Spearhead surveyed the readouts on the screen. Common lettering spelled out the names of readouts and displays. At the top of the center screen was the title ‘Ground Bridge.’
“Am I good or what?” Rosetta boasted. “Not only my first translation matrix not involving Equestrian, but I got the machine to deliver all its readouts in Common.”
Spearhead shot her a sharp glance.
Rosetta slouched slightly. “Okay, Fan Belt and Monsoon changed the language files.” She stood up straighter. “Still, it’s because I translated this language.”
“After taking three weeks,” Spearhead pointed out.
“Well, it’s harder to establish a translation matrix from text,” Rosetta explained. “It was from a completely alien way of thinking.”
“Considering the nature of the builders,” Monsoon said, “that might not be too far away from what it actually was.”
“So, what have you found?” Spearhead asked.
“It’s basically confirmation of what we found out while tinkering with it before,” Monsoon said. “It can only bridge other places with itself. We can’t open one end in one place and then the other end anywhere else but here. It also gets its power from the Waterfall, so that’s why it takes a half hour to recharge after every use.”
Spearhead’s expression dropped into a deep scowl. “A half hour can be an eternity in an emergency.”
Monsoon heaved a sigh. “I know. However, we did discover a couple new things. It’s possible to close a destination point and open a new one without closing the portal here. That means we could open a portal to bring in ponies from one place and then open a new portal to send them another.”
“I suppose that’s better than nothing,” Spearhead said.
“This thing also has a communication array that can reach anywhere on the planet,” Rosetta said. “Fan Belt and Babel”—the coat on her back bristled when she hissed the name of her rival through her teeth—“are working on portable radios that work with this thing. They already have three prototypes dones.”
“Excellent work,” Spearhead said. “Ring me if you find anything else of interest.”
Monsoon bowed his head. “We will, Governor.”
Spearhead teleported to the floor and walked up the tunnel to the entrance. He winced at the light. The sun was high in the sky with both moons in their waxing crescent phase just above the eastern horizon. Some quick math told him it had been 75 days since they arrived if the two were in conjunction again.
He inhaled the pleasantly crisp air carrying the scent of fresh grass and the earliest blooms. There was still snow on the highest peaks, but the valley covered in a green carpet speckled by early spring flowers. The apple and cherry trees were covered in blooms, and while the sugar maples and oaks were still bare. It was springtime at last.
Now that they had the ‘Ground Bridge’ up and running, they could go practically anywhere not just in the region, but on the planet. They might have dragged their hooves up to this point, but now they could establish their presence like he could not have imagined when they first arrived.
Heart Throb whistled to herself as she polished the crystals of the main chandelier in the ballroom. It was her favorite room of the castle. She could just imagine the grand balls they could hold here when they were in contact with Equestria.
She looked down at the mirror still hanging on the wall where it had been when they first arrived. They were about halfway to being in contact with Equestria again. She then looked at the cloth draped over her hoof. The mirror could use a good polish.
She flew down in front of the mirror. Her reflection seemed to shimmer on its surface. She paid it no mind since it was a magic mirror. She held up her hoof to begin rubbing it down, but it passed right through the surface.
Heart Throb pulled her hoof back and gasped. “The mirror’s open!” she shouted.
She flew towards the main floor. “The mirror’s open!”
Wind Whistler stepped onto the balcony of the ballroom. Gusty stood next to the door and began walking with her.
“You looked nice,” Gusty said.
Wind Whistler looked down at her jacket and blouse. “Thank you. I was intending to converse with the blarks and dell dwellers about their progress establishing new habitations in the valley’s caverns, when this event took precedence.”
“Uh…right,” Gusty said confusedly.
Wind Whistler caught herself. “Sorry, my vocabulary can get away from me sometimes.”
They turned and descended the grand staircase. A dozen or so ponies had gathered around the mirror.
“Who was the first to notice the mirror is open?” Wind Whistler asked.
Heart Throb hovered out of the crowd. “It was me.”
The crowd parted to let Wind Whistler make her way to the mirror. She eyed her reflection carefully as it wavered just like it did on its counterpart when they first came here.
“I thought the connection was open only every five moons,” Wind Whistler said.
