Through the Mist

by puddingskinmcgee

Chapter 3: Game Plan

Spike was grumpy. Very grumpy. "Twilight" and "Sparkle" had been up for nearly two hours constantly asking each other questions about the other's world. This wouldn't have bothered Spike so much if it weren't for the fact that it was well past midnight, and that most of the conversation was comprised of nerdy, excited squealing. As he tried to get as much sleep as possible considering the stressful situation, he grew increasingly frustrated with the two squeaky mares.

"So," he heard Twilight say from the other room, "without dense thaumatic fields surrounding your atmosphere, wouldn't it be possible to send objects directly into space as long as you could breach the atmosphere?"

"I'm so glad you asked!" Sparkle said excitedly, "We've been developing the capability to send objects into space, and we're very close!" Sparkle giggled in self-assured way, "It's actually kind of my specialty."

From the other room, Spike heard one of them squeal excitedly -- Twilight, he assumed.

"Omigosh, think of all the data that could be collected, or even samples! If you're close, maybe one day soon you could even send a pony up to space! I'm so jealous!" she all but squeaked out.

"Oh, I wish! One of the main issues we're still struggling with is finding an insulator that's both effective and lightweight enough to be used in the delicate machinery -- nonetheless for a spacesuit!"

Twilight loudly gasped, "We recently made a discovery in our own world! If you take a silica gel and transmute the liquid in it into a gas while heating it to a supercritical state, the structure of the gel will be retained without the weight -- it sounds exactly like what you're looking for! We call it aerogel!"

Sparkle could be heard slamming her hooves on a table while she yelled, "Of course! Aerogel!"

Spike glared into the darkness and hopped out of the lounge chair he had been given to sleep in. He marched into the kitchen, where Twilight and Sparkle were talking, and said "Can you two please keep it down? It's like two AM, and we have stuff to do tomorrow!"

Twilight tried to hold back a chuckle while she was being chastised by the very sleepy Spike, knowing how grumpy he got any time his sleep was interrupted but still feeling guilty for keeping him up. Sparkle, however, looked nonplussed.

"It doesn't really matter, though. We're gonna have to stay up tomorrow night, anyway.

Twilight tilted her head and asked, "What do you mean? What's happening tomorrow?"

"Oh, I guess I didn't mention it," Sparkle said, "But tomorrow is the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Do you have it in your own timeline?"

Spike yawned, "The Summer Sun Celebration? Yeah, we have it, but last time I checked it was still a few months away. Weird..."

Twilight put her hoof up to her chin and said, "Yeah, it is weird."

She slowly turned to stare hard at Sparkle, as if scrutinizing every tiny detail on her doppelgangers face. After a moment of concentration she asked, "Sparkle, what year is it?"

Sparkle blinked. "Um, the one-thousandth celestial year of peace, starting at the Summer Sun Celebration. Why?"

Twilight turned her scrutinizing gaze away, "From the latest point in my timeline, we're already well into the one-thousand-and-second year. I guess that would technically make me older than you -- but more concerning is why we were sent back to such a strange time..."

She clapped her hooves together with determination. "It might be more important than ever to get to Ponyville tomorrow. In my timelines equivalent of tomorrow is when events happened that changed my life forever, and really set the wheels of fate in motion."

Spike suddenly clapped his hands together in an authoritative way and said, "Well then, let's make sure we're all rested up to see the wheels of fate or whatever tomorrow! Goodnight!" He then promptly walked back into Sparkles study, intent of finally getting his rest.

A long moment of silence passed between the two mares. Finally, Sparkle turned to her counterpart and asked, "Is he always so grumpy?"

Twilight giggled, "Only when he doesn't get enough sleep."

A quite moment passed between the two mares. Twilight looked to her counterpart again with a small smile.

"I have a lot more questions, but I suppose it can wait until morning. He is right, we have a lot to do..."

Sparkle got up out of her seat and hummed, "Hm, I suppose so. Well, goodnight, uh, Twilight... Wow that's weird..."

Twilight stood up and made her way over to the study where Sparkles couch was prepared for her stay. She giggled and said, "Goodnight, Sparkle. And you'll have to tell me all about space-engineering once this is all ironed out."

---

"So what's the game plan? Are you going to make yourself invisible and sneak onto the train? Because that sounds kind of risky."

Twilight looked over at Sparkle, who was busy tying her saddlebags on. Everyone had already eaten a light breakfast and Twilight was pushing to get them out the door as quickly as possible, much to Sparkle's frazzlement.

"No worries! I can get all of us there in an instant with a teleportation spell!"

Spike, who was sitting patiently on Sparkle's couch, eyed Twilight nervously.

"Uh, are you sure about that? I know you're great at teleportation, but are you sure you can go that far? And while bringing the two of us along with you? I would rather not get tele-singed again!"

Twilight rolled her eyes and said, "Oh please, I won't mess it up if I concentrate! Besides, we don't have a particularly better way of getting there quickly."

Sparkle finished her packing and stepped up to the two.

"Honestly... I'm kind of curious about it, too. How does teleportation feel? Does it hurt?... Will it make me queasy?"

Twilight giggled, "Well, if you want to know what it's like, let's go now!"

"Alright, let's teleport!"

Spike went up to Twilight and said, "Alright, alright, let's get this over with."

