//------------------------------// // Meanwhile // Story: Sorry, But Your Princess is in Another Dimension // by Mr AJ //------------------------------// Celestia tossed and turned. Her bed felt funny. It wasn't as soft and cloud-like as it usually was. *sniff* And why does it smell of pine trees? She cracked open one violet eye and winced. It took a second for her to adjust to the brightness, but what she saw made her gasp. She wasn't in her chambers at all. Where am I? The last thing she remembered was sittting on her throne at the castle when her sister brought Anthony in. Just after they walked in... "DISCORD!" she growled. Looking around she found herself in a heavily wooded area, surrounded by pines. She snorted. Well, that explains he smell. Judging by the duller colors and the rather large clouds, I don't think I'm in Equestria anymore. Might as well have a look around. She grinned and gave her wings a couple of flaps, taking her a few feet off the ground. "Look out world, here comes MYSWEETASS! What in Equestria is that thing?" She yelped, landing on her royal, lily white plot. The "thing" didn't seem to notice her as it went on it's way. As she looked at it, it didn't seem to even be alive. It was a silvery color with a red stripe on the side. Under each wing was a large round...... something that was making a dull roaring noise. She suddenly remembered seeing something similar on a few experimental dirigibles at an airshow in Los Pegasus once. "So, a vehicle of some kind. Maybe they'll be kind enough to tell me where I am." She said out loud. CLICK-CLACK Her ears twitched and swiveled as she turned to face the sound behind her. A figure figure stood before her pointing a long black tubular shaped thing at her with a sort of flattened end resting on the creature's shoulder. Hmm. Bipedal, arms ending in hands without claws, fully clothed with only a small patch of fur on the top of it's head. I know it's a long shot, but, I may as well ask. "Hello. My name is Celestia, princess of Equestria. *ahem* You wouldn't happen to be a friend of Anthony's would you?" She asked with a smile. KA-BLAM! ================================================================================ He had just gotten his new "toy" home. A brand new shotgun, a Remington 870 express model. Taking it out of the box was almost like a holy ceremony. Claudius loved his guns. It was also a little poignant. The last time he'd bought a gun it was with his best friend, Anthony. That was going on close to ten, no twelve years ago now, about a week before he disappeared. After three years, his family had finally given up ever finding him. The next year they held a memorial service, and since there was no body, they took a few of his favorite things and put them in a casket and buried them on the family plot at the local church. The service itself was fairly small, only a few close friends and some of the family. Claudius remembered how he kept looking over his shoulder, expecting the old jack-ass to walk in at any moment. He laughed as he thought of how his friend had joked about coming back to haunt him if anything happened. He finished putting the gun together and sighed. Target practice had been one of Anthony's favorite things to do. He picked up a box of shells and grabbed his gun and headed out to the spot in the woods where they used to shoot. "Anthony, the first shot's for you, hoss." He said as he shut the back door. After about five minutes of walking and tripping over and cursing at the occasional root, he neared his destination. Something was odd. There were no birds chirping, no insects buzzing, no nothing. He rounded a particularly wide oak and almost filled his shorts. A white horse stood before him. No, wait. It had wings! That made it a pags, no a peega, no a pegasus! Yeah! A Pegasus! But those didn't exist. It, or rather she, now that he had a good look at it had a horn too. Not to mention a crown on her head and some weird golden shoe things. Screw it, cryptology was more Anthony's schtick any way. He loaded and cocked his gun in case she attacked him. She turned to face him and that's when the manure hit the rotating air circulating device. She spoke. She introduced herself as Princess Celestia and asked if he knew Anthony? The sheer shock made him drop his gun, causing it to go off. Sadly, the persimmon tree it hit will never be the same. He spun on his heel and got ready to haul ass. Then it hit him. No, not Celestia, the fact that she mentioned his friend. He turned back to her. "You know Anthony? How? He disappeared twelve years ago. How do you know him?" Claudius asked, confused. Now it was the princess's turned to be shocked. The human knew him, but the rest of what he said made no sense. "T-Twelve years!? Anthony was brought to my kingdom by a being of Chaos known as Discord, and he is in fact alive and well but Twelve years? I met him less than a week ago." She said to the still shocked human. She had no idea there was that much of a time difference between the two worlds. The implications were staggering. As much as she was nearly floored by this revelation, she suddenly remembered her sister. She could be anywhere. The princess thought for a minute. "You haven't by chance seen any others like me around have you, Mister uh.." He shook his head. "No. You're the first, and my name is Claudius, though most people call me Andy." He told her extending his hand. She looked at it for a moment before shaking it. She frowned as she got lost in thought. A wave of exhaust swept over her. She shook her head to clear her head. "If I know my student, Twilight Sparkle, she has your friend helping her to try and rectify the situation. Also, I hate to impose, but, is your home nearby? I'm feeling a little drained, I need to rest." She asked the human. He smiled. "Sure, it's back this way, follow me. Oh, and watch out for the roots, they're a pain in the ass." he told her as they walked back the way he came. ============================================================================ The top drawer in the night stand next to the princess of the night's bed buzzed, rattled and shook. The whole thing seemed to almost jump in place. That was all the maid heard when she came in to dust. If she had listened closer, she might have been able to make out some words in all that noise. "DISCORD! WHEN WE GET OUT OF HERE, WE SHALL MAKE THOU LOOK UPON THINE STONE PRISON WITH FONDNESS! THOU WILL PRAY FOR OUR MERCY!" The lilliputian Luna bellowed at near her normal volume. The maid sighed. "I really do wish that she would turn her toys off when she's done with them, leaving them on like that just runs the batteries down." She walked over and tried to open the drawer but found it stuck. "Ugh, and she always gets so upset when she can't use those squiggle pens of hers to write in her diary. Her royal highness will just have to learn the hard way." She said to herself. She quickly finished her job and shut the thick door behind her. After a few minutes something crept out from under the bed. After he was sure nopony else was around , Discord stood up to and stretched, holding an old tome in his paw. He crawled up on the Lunar princess's bed, tapping on the nightstand a couple of times. "Oh, Luna. You were always my favorite to pick on." he said and chuckled to himself as he settled down and opened the old book. "Luna's diary, Chapter one..." he read out loud. "DIIIIIIIIISSCOOOOOOOOORD!"