Beyond the Bounds of Universes

by CTVulpin

Montage 1 - Ponyville

“Attention, everypony,” Princess Twilight announced, breaking the silence that had been settling heavier and heavier in the workroom over the last hour, “since it seems nopony has had a breakthrough on the problem of poking a new hole in the universe, I say we take a break and switch our focus to a different angle.” She levitated a sheet of paper off the stack of notes she’d been working on and walked over to stand in front of the chalkboard. “As Sci-Twi said earlier, it would be best to have a solid anchor for our portal to Taryn, similar to the Canterlot High Mirror,” the Princess said. “To that end, I’ve taken what I learned about the Mirror’s construction when I made the machine that bypasses the portal’s time-lock and compiled a list of materials for building a magic mirror capable of anchoring a portal to another world. Theoretically at least.” She channeled her magic and cast a spell that turned the paper she was levitating into four near-identical copies, and then passed one each to Spike, Sunset Shimmer, and Starlight Glimmer, and kept the last for herself. “Spike, Starlight, Sunset, I’m tasking each of you with collecting one of the key items, and I’ll go get one myself.”

“What about me?” Sci-Twi asked.

Princess Twilight gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry,” she said, “but I think it’s best that you just stay here. The ponies in this town can be… excitable, and you look so much like me…”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Sci-Twi said. “I’d rather stay here and keep studying anyway. I think I might be onto something.”

“Great!” Princess Twilight said. She turned back to the rest and said, “Alright everypony, let’s go!”

---

Sweet Apple Acres

“I’m sorry, Ah don’t think I heard that right. You want to do what to mah Zap Apple trees?”

Starlight meekly floated her paper over to Applejack. “I’d take any naturally fallen branches if I could, AJ,” Starlight said, “but Twilight’s instructions are for living Zap Applewood.”

“Well, there wouldn’t be any windfall wood in the first place,” Applejack said with a grumble in her voice. “Zap Apple trees never shed their branches. No tellin’ what cuttin’ one off would do to the tree.”

“Can’t you just plant a new tree if one dies?”

AJ shook her head. “Granny tried that a couple times, early on,” she said. “Seems only wild Zap Apples have good seeds in ‘em. The ones ya see are all we’re ever gonna have, but at least their magic keeps ‘em free of disease and whatnot.”

Starlight frowned and consulted her paper. “Tell you what, Applejack,” she said. “I really need the wood, so if the tree dies after I harvest the branch – and it’s just one branch – I will personally search the length and breadth of Equestria for a wild Zap Apple tree and get you the seeds for a replacement.”

Applejack sighed and pulled her hat down over her face. “Granny’s gonna give me an earful for this,” she said, “but fine, if you’re that determined, I’ll allow it. For Twilight.”

---

Carousel Boutique

“Rarity?” Spike called, opening the back door to the Boutique’s kitchen even as he knocked on it. He spotted the white unicorn in question brooding over a tub of ice cream with a spoon held in her magic, her eyes slowly moving to look at him as he slipped inside and closed the door. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Spike asked. “I knew something was up when I found the front door was locked with no notice put up.” He climbed onto the chair across from Rarity and waited a polite few seconds for a response that didn’t come. “Come on, Rarity,” he said, “it’s not like you to hold your problems in. Did you get a bad review? Stupid frustrating client?”

Rarity sighed. “No, Spike,” she said, “I just can’t seem to find my inspiration today, or the motivation for much of anything, to be honest.” She set the spoon down and shoved the ice cream slightly to the side, giving Spike a hopeful look. “Please tell me you have something to ask of me,” she said, “or that Twilight sent you on some urgent errand. I could use an adventure to distract myself from this melancholy.”

Spike fidgeted in his chair. “Well, I don’t know about adventure per se,” he said, “but Twilight did send me to ask you for a few things.” He produced the paper he’d been given and Rarity’s ears rose in interest as he slid it over to her.

Rarity picked up the paper and read it, her eyebrows rising in stages, and then one eyebrow dropped into a confused position as she reached the end. “Gold and copper filigree wire and spell-quality gemstones, fair enough,” she said, “but why in Equestria does Twilight want my designs for Ashen Blaze’s ‘Artificial Element of Magic’?”

Spike shrugged. “It’s a little over my head,” he said, “but it’s part of her plans for making a direct portal to the Order-naries’ world.” Rarity gave him a dubious look, so he planted his hands on the table and leaned closer to her. “It’s not just a flight of fancy this time, Rares,” Spike said, “the Map told her to do it.”

