//------------------------------// // 217. Need a Portal Practitioner. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Pinkie Pie- “Duck and Cover!” I shouted as everyone avoided a really fast puppy dropping from the sky and created a huge pillar of dirt exploding upwards. Everyone was okay, but when I went to go check on the puppy… “RRR?” The puppy was completely fine as it crawled out of the hole it made in the street and began looking around, it then looked up at Canterlot. “Are you lost little guy?” I asked and the puppy nodded to me and pointed back towards Canterlot with a paw. “Ah, that would be one of the members of Pom’s ‘Puppy Patrol’ as Jade puts it, they are really tough little dogs aren’t they?” Fluttershy walked up to the puppy and started to talk to it. “Oh really Puff? A training accident, are you okay?” The dog started twirling its tail and took to the air barking happily, quite a few ponies were staring at him as if they had never seen a Canis Minor before. “I’ll go tell the Ponyville emergency construction company that we have another hole in town.” I bounced off giggling to myself that a puppy could cause so much damage and that nothing bad happened. It would later be found out that the puppies were trying to help the royal guard fight a small hydra infestation as a training exercise, the Puppy Patrol completed the exercise successfully without problem despite being down a member that got sent flying. Only two other guard teams narrowly managed to do the same with the other two smaller hydra. The rest of the infestation was peacefully dealt with easily enough with Tianhuo’s support… and fire… lots of fire. -Earth, San Fransokyo, Ocellus- “Is that Caper Canine?” Whispered the duck girl looking between us with a curious look. “My name is Penny Forrester and there’s something I need to ask about.” “Yes, but we’re kind of in the middle of something, can you bother us about this later and not tell anyone that you know it’s her?” I asked pleadingly. “It would go a long way to not attracting trouble.” Dolly seemed to know the other dog and they were apparently chatting with one another. “So you’re just walking Leap Lamb’s dog? She doesn’t look comfortable on that leash.” Oh no, one of those types, the type with nosey curiosity. Kind of like Gosalyn Mallard really. At least she wasn’t talking loudly, but she was following us and nobody else was close enough to hear us, at least I didn’t feel anyone else nearby on my emotional spectrum radar. “She isn’t, but she’s here for a reason as much as we are.” I noted that Dolly grunted while nodding at me and tugged slightly at the leash with a paw, we weren’t exactly in tune with one another as we moved along. I was trying to make sure that the leash didn’t bother her. “Don’t you have anything better to do today Penny?” “Not really.” She said with a smile, unfortunately for her I was a walking emotions reader. Penny was like a cat just got its jaws around a canary’s neck. One trying to figure out whether they should snap down to eat or let the canary go for more fun. We certainly didn’t ignore nature on Equus with how dangerous the flora and fauna got sometimes, especially when it was magical fauna or flora. Flor like those cursed trees that cause Swamp Fever and turn you into more trees like them. Thankfully the cure was quite simple enough to acquire, flash bee honey. “I have a feeling that things are going to go downhill quite fast Gogo.” I noted that Gogo was feeling distinctly paranoid, I was right there with her. “It’s probably safer if you didn’t do what I think you are about to.” “Oh, what am I about to do?” The question was answered by Dolly who barked something, rolled her eyes and held out a paw to Bolt. “I’d say you and Bolt are about to get into trouble just following us into some kind of unknown danger… but I don’t feel anything threatening nearby at least.” However machines that lacked emotions did exist and we could be attacked by something like that at any moment. At least I would know when someone had ill intent towards me otherwise. “Yeah, not the best of ideas when you don’t know the area kid. Also you can’t exactly tell spunky girls not to do something Ocellus, they’ll just want to do it more.” Gogo replied. “I would know, it’s why I’m where I am today when it comes to technology.” “Technology?” Penny asked with a questioning gaze. “I go to SFIT, San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.” Gogo was glancing about, but she seemed to ease up once she realized nobody was paying attention to us. The chances of anyone thinking Caper Canine would wear a leash were pretty low, except for running into the one person that had a dog that knew Dolly apparently. The chances of that happening were even lower, so whatever luck Pom has with running into danger… I can sorely hope that it hadn’t rubbed off on me. Unless that was going to kill Pom, then I wish I had all of her bad luck right now. Dolly was telling Bolt something, I could read their emotions were at ease. At first Bolt felt more suspicious and curious, now he was just chatting away with Dolly in a low key manner as we walked along through the city. “Interesting, so what are the both of you doing?” Penny asked curiously. “Should I just be up front about this?” I asked, because she seemed intent on getting in on what we were doing. “Have you ever been in a life or death situation kid?” Gogo asked flippantly. “Several, whether real or on a movie set. You… you don’t know who I am do you? Huh, so much for my short lived fame, but I’m glad to just