A Scientific Breakthrough

by Eruedraieth

Chapter 13 - ...But close enough to touch

The portal closed after everyone arrived on Earth.

"Hm, I guess we will have to find a way to re-create a portal then..." I said, wondering why the portal closed itself.

The others were still fazed from travelling through the portal, so I took the time to check my surroundings. We were in a very familliar place...

"Hold on... Are we in the lab?" Michelle asked.

"I think so, but not in the main part.... We're in the closed off area..."

"Don't tell me we are inside of that area you simply refused to talk about because it was too dangerous to know what was behind it..." Michelle said.

"That's the one.. Luckily, it looks like the 'dangerous' part either does not exist anymore, or it's hiding somewhere." I responded.

"What was so dangerous you had to close off an entire area for it?" Twilight asked, curious to why I would do that.

"Let's just say I had to cover up an experiment gone wrong in this part of the lab. I don't want to find out what happened to that thing, nor do I wish to stay here. Help me with this door, will you?"

Michelle helped me break open the door using a piece of metal she found on the ground, and we quickly barred off the door once we got through.

"We should be safe now. Did the three of you look at yourselves by the way?" I asked Twilight, Night and Luna.

"No, why-" Twilight gasped when she saw what I meant. All of them had human bodies now, with clothes matching their hair styles.

"How did we manage to walk over here? Surely us being humans now should interfere with our walking skills?" Night asked.

"I think your bodies automatically adjusted to this world. Which included things like walking and such. Looks like you kept your flamboyant colours though, Twilight!" I said, commenting Twilight's purple hair and pink streak.

"Flamboyant? I'm not sure if I should be offended or not." She responded.

"Well, you don't usually see that style of hair here on Earth. Earth's a pretty dull place all things considered, compared to your colourful world."I said. "Oh well, guess we'll just figure out an excuse for it. Let's go the the actual lab, maybe one of my assistants will be around there."

We traversed the long corridor towards the main lab, and Cheryl was sat on a bench, her head in her hands. The sound of sobbing was heard.

"Cheryl, why are you crying?" Michelle asked.

Cheryl perked up at the familiar voice calling her name. "Michelle! And Joshua! What happened to you guys?! I had to endure 6 hours of not knowing what to do without you!"

"Did you just say 6 hours?" I asked.

"What else would I have said? Don't you know how long you've been gone for?" Cheryl responded.

"Umm, we were gone for atleast 6 weeks..." Michelle said.

Now it was Cheryl's turn to be surprised. "So you travelled to God knows where for 6 weeks, and came back here 6 hours later? How does that work? And who are all these other people you brought with you?"

"My name is p-" Luna wanted to say, but I cut her off.

"This here is Lilian, the one with the purple hair is Tracey, and the one with dark blue eyes and hair is Nicole." I introduced.

"You three have... interesting hair styles." Cheryl said, unsure what to say.

Luna, Night and Twilight looked at me as if I've shot a dear friend of theirs, but didn't speak.

"They came from that world we travelled to with the solution. They simply wanted to see what Earth was like." I said.

"Did you.. come from the closed off area of the lab, by the way?" Cheryl asked.

"Yeah, we did. Joshua said that whatever was back there is gone now, though. We barred up the door again just in case." Michelle answered.

"Joshua...?" Night asked, slightly confused.

"Oh I apologise, I never told you my name from Earth." I said.

"Why didn't you....?" Cheryl asked, but I cut her off.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters now is that I won't be staying here for long. Well, atleast untill we figure out a way to recreate the portal." I said.

"I think I'll go back with you too, Joshua. I much prefer that world over this one." Michelle said.

"Alright, well that means I will promote you to head of this lab, Cheryl. You can now call this lab your own, take good care of it. Oh and keep that closed off area closed off, for now. I think that might be an ideal place to create a permanent portal from here to the other world. I'll still hold a share in the lab, but it will be mostly yours." I said.

"Wow, really..? I..." Cheryl stammered.

"If I'll be staying here, I can't maintain this lab. And I have seen your dedication to this lab. Since Michelle is going back with me, this leaves just you to uphold the state of this lab. We will be coming back from time to time though, don't worry." I explained.

