//------------------------------// // [Edit] Chapter 4: Portals and Bloodshed // Story: My Little Caelan: Lume is Magic // by Falx_of_Lume //------------------------------// “Uuuugggggghhhhh, cooooommmmeee oooooooooooonnnn Twiliigggghht.” Rainbow Dash groans out impatiently. “Rainbow, this is very important, one mistake could have disastrous consequences while we’re on a foreign planet.” Twilight says to Rainbow Dash. “But you’ve been talking for hooouuurrss! Let’s just gooooooooooooo!” Rainbow Dash whines. “I’m just trying to cover all of our bases to make sure we’re prepared. This next point on my checklist is the last one, can you just sit through one more Rainbow?” Twilight asks. “… Fine.” Rainbow answers. “Good. Ehem… ‘Make Rainbow Dash Pinkie Promise to not threaten, provoke, offend, attack, or incur the anger of any of the inhabitants of the new world we are visiting until the time in which I say that she is allowed to.’ which should be enforced by Pinkie since she’s coming with.” Twilight says before looking at Rainbow expectantly, the other six mares gathered doing the same. Rainbow looks at Twilight incredulously. “You actually put getting me to Pinkie Promise in your massive checklist?” “Yes, I did, and I’m not opening the portal until you do.” Twilight says in a no-nonsense tone of voice. “Ugh, fine! Cross my Heart and Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye! There you happy?” Rainbow asks hotly. “Very.” Twilight says, satisfied. “Then I do believe it is time for our departure Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Luna says to Twilight. Twilight winces at the title. “Heh, you know, you don’t have to call me by my title Princess Luna. I would actually prefer it if you didn’t, actually, since we’re friends.” Twilight says to Luna. “Hmmm, then why is it that you can call me by my title?” Luna says with a reflective look on her face. “Wha…well… I mean… that is to say… um…” Twilight stumbles on her words at that revelation. Luna gives a laugh at Twilight’s lack of a proper response. “I only jest Twilight. But since we are friends, I also would prefer it if you just refer to me as Luna.” She says after Twilight recovers. Twilight sighs in relief that Luna isn’t angry at her. “Alright Pri- Luna, I’ll drop the title from now on.” “You know… I wouldn’t mind just being called Celestia every now and then.” Celestia says aloud. “Alright, I get it, no more Princess titles between friends.” Twilight says aloud. “Would you just open the dumb portal already?!” Rainbow bursts out, frustrated at the lack of anything besides talking happening. “Rainbow Dash! Your behavior is most unbecoming of an ambassador of the planet.” Rarity scolds the pegasus. “What? I just want to leave already. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can start showing the aliens how awesome I am.” She replies impatiently. Celestia giggles at the cyan pegasus’s behavior. “I think you’d best leave now Twilight, Rainbow Dash doesn’t seem like she can hold out much longer.” She says to Twilight. Twilight and the others minus Rainbow give small chuckles at Celestia’s words. Twilight starts to concentrate on the viewing spell, trying to find the world she and Celestia decided on visiting. After a few moments of searching, she found it, and smiles at her success. “Okay everypony, the spell is ready, is there anything anypony forgot?” Twilight asks the group. Eveypony but Pinkie Pie shake their heads in the negative, Pinkie looks to be in thought for a few moments before looking like she just remembered something… before shaking her head in the negative. “Ooookay then, here we go.” Twilight says, her horn already glowing to alter the spell from viewing into rift. FWOOM The viewing disk’s edges change to an translucent red and the inside becomes transparent, with only a mild amount of light distortion. The portal is now open. “Okay everypony, let’s go!” Twilight calls out to the rest of the group before stepping through the rift. Twilight thinks she heard Celestia call out ‘Good luck my little ponies’ before she was completely inside. She wasn’t sure because she was focusing on the feeling of traveling through space and time at a speed that would normally disintegrate anything in the physical world. ‘Wow, this is a lot different than when I went through the mirror,’ Twilight thinks. ‘it felt like I was twisting and turning in every possible direction back then, but this… this just feels like I’m shooting forward at an incredible speed. Rainbow’s probably enjoying this right now.’ And then suddenly, Twilight finishes taking that single step she took to get into the portal. And when she does, she realizes that she’s on the other side… and in a new world. Twilight’s friends and Luna come out of the portal behind Twilight. Twilight feels herself smile knowing that her spell worked, and looks around to see where she is. The first thing Twilight notices is that she and her friends stepped out into what appears to be a training courtyard, similar in size to what the royal guards at Canterlot use. The second thing Twilight notices is that there are three dragons of different colors in front of them, one silver with sky blue highlights, one dark purple with lighter violet highlights, and one dull orange with lighter orange highlights. The third thing Twilight notices is that they appear to be staring at Twilight and her friends in shock, ‘Not very surprising considering we just walked out of a portal that appeared out of nowhere.’ The last thing Twilight notices is that she’s standing in a growing pool of blood. ‘Wait WHAT?!’ Twilight thinks in panic before looking back down to her hooves to see that there is, indeed, blood spreading out on the ground from some point behind Twilight. Twilight’s friends follow Twilight’s eyes and see the blood themselves. They all gasp in horror at the sight of so much blood. But then Twilight hears somepony else’s gasp, but this one sounded much more choked, and filled with a lot more pain. Twilight spins around to look back at the portal… which is bursting out of the chest of a black and white dragon. “CLOSE THE PORTAL!!!!” A voice shouts at Twilight. Twilight jumps before doing exactly that, the panic she’s feeling being all the motivation she needs to follow the command. The portal closes with a fwoom and the dragon collapses forward into the pool of his own blood. “METUO!!!” The orange dragon calls out before the three dragons rush past the ponies to the fallen dragon. The other ponies seem to be going through different methods of freaking out. Fluttershy is hyperventilating, Rainbow Dash and Applejack look like they’re going to be sick, Pinkie Pies mane is down and straight, Rarity is freaking out over the blood on her hooves, and Luna is trying and failing to keep her composure, unable to ignore the gruesome injuries inflicted on the dragon. And as for Twilight, all she can think is four words. ‘What have I done?’