be another girl in peoples eyes.” Yet Penny still seemed put off by the fact. “Bolt here still gets more recognition than I do.” Bolt barked up to Penny with a smile and a wagging tail, lots of love there between the two. “Child actor?” Gogo guessed. “Yes, but I’m not anymore.” Penny returned and things were silent as we all moved down the street at the same pace. “These days I’m living far away Hollywood and I’d rather things stay that way. Also I’ve been seeing some really interesting things that are eye openers, I’m just here in San Fransokyo for several days. Heard this city was exciting, yet it seems so… peaceful.” “You haven’t been in this city long enough then.” Gogo said flatly. “Sure, go ahead Ocellus, tell her everything she could possibly want to know.” Ignoring the sarcasm. “Well to start off with, I’m a shape shifting alien from another dimension, Go-Go here is Wheel Cat of Big Hero 6, Dolly is Caper Canine as you already well know.” There was no doubt in Penny’s emotions, she believed me one hundred percent. “We’re going to talk to two scientists that might be able to help me and my friends get home before Leap Lamb kills herself through stress, if she just doesn’t die from her current self-inflicted injuries on top of some that weren’t. She’s not too healthy at the moment after what happened in Saint Canard and we don’t want people finding her as she’s in no condition to survive being attacked, much less detached from what life support she’s on.” Dolly nodded and looked off in the direction of where Pom likely was, she probably just tugged at her familiar bond with a look of longing. “Can I get an autograph?” Stated Penny turning to Gogo. “Maybe later, why are you still bothering us?” Good question Gogo, why was Penny bothering us? “Because I want to know if Leap Lamb can give powers to animals or maybe you know someone that can figure out how Bolt can do what he does now.” Wait… what? Both Dolly and I looked to Bolt who opened his mouth and his tongue charged with energy slightly before closing it. “Oh… that’s… rather curious actually. Bolt has magic that feels like a unicorn, probably spent too much time traveling with Pom.” Noticing the look on the girls face, I added. “The magic of Equus might actually be infectious like Pom feared, but at least it’s not harmful. Though we really should be more worried about the magic of friendship getting around like this… I feel like things are going to be okay even when I should be panicking about adding our foreign magic to this world.” “Unicorns are real?!” Penny said in excitement. “Wait… magic of friendship? Our world’s magic?” “Maybe, but not on this world as I haven’t talked to one yet. I heard about ‘sword horses’ being a more violent parody of actual unicorns, so I would be careful when it comes to approaching a unicorn if you ever meet one.” I then added as an afterthought. “Yes, your world has magic, but it is seldom seen in comparison to high end technology and odd mutations. True friendship is its own form of magic where I come from.” “I really should get Rhino genetically tested again…” Penny muttered with her arms crossed and looking to the ground at Bolt who nodded back at her. “You actually believe her?” Gogo asked with a bit of apprehension while pointing to me. “Bolt and Dolly both know the truth.” The two dogs nodded to Penny as she addressed them. “Besides Bolt is more intelligent than many would give him credit for, he’s learned to read, write and type.” “I’m sure Dolly had those skills before we met her, her family is all dogs and they live in a house in Britain without any animalistic or biped oversight.” I commented dryly as Dolly nodded in acknowledgement. “Her family has thus far been smart enough to get away with it despite being purely animals, but intelligent enough to actively hide their families secret.” “Yeah, I guess the world is weird like that, if you follow the stories of Scrooge McDuck that sound too much like tall tales to be true.” There’s the feeling that Penny was going to be our friend for the foreseeable future. “Bolt got to New York and back to me from across the continent, he probably could have done that without help.” “Guys we’re here, also I just want to warn you… Dr. Wower is a bit… peppy. Abigail Callaghan is more towards the mellow and logical, but don’t get me wrong, they are both geniuses and we’ve come to Wower with a few problems before that she’s been able to solve pretty well. She’s almost an auxiliary member of Big Hero Six like Bunny Shuttle.” Drawing our attention, Gogo moved towards the housing and I looked up and down the street, things almost felt too quiet. “Just don’t say anything about Abigail’s father, she’s touchy about the subject that he stole one of my friend’s inventions and went crazy like a super villain with it. If the words ‘Krei Tech’ comes up, then expect trouble from any angle including the ceiling or the floor.” Lots of bland emotions floating around, no high end distress that should be notable of incoming danger thought. I decided to relax a little as we approached and Gogo knocked on the door. A few seconds later we were introduced to Dr. Wower, her loud choice of clothing was matched by her friendly smile and green died hair and ears. She appeared to be a beagle species of dog biped, behind her was the fox animalistic Abigail Callaghan, thick brown fur and an interesting pleasant smell of a summer field. “Oh, it’s one of my teaching assistants, a Woweroo and old companion of mine, a buddy, a pal, a friend, me compadre, the incredibly named