"Okay, thanks! Where will you go now?" Cheryl asked.

"I think I'll go pay my mother a visit. I haven't seen her for a while, and I could explain what happened here today. I'm sure she wouldn't mind a few others staying, either. What will you do, Michelle? Will you come with me or visit your own parents?" I said.

"I think I'll visit my parents. If I'm going to stay in Eque- I mean the other world, my parents might want to know." Michelle answered.

Luckily, Cheryl was paying attention to Twilight inspecting the lab to not hear Michelle's answer. "Careful with that, that's highly volatile stuff."

Twilight placed the test tube she lifted back down. "What's in it?" She asked, her curiousity sparked by all the strange substances in the rack.

"Substances which are very unstable, and need some time to properly mix together to create a stable product. You might not want to linger around those too long." I said, acknowledging Cheryl's concern.

"Okay. And what's this for?" She said, pointing at a centrifuge.

"That machine is used to seperate two substances from each other. We don't use it much, but when we work with microorganisms we use it to retrieve the organism from a produced sample.

" Interesting.... Mind if I take some notes? " she asked.

" By all means, go ahead. Maybe Cheryl can tour you around? " I suggested.

" Sure. Follow me, Tracey. " Cheryl said, beckoning the human-turned mare to follow her.

When they left to explore the rest of the lab, I took the others to the lounge room and made some coffee.

" Anyone fancy a cup of coffee?" I asked.

" Pour me one. " Michelle said.

" I could do with some aswell, after that Night Court. " Luna said.

" What is that, coffee?" Night asked.

Luna looked at her as if she just killed someone. " You were part of me, and you do not know what coffee is...?"

"That does not mean I shared everything with you. We are still two separate entities. " Night said.

" I suppose that much is true. Anyway, coffee is a warm beverage containing caffeine. It is great for those moments where you just do not have any energy left. " Luna explained.

" I would like a cup then." Night said.

" I don't drink coffee myself, but I figured you would've. I got my own stash of drinks here... " I said as I pulled the fridge open and took a bottle of ice-tea out of it. I poured coffee for the three of them, and handed over their cups.

" You and your ice-tea.... Some things just never change. " Michelle remarked.

" Speaking of change.... Could we still use our magic here? I doubt your magic will work, but Runecaster magic might work. " I wondered.

" Try it. " Luna said.

I baled my hand up, and tried to generate an electric current. I heard a faint crackle, and opened my hand to see streaks of lightning bounce between my fingers.

" I can feel it's weaker here.... but it works. " I said, looking at Michelle expectantly.

Michelle took the hint, and used the coffee in her cup to test her own magic. And indeed, it started floating, albeit rather slowly.

" That means Twilight can use her magic here too. " I said.

" She's most likely made even Cheryl bored by now. I mean, I like science and learning about new things, but there's such a thing as overdoing it. " I said. " And Twilight is pretty good at it. "

"Both at overdoing it and learning, you mean. " Michelle commented.

" Definitely. I never indicated what she was good at "

" So, you said we were going to visit your mother? " Luna asked.

" That I did, yes. You don't mind, do you? Not like the names I made up for you back there. I'd rather keep where you came from a secret for now. " I said.

" We do not mind the names or the visit to your mother. But why do you want to keep our world a secret? " Luna said.

" If the people here knew what kind of resources you have back there, Equestria would be overrun in no time. Not to mention me and my assistants being interrogated. The less people know, the better. They will probably find out eventually, but I hopeI could amass some kind of defensive force if it comes to it. " I said.

" You would fight for Equestria, and against your own kin..?" Night asked.

" You out of all people should know when a cause you believe in is worth fighting for. For you, it was an unfortunate decision,but for me... I've seen the peace in your lands. I know what would happen if greedy and power hungry humans arrived there. Utter chaos would ensue, with Discord enjoying himself aswell. "

"I have seen such wisdom only once before in my life, when Celestia banished me and Nightmare Moon to the moon. She knew she had to, even if that meant sacrificing those dear to her. " Luna said.

"Thanks, I guess, but I'm just doing what I feel is right." I replied, as I looked over to one of the tables.

