Beyond the Bounds of Universes

by CTVulpin

Scene 11 - Mirror Room

Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer stood near the door while Sci-Twi approached the Portal Mirror, her down-turned ears betraying her nervousness. Sci-Twi studied her reflection in the mirror for a bit, wondering if it would start changing again. She shook her head, realizing she was just putting off doing what she needed to do, and held the magic detector out to the mirror. “Here goes,” she said, leaning away apprehensively as she opened the device up.

Nothing happened.

“I don’t understand,” Sci-Twi exclaimed, looking between the Mirror and the detector. “We just proved my detector can absorb magic, and I’ve taken the portal spell before. Why isn’t it working this time?”

Princess Twilight walked over and looked at the detector as well. “What’s different between now and when you took the portal’s magic the first time?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Sci-Twi said. “It all happened rather accidentally last time. I mean, whenever one of the girls ponied-up when I was nearby, the detector pulled in their magic on its own, but the only other time it did that was to the portal, and it never went after Sunset’s magic.”

“Well, “Sunset said, “I never actively used my magic during the Friendship Games until you went Midnight on us. Maybe that’s the difference.” She pondered for a second as the Twilights looked on expectantly. “Yeah,” Sunset said at last, “that makes sense. I was about to use the Portal to come to Equestria and ask Princess Twilight for help when your old detector sucked up the spell. And our new mirror was definitely active when you used the detector on it. Try making as if you’re going to step through while you have the detector open.”

Sci-Twi nodded. “It’s worth a shot, at least,” she said. Princess Twilight backed off, and Sci-Twi steeled herself again. Holding the magic detector aloft in her magic, she took a step closer to the mirror and reached a hoof toward the glass. The glass rippled for a second as her hoof neared it, and then the magic detector beeped twice and the mirror went still as the magic flowed out of it and into the open detector. Sci-Twi snapped the device closed, checked the dial, and then turned the device toward herself and opened it once more.

Sci-Twi’s pendant glowed as the mirror’s magic flowed into her body, and the unicorn underwent a small transformation, growing an inch or so taller and gaining a sparkling blue dress with a purple skirt and small crystal wings while her glasses changed into a purple visor. She blinked several times when the change was complete and looked herself over in surprise. “My Harmony Guardian outfit?” she said, confused, “why on earth…?”

“Better that than Midnight Sparkle,” Sunset pointed out. “How’s the magic feel? Under control?”

“Oh, yes,” Sci-Twi said, sounding surprised at her own statement. “Whether it’s because I’m in the right frame of mind, or because it’s not mixed up with lots of other magic, the Portal magic isn’t overwhelming at all. I think I can parse out the portal spell, but I’ll need a few minutes.”

“I’ll go fetch some paper so you can write down what you discover,” Princess Twilight offered, excited.

“Bring me the calculations for your own portal as well, Princess,” Sci-Twi said. “We’ll see how close you managed to get on your own.”

“Right,” Princess Twilight said, trotting out of the room with a gleeful look on her face.

Sunset waited a few seconds after the Princess left, and then asked Sci-Twi, “Are you sure everything’s under control?”

“Yes, yes,” Sci-Twi said with a slight scowl. “You were right with what you said earlier, Sunset: since I’m more accustomed to magic now and I’m using this power with a clear mind and intent, it’s much easier to handle it all. Besides, you’re looking out for me,” she added, “and that makes a lot of difference.”

When Princess Twilight returned, she saw Sci-Twi lying on the floor, eyes closed in a contemplative expression. “Hey, I, uh, have the notes,” Princess Twilight said, floating the papers and a pencil forward. Sci-Twi barely cracked open her eyes as she took the materials and spread them before her in the air. Her eyes scanned over the princess’s notes once, and then she closed her eyes as the pencil began to scribble furiously on the blank papers. “Um,” Princess Twilight said, unsure how to begin her questions.

“I see it all, clear as day,” Sci-Twi said as she continued to write. “The power, patterns, and methods we’ll need lay before me in plain formulas. You were close to the mark, Princess, tantalizingly close, yet there are a few constants you haven’t discovered yet, and one you miscalculated. Everything needs to be rebalanced, but that’s child’s play, and our new mirror should be suitable once the array’s fixed. There is one big problem, though.” She finished her writing, stood up, and opened her eyes.

“What?” Sunset and Princess Twilight asked.

“For the spell to succeed and create a link between two universes,” Sci-Twi said, “it needs to be cast in two stages. First, the spell needs to break down the boundary of our universe so the caster can sense the magic of other realities. Second, the caster needs to find a known… something in the destination universe that can serve as the anchor for the portal on that side. Princess Twilight, have you ever been to Taryn, personally?”

“Never,” the Princess said, shaking her head. “I’ve always suspected I’d need to find a familiar object to connect to over there, though. I figured I could use the aura of one of the Order-naries as at least a guide or something.”

Sci-Twi shook her head slowly. “What the Canterlot High portal is telling me,” she said, “is the anchor has to be a fixed object, like the mirrors or CHS’s statue.”

“But,” Princess Twilight started to protest, but then paused and thought. “Never mind,” she said at length. “I was going to argue that the Tau’rin portals aren’t in fixed objects, but they’re also more like leftover holes in spacetime rather than actual portals.” She frowned. “So, are you saying we’ve hit a dead end after all?”

“Not necessarily, Princess,” Sunset said.

“No, that’s exactly it, Sunset,” Princess Twilight said with an emphatic stomp. “If we don’t have an anchor point in Taryn, we can’t make a portal there. But we can’t set up an anchor point without going to Taryn. It’s a catch-22!” Her wings flared open as she screamed her frustrations to the ceiling. “This can’t be right!” she ranted. “The Map gave us this mission, and it doesn’t ask the impossible!”

“Now hold on,” Sci-Twi said calmly, “I don’t think we’re stuck quite yet. Let me try something.” Her horn lit up with magenta magic as she narrowed her eyes in concentration, and then a thin bolt leapt from the tip of her horn and burst into a round hole in the air a couple feet in front of her showing the front of Canterlot High School. Sci-Twi nodded slightly in satisfaction, and then with a small twist of her head and another bolt of magic she closed the portal. “Good,” she said, “I can manifest the link to CHS at will. Now, if can interrupt the spell after the first stage…” She cast her magic out again, and this time the air in front of her cracked apart into a jagged shape that wavered for a second before stabilizing and bathing Sci-Twi’s face with a white glow.

“What in the world?” Sunset Shimmer exclaimed as she and Princess Twilight cautiously approached for a better look.

“The space between Equestria and my world,” Sci-Twi explained. “The same place you and I ended up in during my Midnight Sparkle episode, Sunset. With the magic of the portal mirror in me and under control, it might be possible to traverse the interdimensional void and get to Taryn, and from there we can cast the new portal spell toward Equestria’s familiar magic.” She held out a hoof toward Princess Twilight. “Care to give it a try, Princess?” she asked.

Princess Twilight’s ears lay back as she looked between the offered hoof and the jagged, glowing hole in reality with trepidation. “I’ve had a bad experience with a portal that looked like this before,” she said. “Living beings aren’t meant to… well, exist outside of established reality.”

“This time will be different,” Sci-Twi said, “trust me.”

“You should trust her, Princess,” Sunset said. “I’ve been in that space, and even though the portal magic was driving Sci-Twi nuts and out of control, the two of us were able to hold a whole conversation.”

Princess Twilight glanced at Sunset, and then gulped down her trepidation and took Sci-Twi’s hoof. “Ok,” she said, “before I lose my nerve, then.”