“It is.” Monsoon stepped out of the crowd as Wind Whistler could see in the mirror. “We watched it carefully for the ten moons before we came here. It never opened at any other time.”
Wind Whistler turned back to the crowd. She noticed Fizzy and Shady in the crowd. “As your lieutenant governor, I will see what has caused this change in the cycle. I need couple of volunteers.”
Fizzy grabbed Shady and raised her hoof. “We’ll go!”
“You know I always have your back,” Gusty said.
Wind Whistler looked to Gusty. “Thank you.”
“See if you can bring back some news from Equestria,” a pony shouted.
“We will,” Wind Whistler replied.
She turned back to the mirror. She stood abreast to Fizzy, Gusty, and Shady in the wavering reflection. She took cleansing breath and jumped through the mirror.
She was vaulted forward through whatever connected their worlds. The sensation seemed different this time. Her body felt like it lost its shape for a moment before regaining it. She came to the light and fell out of the portal.
She landed on the ground, but her front legs bent sideways. She barely straightened them in time to avoid falling face first on the ground. It felt like her hooves were gone, as her now unusually sensitive pasterns pressed against the concrete.
She heard grunts as the others came through. “What happened to us?” Gusty grumbled.
“A better question is what are we?” Shady said.
Wind Whistler looked down. Coming out of her sleeves were hands. They were petite hands with slender fingers the same light blue color as her coat, which had disappeared. She willed the left hand to rise and it did, and turned it to show its dirty palm. She rippled the fingers and touched each one to her thumb.
“We look like the witches!” Shady shrieked.
“We’re not that ugly,” Gusty replied.
Wind Whistler got her hind legs under her. They ended in feet that protruded forwards from the ankle. She slowly and carefully rose upright. She wobbled slightly as she tried to keep her balance. Her center of gravity was off from where she would stand on her hind legs as a pony. She wiped her palms together to get rid of the pebbles and dirt.
She looked herself over. Her mane still fell over one of her eyes, but it seemed to not cover her vision as much. Her body was slender and curved in at the waist. Along with her jacket, blouse, bow, and broach, she was wearing a white skirt that came down to her knees. The thing flared out from her waist like a bell and had a pink fringe along the hem. Her cutie mark of three pink whistles and two baby blue whistles was printed on the skirt at several times its normal size.
She also realized the outfit was layered. She was wearing another dress under this, but it was light, smooth on her skin, and only hung loosely by straps over her shoulders. There were also other garments under that. She was wearing a pair of drawers that reached about halfway down her thighs. An apparatus also held the pair of growths on her chest most females from bipedal species had, and she realized they were mammary glands that were permanently enlarged for some reason.
Wind Whistler carefully held a foot out past her skirt. Her legs were covered in thin, white stockings that stopped a third of the way up her thighs, and her small feet were in pink slippers with bows on the toe box.
Wind Whistler turned back to the others. They had also been turned into bipeds with mostly humanoid traits and wearing full outfits. Aside from suddenly having arms, the most drastic changes were to the face. They did not have muzzles, but instead the small nose was separate from the mouth, and their eyes faced perfectly forward. They were not gnarled faces like the witches either, as the shape and curves of their faces were smooth and even, with features closer to the proportions in the pictures of human women Wind Whistler had seen in books on the species.
However, there some features that were unlike anything described in those books on humans. Their mostly hairless skin was the color of their natural coats. Their manes were also the same color and style as when they were ponies. The only change was that a part of each mane extended farther like a tail, with their ribbons tied at the base of the extensions.
Fizzy caught Wind Whistler’s specific attention first due to her size. She was noticeably smaller and apparently younger than the others. Her eyes were also completely normal without even the polygonal faces her eyes had before their transformation. Her attire was a light pink dress with a skirt filled with petticoats and a darker pink sweater over it. Her cutie mark of five magenta soda glasses with white heads of foam and magenta straws on top decorated the skirt like Wind Whistler’s, and she had frilly socks and shoes that buckled on her feet. Wind Whistler thought it was fitting for the bubbly young mare—or woman rather, considering they were now human, or something similar. Actually, girl would be the best word to describe her now, Wind Whistler thought.