"Hey, that's my phone! I wondered where this was!" I said cheerfully, and walked over to collect my phone from the table.

"Your... what?" Luna and Night said in unison.

"Yeah, what is that?" Twilight asked as her and Cheryl walked into the lounge room.

"You mean you've never heard of a phone before?" Cheryl said, surprised.

"Their world isn't technologically advanced as here, rather... in other areas." I explained. "Anyway, a phone is a device used to make calls to other phones. This model is a "smart" phone, able to connect to something known as the Internet. You could see the internet as a massive digital library. It is more than just a library though, there's lots of other things you can do with it."

I unlocked my phone to find a message waiting for me from a friend of mine.

From: Robin

Hey Joshua,
I haven't seen you for a while now. Maybe we could go catch a movie or something sometime? By the way, check this picture, it's hilarious. (image)

I chuckled when I looked at the image he sent me, and replied with saying that I was rather busy and had no time for a movie, but asked him to visit me the next day, and that I wanted to show him something.

"I assume you have seen something funny on this device of yours. It looks rather odd seeing you smile to what appears to be an inanimate object." Night said.

"Well, as I said, you can call others, but also text them. I've recieved a text, containing a funny image I doubt you will understand the meaning of. Also, in that same text, a friend of mine asked if he could see me sometime soon, so I replied that he could come by my appartment tomorrow. I'm not planning on staying at my mother's home very long, maybe untill after dinner."

"Could I see your 'phone'? I'm interested to see what it's able to do." Twilight said, her curiousity overtaking her.

"Sure, I'll just show it to all of you." I said as I walked back over to the table where Night and Luna were sitting, and Twilight sat next to us aswell.

I opened various apps, ranging from Google Chrome to my music player, a game I usually play on my phone, and my Gmail app. Obviously, I had to explain what each app was capable of, and to minor detail the kind of music I listened to, what the game I showed was about, and what kind of things were possible with Chrome.

By the time I was done explaining, half an hour had passed. Looking at the time on my phone, it said it was 17:28. I quickly sent a message to my mother telling her I would come over, including a few friends.

"Well, time to go to my mother. By the time we get there it will probably be around 18:30, a good time for dinner in my honest opinion." I said. "Since you own the lab now, you can decide what to do, Cheryl. I'll probably come back tomorrow to see if we can generate enough power to get a portal back up and running again."

We said goodbye to Cheryl, and parted ways with Michelle who went to her own mother. I took Twilight, Luna and Night to my car, a midnight silver metallic Tesla Model S 85D, with four-wheel drive and panoramic roof. I recieved quite the big payments for my discoveries in the field of science, and since I was pro-environmentally friendly, I decided to just opt for a top-tier electric car. I always charged it when at home or at the lab, so it was ready to roll as is.

"Man, I still love the look of this car"

"Step inside, ladies." I told the three.

"What, in that thing?" Twilight said.

"Hey now, this is not just a 'thing'. It's a beauty, and very environmentally friendly at that." I said, slightly offended by her comment.

"Okay, okay, I get you like it. But what is it? You realize we've never seen something like this before?" Twilight said.

"Oh yes, ofcourse. This, is a car. It's sort of similar to your pony-pulled chariots, yet this beauty 'pulls' itself using an electrical engine. Goes really fast too, probably twice as fast as your chariots. Unfortunately, such speeds are not allowed, heh." I explained.

I opened the door to the driver's seat, and the others stepped inside too, Twilight in front.

"Put your seatbelts on, located to the side of your seat. It's a belt installed as safety measure." I said, pointing to the seatbelt next to Twilight.

Once all of them had their seatbelts on, I started the engine, and revved it slightly for dramatic effect. The engine roared, and all three jumped up in surprise.

"That, is the sound of power." I said, enjoying their responses.

I knew the way to my mother's house as well as I knew the road to my own. The trip was interesting, to say the least. All three kept pointing outside at things they've never seen before. I had to pay attention to the road, so I held off with explaining things untill we arrived at my mother's house.

WWWWW

I parked the car, and walked up to the door of the home and rang the door. My mother opened the door a few seconds later.