Rarity stared at Spike for a long moment, and then got down from her seat and struck a noble pose. “I see,” she said. “If it’s that serious, far be it for me to begrudge whatever assistance I can provide. Stay here, Spike; I shall return momentarily with the items you need.”

---

Barnyard Bargains

“Thank you for your business,” said the earth pony cashier.

“Thank you,” Sunset replied. She hefted the large box containing one free-standing mirror up in her magic, and walked out of the store. “And here I was thinking I’d have to hunt all over town for a proper-sized mirror,” she mused as she walked down the street.

---

Fluttershy’s Cottage

As Twilight trotted up the path to Fluttershy’s front door, she cast about for signs of active Chaos magic in the area. Finding none by the time she reached the porch, Twilight paused to consider her approach. If Discord wasn’t visiting Fluttershy, he would be as hard to track down as he was difficult to get rid of when you didn’t want him around. Even Fluttershy didn’t know a reliable method of finding and accessing the draconequus’s chaotic home. Which, Twilight thought, is not unsurprising, given the nature of the place. She considered simply casting a spell to summon Discord, but didn’t want to risk putting him in a bad mood by interrupting something. Or how about, she suddenly thought, not a direct summon, but a spell to get his attention. A kind of doorbell spell. Feeling satisfied with her plan, Twilight turned away from the door and promptly bumped into a fuzzy brown tummy.

Twilight looked up to see Discord leering over her, arms folded to match the grumpy look on his face. “Oh, I was just looking for you, Discord,” Twilight said with a smile.

“I… you were?” Discord said, surprise replacing his grumpy face. “Well, that’s fine, but you just took the wind out of my sails there, Twi. I had this whole ‘heard it through the grapevine’ gag prepared,” he reached behind his back and produced a vine from which hung a couple bunches of grapes, each grape sporting a mouth jabbering away with inane rumors, “and you just had to go and nip my complaints about not being included in your world-hopping project right in the bud.”

“How do you know about that?” Twilight asked, suspicious. Discord held his talking grapes out with a raised eyebrow, and Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m serious, Discord,” she said, “this is the first time I, or anypony else in on the project, has left the castle today.”

Discord tossed the grapes away with a careless shrug. “There’s no fun in revealing my sources just yet, Princess,” he said. He bent his head down to Twilight’s level with a conspiratorial grin. “So, what can I do to help?”

“You’ve claimed to be older than Equestria itself,” Twilight said. “If that’s true, that means you’re originally from ‘outside’ this universe.”

Discord held up a forestalling hand. “Technically true,” he said, “but before you ask, no, it’s actually not in my considerable range of powers to create portals that actually lead ‘outside,’ as you put it. Pocket dimensions are the best I can do.”

“I figured,” Twilight said, “but I don’t need you to do anything; I’m just looking for something that didn’t originate in Equestria to act as a catalyst. If that something happened to be from a spirit of Chaos, it might be even better.”

Discord folded his arms and huffed. “I should have guessed you only wanted me for my body” he said.

Twilight’s eye twitched, and she took a focusing breath to resist rising to the bait. “A clump of hair or a bit of antler should suffice, Discord,” she said smoothly. “Nothing you can’t grow back.”

“You’re really no fun today,” Discord said, rolling his eyes in a normal manner. He held his lion paw out in front of him, flexed a finger to extend the claw, and then deftly plucked it out with his other hand. “You’re lucky I’m in a slightly charitable mood today, Princess,” he said, dropping the claw on her muzzle, “but expect an impromptu ‘playdate’ when you least expect it. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he hopped over Twilight and approached Fluttershy’s door, “I’m going to spend time with the pony who really appreciates me!” He marched through the door without bothering to open it, leaving the wood rippled in a vaguely Discord-shaped pattern behind him.

Twilight plucked the claw off her nose with her magic, scrutinized it, and then started flying back to her castle with a smile on her face. “That was easier than I thought it would be,” she said to herself.

Comments

[badninja]

Danger, danger Twilight! Why do I think Discord is going to show up at the worst point or start screwing with Sci-Twi?

[BenRG]

Owing the God of Chaos anything is not exactly a good idea. That said, I think Twilight is confident in Fluttershy's ability to rein him in, if need be.

Right now, I'm wondering just how large the explosion that the two Twilights' latest experiment will cause.

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

When Discord's around, expect a lot of chaotic fun and laughs.

[Snowdrifter]

8075986
I wonder if the magnitude would be exponenally or logarithmically increased?

Also, we can now find out if ponies CAN explode twice.