//------------------------------// // 21. Reflections on Reality // Story: Destinies // by Sharp Quill //------------------------------// The Crystal Empire glittered in the mid-afternoon sun, far away in the distance, as the Zephyr began its descent. Twilight fidgeted, rubbing one forelimb against the other, as she watched the city approach. Celestia would have sent Cadance a message, informing her of their imminent arrival, but that message would be concise and lacking in detail. Without a dragon to receive it, there was a real limit on how big a scroll could be teleported such a vast distance, even by a powerful alicorn. Twilight really needed to touch bases with her former foal sitter before they all appeared on her doorstep—including a de facto representative of a human government. Nonetheless, she had no choice but to stay put until the airship had slowed to a relative crawl. That moment finally arrived. “Attention everypony!” All heads turned to the alicorn. “I’m going ahead to meet with Cadance. I’ll meet you all at the palace.” Turning to Meg, meeting her eyes, she added, “You should come with me.” The pegasus blinked. “Uh, okay. We fly right after we land?” Twilight started hovering. “Nope, right now. I’ll teleport us outside.” It took a second for the words to register, but Meg also started to hover, not quite sure what to expect. Twilight moved in front of her and teleported herself and Meg outside, well above and in front of the Zephyr. They retained their momentum, moving rapidly through the air. Both of them reflexively spun around to face into the wind and began flying. Twilight banked toward the palace and picked up speed. She was tempted to visit the landing site first, to make sure they had a suitable carriage that would hide Fowler from view, but she trusted Celestia to make that requirement clear. Cadance, not to mention her brother, Celestia’s former Captain of the Guard, would have many questions. The more time she had to answer them, the better. They flew in silence. Meg focused her attention on the approaching crystalline city. Twilight was tempted to ask why she had never mentioned this lengthy animation pipeline herself, but decided it didn’t really matter. Either she hadn’t known, hadn’t made the connection, or had been protecting them; whichever it was, it hadn’t counted as a violation of their Pinkie Promise. As they approached the heart of the city, Twilight began descending. The palace was not much further—close enough, in fact, that she was worrying about the effect of the reduced magical field on their ability to fly. “It’s at the top of that?” Meg asked, pointing at the palace, the tallest building by far. “The Mirror, that is.” “Yep. Be prepared for your flying magic to weaken, just in case.” They were now only a few dozen feet above the main road, low enough to attract the attention of the crystal ponies below. Meg gawked in return. In quick succession, they passed the giant crystal statue of Spike and the Crystal Heart, and arrived at the palace. As they landed, a guard at the palace entrance took notice and went inside. The two mares walked up to the lethargically rotating Heart and examined it. “I thought it would be… shinier than this,” Meg said. Far from shiny, it had a dull appearance. If it still had an inner glow, it was invisible in the sunlight. “It should be,” Twilight grimly replied. “That’s the problem. It has a low tolerance for a weak magical field.” Twilight headed towards the entrance. “Follow me; no time for sightseeing now.” The guards bowed as Twilight approached, letting them pass. Meg took the opportunity to get her first good look at a crystal pony. They were flesh and blood, just like any other pony; their skin merely gave the illusion of being crystalline. Twilight and her friends themselves briefly looked crystalline after the Heart had been restored and powered up. As they entered the lobby, a crystal pony was approaching them from a hallway. “Your Highness,” he called out. “Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are expecting you. If you would follow me, please.” But he stood still, looking questioningly at the orchid pegasus beside the princess. “Meg will accompany me,” she informed him. “Of course,” the stallion said, not missing a beat, as he turned around and led the way, first going down a wide hallway, next turning into a corridor, then climbing up a flight of modest stairs, and finally walking down yet another corridor, to arrive at a conference room. They must have heard them coming; for as Twilight entered the room, the royal couple were already making their way around a table to warmly greet her. But that first impulse was cut short when they noticed Meg entering the room behind her. “We should get down to business,” Twilight apologetically