"Hello Joshua, good of you to come visit me again after such a long time. How are you? And who are your friends?" She asked, looking at Twilight, Luna and Night.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking. As for my friends, this is Tracey, she's Nicole and she's Lilian." I said, pointing to each of them in order.

"Three girls... I never figured you as the ladies' type." my mother commented.

"Just because they are girls does not mean anything. They are good friends of mine." I said. I noticed Twilight was slightly shuffling from side to side, as if she was nervous about something. I ignored it for the time being, but decided to talk to her about it later.

"Well come inside, I was just preparing dinner." Mom said, inviting us into the house.

We all took a spot in the living room, and chatted about what we saw during the trip while my mother cooked dinner.

"By the way, just eat whatever is on your plate in a moment" I said silently. "Don't think about where it came from, otherwise you might insult my mother's cooking skills or something. You don't want to see my mother angry."

They all nodded in acknowledgement, and we took to the dinner table once my mom called us that it was ready.

We ate in relative silence, with only the occasional question asked here or there.

Once we were finished eating, my mother decided it would be a good time to ask the question I was dreading.

"So.. Where are you three from?"

I looked at the others with a defeated look, and motioned for them to tell her about their true origins. It wouldn't be of much use keeping secrets from my mother, she would pry it out eventually.

"We come from a land called Equestria, on a world called Terra. Joshua appeared on our land when he was conducting an experiment concerning world travel, with which he succeeded. " Luna explained.

My mother had a stunned expression I've never seen before. she recollected herself, and asked: "You said 'our' land. Does that mean you are some kind of ruler?"

"I am, together with my sister. Nicole is my advisor, and Tracey is a student of my sister's." Luna said.

"A student?" she said, turning her attention to Twilight. "What do you study?"

"Well, I'm more of a historian than a student. I collect literatural works, and organize them appropriately. I also teach others from time to time." Twilight said, skillfully dodging the real truth to the question: magic. And more specifically, the magic of friendship.

"Okay, interesting." She turned her attention back to me. "You succeeded in travelling worlds then?"

"Yeah, I have. I had to keep it quiet untill I knew for certain that it would work. It's safe to say that it works now. Oh, one thing, could you keep this quiet. I don't want others to find out what I've discovered just yet. Scientific reasons and all." I said.

"Ofcourse. Now, about...." My mother trailed off with a plethora of other questions.

Once the barrage of questions had subsided, I told her we were going to leave to my apartment for the night. I said goodbye to her, and the others said goodbye aswell.

We stepped inside of the car again, and drove off to my apartment.

Again, the ride was filled with questions, less than last time. I told them again that answers would have to wait untill we arrived.

WWWWW

I lead them to my home, and opened the door to let them in first. My apartment was more standard than my car, with just the necessary things to call it a home.

They sat down on the couch in front of the tv, and immediately started asking questions about the various things I had around my house. Namely, the TV.

"It's for entertainment purposes mostly. Here, I'll show you." I said as I turned the tv on. I put it on a channel I usually watched, which was now broadcasting a movie.

"This is a movie, what you are seeing now. A long, mixed up bunch of frames put together in some order to create what's essentially a book you can watch." I explained.

They all stared in silence at what was happening on the screen. A man got shot in the chest by someone else, in an act of betrayal.

"None of this is real, mind you. It's all digitally made with a technique called CGI, or computer-generated imagery." I said.

" I am glad you say this is not real, otherwise I would have prosecuted that man for killing another being." Luna said.

" So, it's still kinda early, about 21:00 something. What say you to playing a video game? " I asked.

" Sure! I'd love to play something! " Twilight said cheerfully.

" I do not think either of us minds. You will have to explain how it works, though. " Night said.

" We'll do a practice match first so you can test out everything. " I said as I began hooking up my gaming pc to the 21 inch tv in the living room, and connected 4 controllers I kept for occasions like these.

" The game we will be playing is called Awesomenauts. You can choose and control a character with two special abilities, a basic attack and a jump. The aim of the game is to destroy the opponent's solar drill. You get a steady income of solar, and get solar from killing enemy players and creeps. It's used to buy upgrades at the shop. " I said, explaining the mechanics of the game.

