//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Dimensions // Story: You Wouldn't Believe Me if I Told You // by PinkiePiedPiper //------------------------------// I don’t own MLP: FiM. That belongs to Lauren Faust and Hasbro. You Wouldn’t Believe Me if I Told You Chapter 15: Dimensions “And you let her go by herself?” asked Cadence incredulously. Celestia closed her eyes and pushed her hoof against her forehead in frustrated thought. She was seated on her throne in the Royal Audience Chamber with a distraught Luna at her side. “No, Cadence,” she replied, “we did not ‘let her go by herself.’ She just left; no warning or anything! She simply disappeared. There was nothing Luna or I could have done to stop her.” Luna nodded in agreement. She was sitting in her own throne recently reclaimed from the long-term storage rooms in the castle basement. The restoration was a success, and it felt old and familiar while having that new chair smell. “Well, I for one am going to follow her!” Cadence stated and stomped her hoof emphatically. “That mare is practically family to us here in Canterlot; not to mention the best baker in Equestria, the Element of Laughter, and one of Twily’s best friends!” Celestia shook her head while still smiling at her enthusiasm. “You for one are certainly not going, dear niece! Not in your condition.” She gave a gesture of rubbing an invisible extended stomach. Cadence knew full well her aunt was referring to her being 9 months pregnant (out of 11 by the way). She knew she was right and kicked the ground in brief annoyance. Luna nodded again. “You know full well how important this foal is, not only to you, Ti, Shining, and me, but to all of Equestria. It is a rare thing indeed for an alicorn to become pregnant with any kind of pony, let alone an alicorn foal!” Cadence looked shocked for a moment. Luna clopped her hooves over her mouth as Celestia gave her an inquisitive look. Celestia turned back to Cadence. “So the ultrasound showed an alicorn, did it? Strange that your dear old Aunt Ti was not told of it, oh say… four months ago when you had it done!” Cadence looked at her apologetically, but with a hint of disappointment and annoyance. “Well, I did want it to be a surprise when it’s born, but apparently somepony couldn’t wait for the news.” She shot a glare of full on annoyance at Luna. “How did you find out, anyways?” Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister. “This should be good.” “Well… you see, um…” Luna stuttered sheepishly, blushing slightly and scratching at the back of her neck. “A few months ago, I kind of snuck into Shining and your room, and… performed my own ultrasound. With the machine; jelly, and everything.” Cadence gasped and raised a hoof to her mouth. Celestia raised the other eyebrow and smiled. “Wow! That was good!” she exclaimed. She looked back at Cadence and was immediately serious. “And in light of this new fact, I am assigning a pair of castle guards to remain at your side at all times; minus the obvious private moments, of course.” She raised a hoof to silence her niece, who had opened her mouth to interject her opposition, and continued. “I do not want to hear any arguments on this.” She clopped her hooves together twice to summon two of the guards positioned along the walls of the chamber. “8 hour shifts, one of you starts with a four, then get a replacement. One of you must be with or near her at all times. At. All. Times. Are we clear?” One guard stood at attention on either side of the swollen young alicorn. “Yes, Princess!” they barked in ritual response. Cadence’s displeasure was obvious from her sour countenance. “Is that all, Aunt Ti? Or must I also be restrained and confined to my quarters?” she muttered in a semi-sarcastic tone. She began turning to leave. “No, that shouldn’t be necessary. And no, that is not all.” “What now?” “You are to take Luna’s place at my side while she is gone.” “But I thought Pinkie said-“ Luna interrupted. “Yes, Cadence. She did tell us not to follow her. But as strange as her ways may be, she doesn’t have the authority to command princesses in matters that directly involve the safety and well-being of our little ponies. I will trail her and be there merely to observe, and intervene should the necessity arise.” She stood up and spread her wings. With a glow of her horn, she was gone to the garden to follow their friend through the small dimensional distortion. “She certainly is good at clandestine operations…” Cadence muttered as she gingerly sat down in Luna’s plush throne. * * * * * Dimensional travel is not an instantaneous thing for the unaided individual. Granted, some races have developed technologies to shift between them with relative ease, and some can do so seemingly at will. Those who can do so by mental means know the dangers involved. One must keep their objective in the forefront of their mind with little deviance. This is not an easy task, as every layer one passes through presents the shifter with new colours, lights, scenes, creatures, smells, and a myriad of other distractions. Although they cannot hurt you directly, they can still be a problem. Due to the nearly infinite dimensions and alternate realities, any stray thought could lead you into a similar dimension to the one you wanted, but it will result in a slightly off coordinate. Usually, however, the traveller just dies smeared in the fabric of space-time. This is precisely what Pinkie was trying to avoid as she hurtled through the layers of realities. But she was not heading to Sauron’s realm; not yet anyways. She had to make