Dimension Jumper

by redtau

The Truth Will Make You Fret

The blast of energy swept through me like a storm, ripping away any defense I or Nightmare might have had. The spell cleansed Nightmare's thoughts from my mind and removed my access to her powers but only as a side effect. The main thing the spell did was bring me clarity. Terrible, horrid, near perfect clarity. The kind of unfiltered clear headed nature that drove Sherlock Holmes to cocaine and heroin. A thought, any thought, would bring a deluge of others as my mind made connections that were so obvious now I couldn't believe I had missed them before. Harold had forged the return letters. D and Machina were sweet on each other, if not in love. At least a half dozen of the Canid's here were a little too convincing zombies.

I clutched my head and tried hard to focus only on the now, fighting back the urge to reassess old mistakes and actions like my car crash. Surprisingly enough, I had Harold to thank for bringing me back to the present.

"LLIK REH!"

---

Twilight Sparkle cringed in sympathy when Sarah collapsed on the stage. She had designed that spell after the changeling invasion as a way to overpower the mind control changelings used on their hosts. When she had turned her report in to the princesses she had mentioned that a strong enough charge behind the spell might even counter Discord level mind manipulation she never expected to see it first hand.

Harold still lay bound on the floor in rope and cloth, but the Lunar Guard were up and moving again. Also recovering from their earlier battle with Sarah were the three brutes who had come to Harold's aid after he cheated in the duel.

"KILL HER!" Harold yelled, thrashing around in his bonds. The princess and her guards looked back in shock, while his three thugs resumed their assault. Each brandished a short sword and charged.

Twilight wasn't going to have any of that. Telekinesis charged through her horn and she tried to lock onto the blades before they could get too close. Her concentration was thrown when Sarah sprang to her feet and began to move.

Before, during the duel, it looked like Sarah was dancing with the brutes. She had dodged and weaved and moved in a graceful fashion. Now her movements were short, precise, powerful and terrifying.

The first pony swung downward at her, and she parried the blade up slightly with her metal arm. The parry slid down the sword, dipping under the assailant's chin to become a hard strike to the throat. The pony gagged, releasing his sword which fell into Sarah's open left hand. That same sword defended against the next two blows from the gagging pony's comrades before coming down hard, sideways, on his front left leg. There was a snap, and he fell to the ground in agony.

One of his comrades, enraged by how easily his friend was taken down, came in slashing. Sarah fell to her knees while deflecting his blow up before delivering a palm strike uppercut. The pony fell unconscious and dropped his blade, a number of his teeth still embedded in the grip.

The last of Lord Harold's hired help bucked and swung, trying to drive Sarah off stage or into Luna's guard. At last he tried a powerful thrust, only to have his opponent grab his blade and embed the tip in the stage floor. Unable to pull it out quickly and now weaponless, he turned and hurled himself out into the sea of creatures at the edge of the stage, all of whom quickly stepped out of the way and let him belly flop onto the cold stony ground.

There was a quiet moment as Sarah stood, took a deep breath, and seemed to focus herself.

"Etalsnart." Sarah said calmly, looking at Princess Luna.

"What?" Was Luna's eloquent response.

"Uoy dekconk ffo lla fo S'eramthgin srewop dna ehs saw eht eno ohw saw gnitalsnart rof em lla siht emit os uoy evah ot tsac eht noitalsnart lleps no em niaga."

Realizing what was going on, Twilight quickly cast a translation spell on Sarah. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you Miss Sparkle." Sarah said, recovering her sword from where she had dropped it. "Now, Lord Bright Harold, noble of Equestria. I, Princess Sarah Jordan of the Kingdom of Dreams do hereby charge you with attempted regicide, conspiracy to attempt regicide, accomplice to attempted regicide, accomplice to attempted kidnapping, slander, embezzlement, and being too stupid to live." She turned back to the crowd and spread her arms. "Before I pass judgement and have you immediately executed does anyone have anything to say in your defense?"

"What?" Luna asked again. "Sarah I'm glad that you are free of Nightmare's influence but you can't just-"

"I can't just what, Princess?" Sarah turned on her. "I can't meet out justice in my own kingdom? I can't take matters into my own hands? I can't have revenge upon those who would wrong me and mine?"