said. “It won’t be long before the others arrive, and we have matters to discuss.” Cadance nodded in acknowledgement, now serious. “Celestia gave us a heads-up, but it was of necessity short on details.” In front of her was the small scroll Celestia sent her. She looked at Meg, giving her a friendly smile. “And I assume this is Meg, the new Royal Adviser on Human Affairs?” “She is,” Twilight confirmed, as Meg gave an awkward smile in return. “You’ve actually brought one of these humans with you,” her brother said, his military training considering the security implications. “A representative of their government?” Twilight briefly glanced at Meg, confused. He apparently was referring to Fowler, not the pegasus in front of him. Celestia didn’t mention that? While there wasn’t much that could be fit onto that scroll, there had been plenty of time to inform them about Meg by other means. Maybe those means weren’t considered secure enough. Regardless, there wasn’t time right now to go into that. “Not exactly. She’s not a diplomat or official in any way. It’s a long story, but she may be able to provide a flying machine we can use to move The Mirror. The lack of magic won’t bother them; there’s absolutely no magic native to their realm. She’s here to see firsthoof what needs to be done.” Shining Armor frowned. “Bringing one of these machines here concerns me, based on what Celestia has mentioned—not that I see much choice.” He turned his attention to Meg. “I’d like to have a briefing later on the security implications of this and what we could do to minimize the risks.” “Sure, no problem,” Meg replied. He studied the orchid pegasus with interest. “Have you actually met a human? Not that it’s my place to question Celestia’s judgement, but what are your qualifications for this position?” Meg hesitated before answering, unsure what to say. “Uh… yes, I have met quite a few humans. I’ve even been to their… realm.” Twilight rolled her eyes. This is getting ridiculous. “Meg is a human,” she said, quite to their surprise. “I first turned her into a pony a few weeks ago. I’m surprised Celestia didn’t mention that.” After staring for a few seconds at the currently-not-a-human who was sheepishly grinning back at them, Shining Armor walked back around the table to take his seat. “Like I said,” he said, stoically, “it’s not my place to question Celestia’s judgement.” What’s that supposed to mean? she thought, giving her tail an irritated twitch. Her brother caught that, his eyes widening a bit. He didn’t know. Celestia hadn’t mentioned that either, that she had delegated that to her. They really were out of the loop. Wait till they hear about the cartoon. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise,” she said, impatiently, “but they’ll be here soon. Just so you know, Meg’s husband is with them, he’s currently a unicorn, and nopony knows what they really are outside a select few. You need to keep this a secret for now.” “Of course we will,” Cadance said. “That’s to be expected, given the instructions to keep this human hidden from view. May I assume the other Elements are members of this select few?” “Indeed they are,” Twilight replied with a smile. “In fact, they’re with Fowler—that’s the human’s name—right now.” Cadance made her way to the door, her husband taking that as a cue to get up and join her. “They should be arriving soon,” she said. “Let’s be on our way.” “I’ll focus on security down here.” Shining Armor shuddered a bit. “I really don’t like being up there.” His sister gave him an sympathetic nod. “Don’t blame you.” If he’s handling security—big surprise—then he’d certainly be pleased to hear this: “The plan is for us to go straight up there, let her look around, then come right back down and leave. I’ve promised to get her back home by early evening.” “The quicker, the better,” he said approvingly. “We’ll discuss this further afterwards.” Except for Shining Armor, they all headed back to the main lobby; the prince left the room going in the opposite direction, to meet with his security staff. They followed the same route they had taken from the lobby, only in reverse. As they entered the lobby, Rainbow Dash flashed over to them. “The carriages will be here soon,” the pegasus reported, after first giving a quick bow. “I flew ahead to let you know.” “Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Princess Cadance said, as they all continued towards the entrance. Just go up, let her look around, come back down and leave. It was quite simple, but Twilight couldn’t help but feel she was missing something. She looked around, and saw that the cavernous lobby was empty of ponies apart from a few guards—all of whom, she was sure, were picked for their trustworthiness. Fowler was familiar enough—that’s it. “Cadance,” she said, stopping. Her fellow princess also stopped, looking questioningly at Twilight. Now was not the time to mention the cartoon, but she needed to say something. “You should expect Fowler, the human, to be very knowledgeable about us. I’ll explain how later—it’s not what you’re thinking—just don’t be surprised by it.” The pink alicorn blinked. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she finally said, wondering what that was all about. They waited patiently for the carriages to arrive. It wasn’t long before two of them approached, one of them coming to a halt right in front of the entrance. Its door opened, and out came Agent Fowler, Steve, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Twilight was impressed that none of the crystal pony guards lost their focus; one would think they saw humans every day—but then, they were trained by her brother. From the other carriage came Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike. They all gathered in front of Cadance and Twilight, with Meg rejoining her husband. Fowler stepped forward and gave an uncertain bow. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness,” she said, addressing Cadance. “I’m Jessica Fowler.” The Princess responded with a subtle nod. “Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Jessica. It is my understanding your time here is limited, so shall we get started?” “Uh, sure, lead the way.” Cadance headed towards the grand staircase at a back corner of the lobby. Fowler, Meg and Steve followed, but Twilight stood still, prompting her friends to do likewise. “You don’t have to go up there if you don’t want to,” she told them. Rainbow Dash crossed her forelimbs. “I’m not afraid of no mirror,” she asserted. “I’m coming too.” Applejack’s voice dropped to a whisper as she added, “I’m keeping an eye on her, just in case.” Rarity looked at the stairs with dread. “I don’t suppose, this time, you’d be able to teleport me all the way up there.” Twilight shook her head. “Then I think it’s best I do some shopping instead,” the unicorn said, and departed. Spike also eyed the stairs. “I’ll help Rarity with her shopping,” he said as he rushed after her. That left two. Twilight looked at Pinkie, awaiting her answer. Pinkie gave her a big smile. “There’s always another party to plan. C’mon Fluttershy!” And with that, she bounced away. “Uh…” The butter yellow pony glanced at the stairway, then at the departing Pinkie Pie, and made her decision. “Coming…” she said, as she also departed. So only two would accompany her, not that she was complaining; there really was no need for them to come along. “Let’s get going,” she nonchalantly told them. The three mares met up with the others at the foot of the grand staircase. It loomed in front of them, seemingly carved—or grown—from a single crystal. Only Sombra knew how it was accomplished, and the knowledge was lost with his defeat. This time, Twilight knew teleporting to the top was not an option. Nor could any of them fly all the way to the top—though Rainbow Dash seemed determined to try. Even Applejack’s earth pony stamina would run out well before reaching the top. Then there was Agent Fowler. The human was standing in the center of the stairwell, looking straight up through the spiraling stairs. “How far up is it?” the agent asked. “About six hundred feet,” Twilight replied. “I should be able to teleport you most of the way; you’d have to climb maybe a bit over two hundred feet.” “I can handle that, but wouldn’t you have to make a separate trip for each of us?” Twilight shook her head. “That won’t be not necessary. Meg and Rainbow Dash can fly at least as high as I can teleport, and Applejack’s earth pony stamina will take her that high too. Steve, Cadance can teleport you, unless you want to stay down here.” “And miss out on seeing the infamous mirror? No way.” Fowler held out her hand. “Could you hand me the Geiger counter?” Twilight took it out of her saddlebag and levitated it over to Fowler. After taking hold of it, she turned it on. It clicked almost immediately, but the next click was two seconds later. Seven more clicks occurred over the next ten seconds. Satisfied, she turned it off. “The magical field strength here is about one fifth of normal,” Twilight said. It was only logical that the click rate would increase as they approached the mirror; it would have been quite a surprise if it had not. The two alicorns and the unicorn joined the human in the stairwell. Cadance had done this teleport many times; she knew how high they could go and how much effort would be needed—far, far more than the short distance ought to require. They would do a synchronized teleport, with Cadance selecting the destination. Once their horns were sufficiently charged with magic, they teleported. They