Gusty still had her now signature scarf, but also a light, pastel puplre jacket that zipped up and had a hood. Her cutie mark of five purple maple leafs decorated the sleeve. Her bottoms were a pair of blue, denim jeans that flared slightly at the bottom to cover her boots.
Shady wore a light blue jacket that looked like it was made out of leather but was clearly a fabric imitating hide. Under it was a dark blue shirt with her cutie mark of five white-framed glasses with light blue lenses, and she had tight-fitting pants the same color as her mane that came down just below knees and randomly split at the very bottom. A pair of slip-on shoes covered her feet.
Wind Whistler then noticed something that separated them from humans, other than their skin and mane color. They still had pony ears sticking out of their manes. Wind Whistler reached up and felt in her mane. She also had a pair of equine ears just behind her hair band, which were covered in a very fine fur. She also open and folded her wings which came out of holes in the back of her clothes.
Wind Whistler felt around her strange body. The slender limbs and trunk gave back sensations to her touch. She felt her nose and sensitive lips. She used her tongue to feel her teeth, which were normal in the back but more like blunt knives in the front, and the teeth third from center came to dull points. Her binocular vision was also much better with her eyes both facing straight, while her peripheral view had narrowed. She let it sink in that this really was her body.
The other three got to their feet slowly and carefully, but Shady had to brace herself on the base the statue near them to keep from falling over. Gusty stood over Fizzy, being a full head taller than her.
“Why am I so short?” Fizzy asked Wind Whistler.
“I don’t know,” Wind Whistler replied honestly. “I don’t even have a reasonable hypothesis as to why traversing the portal would transform our bodies and place us in these garments.”
“In Common, Wind Whistler,” Gusty snapped.
“Uh…girls,” Shady said, looking past the monument. “We’re not in the Crystal Empire.”
“Here’s more breaking news,” Gusty said sarcastically, “the sky is blue.”
Wind Whistler opened her senses to the world around her. They were outside in a courtyard. The air was cool, but pleasantly so. The statue Shady was bracing herself against was a realistic depiction of a primitive equine rearing up on its hind legs. There was a paved road past the monument. Vehicles smaller and more aesthetically-pleasing than the ones used by the gizmonks traveled down it. There were other humanoid bipeds walking on the sidewalks with varying skin and hair colors like theirs. However, they had ears like normal humans, and Wind Whistler did not see a single set of wings on any of them.
“Where are we?” Fizzy asked.
“I don’t know—” Gusty put her hand through the front of the monument “—but it looks like this is the portal on this end, and we can return whenever we feel like it.” She took her hand out. “Let’s check this place out.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Shady asked nervously.
“I want to check this place out!” Fizzy cheered.
Wind Whistler turned around. The courtyard led to a massive, boxy building with wings on both sides and a dome above the central structure. It took her a few seconds to process what kind of structure it could be when a chill went through her.
Her knees suddenly buckled together, and she hunched make to herself smaller. She rubbed her hands together nervously.
“What’s wrong, Wind Whistler,” Gusty asked.
“I think I know what effect the transit had on us, and the reason for Fizzy’s lack of stature and physical maturity,” Wind Whistler whimpered. “Given the hormonal levels in my body, I would say I have reverted to an earlier stage in my life cycle, likely the latter portion of adolescence. We have also been deposited right in front of an institution of final primary education.”
“What did she say?” Fizzy asked.
“I think she said she’s been turned into a teenager, and that’s a high school,” Gusty said.
Wind Whistler swallowed. “It’s my worst nightmare made reality.”
“I would think you loved school,” Gusty said.
Wind Whistler shook her head. “High school is a monolithic, totalitarian institution designed to grind away your gifts by binding you with unspoken stipulations of social acceptability. Popularity and physical prowess are glorified, while academic achievement, freedom of thought, and curiosity are marginalized and punished.”
“So you were one of those geniuses who hated school,” Gusty said.
Wind Whistler turned back to the others. “Let’s go back. Since Shady wants to go back as well, we are deadlocked, and deadlock means taking the more conservative action.”
“Actually, if it’s just a high school, I’m okay with exploring it,” Shady said, taking a cautious step away from the monument.
“Then we have a majority,” Gusty said. “Let’s check it out.”
“But—” Wind Whistler started to say.
