//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Other dimension or bust // Story: Gotta Dash 'em All // by Rainbow Dash the Awesome //------------------------------// “So, what’s your plan to get me home?” Rainbow Dash inquired from the back seat of Professor Juniper’s car. “I intend to reenact the event in which you originally broke the Dimensional Barrier.” “Dimensional barrier?” Rainbow raised a eyebrow, “What do you mean?” “You see,” Professor Juniper explained, “after you told me how you got here, I did a bit of research about theories of interdimensional travel. One particular theory that caught my attention was the theory of the Dimensional Barrier, a wall between our universe and all of the other universes. Based on your story, when your friend used her spell on you, the speed boost you received was just enough to break through the Dimensional Barrier, but that alone isn’t possible by any means I know.” “What?” Rainbow scratched her head in confusion, “But you just said she made me break the Dimensional Barrier, and now you’re saying she didn’t.” “She did,” Professor Juniper clarified, “but not only by making you fly faster. You told me you had told her you wanted to find a new barrier of speed to break, so if her spell was meant to help you, it must have created a temporary field around you which made you capable of penetrating the Dimensional Barrier without actually reaching the speed that would normally be required to do so.” Rainbow’s eyes widened and she remembered something. “Now that you mention it, when I was in that lab being studied by Team Rocket, they said they found some kind of energy field around me. It must have been what was left of Twilight’s magic.” “That seems like the case,” Professor Juniper replied. “In any case, I’ll explain everything when we get inside.” “Huh?” Rainbow asked. Professor Juniper smiled and asked “You don’t want to stay cramped in this car the whole time I explain do you?” She gave a small laugh at her own joke. Rainbow Dash looked around and realized that the car was pulling up outside the Pokemon Center. She smiled as she saw the Pokemon center, “Just what I need.” “It’s also what your Pokemon need,” Professor Juniper added. She parked by the side of the building and stepped out of the car. Ash, Iris, Cilan, and Rainbow Dash all exited the car and walked (or flew, in Rainbow Dash’s case) up to the door. Ash reached into his pocket and took out the five extra Pokeballs, handing them to Professor Juniper and telling her “That reminds me, since we’ve saved Rainbow Dash I need to send these back to your lab.” Professor Juniper smiled, “That’s true, Ash, but before we send them back I think it would be nice to let them rest up here with your other Pokemon. We’ll send them back to my lab after they’re all better.” “Sounds good,” Ash replied. As the group entered the building, Nurse Joy smiled, “Welcome back. How may I help you this time?” “It’s a long story…” Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head. “I’d rather not get into it. The short version is we had a really big battle and all our Pokemon, and me, participated, so we’re going to need some R and R.” “Oh my,” Nurse Joy covered her mouth with her hand in surprise, “sounds like it must have been an intense battle. Well, we’ll be happy to help you.” “Thanks,” Rainbow Dash smiled. “After today, I could use the rest.” Nurse Joy turned and called into the other room “Audino, we need a pair of stretchers out here.” The door opened and a pair of Audinos rolled out a pair of stretchers. Rainbow Dash, Pikachu, Oshawott, and Axew sat down on one of them, Rainbow Dash petting Oshawott, while the group placed the Pokeballs of their other Pokemon on the second stretcher. “You’ll be all better first thing in the morning,” Nurse Joy assured Rainbow Dash as she and the Audinos rolled the stretchers out of the room. Ash turned to face the rest of the group, “Looks like we’re going to be here another night.” “That’s fine,” Iris replied, “we’re not in a big hurry after all.” “That sounds good to me,” Cilan responded. “Professor, I assume you’re going to return to your cabin for the night.” Professor Juniper nodded, “I need to get some equipment, as well as make a few calls to a pair of my colleagues.” “Colleagues?” Ash asked, “Who?” “It’s a surprise,” Professor Juniper smiled. She turned to leave and gave the group a wave goodbye. “See you tomorrow.” “Bye,” Ash waved, “see you tomorrow.” Early in the morning, the train from Canterlot rolled into the Ponyville station. “Thanks Pinkie,” Applejack smiled and yawned as she and her friends stepped off of the train. “For what, Applejack?” Pinkie blinked innocently. Applejack gave a small smirk and replied, “For not playing your little game of ‘are we there yet?’ this time.” “Oh, that,” Pinkie giggled. “Yeah, I decided to give that joke a break. Don’t want to spoil the joke by doing it all the time right? That’s how jokes die, and if jokes die I’ll need to bury them in the joke cemetery and bring them flowers and have to make more jokes.” “Joke cemetery?” Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Of course,” Pinkie nodded, “jokes are dying to get in.” Applejack’s eye twitched a bit, but before she could respond Twilight spoke up. “Okay girls,” she started, “you all remember what you need to do for the spell?” “Absolutely,” Pinkie saluted, “but first can I go home? I wanna get some bits and a big bag so I can get lots and lots of souvenirs for you guys. After all, when else are we going to be able to get souvenirs from another dimension?” Twilight rolled her eyes, but nodded and replied “Well, Celestia did tell me to bring her a souvenir. I guess it won’t hurt, but when we get there don’t forget that finding Rainbow Dash comes first.” “Okie dokie lokie” Pinkie smiled as she turned and hopped away to Sugarcube Corner. “As for the rest of you,” Twilight started, “I’ll wait for you in the general area where Rainbow Dash disappeared. Applejack, Rarity, you two will need to take the balloon up there.” “What about Pinkie, darling?” Rarity inquired. Twilight shook her head, “Don’t worry about Pinkie, she’ll find some way to get up there. She always does.” “Well alrighty then,” Applejack smiled, “Ah’ve already got what ah need, so ah guess ah’ll go with Rarity back to the boutique so we don’t have’ta worry about waitin’ by the balloon.” “Sounds good to me,” Twilight nodded, “and Fluttershy, you know what you need to get, right?” “Of course, Twilight” Fluttershy nodded. “Then let’s get to work,” Twilight smiled. “If this all goes as planned, we’ll have Rainbow Dash back by the end of the day.” Rainbow Dash woke up with a big yawn. Looking around the room, she realized she was once again in a bed of the Pokemon center, but this time there was one difference from the previous times. This time, Oshawott was lying next to Rainbow, resting his head on her and snoring quietly. Rainbow smiled warmly and petted Oshawott, saying “Good morning little buddy.” “Oshawott,” Oshawott woke up and smiled up at Rainbow Dash. “Well Oshawott,” Rainbow stood up, relieved to see that she wasn’t connected to a machine this time, “today’s the day I’m gonna go home, and you’re going to come with me.” “Oshawott.” Oshawott stood up and hugged Rainbow Dash, who happily hugged back. Rainbow Dash hopped down onto the floor, and Oshawott jumped down onto her back. “Come on, Oshawott,” Rainbow giggled a bit, “let’s get some breakfast.” She proceeded to trot out of the room and down the hallway to the lobby. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” Ash waved happily when he saw Rainbow enter the lobby. “Pika!” Pikachu added, smiling. “Hey guys,” Rainbow Dash trotted up to the group of Ash, Cilan, Iris, and Professor Juniper. “So professor, what were you saying last night about sending me home?” Professor Juniper answered, “You’ll see. First we need to go back to the place where you first reached this universe. My colleagues will meet us there.” “Really?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion, “Well, I was knocked out when I landed, so I don’t know where that was.” “I do,” Ash interrupted. “I ought to remember which way it was, since I had to carry you all the way from there to here.” He laughed a bit “You’re heavier than you look, Rainbow Dash.” “All muscle, Ash,” Rainbow Dash smirked, “all muscle.” Ash laughed a bit, “Yeah, I guess I can believe that after seeing how tough you are. Anyway, let’s head outside so I can show you where exactly we found you.” “Sure,” Rainbow nodded, “lead the way.” The group exited the Pokemon center and entered the forest. They walked for about 45 minutes until they found a clearing in the trees. “This is the spot,” Ash pointed out. “You were lying right here” he pointed to a spot on the ground. Rainbow nodded, “I see. I’m guessing it’s pretty good that I don’t remember it, since that must have been rough.” “Most likely,” Professor Juniper commented. She then turned to Ash and asked him “Is there a field near this spot?” “Yeah,” Ash responded, “we were having a training battle there when Rainbow Dash showed up.” “Great,” Professor Juniper replied, “can you show us?” “Well, sure, it’s right over here.” Ash lead the way through the forest until they reached the field. “Perfect,” Professor Juniper held up a GPS device and pressed a button. “My colleagues should arrive in a few moments.” “Really?” Ash inquired. Before Professor Juniper could respond, they heard the sound of propellers, and a small helicopter appeared over the tops of the trees. Professor Juniper smiled and pointes out “Ah, that’s them now.” The helicopter touched down in front of the group. The door slid open and out stepped a pair of women. One had black clothes and long blonde hair, long enough that it covered one of her eyes; she was holding a large black box in her hand. The other was wearing a long white lab coat and a pair of glasses, and had long purple hair; she had a purple Pokemon that resembled a tapir floating next to you. “Professor Juniper,” the one in the lab coat