arrived at a floor hundreds of feet up. Fowler went over to the railing and looked down the stairwell. “Do we wait for them?” she asked. It was only her second teleport, the first being from inside the castle to just outside the Zephyr, and she was already unfazed by it. Twilight was impressed. “We’ll wait for Applejack. It will be easier for the pegasi to fly past us, taking advantage of their momentum.” Indeed, it wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash flew past them at a leisurely pace, her wings furiously flapping and her face set in pure determination. It’d be comical if it wasn’t so serious. “She does know her wings are going to fail soon, right?” Steve asked. An uncontrolled crash into the stairs would not be pleasant. “She knows,” Twilight droned. She wouldn’t have it any other way, she thought, as she watched her circle higher around the stairwell, struggling against her failing magic. Meg was next to arrive, a distant second. Having no momentum left to preserve, she set down on her hooves, gasping for air. “I’m really… feeling… the burn.” Fowler looked at the exhausted pegasus with concern. “Does the lack of magic hurt or something?” “No,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “There’s no direct awareness of it. It simply becomes harder to use magic, requiring ever more exertion, until it stops working altogether.” Having caught her breath, Meg tried hovering again. With hard flapping she succeeded, but gave up after a very few seconds. “It’s not worth the effort,” she decided, folding her aching wings. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.” There wasn’t much to do but wait for Applejack. The sound of her trotting hooves came echoing from below, getting ever louder. Fowler turned the Geiger counter back on, and to nopony’s surprise it was clicking much faster, about twice a second. As the device was being turned off, Steve decided to test his own magic. He lifted his phone out of his saddlebag. “My phone feels like it weighs ten pounds,” he said, before putting it back. Twilight idly looked down the broad hallway, off of which were doors to numerous rooms. It all looked unused and it probably was. The palace appeared to have been built more as a status symbol than to fulfill administrative needs. While the palace in Canterlot was certainly intended to impress, at least it was also practical. Celestia would not have had it any other way. At last, Applejack had caught up with them, climbing the last flight of stairs before reaching them. She didn’t seem much affected by the diminished availability of magic. Perhaps earth pony stamina didn’t need as much magic; then again, an athletic unicorn or pegasus could easily climb hundreds of feet, too, without the benefit of magical stamina, and Applejack was athletic even for an earth pony. Twilight eyed the next flight of stairs heading up. Well, I’m not athletic, so let’s see how well I do. As Applejack ascended the final few steps, Cadance asked her, “How are you faring?” She wasn’t breathing particularly hard, Twilight had to give her that. The farm pony walked over to them. “I’m feelin’ it more, but nothin’ Ah can’t handle. Ya dun need to wait here on my account.” Twilight set a measured pace as they climbed the remaining flights of stairs. She wasn’t sure how much of a benefit she was getting from her earth pony magic, but whatever it was, it was diminishing rapidly with height. That was okay; there was no rush. I did come in fifth place by pacing myself during the Running of the Leaves. Rainbow Dash was waiting for them at the top, exhausted, for once not looking smug at having won a race. “Did Sombra have a stair fetish or something?” “Or something,” Twilight replied wearily, as she cleared the final step. “We might as well start with the balcony.” Right behind her, Meg, Steve, and Agent Fowler entered the ballroom, looking around, and followed the alicorns to the balcony. Once outside they went to the railing, to take in the view. Fowler felt compelled to get on her hands and knees before reaching it, as the railing was way too low for human comfort. She gazed at the tiny crystal ponies below. “You should be aware, if you aren’t already, that a helicopter is extremely noisy. We don’t want to scare everypony.” Their flying machines do seem to be noisy, Twilight thought as she remembered her first sighting of an airplane coming in to land. “We shall warn everypony in advance,” Cadance said, “so there will be no panic.” Fowler moved away from the railing, got back on her feet, and wandered around. “This balcony is certainly wide enough, so no problem there. I’m guessing it will take the weight, if it had to land, but it might as well hover as we moved the mirror out here.” Twilight tilted her head. “How much does