Gusty put her hands on Wind Whistler’s shoulders. “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said casually. “We’re not enrolled in the high school, so it can’t hurt us.”
Wind Whistler heaved a sigh. “I guess you’re right.”
Gusty wrapped her arm over Wind Whistler’s shoulder and turned her around. She walked her towards the school. “Then let’s check this place out.”
Wind Whistler placed one foot after the other to walk. It took a couple of paces, but both she and Gusty managed to keep their balance without needing to think about it. These feet were fortunately made for stability while walking on two legs.
Wind Whistler watched as they came nearer to the steps leading up to the front entrance. A new wave of panic flowed into her. “What if they mistake us for one of the students and sit us down in a history class that’s having a pop quiz we obviously know none of the answers to?” she stammered.
“You’re starting to sound like Shady,” Gusty said jokingly.
“Hey!” Shady snapped.
Fizzy ran up the steps ahead of them. She opened and held one of the doors as Gusty walked Wind Whistler inside. Wind Whistler looked back as Shady walked in behind them. Fizzy followed, letting the door close behind her.
Wind Whistler faced forward as Gusty let her go. They were in a large, two-story lobby with displays showcasing various trophies. Hallways went to either side and in front of them, with lockers against the walls.
“No doubt about it,” Wind Whistler said, “this is a high school.”
“So, were you shoved into any lockers or anything?” Gusty asked.
“Why don’t you leave Wind Whistler alone,” Shady scolded. “She’s clearly uncomfortable.”
“Where is everyone?” Fizzy asked.
A bell rang. Wind Whistler yelped and unconsciously jumped into Gusty’s arms at the abrupt break in silence. The doors in the halls opened and students poured out.
Gusty let down Wind Whistler’s legs. “It’s a good thing you don’t drink caffeine.”
“My dearest apologies,” Wind Whistler said. “It is just that in settings like this, I feel at my most inadequate.”
<Fluttershy!> a voice shouted in Equestrian from behind Wind Whistler.
Someone grabbed Wind Whistler’s arm and spun her around. It was a girl perhaps a little older than Wind Whistler’s apparent age. She had yellow-orange skin and wavy, bright red and yellow hair.
The broad grin on the girl’s face sank into a confused scowl. <You’re not Fluttershy.>
That was it. Wind Whistler’s body had had enough. Everything went dark in an iris close. Fizzy screamed, “Wind Whistler!” but she sounded far away. The last thing Wind Whistler remembered was falling back into a couple pairs of arms before everything went black.
Wind Whistler’s first sensation telling her she was returning to consciousness was the pungent smell of smelling salts and the itching sensation they were instilling in her nostrils. She snorted and wrinkled her nose.
She opened her eyes, but everything was blurry at first. Her surroundings started to form into fuzzy patches of color and then take actual shapes. Fizzy, Gusty, Shady, and the girl all stood in front of her. She got the wherewithal to know she was sitting on something cushioned and leaning against a wall. Gusty had the bottle of smelling salts under her nose and pulled it away.
<She’s coming around,> the girl said in Equestrian.
<Are you okay, Wind Whistler?> Fizzy asked in Equestrian as well.
Wind Whistler held her head as things cleared up. <My heightened level of anxiety apparently left me susceptible to an episode of acute global cerebral hypo-perfusion, resulting in the onset of syncope,> she replied, using the Equestrian language like the others.
<She’s fine,> Gusty said.
Wind Whistler looked to the girl. She wore a black leather jacket that looked more authentic than Shady’s. The purple shirt underneath had a symbol of a stylized sun. An orange skirt and a pair of rather tacky-looking, purple boots completed the outfit.
The girl frowned slightly. <I’m sorry for scaring you like that.>
<It’s fine.> Wind Whistler sat up.
<You’re lucky we were able to keep the school nurse from looking at your back too closely,> Gusty said.
<Yeah, she would have been more than a little curious about those wings,> the girl said.
<Why are you so nonchalant about them?> Wind Whistler asked.
<I guess I should introduce myself,> the girl said. <I’m Sunset Shimmer. I’m originally from Equestria, like you.>
<I’m surprised she said nothing about the ears,> Fizzy said.