"You- I- This- This isn't a proper trial!" The princess objected. "There has to be a judge and jury and evidence provided to a fair and impartial third party. You can not just play judge, jury, and executioner!"

"Yuh huh." Sarah countered, pointing a finger at herself. "Tyrant. My kingdom, not yours. What you do in the rest of Equestria is between you and your sister but here in the Kingdom of Dreams my word is law. Unless Nightmare wishes to object, but I'm afraid I can't hear her right now."

Twilight was stunned. The thought of arguing with another pony was something she understood well. The thought of disagreeing with a princess was something she could comprehend, but could never see herself doing. But right now, right before her eyes, Twilight was watching Sarah Talk Down to a princess. The last creature who had come close was Discord with his sarky remarks about Celestia being so dull. Worse still, everything Sarah had said so far sounded right to Twilight.

"Are you still Nightmare tainted?" Luna asked, not believing what she was hearing. "Did the spell not work?"

"You mistake the dream and the dreamer Luna." Sarah said, turning her attention back to the bound noble. "Now, Lord Bright Harold, do you have anything to say in your own defense before-"

Harold's eyes were filled with green rage. Spittle was dripping from his mouth that was set in a firm grimace. At the tip of his horn was a spell charged to nearly six feet across. It was not his normal magical color but a sickly purple and green that seemed to boil and ooze.

"Hate." Harold said, the spell surging another foot in diameter. "HATE!" he yelled, rearing his head back to strike. "HATE!" he screamed as he launched his spell.

Right at Princess Luna.

Her thestrals, in a well trained response, tackled Harold. One even tried to tackle the Princess to the ground, but the mass difference and the fact that Luna had locked up upon seeing the spell come her way meant she didn't budge an inch.

It was lucky that someone was apparently throwing around suits of armor. The massive iron plated unicorn seemed to fall out of thin air, it's hooves embedding a good two inches into the stage right in front of the princess.

Instead of fizzling out like Harold's stun spell had done on my arm, the dark spell seemed to almost gnaw at the statue. The metal plating and helm of the unicorn lit with carved circles that flared and died. Fire and lightning seemed to fight with the dark spell as layers of protection were peeled away. Gems studded into it's flanks, shoulders, back and neck dimmed, and parts of the armor seemed to heat to almost red hot. After an entirety that lasted three seconds the dark energy rebounded up and out of the castle, streaking into the Everfree.

There was a heavy thud as a single pegasus drawn carriage dropped almost vertically onto the rear section of the stage, just barely missing the musicians.

---

I was stunned, absolutely stunned. That Harold was bat shit crazy I'd come accept, on top of his Darwin Award worthy stupidity. Attacking me, with Nightmare's powers, on NIGHTMARE NIGHT was the dumbest thing I'd thought I'd ever see him do. But to throw a spell at Princess Luna? It was like he wanted us to kill him!

I got my second shock when Starlight dropped the little carriage almost on my head. Steel Strike climbed out and walked over to the suit of armor while Star worked on unbuckling herself from the carriage. The helm turned to look at Steel, and he just smacked it on the back of the head.

"What in the name of Cerberus's chew toy did you think you were doing you idiot?!" Steel yelled. "Unicorns don't fly! The next time I see you try and jump out of a moving sky wagon in full armor I'll make sure you've got a rope around your neck so you hang yourself!"

"Hey, there wasn't any other way to get in place in time!" A muffled voice said from the armor. It took me a moment to recognize it as Bright Lance. "Besides, it worked perfectly!"

"Perfectly?!" Star screamed, marching up to Lance. "Looks to me like you burned out almost every gem you had! I can't believe you thought this would be a good field test!"

"It took the hit!" Lance seemed ecstatic. "Knocked out primary, secondary AND tertiary shields before the armor could deflect it but it took the hit! I'd be jumping up and down if I could."

"Why can't you?" Star asked.

"I think the joints are welded together. Unbuckle me?"

"My little ponies," Princess Luna said, calling their attention to her. "What exactly is going on here."

"Anti-Nightmare squad your highness!" Lance said, still facing the wrong direction.

"Actually, we are just an anti-magical threat squad." Starlight corrected. "Our time with Sarah taught us a lot about spell circles and gems, and we were trying to find an easier way to deal with large enchanted creatures."

