//------------------------------// // Magical Kindness // Story: Dimension Jumper // by redtau //------------------------------// Twilight ran alongside Fluttershy through the forest. Their ideal path was a straight line from the edge of the forest to the Castle of the Pony Sisters, but such a path was undoubtedly littered with obstacles. She had been prepared to dodge monsters, and maybe ford a river or two, and she was prepared for the gorge ahead. What she hadn't been properly prepared for was the sheer number of detours. Every hundred yards or so they would encounter a cave or an impassable thorn bush, and have to detour left or right just to move forward. More than once Twilight had wished for night just to double check her directions by the stars. She had to resort to coaxing Fluttershy above the canopy to spot the ravine ahead. "Ugh, I thought there were supposed to be trails the animals used to get around in here. We are going to be late." The longer path was giving Twilight more time to think. She realized, of course, that the "theft" of her library books was ridiculous. So it had taken books from the library, you were supposed to take books from the library. That was what libraries were for! There was just something wrong about its behavior. Something that made her see the creature as a threat. "AAAARGH, where are you going?" Sarah glared as Twilight as she rounded yet another road block and kept heading straight for the castle. "What the fuck? What the actual fuck? You can't jump that ravine, and you HAVE to know it's there." "Why art thou concerned about the ravine?" Luna inquired. "There is a nest of hydras at the bottom." Sarah said, "If they fall, even I may not be able to save them." Sarah turned and considered the circle, and the image projected above it. Luna looked on, telekeneticly refilling her tea cup again. Twilight stood at the edge of the ravine and looked across to the other side. She swallowed nervously, judging the distance. Fluttershy had already flown across, and Twilight was still trying to gather her courage. She really would have liked to have the yellow pegasus drag a cord or rope across so she could get an exact measurement. "Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained." She concentrated, watching the light from her horn turn the surrounding area purple. With a final push, she folded space and popped out on the far side of the ravine, right next to Fluttershy. "eeep!" "There, see? Nothing to-" The ground beneath Twilight cracked, and the section she was on slid out into the ravine, carrying the unicorn with it. "AHHH!" Her decent stopped as she fell into a soft tangle of vines. Her back legs and horn were temporarily entangled, and she worked to free them. As she wiggled, she rolled over and looked down through the gaps in the tangle of vines. Twilight's brain took a moment to realize what she was seeing, and froze. There, not more than a dozen yards down, were hydras. Not two or three, but dozens. Twilight realized that she was half caught and half hanging from the vines, and if she wiggled too much she might alert the monsters to her location or worse, fall into their midst. "Twilight!" The purple unicorn rolled over slowly, thankful for her friends soft voice since it wouldn't alert the hydras below. She felt the pegasus helpfully tug a stuck leg free. "Thank's Fluttershy," she said, finishing the roll, "Give me a moment and then...we....can....." Her voice trailed off as she stared up in horror. It wasn't a random bunch of vines she had fallen into but a web. Above her was a massive spider of wood and vine, vicious looking sap dripping from its mandibles. Twilight started to try and back away, and started to slip through the web. The spider reached out and grasped at her, wrapping her leg in vines. Above them, Fluttershy was dodging two more massive spiders who were walking towards her up the wall, waving their long arms and hissing wickedly. The butter colored pegasus was forced to retreat back up the cliff side. "Oh, I know you are hungry, and she looks like a good meal, but she is a dear friend. Please put her down. Pretty please?" The spider had wrapped the purple unicorn in sticky vines and was dragging her back up the side of the ravine. It's going to EAT ME!, she thought. Her horn flared a soft purple, and she began to slowly loosen her bonds. She could feel smaller spiders crawling over her back and legs. "Twilight, the spiders won't listen to me!" As the spider reached the top, the power pulsed out of Twilight and she charged from the torn bundle of vines straight