Chelsea Cheery who has a decent singing voice!” Dr. Wower, I think you’re just making Gogo grumpy, learn to read her mood. Wower apparently took a moment to look at Gogo’s face and then, thankfully enough to Gogo’s mood, eased back on the perkiness. “What do you need Go-Go?” “It’s more about the fact that I need Dr. Callaghan’s help, but you can help too. I hope you’re ready to sit down and listen, because we’re about to drop some pretty weird stuff on you.” Gogo gestured to me and I quickly got the leash off Dolly, she happily gamboled about to finally be free of the leash. Her emotions were quite pure, being relatively free of negativity unless thinking about Pom’s health. “I mean a lot weirder than the usual stuff that happens around here.” “Ooh, nice dog, a Dalmatian, looks very healthy and there’s something off about how she’s… what the?!” Dolly had been so excited that she started bouncing off the walls of the entryway much to Wendy and Abigail’s surprise as she made it above there heads and she even ran around on the ceiling for a bit. Dolly must have been going stir crazy from being stuck on a leash. Dolly then stopped and started to float back down to the ground looking sheepishly at us realizing that she probably just gave herself away. “That’s… not scientifically possible, unless she’s really advance piece of technology that…” “Yeah, no, it’s not science Wendy… its flat out magic.” Gogo muttered while glaring at Dolly. “You might as well come with Penny, but you get to choose whether you want to get stuck in the rabbit hole or not after hearing about all of it.” “Yeah, I just found out Bolt has magic too apparently.” Added Penny towards Dr. Wower and Ms. Callaghan as she looked to Bolt watching Dolly float down to land on her paws. We all entered the place and started to settle in a bit “Anyone want some tea or water?” Apparently Wendy Wower got over her shock quickly, Abigail wasn’t doing so as fast and was still a bit amazed by Dolly. Gogo was mildly shocked too. “That’s new.” Gogo muttered. Dolly waved a paw to Wower and pointed to herself. Despite her injuries Dolly was still quite capable of incredible acrobatics. Seeing her in action, I wonder what their reactions to me would be when I eventually showed them my real self. We all sat down in the living room, I was concerned that Dolly had far more energy than she should have what with her injuries. “She’s seems rather excitable.” Dr. Wower said as Dolly lapped up some water and smiled at her. “Yeah, Dolly is said to be the most athletic and active dog in her family, of ninety eight brothers and sister half adopted, a quarter step siblings and last bit actual family. I visited their home and they are a really friendly bunch of dogs. Anyway can we get to why we’re here before the wall explodes and a supervillain miraculously comes rushing in to kidnap someone?” I received an odd stare from both Wendy and Abigail, but Gogo was on high alert. “I might want to put on my gear just in case that happens.” Taking my paranoia as seriously as her own, Gogo bowed out of the room quickly. “Also you’re going to have to tell me what Caper Canine is capable of now, because jumping up walls and running on the ceiling definitely wasn’t something she could do before when she was in San Fransokyo last. Be back in a second.” “Anyway the reason we needed to talk to you Abigail is because you might be able to help my friends and I get home, considering you have the know how to create a dimensional portal device.” That’s why we were here, and I’m being completely upfront about it. “Though from what I’ve heard you need to work on the dimensional instability problem that opening such portals causes.” “Why me exactly? Where do you come from exactly, you look like a normal biped cat so…” Abigail stopped her ears went straight up when in a burst of flames I transformed into my true form. “My name is Ocellus, nice to meet you, I’m from the planet Equus in a different dimension from this one, I happen to be the only shapeshifter in my group and I’m the current leader of it considering Leap Lamb is out of commission.” I do not relish the position or the stress that being a leader puts on me, I honestly don’t know how Thorax does it. “So… aliens exist too.” Abigail said while internally panicking, I should probably not mention that I can read her emotions that would just make it worse. “We’re not space aliens, though I’ve seen a few Moonlanders here or there, but they seemed to have somehow integrated themselves into this planets society without as much as a hint of trouble over it.” I thought I heard Abigail muttering something about the worldwide invasion from the moon hoax not being a hoax and she was exhibiting something close to emotional shock. “We got here through a portal from a planet called Elhorn and three magical possum princesses which was in the previous dimension we were in, weird doesn’t even begin to define the stuff we’ve been going through since our journey to get back home started several dimension ago.” “Huh… now if only frequent flyer miles worked for dimensional travel, you’d probably get one free ticket back to start.” As for Wendy Wower, she wasn’t panicking at all and taking this all completely in stride. “That’s kind of the point of why we’re here, we want to get back to start so we can stop traveling around randomly and we need Abigail’s help as the other two beings who created methods of interdimensional travel that we know of are possibly criminally insane.” I didn’t even have to say it, because Abigail froze and then started