//------------------------------// // On the Road // Story: On to a New Plane // by random reader //------------------------------// “Come in, Chief, this is Sargent Rowe.” James called over the radio. After what seemed like an eternity, James heard the voice of his boss come over the link. “This is Chief Donavan, go ahead Sargent.” “How do I explain this without sounding too crazy?” James thought as he spared a quick glance behind him to the white equine in the back seat. “Sir, we’ve found a quadrupedal horned, winged equine, who is apparently intelligent enough to speak. Although she doesn’t speak English, we’re taking her back to HQ to see what we can learn from her.” There was a long pause before James heard his chief reply back. “Care to run that by me one more time, Sargent?” “Sir, he’s not lying.” Judith cut in. “In fact, I could livestream video footage right now over my iPhone.” “Very well, Officer Mulroney, show me this, creature you found.” Said the Chief, still sounding highly skeptical. Judith fumbled a bit in the glove compartment before pulling out her iPhone. “James, could you please not leave apple cores in here?” Judith opened the app the livestreamed to another iPhone, and selected the number of her boss’s phone as the link. After a few seconds, the link opened up, and Judith knew that the Chief could now see what she was seeing. She turned around, and pointed the camera at the sitting equine, who was now looking visibly stressed by the situation, her pale eyes darting around like a cornered animal. “My god,” came the chief’s voice over the radio, “we’re going to need some extra help for this one.” Twilight Sparkle was still waiting at the Equestrian side of the portal. It felt like days since Princess Celestia had stepped through it, but it wasn’t even an hour yet since she had gone through, so it was too soon to contact Princess Luna. “Even so,” Twilight thought, “she should know where her sister went, and what her endeavors are.” Deciding to contact Princess Luna, even though the hour hadn’t passed yet, Twilight teleported back to her palace. “Spike!” Twilight called out, “I need you to take a letter to Princess Luna for me.” Spike the dragon came walking out into the living room. “Hey Twilight, how’s the project going?” he said, as he began opening the desk to extract some parchment and a quill. “Princess Celestia has gone through a portal into a strange world, and hasn’t come back yet. I need you to take a letter for me.” Spike raised his claw, and began to write as Twilight dictated: Dear princess Luna, I’m sure you are aware of your sister’s endeavors to study this new world that we have found, but there has been a new development. It seems that the world we have found is populated, and Celestia wants to establish relations with the people of that world. She has left her magic with me, and departed through the portal roughly 40 minutes before this letter was sent. I am troubled by thoughts of what will happen if she does not return, and even though Celestia told me to wait an hour before contacting you, I feel that I need your help right now. Your loyal subject, Twilight Sparkle Once Spike had finished writing, he rolled up the parchment, and blew green flame on to it, watching it turn to a green mist, and flying out the open window. “There it’s on its way. Now we just have to wait for a response.” said Spike, as he watched Twilight pace the floor. “Oh Spike, I think that Princess Celestia has made a huge mistake!” Twilight exclaimed. “How can she bring the magic of friendship between our worlds if she’s in a world where there is no magic?!” Before Spike could respond, a bright flash filled the room, and Princess Luna appeared before Twilight. “Twilight Sparkle, I got your message. I felt that it was urgent that we meet, if my sister is indeed missing.” said Luna, her voice filled with concern. Twilight, who was growing accustomed to visitors appearing in her home, blinked the stars out of her eyes before replying, “Princess Luna, thank goodness you have come! I think Princess Celestia may have gotten herself into a sticky situation.” “My sister may be old, but her magic is strong enough that I am confident that she can take care of herself should she get into trouble. Nevertheless, if she has gone missing, it is urgent that I find her.” Said Luna confidently. “Well that’s just it, Princess. Celestia doesn’t have her magic any more. She gave it all to me before departing through the portal.” said Twilight, looking at the floor. “What?! How could she be so foolish?” Princess Luna boomed, her voice near the royal Canterlot voice. “Why would she give up her magic before wading into potential danger?” “Princess, that world isn’t like this one. If she hadn’t given up her magic before going through, she would have died!” “Explain, Twilight, as we now may be short on time to find my sister.” Princess Celestia was the wisest, and most powerful pony in Equestria, and yet, right now she felt like a filly again. Nothing made sense here, as the machine she was sitting inside sped along the dark pathway, an unseen power source pushing or pulling it along. Princess Celestia shifted uncomfortably on her seat, as the two bipeds controlling the machine had used that non-magical sound mover to talk to someone else. The material felt uncomfortably like the cured skin of another animal, and it was clearly not built with ponies in mind. She looked out of the window from time to time viewing the scenery as they went, thinking on her decision to come here. “This was a mistake. If I can’t return by the time I said I would, Twilight will worry, and may do something rash.” she thought as she saw another metal wheeled machine pelt past them in the opposite direction. Ducking her head instinctively, Celestia realized that she had no power here, and most of her wisdom of her world wasn’t going to be of much use. Her ride inside the machine felt like it was lasting hours, but it was really only about 10 minutes later, that Celestia began to notice that the scenery was changing. Here, there were structures. Houses, shops, and work areas from the looks of things. The two controlling the machine had remained silent the whole time while operating, not even responding to the additional messages of their kind over the sound mover. The machine turned, stopped, and started again at regular intervals, probably to avoid colliding with other machines, until it finally stopped behind a building, and Celestia noticed that the vibrations coming up through the seat had stopped.