//------------------------------// // Prologue: Through the Portal // Story: This Isn't In The Journal! // by Baileyjrob //------------------------------// The Mystery Shack was a simple place. It was, as the name suggested, little more than a shack. It had two simple floors, was made of wood, and the entrance was full of knick-knacks and other merchandise. A gift-shop and house all mixed into one. Yes, it was a very simple place indeed. Well, for the most part anyway. Upstairs lies a room. To many, it would seem to be an attic. That it was, but it was more than that. It was a bedroom for two. One was clearly a girl. Her bedsheets were a bright, hot pink. Over her bed hung many posters of boy bands, romance novels, and glittery stars. The other was clearly a boy; posters about mystery novels and... well, mostly geeky things posted up over his bed. On said bed lay a single boy, the very same boy that slept on this bed normally. He lay on his back, holding his book above his head, reading intently. All was quiet and calm in this simple shack, and nothing would ever change tha- "HEY DIPPER!" Dipper screamed in shock as his head jerked off the bed, making into the bedpost on its way up. He grunted and closed his eyes as he recoiled in pain and hissed, lifting his hand to rub his forehead where contact had been made, brushing aside his hair and revealing the tattoo of the little dipper constellation on his head. "Ugh," he said when he had recovered enough to speak. He turned to look at the twelve year old, brown haired girl that was now standing next to him. She was wearing a sweater with a cat on it, and smiling so wide her braces were practically gleaming. Of course, for her, this was her normal face. She was hardly ever without a smile on her face. "What was that for Mabel?" He said with a frown. "That was your birthday scream! AHHHH!!" She screamed, flopping her arms around in front of her. Dipper shut his eyes tight and covered his ears with his hands until the scream was over. When it was, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes, which he promptly rolled with a groan. "Mabel, our birthday isn't even for another week." "I know, I'm just so excited! We'll be teenagers!" She said, her smile never fading. She squeed a little right after as Dipper gave a sort of friendly smile, his anger having quickly faded. "You'll be in the same school-type thingy as Wendy," she said in a mischievous tone. He blushed despite himself and rubbed the back of his neck as she chuckled, before he gave a prompt cough as his blush rapidly faded. "No, I'm done with Wendy. Besides, we'll be leaving Gravity Falls before school starts. It doesn't matter either way." He sighed sadly as his face fell when that sentence sunk in. Even Mabel's smile turned into a slight frown. "This summer's been crazy, what with all the monsters and supernatural world-destroying threats. We fought gnomes, zombies, and sea monsters. I met the author of the journals. Heck, we've done battle with a reality shattering dream demon, TWICE, who still happens to be on the loose!" Dipper sighed once more as he looked down, the hat he perpetually wears covering his eyes. "How can we just go back after all that now?" "Yeah, I'm going to miss Candy and Grenda too." Mabel's frown turned into a sad smile. "I don't want summer to end either. But I'm sure you could still talk to Grunkle Ford about your geek-spiracies or whatever the junk you guys talk about. Maybe he'll even let you take one of the journals or something." Dipper looked up a little more, but still bears a sad look. "I doubt it. I'm sure he needs it. How can we leave with Bill on the loose? He could..." He immediately stopped, remembering that he can't tell her about the rift. Mabel's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he smiled nervously, hoping she didn't catch his slip up. "He could what? Do I need to beat up another unicorn?" He gulped and continues his smile nervously, sweat slowly beading down his face. She looks at him suspiciously for a little longer before smiling widely. "You're being weird again." He chuckled nervously and nods, hoping she simply leaves with that. She looked towards the ground and seemingly takes notice of something and grins. "I know what will cheer you up..." "What?" He says, his melancholy having been forgotten by his momentary fear and subsequent relief. He raises an eyebrow in nervous apprehension. She smiles and quickly leans over and grabs something, swiftly standing back up and shoving a pig in his face. "SUPER WADDLES!!" She yells. The pig oinks at Dipper in response, causing him to laugh. They both laugh together for a little while and sigh as their laughter subsides. "No matter where we go, we'll always have each other." Dipper smiles before the door bursts open. Standing in the doorway is probably the most buff old man ever to ever. "Great uncle Ford?" "Dipper! I need your assistance! I've done the calculations, and-" Ford stops, noticing Mabel there. He turns back to Dipper and signals him to follow before walking away. Mabel puts the pig down as Dipper scoots off his bed. "I'll be right back Mabel, Ford needs me." Mabel smiles and bats her hand. "Don't worry. You two go off and do whatever geeky things you do. Save the world or some junk." Dipper nods and gives a quick thanks before running out of their makeshift room. He runs down the hallway and turns in time to see Ford turn