Dimension Jumper

by redtau

Things Fall Apart

Another month passed, and I was already dashing down the stairs toward the courtyard when Starlight spotted the delivery wagon. I ran outside and watched the single wagon land next to Steel and Lance.

"Just one?" I asked, "I thought we had ordered more."

"Most of what we need are little things." Steel assured me. "Nails, bolts, gems. Maybe it's a lighter load?"

The courier eyed me warily. "I have messages. Is there a Sarah Jordan?"

I stepped forward, and the pegasus handed me a thick letter with a flowing silver seals. I pulled it open and began shuffling through the legal length documents with tiny font and large words.

"Steel Strike, Lance, Starlight?" The courier called out, lifting an official looking scroll. The guards looked up, Star landing just behind Lance. Convinced that the guards had assembled, he unrolled the scroll and began to read. "You are hereby dismissed from this assignment and ordered to report Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in Canterlot for debriefing."

There was a sound of paper fluttering as my bundle of documents fell to the floor. "What?!" I cried out. "You can't take my guards."

"Um, I'm afraid I have to." The pegasus said. "I've brought what I could from the last order, but there are no more funds for this project." He pointed at the documents. "It should all be there, they made me stop by the Royal Treasury for the documentation before I left."

Steel was busy reading over the scroll. A frowned formed as he read, and deepened the further down the scroll he got. "It has the royal seal on it, the orders are valid." He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry Sarah, but it looks like we will have to go."

I felt a soft pressure across my shoulders and looked over to see Starlight. "It's not so bad Sarah, Lyra and Bonnie said they would visit today with the crusaders. You'll still have some help, and we've gotten all the big stuff done."

"The obvious big stuff. The castle still needs work in the side halls and guest rooms. I'm going to be running the kiln nonstop just to get enough brick to repair the southern tower." I shook my head in disbelief. "I can't believe we ran out of funds for such a large project in only two months."

"We will lodge a complaint and report when we get back." Lance said, "Right now we need to pack up and go, those orders want us to report in by noon, and Canterlot is two hours flight from here at least."

Steel was busy pulling a few large boxes of nails, bolts, screws, and even a bit of food from the back of the wagon. I now saw that it was the kind used for hauling ponies more than cargo, and the boxes had been stuffed between the two short benches.

---

I had retreated to the library and spread out the papers from the bank, trying to tie each reference and receipt to a bit of materials. I could see the payment to the contractors and the purchase of initial materials, then I could see the refunds from the contractors after the work was canceled. The funds were removed from a private savings account to one where frequent withdraws would not be a problem.

Then it got confusing. There were payments to hardware companies, transport companies, storage facilities. The names and invoices became more obscure, and at times it seemed like materials were being purchased from multiple places at once. Maybe they just didn't have everything in one spot? There were access charges, handling fees, and a number of other things, but the end result was that I had gone from a fairly large sum, over fifty thousand bits, to nothing in roughly sixty days. Some of the larger fees and charges had odd names or referenced the Equestrian government.

"What in the world is a Chrg PgGrdCp + promo and why does it cost nearly three thousand bits?"

BANG!

I dropped to the floor, a flight response as the sound of a gunshot rang out. It had been distant, from the side courtyard. I held my breath for a few seconds then ran towards the court.

BANG! BANG BANG!

The sounds came slightly muffled as I ran, but I heard the clinking sound of ceramics and came to a halt. Was someone attacking my kiln? I spun round and ran for the window. Looking out over the kiln I could see no one.

BANG!

A piece of brick shot past me, and I looked down to see a hole in the top of the kiln.

Sarah, what is-?

"NO!" I yelled, running for the stairs. "Nonononono NO!"

What? What is happening?

"The bricks! Someone made some of the bricks hollow! They are exploding!" I rounded the corner into the courtyard to the sound of another brick bursting. "We have to douse the fire and let them cool before they-"

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG

It sounded like machine gun fire, a whole layer of them right near the fire seemed to go off at once. I ducked into the stairwell as bits of smoking half baked brick soared past me. Warily I looked out to see if the worst was over.

It wasn't. With slow, almost graceful ease, the smokestack gently fell forward onto the kiln. With more oxygen, the fire raged up, blackening and cracking much of the finished brick.

There wasn't anything to do now but let it burn itself out.

---

Lyra wandered into the night court to find Sarah sitting slumped upon the throne. A goblet sat on one arm of the throne, and several stone bottles rested on the other. Several more stone bottles lay empty at her feet.

"Sarah?" she asked. The human looked up at her and smiled slightly.

" 'lo Lyra. Wheres Bonnie and the girls?"

"Sarah!" The crusaders yelled out, rushing over to her.

"Can you help us build a really big catapult?" Apple Bloom asked.

"What was all the smoke outside?" Sweetie Bell asked.

"Why do you smell like rotten grapes?" Scootaloo said, sniffing the air and pulling a face.

"Why do you smell like tree sap?" Sarah countered with a slight slur.

"Well thaths because we broke the firsth catapult." Twist said.

"We were thinking more of that other thing you mentioned to Lyra awhile back." Apple Bloom said. "A tray-boo-shay?"

"Trebuchet." Sarah mumbled.

"Yeah, that. We can get Steel ta put the pieces together, and then we can use bricks from the kiln as a counterweight to-"

" 's gone." Sarah said.

"Gone?" Scootaloo said. "What's gone?"