into the forest. Fluttershy joined her panicked fleeing a moment later, the both of them zigzagging through the woods to lose the pursuing spider. Huffing and gasping, Twilight trotted slowly next to Fluttershy as they reached the small stream. The purple sorceress plunged her head into the cool water, gulping mouthfuls. When her lungs began to burn for air she threw her head back, showering her mane and coat in a spray of cooling water. Fluttershy was laying next to her, carefully drinking. "Ah, that was refreshing." Twilight said. "Yes, I needed that." Fluttershy agreed. "Me too." said another female soft voice. Twilight started and turned around. There behind her was, to all appearances, a deer made out of wood, vine and leaf. The creature had just raised its head from the stream, the water plastering its leafy mane to its face. "Whew," it said, "It's hard going this way. I hope the castle is close." "Your headed to the castle too?" Twilight asked, marveling at the thing as it moved about, washing its hardwood hooves in the stream. "Yeah, I heard there is a creature there that can protect us from plant eaters." The fauna wiped the wet leaves from its eyes. "I just hope I don't...run..into ....any....." The deer's eyes went wide with fear. "Um," Fluttershy said. "PONIES!!!" the fauna screamed and ran off into the woods. "Well, that could have gone better." Twilight said. A crash behind her alerted her to the spiders return, and she and Fluttershy were fleeing once again. Luna sat in wide eyed awe of Sarah. She had felt the power that surged from the creature, saw it break other spells to feed their power into crafting the spiders and web. The black armor was once again little more than rusted metal plates tied together with rough rope. Sarah's manic smile and clean glamor were gone, she was now dusty, dirty, and gasping from the effort the spells had taken. "Ah, thguac uoy." Sarah said confidently. It took Luna a moment to realize that even the translation magic had been sacrificed, all to save Twilight Sparkle. Why? The princess knew the elements were important, but she could have just cleared the way and invited them in. Why do all of this? But now was not the time to interrupt. The armor began to darken and stretch, returning to its vicious black look, and the manic grin was back. "I'm going to make you pay for that little workout librarian." Sarah said to Twilight's fleeing image in the circle. "Let's have you run for a little bit." Luna smirked a little and sipped the tea once more. Twilight was beginning to get tired. Not of the running, though that was exhausting in its own right. She was getting tired of running into the same topiary deer. Every time she and Fluttershy managed to escape the giant wooden spider, either through flight, teleportation, or sheer desperation, they would run into the deer again. And it would scream "PONIES!" at the top of its lungs and take off. And then the spider would be after them again. She and Fluttershy were grabbing a short break, gulping air and picking twigs and leaves from their fur. "Why is it chasing us like this?" Fluttershy asked. Her shoulders were slumped from exhaustion. As much as Twilight was a bookworm, she at least trained for the annual running of the leaves. Fluttershy's only exercise was wrestling the odd bear for chiropractic care. "I don't know. We can't be that good as food." Twilight and Fluttershy both froze as the deer, equally exhausted, trotted into the far end of the clearing. It was looking over its shoulder, not seeing where it was going. Grasping at a chance to get some answers, Twilight reached out and wrapped it in her telekinetic field. "AAAAH!" The deer flailed helplessly as she was lifted off the ground. "No! Let me go! DON'T EAT ME!" "WE ARE NOT GOING TO EAT YOU!" Twilight yelled. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. She glared at the whimpering deer, who had done its best to curl into a ball. "We just want you to answer a few questions. What are you? Why are you so afraid-" There was a sound of breaking branches, and the giant spider crashed down on Twilight, knocking her to the ground. The deer fell free from the failing telekinetic hold and ran for it. Twilight managed to roll over on her back before the spider pinned her with a pair of the huge limbs. The massive mufti-eyed head lowered close to the unicorn. "No. Don't eat me. Please." Twilight begged, her mind trying to remember the magical sequence for teleportation. The spider reached out with a massive leg and ran its rough wooden tip through her mane, tugging at it. Fluttershy