the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Dipper runs down two steps at a time and turns, seeing Ford motioning to him from behind the vending machine. To many, that vending machine was your average snack dispensing machine. But enter the code AB1C3 and you find a whole other world. To many, this was just a normal, quiet shack in the woods. To a select five people, it was more. To two, it was even more than that. Those two were currently on the elevator behind the machine, heading down to floor three. "The rift has been becoming even more unstable. For now it is still contained, but at this rate it will escape the containment orb by week's end." Dipper gains a look of fear on his face before acquiring one of contemplation. "But... if the rift escapes, Bill could use it to bridge the gap between our world and the nightmare realm." Ford nodded gravely. "Indeed. It would mean the end of the world as we know it... luckily I have a plan." The elevator opened and they stepped out into a large room. lining the sides of each wall were things no normal man could explain. Scanners, graphs, items, glyphs, all of it beyond the normal man's comprehension. Some of it Dipper understood, but the majority of it was a complete enigma to him. Ford confidently strode through, glancing at past or current projects of his. They walked to the other end of the room, looking through a window. On the other side stood a large metallic triangle device with a circle inscribed within. One might even say it looked like- "The portal?" Dipper inquired, confused. "But... you dismantled that. You said it was-" "Too dangerous, yes," Ford finished before Dipper. He turned and looked down to Dipper. "Unfortunately, it's our only hope now. The rift is too far to seal from this side. However, if I were to go back through, I could seal it from the other side." Dipper's eyes widened as he reeled in surprise and shock. "But... but if you did that you'd have to go back into the nightmare realm! Even if you succeeded, wouldn't you be stuck?" Ford closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, turning back to gaze up at the machine. "Normally, yes. But I think the gap is just large enough that I can squeeze back through the gap on the other side and close it behind me as I go. " Dipper opens his mouth to speak but Ford preemptively interrupts him. "Yes, that would tear the rift open again, but if I'm careful — and correct mind you — the new tear should be small enough that I can close it again from this side, this time permanently." Dipper closed his mouth, his question having been answered, and thought for a moment before speaking up once more. "W-what if you're not correct... or careful enough." Ford thought in silence for a moment before speaking quietly. "The rift will rapidly expand as it tears open and the nightmare realm is released upon the world." Dipper gasps loudly as Ford nods. "Gasp indeed. However, at this point that would only be speeding up the inevitable. Inevitable, that is, unless we go through with this plan." Dipper stares at the floor in stunned silence as helplessness floods through his veins. "But... can't we fortify? Protect ourselves from the nightmare realm without doing this." Ford nods. "There is. If I reverse the polarity of the portal, it would shoot outwards and create a bubble. I don't know exactly how large, but nevertheless it would. We'd have our own pocket of reality, completely shielded from the nightmare realm's influence. But if we do that... then everyone else hasn't even a shadow of a chance. Your choice." Dipper grits his teeth as he struggles, trying to decide. Guaranteed safety for us... or a chance at saving everyone. Eventually he nods and turns to Ford. "We have to go through the portal. We can't just leave everyone else." Ford smiles at this and nods. "You were raised nobly, Dipper. Good job." Dipper smiled outside, and beamed on the inside. He was getting praise from the author! It was still a shock to him that here he was, the author's only trusted confidante, when only a week or so ago meeting the author had been little more than a fever dream. Suddenly, he arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Wait, you were going to leave the fate of the world in a 12 year old's hand? Especially when you already knew what should be done?" Ford guffawed and wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, of course not Dipper! That was merely a test to see if I could trust you with the task I called you here for. You passed with flying colors." Dipper nodded as they both walked into the portal room to gaze up at the towering machine before them. "I'm going into that portal, but I can't take the journals with me. Should I happen to not come back, I can't let my research be lost. You might be able to use it to find some other way to stop the rift, and Bill while you're at it. That's not even mentioning what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands on the other side. I need you over here to be my operator. I have radios gathered from my multiverse travels that SHOULD allow us to communicate across the realms. I'll need you to be here to relay and info that I might need from the journals via radio." Ford kneeled down in front of Dipper and grasped his shoulder, one of his six-fingered hands placed on it. "Can I trust you?" Dipper nodded and Ford smiled. "Good. Now I just need to recalibrate the portal to account for a few remaining