"Face the princess when you speak to her!" Steel ordered Lance.

"Can't." Lance said. "The suit's knees are locked and I think the hooves are embedded into the stage. A little help?"

Luna's horn lit up, and a dark blue glow enveloped Lance's armor only to fade and slide off. "We cannot touch it with our magic!"

"Anti-magic armor." I said, nodding and looking it over. The clarity spell was buzzing away in my head, analyzing the seals and circles and working out ways to improve upon them.. "Very nice. If you used arcane trace back lines from energy absorption circles instead of dispersion for the shields you could draw power from your opponents attacks to recharge those gems."

"Oooh, that's a good idea." Lance said. "Then I can add in those jump circles on my hooves to give me a speed boost and WHY ARE YOU HELPING ME BUILD ANTI-YOU ARMOR?!"

I shrugged. "Cuz it's neat?" A sound of chains drew my attention back to Lord Harold, who was currently being hoof-cuffed by the thestral guards. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Arresting this scoundrel who would dare to attack our princess." One of the thestrals said.

"Nuh uh." I said, waving my hands. "He's mine. He attacked me first, I've got dibs."

"Sarah, he is a noble of Equestria." Princess Luna said, placing a hoof on my shoulder. "Casting a clearly offensive spell at me is tantamount to treason."

"It's PRINCESS Sarah, your majesty, and I don't care." I said shrugging off her hoof. "He's my prisoner first."

"Guards," Princess Luna commanded of her thestrals, "load the traitor onto the sky wagon, that he may be taken to Canterlot for trial." Her guards all looked looked around nervously. "Guards?"

"But," one of the said. "But she called dibs."

There was a soft smack of dark horseshoes against alicorn skin as the princess of the night face hoofed. I had picked up my sword and was advancing on Harold. "Don't worry your highness, you can have whatever is left of him once I'm done. You'd have trouble holding him in a cell anyway, what with the him following Sobra's path."

"What do you know about Sombra?" Twilight asked. "How would you even know what that kind of corruption looked like?"

"Nightmare told me." I said, trying to step around the thestrals who were doing their best to work out who had greater ownership of Harold.

"How would Nightmare know?" Princess Luna asked. "My sister and I fought Sombra before that monster infested my mind. Was Nightmare in the Crystal Empire before it fell?"

Silence filled the courtyard.

"OK, look. In her defense, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"What did?" Twilight asked, climbing on stage. "What seemed like a good idea?"

"There were a lot of dark things near the Crystal Empire around the time Discord was causing chaos in Equestria." I said. "And King Sombra wasn't making as much headway with the Crystal Heart shield as he'd hoped so..."

"Soooo?" Twilight encouraged in the tone of a parent waiting for their child to admit to breaking the window.

"So Nightmare... sort of... encouraged.... alternative research."

"NIGHTMARE TOLD SOMBRA TO RESEARCH DARK MAGIC!" Princess Luna screamed.

"Hey," I said, "The shadow beasts up there had just kidnapped his wife and he was running out of time and options. Nightmare didn't know he'd go full on dictator."

"Next you are going to tell me she's responsible for the changelings!" Princess Luna yelled.

I grinned sheepishly.

"SHE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CHANGELINGS?!" Screamed the princess and about a dozen others.

"Yelling at me isn't going to do any good right now!" I yelled back. "Nightmare can't hear you because SOMEPONY decided it would be a good idea to lock her away and leave me vulnerable." I got tired of dancing back and forth with the thestral between me and Harold and simply shoved him out of my way. "So you can drag me back to the palace and parade me through a mock trial and imprison and banish me for whatever Nightmare did thousands of years ago." I raised my sword over the unconscious body of Lord Bright Harold. "But before you do any of that, I'm going to make sure this bastard never hurts anyone ever again."

From out in the Everfree there was a loud crashing sound, followed by a deep bellowing roar.

"NOW WHAT?!" I demanded.

The stars beyond the courtyard wall shifted, moving and rising across the night sky. But this was not the work of the princess. These stars weren't in they sky. They were in the forest. And they had claws.