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. <The baseball team’s home opener is tonight, so several students are wearing fake horse ears to show school spirit. She just figured you had really good ones.>
Wind Whistler considered this when a mirror over a sink caught her eye. She stood up and looked at herself. She had a face much like the others. She was not a very good judge of humanoid beauty standards, especially since she had just learned of the species’ existence a little more than two months ago. She thought she looked visually pleasing, like she did as a pony, but there was no telling what the species’ tastes were.
<Speaking of Equestria,> Shady said, <you called Wind Whistler Fluttershy.>
<Well, they do look similar from the back,> Sunset Shimmer replied.
<Are you talking about the element bearer?> Shady asked.
<It’s actually a weird thing about this place,> Sunset Shimmer said. <It seems like there are human versions of many ponies here.>
A knock came on the door. Wind Whistler turned to it like the others. <Come in,> Sunset Shimmer replied.
A girl who looked like a human, teenage version of Truly walked in. She wore a pink and white striped dress and a white apron with her cutie mark of a forest green dove holding an olive branch and three pink hearts at one corner.
<Is the poor dear all right?> the human Truly asked in the same drawl her pony counterpart had.
<It was just a fainting spell, Truly.> Sunset Shimmer answered.
<Yes,> Wind Whistler said. <I’ve recovered.>
The human Truly exhaled a sigh in relief. <Nurse Tenderheart will be relieved to hear that. Just ring if you need anything.>
The human Truly walked out and closed the door behind her.
Gusty shuddered. <That’s just spooky.>
<I thought you were the human version of Fluttershy,> Sunset Shimmer said. <She’s been missing for more than a year. Actually, I was a little too excited when I thought you were her. She probably would have fainted too.>
She frowned. <Wait, why are you here? The portal to Equestria shouldn’t be open for another year and then some.>
<We didn’t come from Equestria,> Fizzy said.
<You’re ponies, right?> Sunset Shimmer asked.
<We’re originally from Equestria,> Wind Whistler answered, <but we used a magic mirror to settle on another world about two and half Equestrian moons ago.>
<But the portal is only supposed to open once every thirty moons between Equestria and here,> Sunset Shimmer said.
<Well, it opens once every five moons between Equestria and our new home,> Gusty said. <We never heard about a thirty moon cycle, or this world.>
Wind Whistler rubbed her chin. <Given we’re at the halfway point between windows to Equestria, I suspect the mirror in our world alternates between Equestria and here. However, the reason why the mirror would bypass our new home every thirty moons is still a mystery. I’m not even sure why the cycle is what it is.>
Gusty grabbed her head. <My brain hurts.>
<What about this world’s Fluttershy being missing?> Shady asked.
<It doesn’t concern us,> Gusty snapped.
Shady hunched away. <I’m just curious.>
<All five of the human versions of the Element Bearers, except Twilight Sparkle, disappeared fifteen months ago.> Sunset Shimmer rubbed her chin. <In fact, I think it’s been fifteen months to the day. They were in the school’s front courtyard one minute and the next minute they were gone. No one has heard from them since.>
<Well, given the cycle it’s possible—> Wind Whistler stopped in midsentence, as everything fell in place in front of her. <Why didn’t think of it before? It’s so obvious.> The grin forming on her face dropped into a loose frown, as she realized the implications of what her possible scenario would entail. <Oh no.>
<What?> Gusty asked.
<No,> Wind Whistler repeated as the nightmarish scenario came together in front of her. <If the cycle holds true, then fifteen moons ago the portal here would have been open. If they passed through—>
<They would have ended up in the valley,> Gusty said casually. She stopped and her mouth opened slightly and her eyes widened in a horrified expression. <Uh oh.>
<What is it?> Sunset Shimmer asked. <If they passed through the portal, they would have ended up where you are, right?>
<Except fifteen moons ago where we are currently was a very different place,> Wind Whistler said in a low voice.
Sunset Shimmer held up her hands in a confused shrug. <How?>
<It would be better if we did not discuss it in this world,> Wind Whistler said. <We need to return to our world.>
Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms. <Then I’m coming with you. Those five tried to help me get my life here on track before they disappeared. I have to know what happened to them.>
<Well, you can come back with us,> Gusty said, <but I don’t think you’re going to like what we think happened.>
The trip through the portal was different from what Sunset Shimmer remembered. Normally it was like traveling through a kaleidoscope with all the light and color. This trip was like flying through space at extreme speed. However, the sensation of transforming from human to pony was the same.