"All of it." the human mumbled, sitting up a little more. " 's all gone. The bricks are gone inta tha wall. Tha kiln's gone up in smoke. Tha guards 're gone, tha money's gone." She lifted the bottle to her lips and then pulled it away disapointedly. "Even the wine's gone."

"Sarah!" Bon Bon admonished, dropping the small satchel of gems on the floor and glaring at her. "How dare you behave so shamefully in front of children. You need to go clean yourself up and-"

"And what?" Sarah asked angrily, sitting upright in the throne. "Build the castle by myself? With no materials and a buncha kids? Break the curse on Princess Celeser- Princess Solisti- Princess Sun Butt's gilded cage? Then what? Wander the world with a personal demon at my heels? Go live with dragons and canids and the other MONSTERS?" She was standing now, and the crusaders had all backed away in fear and hurt. "Should I go crawl to the royals who spent all my funds and gave me no notice? Go beg Blue Blood for a loan so I can finish my grand summer home? Tell me what I should do sugar rump, cuz all I've ever done is run and there ain't any place to run to anymore."

"Sarah," Bon Bon said, trying to be gentle but firm in a delicate situation. "You need to calm down. I know you're upset, but if you don't get a hold of yourself you might start letting Nightmare out."

"YOU THINK SHE'S NOT?!" She screamed, and Bon Bon's pupil's shrank in horror as she saw Sarah's eyes turn turquoise and serpentine. The shadows seemed to gather around the throne, and the room felt cold. "You think someone as WEAK, as PATHETIC, as FUCKING USELESS as I am could EVER hold her back?" The torches around the room gutted and died, then relit with an eldritch blue and green flame. "The Night Court is in session my little ponies! Do you have anything to say?"

"Sarah stop it." Lyra begged, a cold wind seeming to blow through the room. "You are scarring the crusaders. You're scaring us!"

"That's what Monsters DO!" Sarah yelled back. The flames flickered and died, returning to the soft yellow they had been. The dimensional traveler, the great human, slumped low in the ancient throne.

"Sarah?" Apple Bloom asked, peaking out from behind Bon Bon.

"Go away." She said softly. She dropped the stone bottle and reached for another in a crate next to the throne. "Just go away and leave me alone."

Unable to find an argument strong enough to cut through her drunken stupor, Bon Bon ushered the girls out. Lyra was the last to go, looking sadly at Sarah before closing the court's great door.

"Go on an' go." Sarah said miserably to the empty court.

"It's what you're going to do anyway."

---

I sat in a window in the tallest tower, watching the sunset and trying to see Ponyville in the distance. The buzz from the wine was sliding slowly from a warm fuzziness to a dull ache, and I was gulping water from a pitcher to stave off the inevitable hangover. In the distance the blue sky began to fade to orange, painting the few clouds gold and purple.

Suddenly in the distance there was a boom, like from a jet breaking the sound barrier. The clouds were all pushed away by a massive rainbow colored shock-wave, and a single rainbow arced over Ponyville and back down.

I looked at it, at the magical sight of an artificial rainbow. I thought about how I was watching it from a haunted castle in a monster filled forest on another planet, and all I wanted was home.

All I wanted was a little job and a little apartment where the most excitement I could expect in a month was the phone bill. A life where a rainbow was the most magical thing I could see, and my mistakes only hurt me and no one else.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high

There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue

And the dreams that you dare to dream,

Really do come true."

Was I singing? why was I singing?

"Someday I'll wish upon a star

And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.

Where troubles melt like lemon drops,

High above the chimney tops,

That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly

Birds fly over the rainbow

Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow

Why, oh why can't I?"

I sniffled and dabbed at the tears on my cheeks, giving a little half smile before taking another swig of water.

---

Sweetie Belle ducked back around the corner, quietly making her way out of the castle. It isn't right. She's so sad and alone. I know she said she wanted us to go away, but she doesn't have anyone now. It's just not right. Sweetie began the long jog back to town, a determined look setting on her face as an idea formed in her mind. We owe her. She reunited us with Twist after almost two years of not speaking to each other. Besides, we've beaten up Sarah a bunch of times

How hard could it be to catch a demon?

Author's Note:

Another chapter in fairly short order.

I had been kicking around the idea of splitting this long story into several smaller ones, with the first break being just after Sara's defeat by the Elements of Harmony but before the trial. Since this has become a little more "slice of life" (as some of you pointed out) it might help the pace transition better.

Thumb if you want, comment if you like, PM if you have questions that might leak story elements. Probably going to add a few "cutting room floor" sections at the end of all of this.

Comments

[Dragonfox]

The last 3 chapter where grate. I do hope to see more. Keep up the good Job you are doing.

Dragonfox

[Skalula7]

MOAR! please :)

[redtau]

3474198
I'm working on it now, though I'm definitely going to have a "cutting room floor" section at the end of all of this.

[skultech]

So will she eventually start to hate the ponies? Cause all they're ever done (expect the kids and 5 others) was being selfish and being against her.
I don't care how harded she has become from her past travels, but there are limits to the bullshit people can take. To be honest if she hadn't broken down like this I would have stopped reading. Also doesn't she get the fact that without any funds she is basically gonna starve to death there?

[ShatterCore]

Why do I feel like that one noble who sent the assassin is behind the money running out?

[redtau]

3475458
Because you know how bastards think and have been paying attention.

[shapeshiftingpedro]

Hopefully the next chapter has some REAL action....