smiled, “it’s so nice to see you again.” Professor Juniper nodded and responded “It’s nice to see you again too, Dr. Fennel.” The woman in black looked down at Rainbow Dash and spoke up, “So, this must be the Rainbow Dash you told us about.” “She certainly is, Cynthia” Professor Juniper nodded. “Did you bring the things I requested?” “Of course, Professor Juniper,” Fennel pointed to the purple Pokemon, “I brought Musharna with me.” Cynthia held up the black box, “And I brought the item you needed.” “Perfect,” Professor Juniper smiled. “Now, allow me to explain what the plan is.” “Finally,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’ve been dying to find out what the plan is.” Professor Juniper laughed a bit and replied, “Sorry to keep you waiting like that, Rainbow Dash.” She turned to face the rest of the group and continued, “Well, as I stated last night, it seems that when Rainbow Dash’s friend used her spell, it created a temporary aura around Rainbow Dash, which allowed her to break the Dimensional Barrier. The reason for this is because Rainbow Dash wished to be able to break a barrier beyond sound. That’s why I asked you two to come here.” She addressed Fennel, “Your field of study focuses on dreams and ways to make them a reality, so if Rainbow truly wants to return to her dimension, your Musharna’s dream smoke should be able to have the same effect on her as the spell her friend put on her before.” “Shar, Shar,” the purple Pokemon nodded. “And as for you, Cynthia,” Professor juniper pointed to the box Cynthia was holding and continued, “you brought the Lustrous Orb, an item which increases the power of the legendary Pokemon Palkia. Palkia is known as the Pokemon who controls space, so if this orb has the power to increase its power, it might just be able to increase the power of the Dream Smoke, because the purpose of the Dream Smoke in this instance is to transport Rainbow Dash between dimensions.” “I see,” Cynthia set down the box and opened it. Inside the box was what looked like a colossal pink pearl. She picked it up and handed it to Professor Juniper, “Here, feel free to use it for the experiment, but remember that I need to return it to the Celestic Town museum in one piece.” “You have nothing to worry about,” Professor Juniper laughed as she accepted the orb. She turned to Musharna, “Musharna? Could you please come here for a moment?” “Musharna,” Musharna nodded and floated down to the ground in front of Professor Juniper. “Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper looked down at Rainbow, “could you please step over here? Also, I know you don’t like to return Oshawott to its Pokeball, but you might want to for this experiment, just for Oshawott’s own safety.” “Okay, professor,” Rainbow Dash nodded. She leaned forward so Oshawott could hop down off of her back. “Oshawott, return,” she spoke as she held up Oshawott’s Pokeball. After Oshawott was returned to its Pokeball, Rainbow Dash walked up to Professor Juniper. Professor Juniper looked down at Musharna and asked “Musharna, would you please give Rainbow Dash a bit of your Dream Smoke?” “Shaar,” Musharna nodded. It lowered its head toward Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, a plume of purple smoke emerged from a dot on Musharna’s forehead and circled around Rainbow Dash. “Whoa, what’s going on?” Rainbow asked. “It’s alright, Rainbow Dash,” Professor Juniper assured her as she picked up the Lustrous Orb and held it up to the cloud of Dream Smoke. The orb began to glow pink, and the cloud condensed around Rainbow Dash until it was no longer visible. Even though the cloud was gone, Rainbow Dash now had a faint purple aura around herself. “Wow,” Rainbow Dash looked at herself, “this is cool. It’s not permanent is it?” “Of course not,” Professor Juniper smiled, “it should only last about fifteen minutes. Now,” she stood up, “we need to pinpoint the exact spot where you entered out dimension. Based on the location of the crash site and the angle of damage along the treetops, I can assume the trajectory.” She held up a pen, pointed up at the sky, and continued, “The spot where you need to break through in order to return to your universe is right there.” “Got it,” Rainbow Dash saluted. She turned around to face Ash and his friends, smiling. “Bye guys, I’ll miss you. I may not have known you long, but I had a blast while I was here.” “It was our pleasure,” Cilan smiled back at her. “Yeah,” Iris added, “we had a great time hanging out with you.” Ash gave Rainbow Dash a thumbs up and continued, “See ya later Rainbow Dash. I just know we’ll meet again some day.” “I sure hope so,” Rainbow smiled, “but I hope it’ll be easier to get home next time.” She took to the sky and flew straight toward the spot Professor Juniper had told her to. She grinned and shouted, “Next stop, Equestri-AH!” She shouted as a portal appeared in front of her and a very startled purple Alicorn and pink Earth Pony appeared right in front of her. Fluttershy flew in through the window of Rainbow Dash’s house, moving very quietly so that she wouldn’t disturb Tank. When she entered, however, she found Tank both fully awake and staring up at her, a confused look on his face. “Oh, so sorry to disturb you, Tank,” she patted his shell gently, “I just need to grab something so we can find Rainbow Dash.” Tank blinked slowly, and then turned around and walked to his bed. Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile, “Okay, Tank, have a good rest. By the time you get up we’ll be sure to get Rainbow Dash back for you.” She proceeded to hover around the room, trying to find something, anything that could work for the location spell. Suddenly she looked up at the wall and saw something perfect, a poster featuring the Wonderbolts, with the autographs of the entire team in the bottom corner. “Okay, I need to be careful,” she gulped as she flew up and gently grabbed the corner of the poster, “Rainbow Dash will never forgive me if I don’t return this in one piece.” She gingerly lifted the corner of the poster until it reached the nail, then slowly pushed her hoof between the poster and the wall so that the nail would slide out without tearing the poster. She was sweating heavily, as if her very life depended on her ability to keep the poster safe, until she felt the nail pop out of the cloud wall. Shaking, she looked at the corner of the poster, and gave a sigh of relief when she saw that the poster was not ripped. Once the first corner was freed, she carefully freed the others from the wall, set the nails on the nightstand for Rainbow Dash to use to put the poster back up later, rolled up the poster, and flew out the window. Meanwhile, Applejack was sleeping by the door to Carousel Boutique, snoring softly with her hat over her face. Rarity trotted up to her and gently nudged her, “Oh Applejack, it’s time to wake up.” She giggled a bit as Applejack stirred. “Wha?” Applejack yawned and sat up, picking her hat up off the ground and placing it on her head. “Sorry Rarity, you were just takin’ so long I guess ah nodded off.” “Terribly sorry darling,” Rarity gave a small frown, “I just couldn’t decide which kind of gems would be best for helping Twilight.” “She said any gem would do,” Applejack said disapprovingly. “Oh I know darling,” Rarity waved the response off with a hoof, “but I simply couldn’t stand to use just any old gem for something this important.” “Whatever,” Applejack rolled her eyes, “but at least you found it, right?” “Of course, darling,” Rarity nodded happily, “if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have bothered to wake you from your beauty sleep.” She giggled again. “Ha ha ha,” Applejack smirked, “let’s just get goin’ and help Twilight.” She opened the door and held it open for Rarity. “Why thank you darling” Rarity smiled as she exited the boutique. “Whatever,” Applejack closed the door and followed her to the balloon, which was already inflated and ready for takeoff. “Nope, nope, nope,” Pinkie continued to throw items over her shoulder as she searched her supply chest. “Nope,” she threw a whoopee cushion, “that won’t work either,” she threw some fake vomit, “nope,” she threw some real vomit, “aha!” She smiled and picked up a large bag, the same one she had worn when she played Santa Hooves for their last Hearth’s Warming Eve party. “This will be perfect,” she smiled, “I’ll be able to bring souvenirs for everypony.” She hopped across the room and grabbed a bunch of balloons, quickly tying them around her waist. “Onward!” She posed like a superhero preparing for takeoff as the balloons slowly lifted her into the air and out the window. Twilight sat down on a cloud, waiting for her friends to arrive. She anxiously fidgeted with her hooves and muttered to herself “Oh, what if this doesn’t work? What if everypony thinks I let them down, or that I did this on purpose? I was the one who sent Rainbow to another dimension in the first place, so if I don’t get her back they’ll never forgive me.” “Forgive you for what, Twilight?” Fluttershy hovered next to her. “AH!” Twilight jumped back in surprise, but caught herself when she saw it was Fluttershy. “Sorry, Fluttershy, you startled me a bit.” Fluttershy frowned, “Oh dear, I’m sorry Twilight. I didn’t mean it.” “I know you didn’t,” Twilight gave a reassuring smile and nod, “it was an accident. So, did you find something we can use?” Fluttershy nodded and unfurled the Wonderbolts poster, “Will this work?” Twilight nodded, “That should work just fine.” “We’re here!” Rarity called as the balloon she and Applejack were riding in rose up to the level of the cloud. “Sorry we’re late, darling, it took us forever to find which cloud you were on.” “And which gem to use,” Applejack murmured under her breath. “That’s alright, Rarity,” Twilight smiled, “what matters is you’re here now.” “Hi Twilight!” Pinkie cheered as she popped out of the cloud and gave Twilight a big hug. “I’m ready to rescue Rainbow.” “Thanks, Pinkie,” Twilight smiled as she tried to pry Pinkie off of her. “Alright,” Applejack