She reached the light and came out into a ballroom. She planted her hooves on the ground. She could feel the weight of her horn on her forehead, which was slight, but noticeable after being absent for 17 and half moons.
A wave of energy washed over her from nowhere. It spread across her body and gathered at the base of her tail before it suddenly disappeared. However, it felt like something was left behind. Sunset Shimmer look back to see a blue ribbon tied in a large bow around the dock of her tail. “What’s this?”
Wind Whistler looked back. “It’s something about this valley. We can explain later.”
Sunset Shimmer happened to look at Fizzy who now had what looked like cut rubies in her eyes. “What happened to your eyes?”
“Oh, it’s kind of a long story,” Fizzy replied.
Sunset Shimmer faced forward. A crowd of ponies stood in front of the mirror. One of the stallions said something in a language she could not understand.
“What did he say?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
“Right,” Gusty replied. “Equestrian isn’t spoken on this planet, so we mostly speak in Common.”
“Sorry about that,” the stallion said in Equestrian. “I asked, ‘Who are you?’”
“I’m Sunset Shimmer,” Sunset Shimmer replied. “I’m living in an alternate world from Equestria.”
“We can discuss that later,” Wind Whistler said forcefully. “I’m calling a meeting. Where’s Stargazer?”
“I think he’s practicing in the Conservatory,” a pony said. “What happened over there?”
“It’s what happened here that concerns me,” Wind Whistler said ominously.
The room Wind Whistler had named the meeting hall was the large room that took up half of the north building’s second floor. It was the only building that was folded vertically so it could be two stories tall on the inside and only take up one floor. It was inclined with risers looking down on a platform in front of a row of blackboards.
Ponies filed in through the door at the front of the room and took their seats. Whispers and murmurs filled the room. Wind Whistler had a solemn expression.
Rosetta and Sunset Shimmer walked in. The unicorn’s coat was the same color as her human form’s skin and her mane was the same. That sun symbol on her shirt had become her cutie mark.
“Can you tell me what you think happened now?” Sunset Shimmer asked irritably in Common.
Wind Whistler furrowed her brow. “You can speak Common now?”
Sunset Shimmer smirked. “I used an information absorption spell. Rosetta told me it’s taken weeks for you to learn the language. I wasn’t about to spend that much time, so I took the short cut.”
“I can’t argue with your logic,” Wind Whistler said honestly. “However, I’m surprised you would remember unicorn magic like that despite being humanoid for so long.”
Sunset Shimmer pointed to her head. “I have a photographic memory. What I see and learn is in there forever.”
“You might not like what you’re about to see and learn here,” Wind Whistler replied. “Have a seat and I’ll start the meeting.”
Rosetta and Sunset Shimmer sat on the front row.
Gusty looked into the hall. “I think we got everyone who’s coming.”
“Then pull the shades and hit the lights,” Wind Whistler said.
Shady pulled the shade over the window. Gusty did the same with the shade on the window in the door. Fizzy pushed a button on the wall in the back of the room. Most of the lamps hanging down from the ceiling dimmed to put the room into near darkness.
Wind Whistler stamped her hoof on a block of wood to make a loud banging sound. The whispers and murmurs quieted and everyone faced forward.
Wind Whistler stared forward. “While the mirror is open, it is not leading to the Crystal Empire. It is instead leading to a different world completely, and the transit now causes a strange transformation. I have a hypothesis as to why this is the case.”
Wind Whistler turned to Stargazer standing next to a desk. “A visual aid please.”
Stargazer nodded, and an aura surrounded his horn. A simplified model of their planet and its moons and rings appeared above them. The planet was a blue sphere and the moons were white spheres. Red rings represented the orbits of the moons. The moons were aligned compared to the planet.
“This is the time you wanted,” Stargazer said.
“Thank you.” Wind Whistler looked up at the model. “This was the position of the moons relative to the planet thirty-six hours into the window we used to come from Equestria to here. As you can see, the moons were in conjunction.”
She looked to Stargazer. “Now move it up to the second time index.”
Stargazer nodded. Wind Whistler turned her attention back to the model. The moons started to move.