I gave everyone a controller and booted up the game, and created a custom game.

"Two in one team, the other two in the other team. After this practice match I'll add an AI on both sides. Who teams with who? "

" What's an AI, by the way? " Twilight asked.

" An AI is an artificial intelligence. Essentially, a mechanised, thinking piece of program."I said.

" You can go with Twilight. Me and Night will beat you!" Luna said, challenging us.

Everyone joined their respective teams, and I started the match. I picked Skree, since he was my favorite, and Twilight picked Coco. Night picked Ted McPain, and Luna picked Voltar.

The game started, and I explained what everyone's abilities did, the map setup, the shop, and some basic tips.

Once I noticed everyone got to grips with how it worked, I restarted the match and added a bot to either side.

The game picked up speed after that, and Luna and Night were on the winning hand. Until Night overextended and got caught out. Twilight and me took 2 of their towers for it, and I bought a powerful upgrade. The game quickly turned around, and we won a little bit later.

" Good game! All of you played well! Much better than the usual idiots I play with online. Want to do another game? "

" Sure! I do want a different character, though. " Night said.

The others agreed, and we played another game.

WWWWW

It was 23:12 by now, and everyone was feeling slightly tired.

" I'll go and prepare your beds. Help yourself to any food or drink in my kitchen." I said, and walked to the bedroom.

Change of Character - Primal Dagger-> Twilight Sparkle

" I'll go and prepare your beds. Help yourself to any food or drink in my kitchen." Primal said, and walked to the bedroom.

I was feeling quite thirsty, so I stood up and walked over to where his kitchen was. After searching a little bit, I found the fridge and a glass. I poured myself some juice, and called to the others to ask if they wanted something. I got them what they wanted, and placed Primal's glass on the corner for him to grab later as I took my seat on the couch again.

I thought about all the things I've seen today. "His world sure is rich in technology. "

"Twilight, what do you think of the day we had? " Luna asked me.

" I feel it was quite the learning experience. I'd definitely want to go back here in the future, there's just so much we could learn from these humans. That phone Primal had was the best example of something Equestria could use. Think of the possibilities! " I said.

" I am thinking about it, and I am liking the idea. Maybe you could pioneer in inventing the stuff from here back in Equestria, in our own way? " Luna said.

" Sounds like a fantastic idea! Once we're back I'll get started right away! " I said.

" Alright ladies, let's go to bed. I told my friend to visit at about 12 o ' clock, so we can wake at 10 and eat breakfast. Tomorrow's another big day. " Primal said after he walked back into the living room.

He lead us to the bedroom with connecting bathroom, and he said where everyone could sleep.

" I separated the main bed slightly, but it will still be close together. I'm taking the left bed, you can decide who takes the right and who takes the other two. " Primal said as he undressed and stepped into his own bed.

" I'll take the right bed. " I said.

" Alright. Good Night, everyone. Sweet dreams, I will watch over you. " Luna said.

I undressed the clothes that had come with the world travelling, and stepped into the bed next to Primal.

" Good night, Primal. Good night, Luna and Night. " I said, and dozed off to dreamland.

WWWWW

Change of Character - Twilight Sparkle -> Primal Dagger

I stretched my back as I woke up in my own bed. My hand collided with something mid-stretch, so I opened my eyes to find out what. Twilight had twisted and spun her way over to half of my bed.

" Ow! "

"Sorry, I didn't know you were in my bed now. " I said.

Twilight quickly shot up with a blush, and retreated back to her own bed. " Sorry. " she stammered.

" It's okay, I didn't really mind. "I said.

I heard Luna yawn, and stretch herself too, bumping her hand into Night's face.

" Hey, watch it! Unlike Twilight, I stuck to my own bed! " Night said, annoyed.

Luna giggled in a cutesy way. " You never could take a prank. " she said while still giggling.

Twilight and I laughed at the skirmish that took place after Luna said Night couldn't take pranks. Cushions were flying to and from, and eventually they stopped battling.

" You will clean up the mess you made, right? I'm going to take a shower and prepare breakfast after. " I said, and walked over to the bathroom after collecting some new clothes for today. "I'll take some of these back to Equestria, I think "

I took the shower, and came back to the ladies having a conversation about yesterday's events, again.