Twilight spread her legs and powered up her horn.

"Alright everypony! Keep your hooves on the ground and everything will be fine!"

---

"Everything was not fine!"

Sparkle, the end of her tail slightly singed, was slung over some bushes trying not to lose her breakfast.

The positive side of things is that Twilight got them all the way over to the edge of Ponyville. The negative would be that Sparkle apparently forgot to keep her hooves below her and suffered a fairly rough ride through the whole ordeal.

Twilight patted her back gently and giggled guiltily.

"Hehe, sorry about that. I guess I should have given you more of a warm-up..."

Sparkle lifted her head up from the bushes and groaned, "Ugh, next time can we please just use the train? What are we even doing here, anyway?"

"Well, near Ponyville is where the tree of harmony resides in my world: basically, it's a mysterious relic with amazing powers to keep things in balance. From the tree of harmony is where the cutie map came from, the thing that Starlight Glimmer used to power her time-travel spell, and the one thing that's stayed the same throughout every alternate future. If it's still here, I'm confident that we can use it to set things right."

Sparkle steadied herself and looked at the town in the distance. She had personally never been, and only heard of it because of its proximity to Canterlot. She could tell from the distance that it was a fairly humble little country town, surrounded by farmland and forests, but it definitely had a certain charm to it.

"So, what do we actually do once we find this thing?"

"Well, ideally it'll just show us where to go, or give us a clue about what to do next. But if not, the next best bet is to find the tree of harmony. If the entire tree is here, then the elements of harmony might be here too. That's where the real power lies, and they've never failed us before."

Sparkle looked down at the ground in contemplation.

"I can't help but wonder what this means for me, though. I understand that when yourself from an alternate dimension crash lands in front of you and asks you to stop a power-crazed sorceress, you're not really in a position to say no, but I can't help but wonder what this will all mean for my own reality. If you go back and set everything back to how it's supposed to be..."

Twilight stared at her for a long moment, blinking.

"I... I guess I did't really think of that. This is an alternate timeline, not an alternate dimension, so I suppose setting things right would sort of... Turn the switch off on this one, and turn it back to mine? But then again..."

Twilight held her hoof up to her mouth, thinking hard.

"The fact that there's no magic in this world, and apparently never was, makes me think that this could all be bigger than just that. Starlight only changed events from when I was a filly, so it doesn't make any sense as to why the history of this world would be so thoroughly changed. It makes me think that maybe, she somehow created an alternate dimension entirely."

Sparkle stared at Twilight, her eyebrows furrowed.

After a moment, Twilight smiled and slung her foreleg around Sparkle's neck.

"Don't worry, I promise that I'll figure this out in a way that's best for everypony. I wouldn't leave myself hanging!"

"Hmm, alright. Let's just see if this map is here and try to work from there, I suppose."

Spike looked over the town from the hill they were all standing on. After a moment of searching, he pointed towards a stream on the outskirts of town and said, "There! It should be over that way. Let's get over there before any of the townsponies notice us."

Twilight smiled and started trotting over the the very spot, keeping close to the treeline to avoid prying eyes.

"Alright, let's go and get this all figured out!"

Comments

[Greenhorn]

After a moment, Twilight smiled and slung her arm around Sparkle's neck.

Shouldn't it be 'leg' instead? Since this is not an anthro world, right?

[puddingskinmcgee]

8788641
I actually took a moment wondering which one I should use for that line that would be the least awkward, hehe. I might edit it into "leg" now that you've pointed it out.

[Viper Pit]

some one get sparkle a bucket

[Midknight Defender]

8788646

Leg, foreleg, or wing would all be a little bit less... "...wait, what?" in that line.

[puddingskinmcgee]

8788696
Ah, that's the word I was looking for. Fixed!

[Misdirection]

Excellent chapter!

[ShadowLDrago]

Sparkle blinked. "Um, the one-thousandth celestial year of peace, starting at the Summer Sun Celebration. Why?"

Oh boy.

"The fact that there's no magic in this world, and apparently never was, makes me think that this could all be bigger than just that. Starlight only changed events from when I was a filly, so it doesn't make any sense as to why the history of this world would be so thoroughly changed. It makes me think that maybe, she somehow created an alternate dimension entirely."

Multiverse theory's a bitch.

"Alright, let's go and get this all figured out!"

How long before something goes wrong?

[Aschtb]

8788646
well 'foreleg' would do as well

[The Cynical One]

So many directions this story could go! I'm hyped to bloody see what happens to our beloved trio.

[Cross Lament]

8788646
Technically, horses (and ponies) do have forearms, so I guess you could go either way.

[Fourpony]

One of the main issues we're still struggling with is finding an insulator that's both effective and lightweight enough to be used in the delicate machinery

If their space is anything like the real world's, then the only real thermal transfer is through radiation. Aerogel is way overkill.

[Blaster M]

Tracking beacon activated. Let's see where this one goes...

[Dakuookami]

Love seeing the two twilights interact, keep up the great work!

[Latrans]

I'm a bit curious what Our Town looks like in this world.

[Padgriffin]

8808849
Probably doesn't exist, as Starlight never had a reason to go start it.

[cheetored20]

8820625
Unicorn starlight didn't, this world's starlight probably has a different motivation.