"Wha- WHAT IS THAT?!" somepony shouted, and the thing roared again, and brought down a massive claw down towards the castle. The ancient spell that kept the creatures of the Everfree out became visible for a fleeting moment, and I saw just how badly a thousand years of neglect had worn on the shield. It was thin, like spider string, and cracked and broken in places. With another blow the shield started to buckle and break, and everyone started to run.

Author's Note:

Hooray another chapter.
Sorry for the delay, I've been sick.

Comments

[Max Caulfield]

Wow. another great chapter, red! Oh, and thanks for using my OC.

[Moon_Dew]

ENOUGH WITH THE CLIFFHANGERS!!! IT'S TORTURE OF THE WORST SORT!!!

[Mad Maudlin]

Luna really needs to have the entitlement smacked out of her mouth.

[skultech]

You know I'm glad the moment Sarah finally got tired of all the bullshit arrived. The amount she took and the reactions to it were just to distanced.
Also fun to see the three stooges again.

[Tek]

I have to admit I am really starting to itch on the wait to see the princesses reaction when all of Harolds crimes are laid before them

[Crosshair]

... Sometimes this story is cool. sometimes it feels like a power fantasy. Seeing Sarah try to get along with the ponies, making cool nightmare night stuff? that was cool. But... well, sometimes the actions of the fearful ponies, like princess luna, are just... presented stupidly. Their point of view is portrayed ONLY as callous and paranoid, and their interpretations of Sarah and the nightmare are only shown as insane zeal. Nothing they do is sympathetic, and often shown as un-intelligent. Really, the whole situation is a clusterfuck, and the inability of the various ponies to try and work together with Sarah to solve the problems or even show empathy feels like bad character lazy character design... making them flat for convenience, rather than having legitimate worries.

Sarah might be the protagonist, but her intelligence and ability do very little to offset her more... unlikable, manipulative, and callous and sometimes arrogant personality. She's under a lot of stress, yes, but 'being surrounded by idiots' doesn't make her easy to sympathize with. She's trying, yes, but her sarcasm and cynicism can be just as... detrimental as the ponies actions. I realize it's supposed to be symbolize how Sarah is more... worldly or wise, and how her self reliance is supposed to be an admirable trait... but i feel like i've been bludgeoned by that fact in every chapter. I get it, Sarah is being unfairly maligned, even though she's smart and strong. Her anger and dislike of the ponies is justified.

But I haven't seen her really GROW or change or learn anything throughout the story. She's never tried to find anything good about a ponies way of thinking, never seen them as anything but paranoid backwater beings. For all her scheming and social manipulation, everyone has to realize that SHE'S the one worthy of respect or empathy, or that they were mistaken about her. She's never been wrong or forced to reconsider her actions as unjustified. Anything she's done to 'prove her character' has been treated as something she shouldn't be doing, or an unjustified punishment.
I think that's what bugs me most about everything that Sarah's done: it's treated as a methodology or route that she's been forced to take because of her situation to get what she wants. It's incredibly rare that she actually connects with anyone that isn't exactly like her, or that she isn't using explicitly for her own gain.

I do like the world building you've done with the story, and Sarah. The humorous moments are great: I find Luna's increasingly incredulous remarks when Sarah explains the problems the Nightmare made one of the crowning moments of the chapter.
But... really, isn't that also kind of a hint? That something about Sarah and the Nightmare's methods just ISN'T working? That deceit, manipulation, and using dangerous power or questionable means tends to make things WORSE, not better?

A lot of the problems could be solved if the ponies were more tolerant, yes... but at the same time, I kinda get the feeling that Sarah's life would be a lot easier if she was more open and forgiving of others, at the same time. It's hard to have faith in Either the ponies or Sarah, at this point.

[Spartan Brony]

5252365 I would have added enoungh with the fucking cliffhangers

[Aziraphael]

I'm not sure how I feel about the giant starbeast attacking the castle right at this moment... This could have been a big turning point in the story, where Sarah learned something about forgiveness and effective leadership and the ponies learned something about how paranoia can destroy understanding and tolerance, but instead, giant monster attack.

