//------------------------------//
// Chapter 17 - Astronomy 
// Story: Iron Eyes 
// by Dramaro 
//------------------------------//

Being escorted through the castle after what happened was a bit uneasy to me. Whomever it was, they could still be roaming around. Still, having two night guards escorting me was somewhat comforting. The castle had more strict patrols with the guards employing leg crossbows since our killer had a crossbow of their own.

We walked to one of the towers, the same room that Shining and I went to when we wanted to talk with Squeaky Clean. Standing there was Princess Luna and Shining's little sister, Twilight Sparkle. Luna had a worried look and her face and she was trotting in place, a bit uneasy about whatever she wanted to talk to me about. Twilight, on the other hand, looked rather tired with visible bags under her eyes. She was unable to stand straight and I was worried that at any moment, she'd collapse from fatigue. A small pile sat nearby on a desk. The escorts left us and Luna began to speak.

"It's nice to see you, Roya," said Luna.

"Likewise. Is there something you need?" I asked.

Luna nodded and turned to Twilight before poking her shoulder to get her attention. "Twilight, can you explain what is happening?"

"..."

"Twilight!"

"Oh, sorry," said Twilight once she fell out of her dazed state. "Mrs. Roya. Can you look up for a moment?"

I was confused but I decided to do it anyways. Looking up, I could see the whole expansive night sky, without any hindrance like light pollution or anything. "I don't see anything unusual."

"Look more carefully. Do you see the Pegasus Constellation?" asked Luna.

Noticing the familiar stars, I nodded. "For us, it was named after a winged horse from Greek Mythology. Child of Medusa  and Poseidon. god of the sea."

"For us, it was named after Sir Pegasus, a famous warrior back before the unification of Equestria. He founded the Pegasi Republic back when they were small warrior clans.  He is also where the name of the race came from."

"So, is there something unique about this constellation?"

Luna shook her head. "No. Twilight and I believe it is the same as your version, except for one thing... Its location. Look at the other constellations. Many of them are strange to me. You see that really bright star?"

"Yes. The North Star, the one we humans have used to navigate for thousands of years."

"It shouldn't be there."

"What do you mean?" I looked at Luna with my brow raised, confused at what she meant. From what I had gathered, Equestria had large similarities to my world with only a few differences but I never thought about the alignment of stars as one of them.

"We have two polar stars, always moving in circles around each other. We call them the Stars of Harmony. Now they're gone, replaced by your single North Star."

I looked more carefully at the constellation and was curious to name multiple constellations. "Orion the Hunter, Taurus. I see the constellations of my world all here." Suddenly, the night sky flickered and within an instant, the position of the stars changed before returning to normal, or rather the normal of my sky."W-What happened?"

Twilight was the one to speak. "I think... our worlds are shifting."

"Shifting?"

She nodded. "I think maybe this might help. You said you're from Mars, right?"

"Well... I live on Mars, yes. We humans terraformed it so it's like Earth now."

"Look at this." Twilight quickly levitated a book into my hands. Inside was a picture of Mars, one taken through a decent optical telescope. In the picture, it was mostly an orange dot with a white spot on the bottom, no doubt the southern pole. There were small hues, the plateaus and whatnot of Mars. "This is Mars of our world."

"Barren and inhospitable. Same as ours a century ago."

"Now look through this telescope. I've added a few enchantments to help the image."

Nodding to Twilight, I walked over to the telescope on the balcony and looked through it. Sure enough, there was Mars, but as a blue marble I knew it of. It was translucent, which was abnormal to say the least."

"Oceans shouldn't be there, Roya."

"Not unless your hypothesis is right. The Mars I live on now has oceans. If we can see my world, shouldn't they be able to see us?" I asked.

Twilight shook her head. "Not really. They don't physically exist in our universe... Rather, you're seeing a dimensional shift of them. Luna and I noticed that, every so often, the sky would flicker, shifting to your universe and back."

"Wait, if our dimensions shift, why don't cities on Earth appear here in Equestria?"

"Because we're not exactly where your Earth is. Where should Mars be at this time of the year?"