to cry a bit. “One of said criminally insane people caused a lot of dimensional instability that made someone from this dimension get lost in another one and they left behind an orphaned granddaughter to fend for herself.” “Name?” Stated Abigail immediately. “Taurus Bulba, who I think escaped the Saint Canard incident with Steel Beak as part of the Fiendish Organization of World Larceny AKA FOWL. He caused even worst instability by breaking the dimensional barrier numerous times on frivolous things, which was more damage than the other guy did when he forcefully ripped a hole in this reality.” I was trying not to say it, but… it wouldn’t be hard to pick up the other person who caused dimensional instability with a portal incident. “My father, the villain ‘Yokai’ and the Krei Tech Portal incident. It was supposed to be teleportation technology… not interdimensional travel. Unfortunately I ended up getting stuck in another dimension frozen in stasis, my father is far older than I am and I didn’t age a day until I came back out.” The fox animalistic quietly curled her tail around herself. “I’ve been trying to get myself back in the saddle, so to speak, but I really haven’t been able to do much of anything science related after all the trouble the teleportation technology caused.” “Yeah, being mentally traumatized is not fun. At least you have a good friend in Ms. Wower.” When in doubt, fall back on friendship and hope it sees you through the day. I could only hope pointing that out helped her somewhat, because her emotions were a mess at the moment. “Yeah, I’ve been paying rent with a small job, at least Wendy has been looking out for me.” All the emotions Abigail was feeling sort all funneled into intense sadness. It was far better than dealing with intense hatred or malice. “I haven’t exactly been in a mood for science, I really don’t want to create any more portals after that incident.” “That’s okay, we can’t force you to do anything… none of us from Equus are in any sense of good health to at least try to convince you to help us.” Well the mood was dropped down to the pits, but at least there was only pain, no aggression whatsoever. “I’ve heard rumors of a few other mad scientists that have created dimensional portals, but it usually tends to end in problems since the devices were usually aimed towards trying to commit crimes. You were our best shot at getting home.” “Speaking of home… you said you visited Caper Canines home?” Started Wendy looking at Dolly. “Yeah, Dolly is a Dalmatian native to this world, she’s a regular dog… well as regular as a dog that has uncorked magical potential can be anyway. Among the abilities she’s displayed so far, she can control the momentum of anything she’s in contact with and on top of her own, she can create powerful blasts of swirling winds and might be able to generate a tornado. There’s also something she calls ‘flow motion’ which apparently allows her to move efficiently in any environment and might have some other effects.” Thinking about it, I considered how Pom’s wool didn’t start burning until Dolly lost consciousness from exhaustion and at that point Pom exploded herself with a near perfect replication or rendition of a longma based attack according to Smolder. “Okay, Dolly being able to run on the ceiling makes sense now.” Wower said while clapping her hands together. “Really, how does something like that make sense?!” Well Abigail, when you came from a world where magic was a constant, it doesn’t bother me that magic is explainable a given degree. “Well when she can control momentum it stands to reason she can center her momentum towards the nearest surface as long as she’s moving and I also surmise she can’t fly because she can’t perfectly counteract gravity. That means she’s still following physics because of weight and mass, with enough forward momentum it’s like slinging a bucket full of water around fast enough or driving a car along a wall. I could probably create a belt that would allow me to do something similar…” Huh, that would be interest Dr. Wower, magic being replicated through technology wasn’t impossible. It just wasn’t possible on Equus, here technology is already magical enough to me. “I’d rather stick to teaching than invent cool stuff though. Maybe a rocket belt though so I can fly to work...” “Hey bolt can you recharge my phone real quick, I want to call mom.” Penny held out the device and bolt took it in his mouth, after a second he lifted his head back up and she took. “Thanks.” “Did you just use your dog to recharge your cell phone?” Asked Abigail, as her sanity seemed to be slipping somewhat from one too many revelations. “Well he has the ability to do so. I feed him, care for him and basically raised him, I don’t see why he can’t do me a small favor every now then.” Bolt barked in agreement as Penny used her device. “Anyway… so you won’t help us with a dimensional portal Ms. Callaghan?” My answer was Abigail looking away. “She might not help you, but I will still try!” At least Dr. Wower was on board with assisting us. “Always wanted to see other worlds, dimensional technology would be far faster than our slow space traveling industry. I think the most space capable travel we even have is from McDuck’s space program.” “So we didn’t come here for nothing… we might want to get both of you out of here and somewhere safer.” When I was about to be asked why, I stopped them since I felt decidedly aggressive emotions incoming. “We need to leave, now!” “Out the back door.” Commanded Gogo as she appeared suited up.