" Don't let me interrupt you. " I said as they looked at me when I left the bathroom, clothed. " I'll go make breakfast. Feel free to use the shower. "

Twilight shot out of her bed and charged into the bathroom when I said that. I just shrugged at her odd behaviour, and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. I didn't have much in the way of supplies, but I still had some eggs left and a few slices of bread and some strawberry jam, along with the usual cheese and sorts. I prepared the table and waited for them to finish cleaning up.

WWWWW

"Finally, you're all done. Took a while. " I said.

" You can't tell me how long it will take to wash long hair. Can you? " Twilight responded.

" Ahhhhhhmmm, no, I can't say I know . " I said.

" Do that times 3, and you got a vague idea of how long it would take." Luna said.

" It's amazing how those colours you three have are completely natural. Normally you would need various dyes to get it like that. " I said, amazed.

" You mean people here all have the same kind of hair? " Twilight asked.

"Theres blond, brown, black, red and grey. That's the most common. Colours like yours do exist, don't get me wrong, but it's a lot harder to pull off, and mostly maintain. " I said. " I'm not a fashionista so don't quote me. Anyway, come eat breakfast. "

All of them sat down at the table.

" There's strawberry jam, eggs, and the usual cheese and such. There's ham too, for the ones that want to try. " I said, pointing to the various foodstuffs.

" I assume this ham is from killed animals? " Luna said.

" Yes, it is. The poor creatures are bred for just that specific purpose, so it's not like they lose much by dying. " I said.

" Still does not make it right, killing other creatures. "

" What can I say, it's part of the food chain. Humans just happen to be on top of that. " I said.

" I suppose predators do the same thing. "

" Alright, let's eat. I'm starving. " I said, creating a ham sandwich with an omelet.

We all ate in silence, and by the time we were done and all the plates and glasses were in the dishwasher it was 11:45.

" My friend should be arriving any moment now, go ahead and watch some tv while I try to figure out a plan for creating a portal. " I said.

" I'll help you! " Twilight said.

I turned the tv on for Luna and Night, and gave them the remote control along with a brief explanation of how it worked. I took Twilight to my study afterwards, and produced a few sheets of paper and a pen.

I drew a crude setup of the portal, with transformers and generators. It worked much the same way as in Equestria, but it used electricity instead.

" But those generators will surely take some time to set up. " Twilight said.

" That's why I'll instruct Cheryl to set things up this side while we attempt to kickstart the portal using my lightning-based magic. I suppose telling Cheryl about magic shouldn't be the end of the world, now that I think of it. She's been faithful to me ever since I hired her, just like Michelle. The other two not so much, but they were backup duty for a reason. "

" All that trouble creating those awful names for us in the moment back then and they weren't even needed. " Twilight commented.

" Ha, exa-" I said as the doorbell cut off my sentence. " Hold on, doorbell. " I explained as Twilight had looked up in surprise.

I opened the door, and Robin stood there, not having changed much in terms of style other than losing some weight. Beside him was Shervin, another friend of mine from high school.

" Hey guys, right on time. Couldn't be more perfect. Come inside, please. " I said as I stepped away to allow them passage.

They took their coats off, and headed for the living room.

"You didn't mind if I brought Shervin along, right? " Robin said.

" Ofcourse not. You are both good friends, so you're welcome any time. " I said.

They both froze on the spot once they noticed I wasn't home alone.

"Since when did you keep others here for company?" Robin asked.

" Since yesterday. It is quite a long story, actually. " Luna said.

" Wait a moment, I recognise you from somewhere.... " Robin said, holding his hand to his bearded chin in thought.

"That's completely possible yes, and I'll just tell you now since you'll find out when you see the third person. Twilight, come over here please!" I shouted.

Twilight walked into the living room, and Robin gasped, while Shervin simply stood there in silence.

" No, it can't be. How? How's that possible? "

" Science, my friend. I did an experiment which resulted in me being transported to their world, along with Michelle who thought she had to save me. That's obviously Twilight, she's Luna and she's Nightmare Moon, or Night for short. "

The girls said hello respectively.

