It was another beautiful day in Ponyville, and Rarity was diligently focusing on her sewing. She had already been at it for about half an hour, and it was only 7:30 in the morning.
“Stupid deadlines, why can’t Sapphire Shores realize that these orders are nearly impossible to fill in the time she needs them?”
Suddenly, Rarity heard the bell over the door ring out through the boutique, and a pair of hooves stepping over the threshold.
“I’ll be right there!” called Rarity over her shoulder, as she finished sewing one last hem of her current piece. “Three down, only eight more to go.”
As Rarity made her way into the central room of her shop, she saw one of her fiends standing in the doorway.
“Twilight, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m here because the Princess would like you and I, as well as the rest of our friends, to meet at Whitetail Wood at 9:00 this morning.”
“Well, uh, even though I do have quite a full schedule, as well as a deadline to meet by 2:00 today, I suppose if the Princess has asked for my presence, I’ll have to put that first.”
“Oh no, Rarity. Princess Celestia said that it was fine if you couldn’t make it.” said Twilight, beginning to back out of the shop.
“Well, could you please tell her that I am very sorry for not being able to heed her call, but I am simply swamped with work today.”
“Okay, I’ll tell her, and it was nice to see you again, Rarity.” said Twilight as she left the shop, swinging the door closed behind her.
Deep in the center of Whitetail Wood, Princess Celestia and four other ponies sat on the ground, next to the large granite sphere. The other ponies saw that Celestia was continually doing calculations on a nearby notepad, and kept referring to a book that had definitely seen better days.
Nopony bothered to ask what she was doing, even as her ears flicked upwards, and she stood up.
“Ah, it appears twilight has returned with Rarity.” Celestia said to Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Flutershy.
But, even though everypony saw Twilight walking towards the group, no one saw Rarity anywhere in sight.
“I’m sorry princess, but Rarity said she couldn’t come. She said she was too overwhelmed with work, and I’m sorry Princess. I couldn’t do as you asked and-“
“Twilight, it’s fine. I believe I told you in my letter that your friends were to only come if they were able to? I quite understand what it means to be too tied up with work.” Said Celestia calmly.
As Twilight looked back at her friends, she broke out into a large smile. “So Twilight,” said an eager sounding Rainbow Dash, “are we finally going to fix this? Are we finally going to solve this mystery?”
“I hope we do, Rainbow,” said Applejack, before Twilight could open her mouth. “I’ve seen a lot of rocks in my life, but nothing quite like this.”
“I still don’t like that thing.” murmured Fluttershy, looking at the ground, “It still makes me feel strange. Like it doesn’t want to be looked at, or something.”
“Princess, do you have any idea what this thing is, and why it’s making everypony feel this way? And how come I can’t affect it with my magic?” asked Twilight, clearly eager to hear what her mentor thought of the situation.
“Well twilight, first I must ask you a question.” Said Celestia, eyeing her old student. “What do you know of the theory of alternate realities?”
Twilight thought for a moment before replying. “Not much, Princess. Basically all I know about it is that it states that our reality is just one of many, all stacked up against each other, but the theory fell out of favor, due to lack of evidence.”
“Well, I think this thing may be the first piece of evidence to that theory,” began Celestia before Rainbow Dash cut her off.
“Hang on a second, I don’t really understand much of what you said, but if this stone ball is from some parallel world like in the comics, then how could it have gotten here?”
“I was getting to that, Rainbow Dash.” Said Celestia, turning her sharp gaze towards the mare in question.
“Uh, sorry Princess, please continue.” Said Rainbow, looking bashful.
“As I was saying, I believe this sphere may be the first evidence that we have of other worlds. As you can see, magic is simply not affecting it. All magic, whether natural or controlled, just phases right through the matter itself, as if the matter itself follows some other set of laws.”
Celestia stopped, as she noticed twilight had her hoof in the air. Celestia had to hold back a chuckle, as she saw her former student acting like she was in school again. “Yes Twilight, do you have something to ask?”
“Princess, even though it may be a bit off topic, but if the known laws of physics can be broken at any time, even by something from another reality, then are they truly laws to begin with?”
“Hmm, an age old philosophical query. But worry not Twilight, I’m sure that there will be time to answer that after conducting the little test I have planned for today.”
Twilight and her friends grew attentive, as they waited for Celestia to unveil her plan to them.
“To see if this thing is truly from another world, I think I’m going to open the very doorway that this stone came through, and see what’s on the other side.” said Celestia, seeing the suddenly shocked expressions on most of the pony’s faces.
“Is that what that book is for?” asked Twilight, now noticing the book and notepad, along with a quill and ink that lay on the ground near Celestia’s hooves.
“Yes Twilight, I have been going through come of Brilliant Point’s old theories and equations for how a rift between the realms may be opened, and I believe that we now have a rift right here to observe.”
“Is it the sphere?” asked Twilight, “Because I don’t see anything that resembles a doorway near here.”
“No Twilight, the sphere is simply matter that was brought through. I believe the matter that was in the place of the portal when the sphere arrived switched places with it, and now resides within that other world.”
“So, if this portal is like a revolving door to another realm, then why can’t we see it?”
“It’s closed at the moment, Twilight,” replied Celestia, “but it left a mark, a sort of scar if you will, that I believe I may have found the spell to open up again.”
“But what about the boulder?” asked Pinkie Pie. “All this talk of other worlds is making my head spin. What are we going to do about the rock?”
“Oh, well that’s simple, my little pony. The sphere is now useless.” Said Celestia calmly, as she reared up next to the sphere. Twilight and her friends watched with trepidation as Celestia heaved the great smooth stone away from her, and rolled it down into a ditch, where it fell with an audible thump.
“So, the rock isn’t dangerous or anything?” asked Applejack. “Then why do I still feel put off when I look at it?”
Celestia turned to Applejack and calmly replied, “I believe it has that effect on ponies because even the simple act of observation creates a small disturbance in the magical field, which is then relayed back to your subconscious. Since the sphere does not create that disturbance when viewed, your conscious and subconscious minds are at a conflict, creating the feeling we all get when seeing it.”
“Finally,” thought Twilight, “this thing is starting to make more sense. But still…”
“So Princess Celestia, what is this test you have for finding this other world? And how did this portal even get here?” asked Twilight, looking back to her mentor.
“To answer your second question, I honestly do not know how it got here. It may be magic that nopony understands, or perhaps something even deeper than magic itself. To answer your second question Twilight, I have recently finished refining a spell from Brilliant Point’s original equations to try to reopen the portal.”
Celestia steeled herself to what she was about to ask. “I think the only way to make an accurate statement as to where this portal leads is for somepony to go and see. My little ponies, I require a volunteer.”