//------------------------------// // Interdimensional Testing (Part 3) // Story: Vanishing Act // by redandready45 //------------------------------// "Thank you Princess," Sunny said with honest gratitude. The five Shadowbolts had woken up from their dream, and bowed before the Princess of the Night, "for granting us wisdom and guidance." "The only thing I request from you is that you use my lessons to guide you through life," Princess Luna said. "We will," Indigo said. Princess Twilight entered the room. "Were you able to observe their dreams," The Princess of Friendship asked the Princess of the Night. "Yes," Luna said. "I should be able to observe your Twilight, if and when the possibility arises." Sunny flinched at the word "if", but swallowed her fears. She couldn't ruminate and brood. It wouldn't help anything. "So when you do you think you'll find our Twilight?" Lemon asked the Princess. "As soon as she has a bad dream," was the reply. "Now that we've settled that," Princess Twilight said, "let's move onto our next assignment." "So where are we gonna look first," Lemon asked the Pony Princess said as she led them into the basement of her castle. "What do you mean?" Sugarcoat looked at the Princess Twilight with confusion. "Aren't we going to go around the kingdom searching for our Twilight?" "And, like, having an adventure where we learn about friendship and working together," Indigo Zap said with a hint of excitement. "No," Princess Twilight uttered. "While you're in Equestria, you five will be doing a special task here in the castle." "What is it?" Sunny asked. Princess Twilight opened the door. The room was some kind of office, with cabinets, tables, and chairs. The cabinets were full of files, papers, and folders. "I've collected files from the various welfare agencies in Equestria," Princess Twilight said. "Homeless shelters, Work for Hospitality dated from the first few weeks your Twilight arrived, you name it, it us here. If our Twilight has left her name, or a pseudonym, on any of these documents, we can eventually build a trail with which we can find her. You're job is to find a link." Indigo looked at the work with disgust. "So that's it? We have to be a bunch of boring bureaucrats?!" "I HATE PAPERWORK!" Sour bellowed. "Guys," Lemon scolded. Indigo and Sour ceased there immature mutterings. "Princess, wouldn't it be better for us to search around?" "No," Princess Twilight said firmly. "Equestria may seem like a fairy tale world, but there are dangers you five know nothing about. I can't risk you going out there." "But Princess," Sunny pleaded, "we kind of owe it to her to find her." "You five know nothing about this kingdom to be allowed to wander around aimlessly." Princess Twilight was firm. "If you get lost or hurt, then I'm gonna have trouble explaining that to your parents, aren't I?" The Shadowbolts' pleas died. "That is a fair point," Sugarcoat admitted. The others nodded, silently conceding the point. "There have been way too many screw-ups, and I can't afford another one. Also, Shining made it clear it to me he doesn't want you near your Twilight without her permission." The Shadowbolts frowned miserably at hearing. "Shining was really serious about that?" The pink human-turned Pegasus muttered. Indigo Zap's eyes fell to the floor. "I mean, we do...kind of deserve it." Princess Twilight gave them a sympathetic smile. "Look, don't worry about it. I'm sure that the other me is living a good life and learning about Harmony. If she's learning about it, she might be learning about forgiveness. And you girls have already changed for the better. And even if she doesn't, you've already shown me you five want to change." "Thanks Princess," Indigo said with honest gratitude. Princess Twilight's face became serious. "But let me clear. As long as you five are here, you are going to stay in the castle, period. One hoof out of the castle, and you'll never be allowed here again. Am I clear?" "Crystal," Lemon joked. Everyone snorted. "Anyways," Sunny said, trotting over to the table, "we might as well get to work." "You might as well," Princess Twilight said to the ponies-turned-humans. "If you find a lead in one of these organizations, compose a letter to that organization asking about 'a pony with some resemblance to Princess Twilight', and I'll mail it." "How long is the response time?" Indigo asked. "About a week or so." Sour was about to object, but then remembered something. "Oh yeah, this world doesn't have E-mail! I MISS THE INTERNET ALREADY!" "It might. If your adapt to this world, it can serve as a foundation on which we can build Equestria-Terra relationships." The Shadowbolts faced were filled with resolve. It wasn't about them or Twilight. Their efforts would determine the fate of both worlds. "That sounds reasonable," Sugarcoat said, pouring over the records with bureaucratic fastidiousness. The others, now understanding the importance of their duty, set about with equal determination. "Come on Darling," Pony Rarity told her human counterpart. "It is just a feather." Human Rarity's horn struggled to lift the feather, but she felt a massive headache instead. Eventually, a small burst of magic came out of the horn. "See Darling," Pony Rarity assured, "all good things take practice." Human Rarity slumped over the table, half exhausted. "I'm so scared," Human Fluttershy whimpered. "It is so high up," she muttered, seeing as she was hovering one inch above the ground. "Baby steps," Pony Fluttershy assured her human self. "Let's see you keep up with me!" Pony Rainbow taunted, flying above her human counterpart. Human Rainbow gave her a look of defiance. "OH YEAH!" Rainbow flew up into the air, the wind brushing her mane... Only to fall down, much to her consternation. "Don't worry," Rainbow taunted. "I'm sure you'll catch up...in 20 years." Human Rainbow crossed her arms-forelegs-and scowled angrily. The two Pinkies baked a large cake that came fresh out of the oven. Human Pinkie was about to pour a whole bag of sugar onto the baked cake. "Why are you doing that?" Pony Pinkie wailed. "Why not?" Human Pinkie said. "Can't argue with that," the pink pony replied. Starlight sat at a table, observing all this and taking notes. "So what can you conclude?" Princess Twilight trotted up to Starlight. The two were in the lab exploring the data. "Well, I've determined that both counterparts have the same magical signature," Starlight said in a professional voice. "And since your signature didn't change when you ascended, I figured we should be able to use a tracking spell once we find a lead." A relieved smile formed on her the Princess' face. "That's good." "And I've found some differences among the human counterparts of your friends that they all shared." "Like?" "They all are much shorter and smaller by several inches," Starlight said. "In Equestria, humans age much less quickly," Princess Twilight said. "While the human version of my friends are the same chronological age as my friends here, in their world, they're considered teenagers." "And they are much weaker, since they haven't had magical abilities all that long," Starlight said. "It is possible, your counterpart might share your magical potential, but still be much weaker than that." Starlight's eyes widened. "Maybe your Twilight was discovered by a mage, like you were discovered." "Maybe the magical guilds should where we should be looking," Princess Twilight said with a smile. Twilight felt some relief. Every new revelation meant they were ever closer to finding the human version of herself, and bringing her back safely. The five Shadowbolts burst out of the portal, weary from the daze, as did the Rainbooms. They were back to their normal selves again. "Man, I hope we can get used to that," Sunny said in a daze. "If Princess Twilight could, I think we can eventually," Rainbow said. Sunny pulled out her phone, and saw... Several texts from Juniper, asking her where she was. "Damnit," Sunny muttered. She quickly pulled out her phone and dialed her number. "Sunny," Juniper asked with some annoyance, "where were you?" "June," Sunny said, "I'm so sorry, I was looking for Twilight in the magic world." She facepalmed. "I was so focused on that, I forgot about our movie." "It's OK," Juniper said with some reluctance. "Maybe we can meet up tomorrow?" "Sorry, I got temple stuff," Sunny said. "But don't worry. We'll see you on Monday." Sunny abruptly hung up the phone. Juniper, sitting in her room, looked at her phone with dismay and bit of hurt. Sunny didn't even let her say goodbye. "See ya," she said miserably.