one weigh?” “Depends on the model, of course, but I would think a few thousand pounds, five thousand tops.” Twilight did a quick calculation. Obviously, the machine was large enough to hold at least one human, probably two, maybe even four if putting the mirror inside was a theoretical option. It was something like a flying car. “Not a problem,” she decided. The balcony could easily handle that much weight spread over the probable area. “That leaves The Mirror.” Twilight headed off towards the back of the ballroom, to the closed door of a storage area. The others followed close behind. But before they were halfway across the ballroom, Meg’s phone hit the floor. The magic binding it to the strap around her foreleg had finally failed, as had the magic binding the strap to itself. Meg stopped to pick up her phone—except she couldn’t. “Not enough magic, hon,” Applejack observed with sympathy. “Here, let me.” Fowler picked up the phone and the strap and put it in Meg’s saddlebag. “Thanks,” the pegasus said with a weak smile. She then tried to hover above the floor, without success. “Sucks, doesn’t it,” Rainbow Dash also observed. “Sure does,” Meg sighed as she folded her now useless wings. They continued on to the storage area. This time, the door would not be magically locked. That was no longer possible. In hindsight, it was a minor miracle the locking magic was still working the first time she was here. No longer possible, either, was taking care of the physical lock with magic, but this time she had the key. She winced. How am I supposed to get the key in the keyhole without magic? She could use her mouth—not that she has had much experience with that—or have Fowler do it with her hands. It was an uncomfortable realization that she was at Fowler’s mercy—any human’s mercy—in this place. The agent was completely unaffected by the lack of magic, which, of course, is precisely why their assistance was needed. Twilight wasn’t particularly worried about Fowler herself; she was too much like Meg and Steve. But what about other humans? The risk was low, but was it zero? It was an unpleasant conversation she needed to have with her royal advisor before the next step was taken. They reached the door. Twilight focused on the key in her saddlebag… and nothing happened. She sighed. I should have insisted on Spike coming along. Accepting the inevitable, she said, “Agent Fowler, there’s a key to this door in my right saddlebag. Could you retrieve it and unlock the door?” “Uh, sure.” She set down the Geiger counter and got on her knees beside the alicorn. “It’s behind that door, isn’t it?” she said as she lifted the flap, looked inside, and retrieved the key. “Yep,” Twilight replied, stating the obvious, as she watched the agent insert the key and turn it. Seconds later, the door was open. The Mirror was right where she last saw it, reflecting the light from the ballroom behind them. Fowler picked up the Geiger counter and turned it on. It was clicking furiously. “I think it’s safe to say there’s no magic here,” she said, then turned it off. She set it back down on the floor and went inside towards the mirror. Meg and Steve followed; Twilight and Cadance stayed outside. “Meg, Steve,” Twilight called out. “Your cutie marks are going to fade, especially if you touch the mirror. It’s only temporary, so don’t freak out over it.” “I guess it’s perfectly safe for me to touch it,” observed Fowler. She inspected the frame, in particular how it extended into the circular base, the rim of which was adorned with horseshoe artwork. Next, she cautiously put her hand to the upper frame, as if it might burn her or something. Nothing happened. She pushed, trying to tip it slightly, attempting to judge its weight. “Doesn’t seem very heavy, certainly under a hundred pounds. Won’t be a problem to lift.” The agent stepped back. Putting a hand to her chin, she considered the object in front of her. “We just need a few dollies, insert them under the base, then roll it out to the balcony. We also need a harness to lift it by. We’ll drop a hook from the helicopter, hook it into the harness, and lift away. Should only take seconds.” “We can supply those items,” Cadance said from outside the storage area. Fowler turned around to address the alicorns. “How careful do we have to be with this? I mean, what if it accidentally falls to the ground. Will that destroy it? I assume that’d be bad.” How much to tell her? Twilight hadn’t even told Meg yet the story behind The Mirror. Of course it would be very bad. That mirror was the interface to the barrier between their realms. It needed to open every thirty moons—well, Discord never volunteered why, but even if it was only because it amused him, that didn’t mean it was a good idea to mess with his chaos magic. Fowler was waiting for an answer. “It would be very, very bad.” “And what would happen to Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight cursed herself for letting that slip her mind. In light of recent events, it was clear Sunset should come back at the next opportunity; it was never supposed to have been a permanent banishment anyway. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “When the portal is open,” Steve said, looking at his equine reflection, “does it actually go to our world?” “No, it doesn’t. It’s sort of hard to explain, but what I experienced was a Ponyville that was in the image of your realm.” Fowler made her way past the two ponies back to the door. “Well, I think we’re done here,” she said, as she took out her phone. “I’ll just take a few pictures and we can go.” After they all left the storage area, she closed the door and removed the key, putting it back in Twilight’s saddlebag, along with the Geiger counter. She then proceeded to take pictures of the ballroom, the balcony, and the skyline of the surrounding city. As the group started back to the stairs, Rainbow Dash got Meg’s attention. “Come on,” she said with an huge grin, “let’s jump off the balcony.” Meg blinked. “Are you crazy? We can’t fly!” The others stopped and turned. “But we will be flying before we hit the ground.” That only added to the fun as far as the daredevil pegasus was concerned. Meg shook her head. “I’m not an adrenaline junkie, Dash. I’m taking the stairs.” A disappointed Dash trotted over to the railing. “See you at the bottom,” she said with an “it’s your loss” tone, and jumped. The remaining pegasus looked at the other ponies. “She’ll be all right, won’t she?” “Probably,” replied Applejack nonchalantly, as they all walked away from the balcony. They went down the stairs. Unfortunately, as teleporting down was even harder than teleporting up, due to the starting point being in a much weaker magical field, they walked all the way down, one flight of stairs after another, and another, and another. What was his deal with stairs? Crystal ponies could not fly or teleport, nor did they have exceptional stamina. Their natural talents concerned crystal growth and manipulation. Sure, those in good shape could climb to the top, but this was just absurd. When they finally reached the bottom, Rainbow Dash was waiting for them, none worse for the wear. It was time to take Agent Fowler back home. Twilight led her back to the carriage she came in, as the others left to do sightseeing. The two rode together as the carriage made its way back to the Zephyr. Soon, they were back on board and heading off into the wilderness, to a point where they can cross over, far enough away from the anomaly. There wasn’t much conversation. Twilight wanted to firm up the plans for transporting the mirror, but Fowler couldn’t add much to what she had already said. It was out of her hands. They would have to wait until word came down from above. Fowler, for her part, wanted to know more about Meg and Steve’s involvement with the ponies; though it seemed more out of personal curiosity than official interest, Twilight didn’t feel comfortable providing that information. Once they had arrived at that featureless grassland, the alicorn teleported them to the ground—it wouldn’t do to return to the inside of an object that wasn’t absolutely motionless—and crossed over, returning Agent Fowler to her fellow agents. Twilight didn’t stay long, just long enough to make arrangements for her next visit, and to find out that there was no news, as yet, on the helicopter. Fowler was excitedly showing the pictures and video she took as Twilight invoked the return spell. Back in her own realm, she did not immediately teleport back inside. Surrounding her as far as the eye can see were expansive grasslands, thriving in the brief summer sandwiched between brutal winters. The nearest train tracks were many miles away. This is as good a location as any. Here is where they’ll move The Mirror. Tomorrow, she’ll have a construction crew out here to build a facility to hold it. Returning to the Zephyr, she ordered Captain Shooting Star to take her back to the Crystal Empire. Upon arrival, she looked for her friends, finding them at the huge statue of her number one assistant. “And that’s why Spike had to save the Games all by himself,” Rainbow Dash said, concluding her lecture. She sternly pointed a hoof at Meg and Steve. “Remember, you’re not to tell any other humans. Oh, hey, Twilight, you’re back.” Twilight looked curiously at her cyan friend. Will you tell them about Scootaloo next? “Speaking of Spike, where is he?” Her baby dragon was the only one not there. Rarity tittered. “Oh, he’s making an impromptu public appearance, signing autographs.” Twilight rolled her eyes. At least it