The question was a good one and it made me think for a moment. I didn't really know so I quickly took out my phone, which had a simple astronomy app that my eldest daughter insisted I get. Using data from before I was sent to Equestria, the app told me Mars should be.... opposite?

"What does it say?" asked Luna.

"Mars should be... on the other side in accordance to the sun... That means, this version of Earth sits opposite of my Earth, behind the sun."

Twilight nodded. "That's why when dimensional shifts occur, we are not locally affected. There's nothing in your universe to shift on our planet. Only a few times local shifts occur... and when they do..."

"... they get transported, like myself."

Luna nodded with my realization. "We believe the first serious dimensional shift is what brought you here. Still, we don't know the mechanics behind why this is occurring. That garage building was the second serious dimensional shift."

"So, if that's the case, what should we do?"

Luna spoke up. "We can't do anything for now, but this shouldn't be happening for no reason naturally. These... Sling Drives you once mentioned to my sister, what do they do?"

I sighed, trying to muster as much little knowledge I had on that subject. "You're asking someone who knows little about them... but I do know that they distort space using massive amounts of energy. They stretch the space behind a ship and shorten the space in front of a ship, creating a "bubble" of some sort before "slinging" it to the destination point."

"That shouldn't be powerful enough to do all this... unless somehow, one was... maybe overcharged?"

"Overcharged? Possible but no one knows what that would do. The city of Dubai, where I was before being brought here, did have a sling drive testing facility but... The garage from France shouldn't have been affected. If we were to put this Earth in the same system as my Earth, they'd be two AU away from each other since one AU is equal to the mean distance of Earth to the sun."

"Strange... Is there a way we can detect the effects of a sling drive?" asked Luna.

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"Well, this also means we can't directly send you back. The dimensional shifting is a completely new variable that the multi-dimensional spell wasn't made for."

I nodded. It was sad to hear that my time in Equestria was extended but it was something that nobody had control over. "I understand." I pray that my family is okay... My eldest daughter must be really worried.

"For now, I suggest focusing on the murder of Edgewind. Twilight and the others will try to deal with this variable... but I also worry what will happen if this continues."

"Does Celestia know about this?" I asked.

Luna nodded. "She has already given orders to the State Militia to report any more occurrences of humans or any portions of your world coming to Equestria."

"That's good to hear. I'll be returning to my room before rejoining with Shining Armor and the investigation."

"That sounds best. Thank you for talking with us, Roya. Also... maybe you should visit the nurse about the cut on your cheek."

I poked my cheek for a moment, only to find out the hard way how it was. Receiving a sharp spike of pain told me to know better and let it heal by itself. Surely the infirmary had some ointments and whatnot to heal it. At least it wouldn't leave a scar... I hope.

I looked up at Twilight and noticed that she had become increasingly tired. Suddenly, she simply feel asleep, standing up like horses back in my universe.

"Twilight... wake up!" prodded Luna.

"Wha...oh... Did I fall asleep again?" Twilight said with a weak voice.

I nodded. "How many times did this happen?"

"I-I guess maybe four times today."

"Anything besides fatigue?"

"Well... my hind legs have been sore since I woke up."

"I guess you've been up too long reading, perhaps? Best to get some sleep."

Luna quickly commented as well. "I believe Roya is right. Let me show you back to your room, Twilight"

The two left and I quickly returned to my room and began writing down all of what occurred today. After finding some yarn and pins, I got a maid to bring me some cardboard and I hastily built a pin board for me to use. It took a few minutes for me to set everything up, but I had an outline of what had transpired.

"During the Gala, Sir Edgwind of Griffony was found murdered by a stab wound into the heart, nearly instant death. Upon being stabbed, he fell out of an open window and landed into the entrees of the Gala...  Right away, I found the murderer, but no identification was possible. The murderer was cloaked but well armed with a crossbow, sword, and a dagger or maybe the dagger and sword were one weapon. They got away, and had scratched me..."

I told myself the events over and over but nothing seemed the same. "Edgewind had a meeting planned with me after the gala, but... wait, why were there no guards posted outside his door? Every official would have some security detail."

Realizing this, I quickly wrote them down and began walking to the command center. Maybe Shining could help me.