gave a small gasp of suprise. Something moved just on the edge of Twilight's vision, and she turned her head slightly to her left. There, tangled in her hair, was a small spider, no bigger than a walnut. It had been wrapped in her mane, and the giant spider was slowly and gently pulling it free. "A baby?" Twilight asked aloud. She looked back up at the giant spider. "Your baby? You weren't trying to eat us, just to save your child?" She felt horrible. All the running, all the fear, everything had been just because she had been afraid and jumped to conclusions. There was a tiny doubt in the back of her mind, a sense of déjà vu, but she couldn't quite place it. Once the tiny spider was free, it ran up its parent's leg, swarming with a few brothers and sisters that rode on the massive spiders back. The large monster carefully lifted itself off of Twilight and retreated up into the trees. Luna sighed in relief as the spider left. She had been worried that Sarah would go too far, and had been silently prepping a quick magical blast. Now that things were calming down she relaxed. She was still confused about Sarah's actions though. "We still do not understand. Why dost thou-" Luna was interrupted as the doors to the chamber opened. Her eyes widened as a wooden mockery of Sarah's form wrapped in a tattered cloak. The thing was carrying a large box as it limbered forward. "What in Tartarus is THAT thing?!" Princess Luna cried. "Research in action." Sarah said. "I had to rip apart an awful lot of timber wolves, trying to figure out how they work. I still don't have it down, but this was my first attempt." Luna looked over the creatures appearance. As unusual as Sarah's appearance was, this things lack of hair or face, and the silent way it moved made it even more unnerving. What was worse was the condition the thing was in. The cloak's back was shredded, there were great holes in the shoulders, and the throat looked ripped out. "Do you treat all your research in such a vicious manner?" the princess inquired. "What?" Sarah looked up from sorting the last of the scrying circles. "Oh, that. No, that's the gryphon assassin that came after me here." She laughed, "I had to break both its wings and one of its legs before it passed out. Ah, here." She took the heavy box and set it on the floor. "I was going to leave this and just hope for the best, but with you here you can take care of things." "But, wait." Luna approached as Sarah, watching her lay out things from the box. A trio of books, a smaller box tied to a packet of papers, and several other packages. Each was marked with a drawing of a cutie mark of an element bearer. "Wait, the gryphon was in the hospital." Luna blinked, "If you broke its limbs here, how did it-" She blinked and stumbled, dropping her tea cup. "Princess?" Sarah reached out, catching her and helping her to the floor. "Princess, what's wrong?" "Drowsey. Sleepy. What -why?" she eyed the tea cup. "Poison?" "Poison?" Sarah asked in a scandalized voice, "Don't be silly, I've been drinking the same tea and I-" She picked up the pot and nearly fell over. "What? Its almost empty?" She turned to the princess, "How many cups did you have?" "You offered. It was good." Luna was laying down. Why was she laying down? She didn't remember laying down. "I offered ONE cup!" She said, "ONE is relaxing, Two helps me sleep. You must have drank almost ten cups!" "Wha?" Luna felt her body shift, and realized she was being lifted. "Argh, something would have to screw up!" Sarah said. Luna watched herself being pulled through the door as she drifted off to sleep. "Twi!" Applejack called and waved as Twilight and Fluttershy walked up to the front gates of the castle. She and Rainbow dash were sitting under a tree, chatting with Rarity and Pinkie Pie. All of her friends looked tired, wary, and more than a little covered in tree sap. Still, she felt a relieved smile form on her face. This had been a dangerous plan, one that could have gone so very wrong. They had survived the Everfree Forest, a claim not many could make, and were reunited. She looked at the crumbling, vine covered ruins, noting the thin lines of smoke coming from some of the chimneys. Somewhere in there was a real monster, something that had lied and tricked, stolen and hurt. Something that she and her friends needed to stop. Twilight wasn't as sure of herself as she had been when they entered the forest, but they had all come too far to turn back. "Let's go girls." She said with more confidence than she felt. She strode forward to the castle's outer doors, and pushed them open.