And Sarah STILL hasn't made any attempt to prove her case against Harold. Machina has all the data already sorted and examined. She could present it anytime she wants. Standing up for her kingdom is one thing, but intentionally taking the ignorant and difficult path, especially while under the effects of a "clarity" spell just makes no sense. Just like revealing Nightmare's involvement in those past events in the worst possible way makes no sense. Sarah didn't even come to the realisation that Twilight of all ponies did in the last chapter, that all of this could be fixed if she and Luna spent five minutes actually talking instead of just butting heads.

A lot of what Crosshair said rings true, especially about Sarah's lack of development as a character. Being cynical and manipulative and all that is fine, but this was her chance to realise that sometimes that's not the best response to anything and everything you meet, and it's being buried under yet another kingdom-ending crisis.

[Moon_Dew]

5253430 Maybe that mean's the story isn't going to end that quickly.

[Aziraphael]

5253510
Well, there's still a lot that could happen after that. I mean, hashing things out with one princess and getting a bit of understanding going doesn't fix how the rest of Equestria sees her, it doesn't explain Celestia's possibly intentional loopholes, it doesn't explain why Harold is so bent on getting the castle, it doesn't end Sarah's difficulties in dealing with all the other nations on the plant, or even how her people will deal with Equestria, it doesn't cut off the possibility of her actually helping them for once instead of immediately deciding that since she's been cast as the villain that's exactly what she'll be, or any of the other ways that the story could develop.

But a story without character development gets old, and that's the trap that keeps getting stepped in here. The initial shift in her personality, back when she played the "villain" in order to get sent home was interesting, and a believable shift in her character. But after that point she just keeps falling into the exact same role and the exact same traps over and over again with no sense that she's learning or growing over time. Even now, while supposedly under the influence of a "clarity" spell, there are several very, very obvious flaws in her methods that should have become clear to her that she's not seeing.

And now with the attack, it just feels like problem is being piled on top of problem without any of them ever actually being resolved.

[Kenshinryuu]

"URSA MAJOR!" yelled Blaze, "VERY ANGRY URSA MAJOR!!! FOALS AND CIVILIANS HEAD OUT THE NEAREST EXIT!"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, URSA MAJOR FEEDERS YAY!" yelled four fillies as they tossed the still bound Harold into the jaws of the giant star bear.

If either of these gets used I'll be happy.

I think the Clarity comes with a lack of tact, most of what Sarah said made things worse. But I can't see Luna denying Harold is up to something. I do think Sarah should have just gone for gelding Harold before handing him to Luna, that will show she's serious but not ready to kill everyone.

The return of the Anti-Nightmare squad was great, especially Lance dropping down to shield Luna from Harold's crazy attack. I'm starting to think HAROLD of all ponies is possessed by something.

5253430 You're right, it would have been good to see the Ursa Major attack AFTER everything had been cleared up.

[shapeshiftingpedro]

5252772 More forgiving of what??? Luna is being a paranoid dck, never listening to the full story. Sarah keeps trying her best to show everyone that she just wants to go home, but gets screwed over by Luna, Harold, etc. (P.S. Luna, sane or insane, would never all-out defend a noble of Blueblood-esqueness. She'd try to get by with the bare minimum of "He has committed an act of treason and shall...you wish to trial him under your own rule? Very well. Just remember to give him anesthetics before removing his tongue.)
I find it funny that the only way Sarah was able to defeat the lies and deceit being used against her was to use manipulation and deceit herself.
By the way, what happened to the Luna that watched her set up the Elements to trigger the portal home, the Luna that saw the art and 'victory victuals'? 'Cause honestly, it seems like all these interruptions are happening just to extend the storyline. If anything, the one who is at fault here is the author giving the ponies 'the idiot ball', and giving Sarah the 'interrupted speech curse'.

Also, Harold appears to be possessed by Sombra, of all things. Might just even be a de-powered Sombra, trying to get another empire of slaves.

[redtau]

5259814 It was supposed to be sombra like, like how Twilight's eyes were after looking through the door.

[Snowkitsune]

Can we Please please pretty please get some Moar?

[redtau]

5570646
My apologies to you and all of my loyal readers. Events in real life, primarily planning a wedding, have conspired to prevent me and my beta reader from continuing this story at the current time. I'll try and write some more once I've got most of the contracts finalized.

[Kichi]

I can understand you have your own life but... Do you think you have or could have a release date about the next chapter?