started, “now that we’re here, would ya care to tell us what your plan is?” Twilight finally managed to escape the Pinkie hug before responding, “Certainly.” She turned to Fluttershy and asked “Fluttershy, could you hold that poster up for me?” “Okay Twilight,” Fluttershy unfurled the poster and held it in the air in front of Twilight. “Alright, here goes,” Twilight’s horn began to glow as she focused on the spell. The poster began to glow with the same magenta light as Twilight’s horn, and as it did it began to wave like a flag. “Oh my,” Fluttershy tried to keep her grip on the poster, but it seemed almost as if it was trying to get away from her, “Fluttershy, it’s okay,” Twilight insisted, “you can let go now.” “O-okay,” Fluttershy let go of the poster, which promptly flew away. Everypony turned to watch as the poster flew forward and then up a small distance. It stopped and began slowly rotating in place, hovering in midair. Twilight smiled and took flight. The others followed her as she approached the poster. She placed a hoof on the poster, “This is it. The book said that we can find which dimension Rainbow Dash was sent to by enchanting something very close to her. It said the object we enchant will be drawn to Rainbow’s last exact location in this dimension, which means this is the exact spot we need to focus on. Fluttershy, you can take the poster back now.” “Okay, Twilight,” Fluttershy flew over to the poster and grabbed it. She was pleasantly surprised to find it put up no resistance as she rolled it back up. “Now what, Twilight?” Applejack inquired. “Now,” Twilight responded, “I need the gem Rarity brought.” “Here you go darling,” Rarity smiled as she levitated a gem out of the basket and held it up to Twilight. “I do hope I chose the right type of gem.” “Don’t worry, Rarity, I didn’t need a specific type, so it’s fine.” “Told you so,” Applejack whispered to Rarity. “Applejack,” Twilight spoke up, causing Applejack to abruptly turn to face her. “I need your hat.” “Mah hat?!?” Applejack put a hoof over her hat defensively, “What for?” “So we can get home,” Twilight explained. “You see, when we’re on the other side, we’ll need to open another portal, both because any single portal is only good for one-way trips and because it won’t stay open long enough to find Rainbow Dash. When we do that, I’ll need something from one of you, something very close to you, that I can use to find the spot where I need to open the portal. Your hat would work perfectly.” Applejack looked at her apprehensively, “I dunno, Twilight, are you sure you can’t use somethin’ else?” “Don’t worry, Applejack,” Twilight smiled reassuringly, “I promise no harm will come to it.” “Well, alright Twilight,” Applejack agreed as she took off her hat and hooved it to Twilight. “Thank you very much, Applejack,” Twilight placed the hat on her own head and giggled a bit. She turned to Pinkie, “Pinkie, are you ready to go?” “Absolutely,” Pinkie grinned and floated over to Twilight, somehow controlling the movements of the balloons. She hovered next to Twilight and gave her a pat on the back for good luck, “Let’s do this.” “Alright,” Twilight gulped, “here goes.” She held the gem in front of herself and focused a beam of magic at it. The magic began to refract off of the gem, increasing in intensity until the entire gem was glowing bright magenta. Twilight focused a little bit more magic on it, and a beam of highly concentrated magic shot out of the tip of the gem, extending to the spot where the poster had been. “Come on,” Twilight gritted her teeth a bit, “just a little more.” The air around the gem began to swirl around and glow in a bright light. “Oo, pretty,” Pinkie commented as the portal grew larger. “Almost… almost… got it!” Twilight gave a sigh of relief as the portal stopped growing and began to resonate a purple light. “Alright, Pinkie, let’s go.” She flew into the portal. “Whee!” Pinkie cheered as she floated into the portal. The portal closed, leaving Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity behind. Applejack was the first to speak, turning to Rarity and asking “Should we wait, or do you think they’ll take too long?” “I think it would be best to return to the ground,” Rarity replied, “after all, the wind currents up here are absolutely ruining my mane.” Applejack rolled her eyes, “Okay, Rarity, let’s go.” Twilight and Pinkie flew through the tunnel between dimensions. Pinkie gave many “oos” and “ahs” as she looked around at the pretty lights all around them. “Focus, Pinkie,” Twilight reminded her, “we’re almost to the exit.” Pinkie looked forward and saw a light at the end of the tunnel. “Aw,” she frowned, “you mean the ride’s over?” Twilight smiled, “Well, look on the bright side, you’ll be able to ride it again when we come back with Rainbow Dash.” “Yay!” Pinkie squealed in delight. The duo continued toward the light, and were momentarily blinded by a flash of light. “Alright, I think we’re he-AH!” Twilight yelled as she was struck by a very shocked looking blue Pegasus.