Beyond the Bounds of Universes

by CTVulpin

Scene 16- Contentle Library

“Judging by the fact that you arrived alone, Spike,” Ash the Pragmagic said, “I’m guessing the extra magic from this Sunset Shimmer still wasn’t quite enough?”

Spike rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, I think it was,” he said, “but when we touched the edge of this universe, something took me out of Sci-Twi’s arms and sent her back. Next thing I knew, I was here.”

Ash tilted his head up slightly with a disgruntled look. “Bah re,” he muttered. “Pertel vet’cu rugalif…”

“What was that?” Twilight asked.

“Nothing, really,” Ash said with a dismissive wave.

“And since when do you go ‘bah re’ over nothing, Ash?” Sam asked, giving him a knowing look.

Ash flashed a glare at her, then rolled his eyes skyward before his fear gaze could take effect. “The notion that we may just be dancing on some puppeteer’s strings bothers me, is all” he said. “As Meis Thamule, that’s all I really was: a puppet.”

“That’s certainly not the case with the Map,” Twilight said. “All it does is alert the other Bearers and I to friendship problems we wouldn’t be aware of otherwise.”

Ash quirked an eyebrow. “And what ‘friendship problem’ does building a direct portal between Taryn and Equestria solve?” he asked.

“I… don’t know,” Twilight admitted with a blush. “Yet.”

“No need to be huffy, Twi,” Ash said, smiling. “I was teasing. I’m all for making Ponyville a more convenient place to visit. So, let’s get to it then, shall we?” He folded his arms behind his back, turned on his heel, and started walking off.

“Where are we going now?” Twilight asked as she, Sam, and Spike hurried to catch up with Ash.

“Carmilla’s workshop,” Ash answered. “There should be a spot somewhere on the property we can use as the anchor for this end of the portal. That library wall would actually be ideal, but it’s too… exposed to be able to control access to it, and we don’t want just anyone wandering into Equestria willy-nilly, right?”

“Oh, yes,” Twilight said emphatically. “Especially since Equestria’s end is going to be inside my castle. I don’t want strangers popping into my home.”

“Castle?!” Ash exclaimed. “You have a…” He shook his head. “Never mind; I can wait to catch up on current events until after we’ve got the portal ready.”

---

The deGrange Fabrication Garage was an unassuming-looking grey brick of a building that sat alone on a city block in the north-eastern sextant of Contentle. The remainder of the block was surrounded by a high chain-link fence with view-obscuring slats inserted into it, and since the fence went right up to the side of the Fabrication Garage, Twilight figured the space within was part of the same property. “What does Carmilla work on here?” Twilight asked.

Ash shrugged. “Whatever suits her fancy,” he said. “When old Yu-san owned it, this was a mechanic’s shop where you could get just about anything repaired, from cars to home appliances and even personal, one-of-a-kind gadgets for mercenary work. It was, and still is, the only place on the whole planet I trust to properly handle the Lirin’s maintenance.” A shadow passed over the group, and they all looked up to see an airship shaped like a wedge with wings descend from the sky and land inside the fenced area. “Speaking of which…” Ash said.

From inside the fence, a woman’s voice suddenly shouted over the sounds of the Lirin settling onto its landing struts. “Back already, Ash?”

“I’m out here, Milla!” Ash called out.

There were sounds of bustling, then a grunt, and a grease-streaked face under a mop of brown hair barely held back with an upraised welding mask popped into view over the fence. “What are you doing out there?” Carmilla asked. “Hold on,” she said in the next breath as she caught sight of Twilight, “I know that hairstyle.” Her gaze then swept over to Spike. “I know that dragon.” She looked back at Ash, eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Ash, don’t tell me you decided to ditch the county meeting and visit Equestria.”

Ash held up a hand, fingers together and palm outward. “As much as I was tempted,” he said, “I did go to Clara Gaton and attended that dry, pointless meeting. Twilight and Spike got here under their own power… More or less.”

