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// MODE 
// Story: And It Was a Tiresome Dream, But Only Because She Wished It So 
// by Ditherer the Fussbudget 
//------------------------------//

“We must destroy this doorway at once!” Celestia said after her inspection. 

“You know what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

“I saw this same interference when Discord ruled Equestria, and in the laboratories of many inventors who never came into their own. Ponies who encountered it too closely were never seen again, and few could remember them. It’s a weakness in reality, a link to total nonexistence.” 

“Does that mean that all those people are...” Twilight didn’t want to say it.

“There’s no way of telling.” 

“But, but you enchanted the book, right?” Twilight smiled nervously as she waved a hoof at the journal. “You must have some way of bridging the gap.”

“I could enchant it while it was here in Equestria, for the same reason the Element of Magic retained its power in the other world. If that world is lost, I have no method of knowing, but if it isn’t it would be foolhardy to leave this portal activated. It could destroy the very reality of Equestria.” 

It said something about how far Twilight had come, that Celestia was trying to persuade her. The Princess had looked concerned from the moment her student mentioned fixing up the portal, though, and Twilight wasn’t fully convinced that this wasn’t what her fellow Princess would’ve counseled in any case. Or, at least, that’s what she told herself to keep from being persuaded.

“But if something’s happened to the human world, maybe it’s not the portal at all. You told me that sending in too many ponies would upset the balance between the universes, maybe that’s what caused it! If I can just work out what’s creating all of this extra entropy, I can set it right! Or maybe it’s something happening to the human world naturally, and Equestrians aren’t affected. Sunset might be there waiting for us to come and rescue her!” 

Twilight was getting more and more excited, and was about to start pacing, when Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. 

“I understand that you want to help, Twilight. It’s not easy for any of us to accept a loss on this scale, even potentially. The human world was like our sister, and we shall all mourn for it if it’s truly gone, but for now we can’t allow its disappearance to threaten our world.”

“Are you going to make me destroy it?” Twilight asked in a small voice. 

Celestia looked at her, but didn’t say anything.