surreal. Not to mention other-dimension Equestrian counterparts. I haven’t met any yet now that I think of it. Makes me wonder-”
“I was under the impression you had become comfortable with it, darling,” Rarity insisted with a curious tilt.
“With Lighty’s world? Yeah. They’re like another family and I’d enjoy spending more time with them as well. It’s just...knowing that there’s a Pinkie managing multiple pairs of myself and Lighty makes me really worry if the next time I see him...”
“He will be the same boy you fell in love with?”
The older woman had gotten it right and could tell just by the look on the teen’s face.
“Oh, is that all?” the fashionista waved it off with a chuckle. “If I am not mistaken, your mothers whipped up a spell for that ages ago. Transdimensional identification verifiction or some such terribly dreadful name. I’ve told them – especially Twilight – that they really do need to come up with more friendly-”
Midnight stopped her aunt in the leaf-laden path. “T.I.V. was in mom’s spell notes? I’ve read through it a hundred times and I don’t-”
Rarity returned the interruption. “Well, T.I.V. is most certainly shorter but not quite elegant if you ask me. If it was not in her spell books then she might have put it in...”
Wait. Why was Rarity trailing now? Her tone and expression had turned to one of a person just remembering they were supposed to keep an embarrassing secret a secret.
“What? Where is it?” Midnight insisted, stepping closer to the woman.
“Uh, heh heh,” Rarity began a cold sweat. “Oh, do forgive me, darling. I was sworn not to tell. It was a mistake I found out in the first place. A lady is not-”
“-going to tell my parents you told me,” Midnight gained a clever smirk, quickly taking an educated guess. “It’s worth my peace of mind. You don’t want me staying up all night worrying do you?”
“But it is just so...scandalous,” Rarity averted her gaze, still sweating.
Just as Midnight began to consider her aunt’s weaknesses that she could exploit, there was the sound of crackling. It was not the soft crack of the leaves beneath them, however. It sounded as deep as thunder, prompting their heads to turn upwards. And indeed there was something in the sky. More precisely, in the air just five feet above them.
BOOM!
A chaotic bolt of purple lighting cracked in place in that one spot, tearing open a hole in the very fabric of reality. Light flashed almost too bright to continue looking – a myriad of colors inspiring both awe and fear. Midnight knew what this was. She had traveled through it before, though returned without reaching the other side.
“Aaaaaaaaah!” the scream of a certain young man became louder and louder until he appeared through the rift, which closed quickly behind him.
Midnight moved to catch him and Rarity, quick on her response, moved to support her. The three of them fell back onto the side of the path. Thankfully the dirt and leaves were soft enough to make it less painful and a sharp branch was just barely out of the way.
Sunlight Shimmer rocked back in forth in the arms of the younger and older women, trying to put his senses back in order after the dimensional portal had scrambled them. “Ugh...what cures portal sickness?” he groaned out.
“Lighty!” Midnight cried out and tightened her grip around him. Her face buried into his chest.
“Ah,” Sunlight squeaked out. He finally got his eyesight to stop spinning and recognized the person holding him. His own joy was countered by the tightness he was being squeezed with. “Love you too, Middy.”
Rarity stood up and brushed the leaves from her elegant fall dress. The oranges and yellows matched the offending material well. She muttered to herself about having to give it a special clean now before greeting the newcomer. “Hello again, Mr. Shimmer. It is good to see your energy has not left you since last we saw each other.”
“Hello Tropics,” he said to himself then nodded. It was clear the bothered tone in her voice was directed at the offending dirt and not him. “It’s good to see you again as well. You look nice. Of course, I’ll have to say my Middy looks better,” he gave his girlfriend a wink but only got squeezed tighter in return. “Agh.”
The ranch house was different for sure, but comforting nonetheless. It helped that the autumn climate was still gentle and thus no cooling or heating was needed. The open windows let in the relaxing breeze. Though the decorations and furniture were unfamiliar to him, he could tell the place had been lived in for some time and by Midnight and her family in particular.
He sat across from Midnight at the dining room table. The rectangular shape reduced the distance between them but allowed room for the dishes of their recently finished dinner. Spaghetti and hot rolls, half made by him and half by her in a joint effort. The endeavor had been quite fun and something he looked forward to doing much more in the future. Mistakes had been made, but that was part of the enjoyment.
“Apparently,” Midnight gained a mischievous grin, “mom keeps a special notebook with magic spells not in the other texts. They’re all related to special situations.”
“Like?” Sunlight prompted and leaned back in the chair, satisfied from the warm meal and relative silence of the house they had all to themselves for the time being.
“Verifying that a person is from the right dimension.”
The young man rose a brow in curiosity. “Why would you need to do that? I mean before our families ran into each other,” he clarified.
“Apparently, my parents have some things they don’t think are appropriate to share. And not for the regular reasons.”
“So that’s what you were getting out of Rarity before we left her,” he made an “aha” sound. “Side note: big shock.”
She giggled at his sarcasm. “It all worked out, though.”
“I suppose that was what you went into their bedroom for when we first got here and why I saw some light flash behind me when I was making the rolls.”
“Smart boy,” she pressed his nose with her fingertip. “I just wish it was as easy to get to your side. The dynamic dimensional portal doesn’t work right now from this end.”
“Wait,” Sunlight felt his heart freeze. “You mean that you can’t get to my side from this side?”
“Yes, but apparently it worked for you to get here. That means there’s just some recalibration that needs to be done in the spell I’ve been trying.”
“So I can’t get back?” he started to seriously worry.
“The journal works just fine and if you found a way through then I’m sure we can do the same,” Midnight crossed her arms in confidence. For once, she was the one that was carefree and assured rather than him. But having him with her in person might have boosted her spirits. Thankfully, her positivity helped settle his concerns.
“Alright,” he nodded and leaned forward. He planted his lips on hers and didn’t pull back for a good moment. When he did, he smiled. “We’ll figure it out.”
In the meantime, Midnight thought to herself, the notebook she had read for the spell had given her some other ideas. Special ideas she couldn’t wait to try out with the love of her life.