“The moons orbit the planet in a three:five resonance,” Wind Whistler explained. “Luna Major’s true orbital period is thirty days, and Luna Minor’s is fifty days. That means they are in conjunction once every seventy-five days.”
The moons once again stopped moving, upon reaching the second time index. They were once again aligned with the planet, but on the other side.
“This will be the position of the moons tomorrow at the thirty-six hour mark of the window into the other world,” Wind Whistler said. “They are in conjunction again, but on the opposite side of the planet, as observed from some distant point. In another seventy-five days, the moons will be in the same position they were in when we first arrived here. It will also have been five Equestrian moons, meaning the mirror will be connected to the Crystal Empire again.
“My hypothesis is that it is no coincidence that the mirror is open during these lunar conjunctions. I believe the mirror is tied to the moons and the conjunctions power its magic.”
Sunset Shimmer raised her hoof. “The portal originally only opened once every thirty moons and bridged Equestria to Canterlot High directly.”
“I believe that is because a larger conjunction occurs at those intervals,” Wind Whistler said. “Stargazer.”
The spheres shrank in size and a much larger, yellow sphere appeared.
“This planet orbits its sun once every twelve Equestrian moons. So every thirty moons, the moons are either new or full, when in conjunction,” Wind Whistler said. “This means that the moons, the planet, and the sun are all aligned. This likely strengthens the mirror’s magic, so it can make a direct portal. However, I have no explanation for why the mirror was only opening direct portals before, or why it started making portals with every conjunction, starting twelve and half moons ago.”
Sunset Shimmer gasped. “I think I know.”
Every set of eyes turned on her. “This was my fault.”
“How’s it your fault?” Gusty asked.
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “When the direct portal last opened seventeen and a half moons ago, I returned to Equestria and stole Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Element of Magic and took it through.”
A collective gasp came from the room. “Why would you do that?” Gusty asked.
“I only cared about gaining power then,” Sunset Shimmer said sadly. “It was only after I tried to use it that I realized what a terrible path I had been traveling. I started to mend my ways with the help of the alternate version of the Element Bearers. The point is, I fear that taking the Element of Magic through the portal changed it, so it opens to this world now, and I believe the alternates came through the portal, hoping to find Equestria, only to end up here.”
“That brings us to the current crisis,” Wind Whistler said, “or rather a fifteen month old crisis. If the alternates of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s court did indeed use the portal to come to this world—” Wind Whistler shuddered at the thought “—they were likely caught by the Witches from the Voclano of Gloom.”
Another collective gasp filled the room. Whispers and murmurs followed. Wind Whistler stood there and shook her head. She hoped she was wrong about this part of her hypothesis.
Hydia walked down the winding stairway to the vault. She needed something cruel and dour to lift her spirits. With spring upon them, the world was becoming green and filled with life again. It was the worst time of year, and this year brought the added irritation of those ponies infesting that valley. Fortunately, she had her own little chamber of permanent lifelessness to which she could escape from all that.
She came to the bottom of the stairs and pushed in the block that served as the switch, and door pivoted up. She strolled in and hummed to herself.
All around her were victims of the valley’s curse. Those wretched ponies might have destroyed the obelisk and brought the valley back to life, but her collection was still as stone as ever within the volcano’s crater.
The collection was mostly animals that were living in the valley when her parents made the obelisk. However, she was the one who added the collection’s crown jewels.
Standing on a platform were five humanoid, teenage girls. It had to have been six lunar conjunctions since they stumbled out of that strange castle and into her trap.
She looked across the line. They were frozen in the positions they were in right before she turned the obelisk’s full power on them. The one with long, flowing hair was hunched with her knees buckled and her hands over her face in terror. The one with poofy hair who never grasped the gravity of the situation had her hands in the air and a huge smile on her face. The one with hair that curled at the end was much like the one with flowing hair, only her pose with more dramatic with one arm out and another covering her eyes. The one with the hat was in the midst of rolling up her sleeves like she could honestly win by brute force. The last one with the leather jacket had her hands in the air and her teeth clenched in anger.
Hydia grinned. “How is everyone today?” She paused as if she would get an answer. “As stoned as ever I see.” She cackled at the joke.