“I thought it was impossible to travel between dimensions?”
Celestia glanced up from the book she was reading. Said book was from Luna’s room, and detailed everything the Lunar Alicorn knew regarding the Dream Realms. It was a good idea to refresh her own knowledge on it, after all.
She found Mitternacht standing there, apparently having finished his mission of gathering the ponies she asked for. Said ponies were standing behind him, all of them looking as if they had just been sleeping.
She stood up and closed the book in her magic, bringing it with her as she walked around the desk to stand in front of the group.
“You just found out your Sovereign is trapped in another dimension,” she commented, glancing at Luna’s body over in the corner where it continued to maintain a connection to the Dream Realms. “Are you going to let something being supposedly impossible stop you from breaking down the doors and saving her?” Fire flared from Celestia’s briefly ruby colored eyes. “Because I won’t.”
She nodded when she noticed Mitternacht’s eyes narrowing and electricity briefly sparking around him. She looked around at the others. “I told you I needed power to open the way. That wasn’t a lie, and all of you are very much powerful in your own right… but I am fully capable of handling the power requirement. Instead I need you for other reasons. The biggest is that I myself cannot enter the Dream Realms without possibly destroying them on accident. Instead, you all will be going in.”
She looked around, before her eyes settled on one of the gathered poonies. “Rosy Crystal, I need a variant twelve Ward that will encompass your group and be mobile.”
The pink coated mare in a Royal Guard uniform paused. “Twelve? An Empathy Ward?” she asked after a moment.
Celestia nodded. “The Dream Realms shape themselves based on the emotions of those who enter.”
Understanding filling her eyes, Rosy grinned and summoned a circular pink shield with a spiral pattern on it. She immediately began tweaking it with her magic.
Celestia looked at the next pony. “Doctor Stitch, your job is to stay here. Tag us all with a charm that will monitor our vitals. If at any time you feel anyone is on the cusp of completely losing their mind, you will pull the afflicted member from the Dream Realms immediately and get them treated. You’ll be stationed here with me.”
The tan colored Unicorn nodded and immediately began hitting everyone with a variety of charms.
“Hazy Glow, your job is perhaps the most vital. You will use your exceptional magical senses to navigate the Dream Realms and locate my sister. When you find her, aid her in whatever she needs to do to get back home.”
The dark red coated Archmage nodded and immediately began preparing himself.
Celestia looked at the pony that, frankly, resembled her own student far too much to be a coincidence, fur coloring or not. “Moon Dancer. I can imagine you feel a little overwhelmed and wondering why you’re here,” she offered not unkindly.
The yellow Unicorn was understandably confused, and gave a shaky nod at being addressed. She had never believed she’d ever be personally requested by Celestia herself.
“I don’t need anything complex from you, at least not magically speaking. I've heard great things about your ability to spot important details most tend to miss. What I need is for you to watch the environment and try and learn as much as you can. You’re going into effectively unknown territory. Anything you can learn, anything at all, may be useful.”
Moon Dancer gathered herself together and nodded. “O-of course, Your Highness.”
As she spoke to the different ponies, Celestia gave off more and more magic, the air around her growing hazy and distorted by the sheer magical pressure she was beginning to generate. She looked at Mitternacht. “I won’t insult you by asking if you’re going. I will however ask that you keep yourself under control. Uncontrolled emotions in the Dream Realms, I am told, are a very bad thing.”
Mitternacht nodded.
Tossing the book in the air, where it proceeded to float in her magic in front of her and start flipping to different pages, Celestia concentrated. There was a muted whump sound, and then magic flooded the room as a circle spiraled out on the floor around the Princess, shining brilliantly. Symbols of all kinds burned themselves into both the circle and the marble flooring of Celestia’s room.
Mane lit up like an eternal bonfire, eyes shining like floodlights of pure red, and coat flaring with what could only be described as mini-prominences, Celestia grinned. “Let’s see if I still remember how to do this.” Slowly, she inhaled. Then, when she could inhale no more, she let it out slowly. “Open.” she whispered. There was a sound similar to glass breaking.
Hazy Glow blanched and had just enough time to throw up a light filtering shield before there was far too much light in the room.
---
Luna tripped mid-swing, her scythe ineffectively glancing off the armor she had just a moment ago been about to cut through. The tripping in and of itself was not inherently a bad thing, as her recovery roll had her dodging a sword of paper she had not seen, but what had caused her to trip in the first place was.
She sighed, backhoofing a wad of ink like it was a solid and sending it careening away. “I suppose this is what I get for trying to get help from the wrecking ball that is my sister,” she grumbled.
The Shifting Sands had just been breached, and it had not been done gently. Thankfully, Celestia appeared to have the good sense to keep the new entrance magically sealed. That meant the magic of the Dream Realms could not escape and wreak havoc on the physical realm.
She waited a moment, and sure enough she felt more presences enter the Dream Realms. Thankfully none of them seemed to be her sister. That would have been a disaster and a half.
Dispatching her current paper foe, Luna began making her way towards the team her sister sent in.