hasn’t gone to his head—much. Meg and Steve were looking at her, wondering what was next. As much as she wished they could continue seeing the sights, there was business to attend to. “It’s time for our meeting with my brother and Cadance,” she told them. They walked the short distance to the palace, while her five friends went off to save Spike from his admirers and have dinner. Once they entered the lobby, a waiting attendant directed them to the same conference room they’d been to earlier. Cadance and Shining Armor were waiting for them inside. Against a wall, a buffet had been laid out. They all helped themselves to some food before getting started. After the five ponies had taken seats around the table, Twilight began talking. “I said earlier I’d explain everything later, and later has arrived. For now, this is all a royal secret that cannot be shared with anypony else.” The royal couple nodded in understanding, their ears at attention, ready to finally hear what was going on. For the next half-hour, Twilight gave a summary of the events since her last visit to the Crystal Empire: her initial visit to the human realm, the discovery of the doll and its owners, the cartoon, the learning of their advanced physics and the technology it enables, Meg and Steve’s first visit to Equestria and their ponification, Meg’s cutie mark epiphany, Celestia’s appointment of Meg as Royal Advisor, and the involvement of the FBI. “And that’s pretty much it,” she concluded, as she finally dug a fork into her salad. “It’s a lot to take in, I know.” Cadance and Shining Armor had barely touched their food. Her brother found his voice first. “I don’t suppose we can see this cartoon for ourselves.” Steve pulled the tablet from his saddlebag. “Actually, you can, right now.” He woke it up and browsed through the available episodes. The fourth season was currently loaded. “I don’t have one that features you, but here’s one that has Cadance, Discord also.” “Discord…?” Cadance muttered. “You mean the time I visited Twilight and he faked an illness and sent us on a quest for some flower?” “That’s the one.” The tablet floated over to the royal couple and set down on the table. The cartoon began playing. Twenty two minutes later, it finished. This time, it was Cadance who found her voice first. “You weren’t joking.” “What about Discord,” Shining Armor asked. “Does he know about this?” That was a very good question; Twilight was annoyed she hadn’t thought of it herself. “I haven’t told him, but I haven’t asked him either.” Twilight took a scoop of ice cream. “I don’t know.” Meg shifted uneasily on her plush cushion. “He’s very knowledgeable about our culture. I’d be surprised if he didn’t know.” Twilight suddenly felt a cold chill. Could he—would he—look at those scripts as they were finished? Only one thought offered consolation: it was beyond even his power to alter the timeline. Even if he had been looking into the future this way, it didn’t alter what had already happened—or, for that matter, what would happen, as she knew from personal experience. Could his chaotic nature even tolerate possessing immutable knowledge of the future? Her brother had been inspecting the tablet. “So this is human technology.” He put it down and looked Meg in the eyes. “What are the risks of bringing one of your flying machines here?” “I… I’m not sure I understand the question. I suppose it could have a mechanical failure, which would cause it to fall to the ground and crash. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible.” “How could this machine be used to harm us—theoretically,” he clarified. When Meg did not answer immediately, Shining Armor continued. “I’m not saying they intend to cause us harm. But even with the best of intentions, accidents happen. It’s my job to be prepared. Would this machine have weapons, for example?” It wasn’t a pleasant conversation to have, but it needed to be had. Twilight had little doubt humans would ask the same questions—maybe they already were—if the horseshoe was on the other hoof. Nonetheless, she was glad her brother was the one to bring up the subject, so she didn’t have to. “No. Well, it shouldn’t. I mean, there are military helicopters with serious weapons, but there’s no reason to use one of them. The FBI wouldn’t even have one in their possession; they’re not an army. If they somehow got one anyway, you should reject it and insist on a civilian model.” The former Captain of the Guard nodded. “And what could be done with a civilian model?” “Well… the pilot can have personal weapons on him, like a gun. The helicopter could have cameras recording everything. They might try to leave behind some surveillance devices, but I don’t know what good that would do them, because they’d have no way of communicating with them or