a stop in an old, familiar universe to pick up the very same contact mentioned earlier to the princesses. She just hoped she would have enough time. * * * * * Steve groggily opened his eyes for the second time that morning. This time he had a vicious headache. He groaned as he sat up on his haunches and gave his head a shake as if to reposition his brain after the hoof blow to his cranium. Mental note: hooves are way harder than hands. Avoid being ‘slapped’ at all costs. Ditzy was already at his side, encouraging him to eat some of the herb and vegetable soup they had managed to piece together for a warm breakfast. He thanked her for it, grateful for the heat and energy the food gave him. It was still pretty cold out, despite the almost noon position of the sun. A far off explosion caught his attention immediately, almost causing him to spill the delicious broth on himself. His eyes darted around for the cause of the disturbance. “There.” Steve turned in the direction of the voice. There he saw Twilight seated behind him, sitting near the fireplace and wrapped from head to hoof in the sheet from earlier. She was pointing past him in the opposite direction. Following her gesture, his eyes landed on the miles high tower of Barad-dur overlooking the valley in the distance. What really surprised him was the activity on the top. Glowing orbs were situated some distance from each other. One large red one was in the middle of the summit between the twin spikes, and the other yellow one was suspended in the air just off to the side, slowly circling. Both orbs would occasionally emit searing bright lasers or other forms of powerful attacks. It was fairly obvious to him what must be going on. The enemy was divided. “I hope they kill each other,” he said contemptuously. “Twi says that might be a bad thing, Steve,” Ditzy said. “And why is that?” he asked and looked back to Twilight. She looked away quickly. “She said that Sauron’s power might be the only thing keeping this dimension together.” “What!” “Yeah, I didn’t really believe it either,” Ditsy took a few steps toward the edge of camp, “until this happened.” She gestured at a large crack in the ground just along the tree line of their clearing. Cautiously approaching the chasm, Steve noticed something really odd and unsettling about this particular canyon. It was not a canyon. It was a tear. Canyons have walls and a floor. Here, the edges of the ground went down about a foot, and then there was just a swirling sea of blacks and dark purples, and occasionally highlighted by brighter dashes and blotches of random other colours. “This is not good. Not good at all,” Steve said in a low voice. After a few moments of thought while peering into the maddening pit, he turned to Twilight again. “Maybe that’s why it’s so cold! Temperature regulation must take up some of his focus, or power, or something. What do you think will happen when he decide he needs the power of upholding this dimension to fight Discord and just pulls the plug on us?” Ditzy shuddered. Twilight did not answer, or look at him for that matter. She did not even speak for a few moments. “Why did you… kiss me this morning?” she said, still looking to the side. “That was a kiss?!” he exclaimed. “That was nothing like kisses back in my dimension. I just thought I accidentally hit your nose!” Steve did not know how to handle this situation. He had never accidentally kissed anyone before, let alone an Equestrian from another universe in another third universe while he himself was also a pastel coloured pony. She did not reply. “In that case, I am truly sorry,” Steve apologised. “I promise it won’t happen again.” An awkward silence ensued. Twilight looked at the ground, Steve at Twilight, and Ditzy at both them and at the forest. Suddenly, Ditsy asked in an alarmed voice, “Where is Bon Bon?” The other two ponies jolted into reality. They both looked around them, but she was nowhere to be seen. Twilight shrugged worriedly, and Ditsy looked at Steve expectantly. “Don’t look at me! I was unconscious!” he defended. “But I do know how to find her.” He held up his wrist with the LSD strapped tightly around it and began to study the green display. The two mares closed in on him to get a look. “Well, here we are,” he began, picking up a small unburned stick to point at the display. Hooves had a tendency to block out most of the screen. “It looks like this dot here to the east is headed straight for us, and that it is coming from the last dot out here.” Ditsy put her hooves to her mouth. “Is Bon Bon being chased?” she asked worriedly. “It doesn’t look like it,” Twilight interjected. “That other dot isn’t even moving. Either way, we have to go see what’s up. Let’s grab our gear and head out!” Ditsy scooped up her grenades and bolted into the bushes. “Ditsy! Other way!” Steve called. “Oops! My bad!” she replied, bursting back out of the bush and galloped to the far side of the clearing. Steve chuckled lightly as he began to follow, but was stopped when Twilight tapped his side. He turned to look back at her. She had removed the sheet and held it balled up in one hoof, outstretched to him. “Umm…thanks for last night… for the blanket, I mean,” she stammered out, blushing mildly. “Oh, uh… no problem,” he replied, opening his pack and inserting the thin fabric. After a short silent pause and an awkward cough, she reared up and charged after the gray pegasus into the bushes. Steve gave a sigh and followed closely behind. Remembering, he called out one of the strangest things he had ever said. “Watch out for holes in reality!”