variables. Time doesn't work the same there as it does over here, and the rift hasn't helped. I need to make sure I don't get lost in time or anything like that." Dipper chuckled. "The one time you have to account for time as a dependent variable." Ford chuckled at that and walked back into the previous room to finalize the calibrations. "Don't step over that yellow hazard line!" He yelled as he left. Dipper looked down and noticed half of his foot was over, so he stepped back. He looked around and all the other science-y things laying around the place. One day he'd understand all of it, and that excited him. He walked over to the table and picked up the number 3 journal, gently touching the surface. It had been awhile since he'd had it last, and was excited at the prospect of using it again. He placed it under his sweater as he heard a door open behind him. He quickly pivoted around to see, not Ford as he'd expected, but Mabel walking through and looking around with an excited and awed expression on. "Woah, all this nerd stuff is INSANE! I should totally take Candy and Grenda down here some time." "No you shouldn't," Dipper spoke with a deadpan expression. "Candy would start touching everything, and Grenda would probably smash stuff... with her presence." Mabel chuckled. "Yeah... woah, is that the portal?" Dipper nods. "I thought you guys destroyed that or some biz." "Yeah, well it's fixed." Suddenly the portal turned on. Blue light shot out from the circle as glyphs lighted up along the sides. "Just a test run of the containment field!" He heard from the room behind him. He turned to give the thumbs up to Ford when he heard a scream behind him. He turned to see Mabel floating in the air. She was past the hazard line. She began to rapidly accelerate towards the portal. Dipper jumped to grab her, but ended up himself floating towards the portal. Ford, noticing this, rapidly scrambled to shut it off. He pulled the emergency shut off lever as everything rumbled. The twins flew through the portal as the whole thing rumbled and exploded, the whole thing falling apart. Ford ran into the portal room. Dipper and Mabel were nowhere to be found. "Oh sh-" "Uugh... my head." Mabel groans as she sits up and rubs her head. Dipper follows suit, and soon they both stand up and survey the surroundings. Around them are dirt roads going each and every way. Strangely made houses of plaster and straw roofs are scattered every so often along the roads. The moon was hanging high in the sky. On the side of the road was a sign, saying "Welcome to Ponyvile!" "Ponyville?" Dipper questioned, raising an eyebrow at the strange name. This seemed like a town, something one certainly wouldn't expect from a land of hellish nightmares. "Why is everything so... peaceful?" Dipper glanced around, confusion becoming more and more evident. "This is the nightmare realm, isn't it? Everything seems so calm and serene." They turned around, viewing everything. On one street lay a strange cart with hay piled on it. On another, a sort of outdoor bistro complete with flowers. In front of them was a giant tree with a doorway and balcony. It almost looked like... "a house?" Suddenly, he saw a large shadow pass over him. He looked up to see a sort of winged creature flying through the sky. He couldn't make out all the details, but it seemed equine in origin. Dipper quickly grabbed Mabel and ran inside the tree, wary of whatever beasts the nightmare realm would throw at him. Inside was a small sign saying "Golden Oaks Library." Books lined the walls, past which was a staircase leading up to an alcove he couldn't see. Mabel walked around investigating the place. On the wall were some pictures, more than one of which showed horses. He quickly saw a document listing librarians of this place, with the bottom name underlined saying "Twilight Sparkle," with the name "Spike" in parentheses next to the former. "Is this a library? Inside a tree?" Dipper asked. Mabel grabbed a book and turned to Dipper, showing off a book with a sort of strange horn with an aura coming off it as the title picture. "That is adorable and disturbing on a deep level," Mabel said in her ever perky and chipper tone. Dipper frowned, rubbing his chin. He pulled out a book, reading it. On the title said "Elements of Harmony: A Guide." He put it back and pulled out another, this one saying "Starswirl the Bearded," followed by another titled, "History of Equestria." Dipper mouthed out the word "Equestria," to himself, followed by a silent what? "But... I don't get it. Nothing horrible is happening. This can't be the nightmare realm. It couldn't possibly-" "Spike? Is that you?" They hear a female voice call from behind them. They both turn around to see a small lavender horse with a dark purple mane walking towards them. Also, it had a horn which was levitating a book in front of it. The horse's head was practically buried in the book. On its flank was a symbol of a large star with five smaller stars surrounding it. "I don't know why you'd be up at this time, it's very l-" the unicorn looks up and finally notices the two people in her house. Dipper stared on in complete shock as Mabel smiled, her pupils dilating. A pregnant pause stretched between them, before Dipper and the unicorn burst out screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" They screamed. Mabel looked between them before screaming herself for no good reason, then chuckling soon afterwards.