Carmilla didn’t look completely convinced, but she didn’t say anything else before dropping out of sight. A couple seconds later, she pushed open a gate a little way down the fence and waved the group over. “Come on, then,” she said. “I want to hear this story.” Ash nodded and headed through the gate, Twilight and Spike were right behind him, and Sam brought up the rear. “Hey Sam,” Carmilla said as she closed the gate behind the reporter, “getting a first-hand exclusive to this, I see. How’d you talk Ash into that?”

“Ash would probably still be Clara Gaton right now if I hadn’t seen Twilight pop out of one of the library’s walls,” Sam said with pride.

“Oh. Nice,” Carmilla said, grinning. She then turned to Ash and Twilight and asked, “So, what’s the story, then?”

While Twilight started recounting the story in brief, Ash went over to Spike. “Let me see those spell notes,” Ash said, holding out a hand expectantly.

“Why?” Spike asked, suspicious.

“Unless I guess wrong,” Ash said, “the spell was designed for unicorn magic. It’s going to need to be modified to fit Weave style if we intend to cast it in this world.”

Spike tried to lock eyes with Ash, but the mage kept his gaze fixed on the bag while looking utterly sincere. Spike sighed, opened the bag, and pulled the notes out. “I think Rarity’s been pining over you today,” he said as he held the papers out to Ash.

Ash blinked. “Why mention that?” he asked.

“Just thought you ought to know,” Spike said. “When this portal’s finished, there’s not going to be much standing between you two anymore.”

Ash took the notes, but didn’t look at them. “Does that include you, Spike?” he asked solemnly.

Spike sighed and shrugged. “I think I’ve outgrown that,” he said. “I care about Rarity, but it’s not as… overwhelming anymore.”

Ash chuckled and patted the dragon’s head. “Well,” he said, “I guess I should wish you luck on quickly finding the right person… mare… dragoness?” He coughed awkwardly and started reading through the notes.

Twilight finished her summary of events about then, and Carmilla said, “So, you need someplace to put this shortcut portal. Sorry, but it’s not going to be here.”

“Why not?” Twilight and Ash both exclaimed.

Carmilla held up a finger. “First,” she said, “I have two young apprentices that I have a hard enough time keeping out of trouble as it is; the last thing they need is an easy escape route to another reality. Second,” she raised another finger and looked at Ash in particular, “you know very well this place is where I make all my Magebane gels. The dust from all the rocks I’ve ground up over the years has to mean magic doesn’t work so well here.”

“Bah,” Ash said, generating a ball of magic light in his hand with a complex dance of his fingers, “I’ve never had a problem Weaving here. Magebane just grounds out any streams that are part of an active spell, and not even notably fast if it’s not concentrated into a gel.”

“But this portal will be an active spell, won’t it?” Carmilla countered. “Raw Magebane dust in the air would wear the portal down over time, like your teleport waypoints always did in Equestria.”

Ash’s magelight faded to a tiny glimmer as he frowned. “That’s comparing two different principles,” he said, “but… yes, the effect would be the same.” He extinguished the light completely and folded his arms. “Can you suggest someplace else, then?” he asked. “Your space is apparently unsuitable, the M’Dales aren’t around to offer up their home, my house has its own… problems, and we can’t exactly use the Avalon Vault without upsetting the ‘cultural heritage’ faction. We’re out of reasonably secure and local locations.”

“Hey,” Carmilla said, “I only said you can’t have the portal here. This isn’t the only place in town that’s ‘my space,’ Ash.”

“Where-” Ash started to ask, and then his eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Are you sure?”

“Perfectly,” Carmilla said, walking into the building and waving for the group to follow her. “Come on; I’m sure we can all fit in my car.”

Comments

[ConsciousHaze196]

Do they have a way to connect Canterlot High and Taryn, since it could be convenient for, world interconnections?