//------------------------------// // 21 Through the Portal // Story: Homecoming of a Jumper // by tosety //------------------------------// Steelskin, stifling a yawn, trotted up to Crafty Crate. “Hello, Mr Crate. You wanted to talk?” “Yeah, kid. You impressed me probably as much as you thought you would.” Crafty smiled at Steelskin. “I’d say you were cocky, but you delivered. If you keep working as hard and as smart as you did yesterday, all you need to buy is the materials.” “Thanks,” Steelskin replied with a smile. Crafty snorted. “Tartarus, colt, if you can get ‘Pretty Princess’ able to carry her weight, I’ll give you materials at half price.” At her mention, Diamond Tiara dragged herself into view. The tentative way she was walking reminded Steelskin of the aftermaths of some of his more brutal training experiences. “Good morning, Tiara,” Crafty greeted, mild derision seeping through despite his efforts to hide it. “Morning, Diamond,” Steelskin said almost at the same time. Diamond Tiara merely scowled at both of them. “I’m here to be punished, so let’s get it over with.” “Fine, princess,” Craftly responded in kind. “Good news for you is that today’s hauling will be significantly lighter. You and Steel will carry over a plank and you’ll fetch the nails while we secure it.” #EG - 01# @Arrival + 1 month@ “So you are saying that you wish a colt and a dragon, not from your world, to go into an unknown situation to retrieve a valuable magical artifact that you did not properly protect?” Tallic glared at all four princesses with a look of scorn. “An item that, by your own admission, is part of the most powerful defensive weapon of this world?” “I have a pretty bracelet for you if you say yes,” Celestia replied in a singsong voice. Tallic narrowed his eyes. “I should skewer you where you stand for that.” Two guards rushed forward, pointing spears at Tallic. Tallic glanced at the spears, wondering why he could sense no magic from the spearheads. He finally decided to assume they were heavily enchanted. “Stand down,” Luna ordered. “Are you wishing to get yourselves eaten? A dragon does not threaten when it feels itself insulted; the fact that he has not attacked means that he is merely expressing irritation.” Tallic smiled toothily. “Well spoken, Night Princess. I must congratulate you on the zealousness of your guards, if not their intellect.” Tallic’s voice dropped to a low rumble. “Not that anyone in this reality has any wisdom.” Twilight paused from scowling at her mentor’s flippancy to approach Tallic. “The bracelet that Princess Celestia is offering is one that should allow you to shrink yourself at will so as to better maneuver among ponies. I believe it would be very helpful in allowing you to stay near Steelskin while letting him do things with other ponies.” Tallic nodded. “A magical item like that would be quite useful to me... Add in a hundred bars of iron per day as an apology for your mentor’s insulting way of offering it and you have yourself a deal.” “Thank you, Mighty Tallic,” Cadance said with a smile and a bow. “I also extend to you the hospitality of-” “Furthermore,” Tallic continued. “If this world is too dangerous, I reserve the right to cancel the mission and return without your artifact.” Diamond Tiara valiantly struggled over, a bucket of nails in her mouth. Steelskin used his own ability to secure the board he was holding for Crafty before reaching down and taking the bucket from her. “Thanks,” he said with a smile. Tiara mumbled a response and turned away. After setting the nails next to Crafty, he hopped down and followed Tiara to the planks. They had gotten hoisting the plank onto their backs down to a science and were soon moving back to Crafty. “I know you’re planning something,” Diamond whispered angrily. “Whatever,” Steelskin replied. “Just know that when you’ve realized I’m not like you were, we can be friends.” Steelskin noticed Diamond wince. “I said ‘were.’ You aren’t like that anymore. I can tell.” “You can talk at lunch,” Crafty interrupted. “I’m ready for that board.” #EG - 01# @Arrival + 1 month@ “Get in,” Tallic stated, pushing me into the portal and following through with his magically shrunken body. I had less than a moment to note the bold taste of transformation magic alongside something vaguely similar to the bitter tang of our jump bubble before I felt myself pulled through what I could only assume was a dimensional tunnel. I tried to step out of the portal as I reached the end and promptly fell on my face. I remembered the transformation magic and started examining my new body. I was hairless and was wearing clothes. My limbs were like that of a human except my skin was closer to the color of my fur than the pinkish tan of Alex and the others. As I stuck out my leg to see what kind of footwear I had, my pants pulled up to reveal a white sock. I blushed furiously as I pushed my pants back down to hide it. Luckily, my embarrassment over my indecency was cut short by a giant silver-grey mastiff stepping out of the portal behind me. “Hmmm... Hair, no wings, talons quite small. Teeth dull but still long, as is muzzle...” Looking over at me, he added more commentary. “Human...ish, no tail, coloration roughly the same, clothing...” I let him continue his assessment and looked around. I saw humans coming out of a big building. They seemed to be carrying books, so I guessed that it was a school. “I... am a dog.” I heard him say from behind me. Standing on two legs was difficult, but not quite as bad as I thought it would be. ...Up until Tallic nudged me in the back with his muzzle. “Come. I have the scent of the thief. I wish to make this quick, as this form is less than ideal.” With that, he started directly for the main entrance, everypo- everyone moving out of his way nervously. Arriving at the doors, he tried to nose one open briefly before turning back to me. “Move quickly,” he growled with a hint of nervousness. “I am more than half tempted to go back and tell them the mission is not worth the risk to us.” I wrapped a hand around a piece of metal seemingly designed to be a handle and gave an experimental tug. The door opened, but before I could do anything, Tallic pushed his way through, nearly tripping me, and started trotting down the hall. “Steelskin!” Twilight called. “I think I’ve done it!” Steelskin turned, almost losing his grip on the board he was holding. He quickly turned back and got it back into position. “Oh, sorry,” Twilight said as she realized she was interrupting. “Go ahead,” Crafty said. “We’ll call an early lunch. In fact, I think Tiara will be able to help me finish up, so take the rest of the day off.” Diamond Tiara was about to huff when she realized there was no insult. Instead, she gingerly put the nails she was holding back into the bucket. “Thanks,” Steelskin said before trotting off with Twilight. “Hey, Tiara,” Steelskin heard Crafty say. “I respect your tenacity. As a reward for your hard work, let me buy you lunch.” “So, you’ve gotten the portal magic finished?” Steelskin asked, trying to restrain his excitement. “I think so,” Twilight replied. “I want to get your opinion on if it seems right. I’ve triple checked the equations, but this isn’t like any spell I’ve worked with before.” #EG - 01# @Arrival + 1 month@ Suddenly, all around me, students filled the hallway. Everyone gave us a wide berth, especially when Tallic started growling draconic obscenities as he sniffed around. Tallic padded off towards a door, students hurrying to clear a path for him. “Come, I think I have the scent again.” As the halls emptied, we found ourselves at a door. “The scent is strong here,” Tallic stated, waiting for me to open the door. I grasped the handle and pulled. It initially caught, but I noticed the handle moved, so I tested how far I could turn it past horizontal. As I pushed it down towards vertical, I felt the latch disengage. Tallic, growing impatient, pushed me out of the way, grabbed the handle in his mouth, and yanked it open. “Well, I found the pony’s nest,” Tallic grumbled as he stared into a janitor’s closet. As he was nosing through a makeshift bed, a voice sounded from behind us. “Excuse me, but you can’t bring your dog in...” The teacher’s voice faded as Tallic locked eyes with her, almost level with her own. “Sorry, he’s a little protective of me,” I stated as she hastily moved out of the doorway to avoid Tallic’s exit. “That’s no excuse to bring him to school, and why are you in the janitor’s cl-” ~crash~ Tallic had headbutted a door. “This canine skull is too thin,” Tallic snarled before charging at the door again, splintering it at the hinges and latch. He shook his head, starting a new charge just as I caught up. I winced as the door broke free and clattered to the floor. “What is going on?” a woman sitting at a desk asked, a sign on the desk reading ‘Principal Celestia’. This world is too strange. “Why