retrieving them…” “Maybe not now,” he said forebodingly. “We should create spells that can detect and neutralize these devices.” “I’ll have work started on that,” Twilight said, adding a new item to a list. “Is there truly no way to get the task done without one of these… helicopters?” Cadance asked. “We could probably do it with a hot air balloon using a benign, lightweight human rope substitute to tether a team of pegasi, but we’d still need humans to rig The Mirror, move it to the balcony, and hook it up to the balloon. Meg and Steve here could be two of them, naturally. I did bring my balloon aboard the Zephyr, just in case. There’s no guarantee, after all, they can even provide us with a helicopter.” Shining Armor was not amused. “Any reason this isn’t the primary plan?” “Actually, yes,” Twilight flatly replied. “Princess Celestia thinks it would conducive to our future relations if they had the opportunity to help us.” The unicorn was not totally buying it. “There are many ways they could help, some less risky than others.” Twilight didn’t care to argue about it. She didn’t even really disagree, except that one rarely profits by ignoring her mentor’s wisdom. “I’m moving ahead with the balloon, for now, anyways. Meg or Steve can get a spool of that synthetic rope tomorrow morning. We also need to get started on building a facility to house The Mirror far away from here. I’ve already selected a location.” “I’ll get started on that,” her brother declared, happily accepting the change in subject. The meeting hadn’t lasted much longer. Before long Twilight was in her guest room, studying the magical field simulation program. She had brought along the laptop computer and some human physics books. For all the progress they’ve made that day, the hard reality is that it only bought some time. The solution to closing the hole still eluded her; she desperately needed a fresh approach. The problem was fundamental. Nothing material could even slow the flow of magic, much less block it. Magnetism and electric fields had no effect, either. Even if the two nuclear forces could effect magic—and there was no reason to believe they did—there was no way, even with human technology, to utilize those forces. Magic itself can and has been used to stop the flow, but only temporarily; a magical shield could not for long withstand the magic vacuum on one side. Nor did any of the space manipulation spells she knew apply to this situation, at least not in any way she could determine. That left one fundamental force of nature: gravity. But magic was unaffected by that too. The strength of the magical field did not fall with altitude, unlike air pressure, nor did the magic flowing out of the doll “fall.” The phase change that emitted electromagnetic radiation formed a perfect sphere around the doll, according to Fowler. Magic flowed through space in straight lines, same as light, even though the speed of that flow was like frozen molasses in comparison. But even light is affected by gravity! Quickly she got out the book on General Relativity, opened it, and found what she was looking for. Light always traveled in a straight line. But in curved space-time, the straightest possible line was still curved; light could not ignore the curved geometry of space itself. Therefore, neither can magic! But how to take advantage of this? Her eyes went back to the laptop. The magical field simulation program was based on another program, one that simulated black hole collisions and the gravitational waves that produced. Black holes. An object whose gravity is so strong, it is said, that not even light can escape. “That doesn’t make sense,” she muttered to herself. Relativity made a big deal about how light was always observed to be traveling at the speed of light, regardless of the observer and the speed and direction in which that observer was moving relative to the source of that light. Gravity did not, could not, slow down photons of light. So what kept them from escaping? After spending time searching that thick tome of a book, she got her answer: space-time was so twisted inside a black hole, there was literally no path from the inside to the outside. You couldn’t even point towards the singularity at the center of a black hole. Once inside, no direction in three-dimension space led to it, or away from it; the singularity was in the direction of your future, and you couldn’t avoid it anymore than you could avoid next Tuesday. “And they actually believe such objects exist,” she droned as she closed the book. Assuming they did exist, all she had to do was get her hooves on one and throw the doll into it, crushing it along with the hole to a mathematical point. The flow of magic into this realm would be stopped. Somehow, she doubted it would be that simple.