" Okay. Well, my name is Robin, and he's Shervin. We've been friends since high school. Shervin doesn't speak much since he's a bit shy. "

" Ey, that ain't true! I ain't shy! I just don't talk much. " Shervin said, slightly offended.

" Ha, and why do you think you don't talk a lot, Hm?" I said to Shervin.

He looked at me with a gaze that could burn water, but didn't respond.

"Ah, I'm just joking man, I know you don't speak often." I said, laughing.

" By how you responded, I assume you know something about us already, right? " Night asked.

" Not much, but your name sounds evil. How come you're not? " Robin asked.

" I am part of Luna's soul. I realised that when she dies, I would too, and when her life was threatened by a manifestation of corruption, I acted accordingly and called in the help of Primal, Celestia and the Mane Six."

" Who is-" Shervin wanted to say, but I stopped him before he could finish his sentence.

" That would be me. To properly act to my title in Equestria, I needed a more fitting name. Thus, Primal Dagger, the Shadow of Equestria was made. " I said.

" O-kay. So ya be famous there then? " Shervin said.

" I'm not that well known. Besides, most only know my title. " I responded. " Anyway, I think we should get going to the lab and fix that portal. I doubt Equestria would like knowing one of their princesses is missing. "

" Wait, Princess? Am I missin' summin'? " Shervin asked.

" Oh ofcourse, I forgot you don't know anything about Equestria. I suppose Robin knows a little bit? " I said.

" As I said, not much. Actually, nothing at all, come to think of it. " he said.

" Ah. Well.... Luna here is Princess Luna, one of two rulers of Equestria and a lunar princess. Her sister, Celestia, is the other ruler and she's the solar princess. They both move their respective moon and sun when necessary. Also, they are supposed to be ponies. "

" Wait, ponies? That's crazy! Ponies can't possibly create an entire nation, let alone move an entire celestial body! " Shervin said, shaking his hands in the air to add to the disbelief.

" Ahum."

" Oh, excuse me Princess Luna. It just sounds so unrealistic and unreasonable! "

" Why do you not travel back with us to see for yourselves? I am sure we can prove you wrong. " Luna said.

" In fact, we already are. The three of us are here, right? " Twilight said.

" What if you're all a bunch a fakes or summin' ? I don't see no proof that you actually came from somewhere with talkin' ponies and two beings capable of moving planets. " he said.

" How could you explain their odd hairstyles, though? " Robin said.

" I 'unno, maybe they dyed it? " Shervin said.

" Ugh, just come with us to the lab and you can see for yourself. We still have to get it back up and running remember? " I said. " You can follow us in your car. "

We left the building, after I collected a few things to take back to Equestria. Some clothes, a few gadgets, a charger for my phone that I probably had to rebuild, and a proper razor. I couldn't possibly create a diamond blade again for shaving myself, so I would have to make do with this.

WWWWW

Change of Character - Primal Dagger-> Princess Luna

" Primal, how come you have such a 'car' like this? It looks quite expensive. "I said.

" I made some big discoveries in the field of science in the past years. My employer knows of them,but he prefers to tell the world himself and reward me discreetly. Which is why I won't say what. " he said, ever mysterious.

" Say.... You do not like being famous all that much, right? " Night said, voicing my thoughts.

" I prefer not to be in the spotlights, no. Which is why I'm perfectly happy with what I have to do for Celestia. Low profile work. " he said, keeping a close eye on the traffic in front of him.

" How many humans are there, on Earth? " I asked.

" About 7 billion. "

" 7....7.... billion....?" Twilight said, shivering.

" Yes, 7 billion. Why, that so much to you? Obviously they're not all here in the Netherlands, there's only about 17 million of us in this country. " he said.

" 17 million is still quite a lot. That is definitely already more than the entire population of Equestria. " I said.

" I don't know any exact numbers, but the pony population count is definitely lower than 17 million, of that I'm sure. 7 billion of your kind though.... I get why you would want to keep it secret. " Twilight said.

" Only the people I trust completely - Shervin and Robin, my mother, and Cheryl being some of them - I told it to. And those are the only people that need to know. " he said.