is there a large dog standing on the door to my office?” she continued. She looked at me, but Tallic answered. “We are searching for a tiara.” Celestia raised an eyebrow, apparently taking a moment to come to terms with a talking dog. Tallic’s eyes locked onto a display case holding the Element of Magic. “I need that crown and the thief that delivered it to you.” "Fluttershy is not a thief," Celestia replied angrily. This brought Tallic up short. “Fluttershy? ...No, even in a world such as this, Fluttershy would not... Besides, Sparkle said the thief had a red and orange mane,” Tallic muttered to himself. “Uhm...” I broke in. “Who has a m-who has hair that is red and yellow like flames?” “That sounds like Sunset Shimmer. She was just here asking who returned the crown as well. Also, that is school property and your... dog... cannot have it.” We were both distracted by the sound of shattering glass. Tallic had his forelegs on the top shelf, broken glass all around him, and the element of magic in his mouth. “Take it,” Tallic said around the crown. “And grab on.” Once I took it, Tallic bared his teeth at Celestia. “I’m s-sorry,” I stuttered as I climbed onto a snarling Tallic’s back. “I don’t think you’ll believe me, but this isn’t your crown. Celestia had put a strange stick thing with bulges at either end up to her head and was pushing buttons on a box that was joined to it by a weird curly rope. “It’s really a magic artifact from another world,” I explained as Tallic carried me out of the room. Steelskin entered the library and immediately got a whiff of portal magic. His heart threatened to burst out of his chest in excitement. He shakily followed Twilight down into the basement lab, growing more and more excited with every breath. All he could think was I’m gonna see Tallic again! “So I couldn’t get the thaumic field inversion ratio to fit PL-1’s description, but by combining...” Steelskin tried to follow Twilight’s explanation, but kept getting distracted by his memories of Tallic. “The drawback is that I’ve found so many worlds that I’ve virtually proved Heisenmane’s postulation of infinite realities,” Twilight continued. “Which, of course, means that it will be infinitely difficult to find a specific reality.” Steelskin choked at that realization. “But...” He knew there were a lot of realities out there, probably even infinite, but he hadn’t thought about the difficulty of finding the one you want. Twilight immediately realized what she had just said and how Steelskin would interpret it. “No, no! I’m sorry! I do have a plan!” Steelskin did his best to shake off his panic and waited for Twilight to continue. “You see, I should be able to get the mago-chaonic resonance of your breastplate, since it’s made from one of Tallic’s scales. While I don’t think I can find his home reality, I think I might be able to pull him here with it.” “Do you need to keep it for long?” Steelskin blanched at the idea of taking it off for more than sleep and showers - so much so that he’d had several long arguments with adults who thought it was improper for him to be wearing it to school, restaurants, the dance, and a few other places as well. Twilight’s ears pinned back, having heard about a few of those events. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to need at least a day to tune everything properly.” He took a deep breath and began removing it, already feeling exposed and defenseless. He understood roughly how Tallic had felt when he was turned into a dog, but now he was feeling it firsthoof. #EG - 01# @Arrival + 1 month@ Outside in the hall, all the students were gone, but there was a man in a blue shirt by the entrance door. I got scared when I saw something that looked like a smaller version of Matt’s gun pointed at us. I breathed a sigh of relief when he pointed it up and away from us. “Put the crown down and get your dog to back off,” The man ordered. “This is not your crown,” Tallic growled. “This belongs to a parallel universe. Even if it did, a costume jewelry crown is not worth people dying over.” I mentally facehoofed as the man pointed his weapon at us again. “L-let the child go... talking... dog,” The man stuttered. Tallic walked slowly towards the door, not taking his eyes off the man. “I am not holding him. He is riding me.” It took forever for us to reach the doors, the man asking where ‘animal control’ was and getting an answer from a black box that hissed and crackled as it spoke. I found out in another reality that it was called a ‘radio.’ As Tallic reached the doors, I felt him tense up as he turned away from the man to nose the door open. He quickened his pace as we left the school, but didn’t break into a run. ...Not until sirens started blaring and two metal and glass things came into sight with flashing lights. Once Tallic saw those, he broke into a gallop straight towards the portal, picking up even more speed when humans started shouting. I heard an explosion that sounded way too much like Matt’s gun just as we dove into the portal. My head slammed into the top of it, knocking me off his back, but I still ended up going through. Steelskin looked around nervously as he left the library. He felt like he might be attacked at any moment and, without his armor, he was getting overly skittish. “B-but she’s just a filly...” Steelskin heard Fluttershy stutter. “I am truly sorry,” Aloe’s voice answered. “But I will not have that daughter of Discord in this spa.” “Oh... okay... I guess...” Fluttershy said as Steelskin stopped at the entrance. Fluttershy saw him as she turned to walk out of the spa and froze. Steelskin could see her usual fearfulness change into determination. “...No, I’m sorry, but it’s not okay.” Fluttershy turned back to Aloe and looked her full in the eyes. “She’s already getting punished. It’s unfair to say that I can’t pay for a massage for her and her only friend. If everypony is going to be this mean to her, how will she even have a chance of becoming a good pony?” “But if we serve her,” Lotus said. “We will be losing other customers. It is just not a good business decision.” Fluttershy raised an eye as she turned to Lotus. “Really? There are enough ponies in this town that are unforgiving enough that serving one repentant filly will endanger your business?” It wasn’t a full ‘stare,’ but the twins still flinched and looked away. “No, it would not,” Lotus conceded. “You are right as always, Fluttershy. To show you I am sorry, I will give you Silver Spoon’s massage for free.” “Oh, no, I couldn’t do that. I’ll pay the full price,” Fluttershy responded, starting to sink back into her normal posture. “I do think you might lose a little business and I feel really bad about that, so let me pay.” Aloe shook her head. “But of course. Just remember that we owe you a favor for keeping us from being so horn-headed.” At once, she realized what she had said and added hastily “No offense to any of your friends.” “It’s okay,” Fluttershy said as she smiled condescendingly at them. “I forgive you.” Steelskin continued on his way, glad that Diamond would be getting a massage for her overused muscles. #EG - 01# @Arrival + 1 month@ “...world is dangerous. If you cannot destroy that mirror, at least lock it up in a way that keeps anything from coming through.” My vision cleared and I saw Tallic, back in dragon form, standing over me protectively as he argued with four alicorn princesses. As I got to my hooves and rubbed the lump on my head, Tallic noticed me. I saw relief in his eyes that changed to anger and fear as he turned back to Princess Celestia. “Humans are barbaric creatures and you had better pray that they do not decide to invade this world. If you will not take proper precautions, then do not seek me out for help when you find yourself facing a species whose sole reason for learning and inventing is to kill each other more conveniently.” Tallic sneered at them before grabbing me in a claw and leaving the castle. On the steps of the palace, he pulled off the band around one of his claws, returning to full size, and bent down for me to hop on. Soon we were flying out into the cold of the north as Tallic muttered about 'stupid grass-eaters.' “Steelskin! Steelskin! Wait!” Twilight called, galloping like a manticore was behind her. Steelskin stopped and turned as she caught up to him. She was panting heavily and had a pendant in her aura that smelled faintly of portal magic. “I... forgot to give you... this.” Twilight hoofed the pendant over to him. “It’s a stabilizing amulet. In theory, it should keep you from jumping.” “Thanks,” Steelskin replied, putting it around his neck and immediately feeling some of his fear melt away. “I’ll be making them for the other jumpers, but wanted you to have the first one.” As Steelskin continued on, he caught a glimpse of a familiar purple mare inside The Grain Bucket. Cheerilee sat at the bar, spooning salt into her cider.