" My thanks, and those of the Equestrian ponies, for being so considerate. Were it not you to appear, I do not know what we would have done. " I said.

" Well, I did sorta bring Michelle along by accident who ran into a corrupted cave and went mad. " he said.

" Don't be silly, Primal. You've done more good for us than you could imagine. Plus, being a great friend helps too. " Twilight said.

" Thanks, I suppose. We're here. " he said as he pulled up the car into the parking lot.

We stepped out of the car, and walked into the laboratory compound.

Cheryl, Primal's assistant, was working on something delicate by the looks. Another person was a few meters away from her, a man by the looks.

" Hello Cheryl, hello Cole, how are both of you doing? " Primal asked.

" Shhh, just a moment. Let me finish this- Ah! Got it! " she said, and held up a bottle with a purple liquid in it.

" Good. Hey, could I speak with you, in private? " he asked.

" Sure, I'll put this away somewhere. "

"You ladies just stay here, I'll be right back. " he said as he took Cheryl outside, just as Shervin and Robin wanted to come in.

" Actually, Tracey, come with me. You two too. " he said, looking at Robin and Shervin.

I had a slight feeling about what their conversation could be about. I did not want to pry, however, so I decided to take Night and talk with the man called Cole. He had an intriguing appearance, and he obviously was not one of the staff, yet Primal still addressed him in a friendly manner.

" Hello? You must be Cole, correct? " I asked.

Cole turned around, with a surprised look on his face under the peculiar hat he was wearing. " You can see me too? "

" Why yes, should we not be able to? " Night asked.

" Only Joshua is able to see me. He told me I could stick around if I wanted to, after I told him I didn't really have a home. I can sense you don't call him by the same name, though. " he said.

" Yes, how -"

And then he was gone.

WWWWW

Change of Character - Princess Luna -> Primal Dagger

I took Twilight, Cheryl, Robin and Shervin outside, and turned around to face them after checking if there was nobody else around.

" Cheryl, I kind of lied to you. I sort of forgot you've been a very loyal assistant and a good friend, and in the panic of the moment I thought up fake names for her and the other two. Her real name is Twilight Sparkle, and the others are Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon. " I said.

Cheryl stood there, stunned and unable to speak.

" I didn't believe it either. I still don't " Shervin said.

" Panic can do odd things to you, but I'm certain Joshua wouldn't have lied to you if he didn't think it was necessary then. " Robin said. " Right? "

"Exactly. I had to quickly come up with something to hide where they really come from, but after thinking clearly, I shouldn't have. I need your help, and Twilight's here to restart the portal back to their world." I said.

" Right. I suppose you need electricity, then? " Cheryl said.

" Yes and no. I want you to simply set up the frame in the abandoned part with Twilight to help you, and to provide a spot where a lot of power can be given to it. " I said.

" Ok, sure. Come with me, Twilight " Cheryl said. I could sense she still wasn't happy about it.

After they walked off, Shervin and Robin turned to me with curious looks.

" You'll see. " I simply said, and followed the two women inside.

WWWWW

" It's all set up and ready to go, Joshua. " Cheryl said.

Michelle came in just when Cheryl said that.

" Ah, right on time. " I said. " Where's the power supply? "

" Over here. "

I walked over to the supply, and everyone looked at me in anticipation. I felt my hand charging up with electricity, and let it build up for a moment, the sparks flying between my fingers.

" What..?!"

" How??!"

" It is still amazing to see. "

I shot the lightning in a bolt through the power supply. It nearly couldn't handle the amount of volts.

The energy sparked over to the two pylons next to the frame, and they discharged into the portal.

" There's the portal again. Cheryl, you'll stay here and guard the lab, right? " I asked.

" Will do, you mad scientist. Go on, go to that world. "

I waited for the others to jump through before I jumped in after them.

Author's Note:

This is it. Shadow of Equestria will branch off from this point, along with The Riftwalker. Think of it as two seperate timelines

Thank you so much if you got this far, and be sure to check out the adventures of Primal Dagger in the Shadow of Equestria or The Riftwalker!

Comments

[Ise no Kami]

Awesome! You said this was just backstory for your real stories, but I enjoyed all of it.